WAS ST. JULIET LOOKING FOR A WAY OUT OF UTB-TSC?

By Juan Montoya

Did she or didn't she?

That's what students, professors, administrators and some local educators are asking themselves as rumors swirl about UTB-TSC President Juliet Garcia's reported application for the presidency of Trinity University in San Antonio.

The prestigious private university made its selection in September, but some reports indicate that among the 100 candidates, 39 percent of which are women or minority applicants, was one Juliet V. Garcia, the current president at the hybrid UTB-TSC.

"I heard about that over the weekend," said a high-ranking administrator at the university, "but I've not been able to confirm it."

Most trustees we asked were in the dark concerning her possible application to serve as Trinity University's 18th president. Many thought that if she had applied for the job, it would have been simple professional courtesy for her to confide the fact to them, even if it was in private.

None of the trustees we asked would venture to comment about the issue.

In the end, the Trinity University’s Board of Trustees elected Dennis A. Ahlburg, Ph.D. Ahlburg is currently the dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and will assume the presidency Jan. 1, 2010.

Still, sources from as far away as west Texas and the Alamo City report that Garcia was among the candidates that merited a second look by the Trinity University search committee.

The committee selected a small number of candidates for face-to-face interviews. These interviews were designed to determine which candidate’s "skill set most closely matches the University’s needs and strategic direction." After the first round of interviews, Garcia was among the reduced number reportedly invited for a second interview.

If that was the case, even Garcia's selection by TIME Magazine as one Ten Best College Presidents of 2009 came a little too late to make a difference.

Garcia, who was the first female Hispanic president of a college or university in the U.S., was ninth on the list, sharing the plaudits with traditional academic and athletic powerhouses such as the University of Michigan and the University of Ohio.

However, the search committee might have been aware that under Garcia's watch, UTB-TSC recoiled from the scandal of massive "gross academic fraud" involving stolen tests and answers by students and staff. A police investigation found student employees and regular staff used their positions to steal test answers and sell them to students.

The search committee members might have also been aware that Garcia rode shotgun over the formation of the so-called "partnership" between the University of Texas University System and the Texas Junior Southmost College District where the resources of one of the most poverty-ridden areas of the country subsidized massive construction projects under the name of the UT system.

And the members of the committee might have also learned that she agreed that as part of the conditions to that "partnership" that poor little UTB-TSC would refrain from asking for money from the state's Permanent University Fund (gas and oil) in return for the prestige of placing UTB plaques on local taxpayer-funded structures.

Come to think of it, perhaps we'd have been better off if St. Juliet had been selected and our taxes would stop being the object of her largess to the UT System.

RUSTEBERG AND IMAGINE BROWNSVILLE: PUBLIC NEED NOT APPLY

By Juan Montoya

After getting a good old fashioned cuff behind the ears for excluding the people from the process of implementing a shadow government to oversee the vision of what their city should look like in the next decade, local banker Fred Rusteberg and his cronies are ready to compromise.

Well, sort of.

Our sources indicate that negative public perception of stories appearing in the Brownsville Herald under Emma Perez-Treviño's byline and in blogs that showed the so-called Comprehensive Planning and Coordination Board was meeting behind closed doors and out of the public eye, has prompted some members of the committee to approach journalists to attend their meetings.

However, we understand that these entreaties have been met with firm responses that unless the public is allowed to attend these meetings where the future of its city is to be decided, media types aren't willing to compromise the people's right to know.

"They want the newspaper people to attend, but they don't want the public at large to have any say so or sit in on the process where the leadership of the CPCB is to be chosen," they say.

The CPCB is the creation of local banker Fred Rusteberg.
It is the crown diamond of the $900,000 Imagine Brownsville pipe dream that was paid for by the people of the City of Brownsville in the waning days of former Mayor Eddie Treviño's term.

Its draft budget calls for $381,000, of which $206,000 would be in in-kind services that participating entities would provide, including $85,000 for an executive director.
The plan also calls for each of the seven participating entity to chip in $25,000 each to fund Imagine Brownsville's staff and projects for a yearly total of $175,000.
Additionally, Mayor Pat Ahumada said the bill should include another $800,000 already spent in city services and staff time.

"It's basically a group that has no transparency and is asking the public to fund it without accountability to anyone," he said.

Already, four entities have approved a so-called "Memorandum of Understanding" where they agreed to fund its operations for at least the first budget year. But as public criticism of Rusteberg's secret planning grows, the board members apparently felt that they had to quell the rising tide of criticism of its secret proceedings.

"It's stung them," said one source. "Now they're looking for a way to appease the public."

WASHINGTON PARK FOUNTAIN A SPOUT OF ITS FORMER GREATNESS

By Juan Montoya

When Mario Villarreal's father joined Mary Yturria and other City of Brownsville administrators way back in the 1960s to work on the Washington Park fountain, it was a city landmark known throughout the Valley.

"My dad helped Miss Yturria and the other people at PUB to get the fountain to shoot out water and synchronize the different colors so that it looked like the water was changing colors," remembered Villarreal, a local business man and former Brownsville Navigation District commissioner. "Now it's a shame for me to pass by there every day and see the condition it's in."

Mary Yturria, who spoke before the city commissioners years later, said that repairing the fountain to its former greatness was her personal dream. She recalled the children of the city and nearby towns gathering around the cement pool to collect water in bottles to take home with them.

"They thought the water would remain colored when they got home," she said with a smile.

Yturria's dream never became reality and hard times have fallen on the old fountain. The old tubing that made the water shoot in geysers and then diminish in size as the colored lights alternated eroded over time and had to be replaced. Today, the geysers are mere spouts of varying sizes that are colored by lights so dim they seem to be but of a single hue.

Recently, workmen were trying to get the water to shoot higher, but found that when the level of the water in the pool got too low, air seeped into the system and diminished the flow.

"When it gets to a certain level, air goes in the pipes and we have to purge it," said a worker. "The lights work, too, but they are not as bright as they used to be so they seem to be of only one color."

Villarreal had tried to work with the city to repair the fountain that was a source of pride for his late father. As a businessman who does extensive business in Mexico, he took it on his own to find the original replacement parts in the interior and passed along the information to the city.

"They already had a committee working on the fountain and they didn't pay much attention to what we told them," he said. "Instead they went out to other parts dealers in the United States and that's what we ended up with. It's nothing like what it used to be."

The committee reportedly spent thousands of city tax dollars to complete its job, but to Villarreal, the result left much to be desired.

"It makes me feel sad because I have a personal relationship with that fountain because my dad worked on it," he said. "If they ever decide to really restore it to its original condition, I am ready to help."

FOR EX-CONS: AFTER HARD TIME, HARDER TIMES AGAIN

By Juan Montoya

This Thanksgiving, Juan (not his real name) was glad to be a free man.

After almost eight years of being bounced around different facilities in the Texas Department of Corrections, a parole board had decided that he had shown the incentive to get an education (GED, ABA) and had kept his nose clean in the penitentiary.

Still a young man – he turned 28 recently – Juan had committed his crime (assault) when he was still in his teens. While on the inside, he had gotten certification in carpentry, construction, and air conditioning. He was eager to make a go at it on the outside.


After a long process, he was allowed to return to Brownsville. As soon as he got out, he reported to his parole officer, registered with the Project Rio, and looked ahead to rebuild his life.

He even enrolled in the University of Texas at Brownsville-Texas Southmost College for the upcoming semester.
At first, the parole requirements were just a nuisance.

Juan is restricted to stay at his home through electronic monitoring and is told how many hours he can be outside the home. While he is required to perform job search, he must be out of the house at 8:30 a.m. and be back by 12:30 p.m. The rest of the time he has to be inside the house.

"Who's going to hire me for four hours?" he asks. "One of my relatives has a construction company, but I can't work for him because the PO says that it shows favoritism. "Any way you look at it, nothing will add up to 30 hours in this way," he said."

There are other obstacles. For example:

1. Employers require that parolees get a Texas Worker I.D. Card (TWIC). Without such a card, they cannot work at the Port of Brownsville, or with any company that serves children as clients. Two companies at the port have offered Juan employment, but without the card, he can’t get on the premises. He can't even apply for slots in Project Rio because they “can’t hire ex-cons”

2. His PO constantly tells him and other that “if you don’t find a job, we're sending you back to jail?”

3. Juan has already seen several parolees sent back to prison because they can’t find a job in the local job market. With local unemployment hovering at 12.5 percent, even skilled people without records are having a hard time keeping a job if they have one. The system as it stands is basically programmed to make them fail.

4. We have a Border Wall. But undocumented immigrants still come across and work for $20 a day in construction. How can parolees compete with this cheap labor?

5. Parolees who do get interviewed for employment are also required to have a medical examination. At 27, he is too old to qualify under his parents' insurance policy. It will cost them more than $300 more per month to get him insured so he can get the exam. The exam itself, when paid in cash, will cost about $670.
"Why doesn’t the Texas Department of Criminal Justice give them the examination and certificate before they leave prison?" asks his mother.

6. The same applies to the requirement they attend a drug abuse program. Why, Juan asks, must he do this outside when he could have done this while he awaited his parole board decision? This makes it much harder for him to dedicate his time to job search. Surely, his parents say, the TDCJ already hires counselors who could conduct the seminars and not burden the parolee with this additional cost and travel.

7. Juan is not allowed to have access to all areas of his parents' home. If he did, it could help his elderly father mow his lawn and save their strained budget an additional $50. Juan can only watch from the inside through the window.

8. To date, Juan knows of no parolee for whom Project Rio has found a job. They are entirely on their own. It’s no wonder that in Harris County, more than 70 percent of the parolees return to prison.
His parents say that the TDCJ officials and Project Rio counselors must adjust to the reality around them. The parolees are trained with obsolete technology while they're inside, they say.

"Why teach someone how to overhaul a 1950 motor when what they will encounter outside is a 2010 model?" they ask.

There has been a 22 percent loss of jobs in South Texas since 1982. Parolees, if they are to be successfully integrated into the job market, must be equipped with 21st Century tools and skills.
Juan got several tattoos while he was inside which he is having removed. He was afraid that there would be retaliation by gangs inside if he didn’t get the “colors.” That alone acts as a barrier to get a job in Brownsville.

Even after all of this, Juan is still trying.

He has transportation, a home, attends all the required meetings, has a job offer, a telephone, and whatever else has been required of him, yet he feels that the constant demands of the Project Rio counselors and his Parole Officer almost make it seem that they are expecting him to fail.
His family cannot believe that this is the purpose of parole: to make it so difficult for a parolee immersed in a job market with an over 12.5 percent unemployment rate, without a TWIC, without a support group, and without financial help for drug abuse programs, medical examinations, etc., that they will be sent back to prison.
His parent, fortunately, are able to help Juan out. Others are facing an uphill fight.

"I am able to help my son because after a long life of work, I do have some resources to help him put back his life together," his father said. "Can you imagine others who don’t?"

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT FOR LIBERTARIANS, BUT...

By Juan Montoya

Being, as we are in South Texas, in the bottom rung of just about every socioeconomic indicator related to quality of life issues, it rankles me to see the Brownsville Herald once again rub our noses in the dirt by publishing articles such as Mark Lansbaum's defense of Freedom Newspapers founder R.C. Hoiles and his extremist views on public education.

Most of us believe that the opportunity to get an education somehow levels the playing field for those on the bottom. All questions of affirmative action aside, many of our parents still have a deep abiding faith that if only their offspring get a chance to get an education they will be better off than they were.

Not Lansbaum, or apparently, Freedom Newspapers.

In the Tuesday, Nov. 24, issue of the Brownsville Herald, this editorial writer basically says that public education is a bad thing. That public education has been foisted by the bad old government upon freedom loving individuals without their approval. Further, he says that the government has basically put the gun to the head of those that disagree with public education and forced them to pay (though taxes) for an educational system that shouldn't exist.

Let's look at our situation and where Brownsville Herald publisher R. Daniel Cavazos decided to publish this article.

Education levels are generally low in our area. The 2000 United States Census reported that 33 percent of the area’s adults, 25 years or older, had less than a ninth-grade education compared to 11 percent for the entire United States.

Poverty levels for the region are high. In 2000 some 35 percent of the population lived below the federal poverty level, compared to 12 percent for the United States. Hidalgo County has the highest poverty level in the entire United States, with 40 percent of all residents living below federal poverty level in 2000.

In the Brownsville Independent School District, where almost all students are Latino, the graduation rate is not much over half of students—53 percent. For ELLs, it's 27 percent.

Nearly 30 percent of Texas border residents have incomes below the poverty level, compared to 12 percent nationwide. Unemployment rates in the Valley range from 9-14 percent compared to single-digit levels for the state.

But aside from that, let's look at a couple,of facts that make this stance so hypocritical and, dare I say it, downright cynical.

The Brownsville Herald doesn't think twice about accepting advertising from this "gun-run" system of public education. In fact, its advertising managers seem to say that the more the better. They'll publish anything school lunch menus to school board meeting notices.

There's even a section – filled with district advertising – called Newspapers in Education. They even go into the public schools and promote school newspapers to hook students into reading the Brownsville Herald.

So what's with the purist conservative drivel about doing away with public schools because they intrude into an individual's liberties by taxing him/her for something that government shouldn't do? Perhaps they think that only those that can want – i.e., or can afford – an education should get one?

Ask Timo Hinojosa – one of the first Mexican-American members of the BISD – when children in the public schools would get schoolbooks based on the money their parents could pay. He'll tell you that in some schools in our poorest sections of the city such as Southmost and Las Prietas kids would get only parts of the texts, while in the well-to-do sections they would get the whole book.

Ah, Freedom!

Remember the National Defense Educational Act that pumped money into the public schools after Russia sent the first satellite into space in 1957? As a result, we met Kennedy's goal of putting a man on the moon before the Russkies, and even before our own stated schedule.

And if they're for real, have all Freedom Newspapers employees been required to forgo public education as a requirement of being employed there?

Or, for that matter, isn't Freedom benefiting from hiring people that have been educated by the larger mass as its reporters and editors, never mind its executives?

This type of editorial garbage is not only eccentric and in bad faith against our poor, worn-down population, it is downright cruel. It attacks the only avenue that a poverty-stricken population has to propel itself and its new generation out of this morass.

It's not like the people of South Texas haven't paid their dues. Check the casualty lists in our wars. Check how many federal ports of entry in the region contribute to the national treasury.

Purism may be good. And I'm sure local Libertarians Fred Drew and Ben Neece don't share these views. But in our context, to advocate mass ignorance in defense of individual rights in face of the our current cycle of poverty and misery is dishonest and insincere.

AFTER METEORIC CAREER AT NASA, HOMETOWN STAR MAY REAPPEAR

By Juan Montoya

Growing up the near the intersection of Van Buren and Seventh streets, Richard Sanchez was just one of the barrio boys.
The Cameron County courthouse on Harrison Street did not exist, and neither did the federal courthouse between Sixth and Seventh.
After school, the custom of the neighborhood friends was to go the the empty overgrown lots where the courthouse would eventually stand and hunt for lizards and other prey.
But once 4:30 p.m. came around, it didn't matter how good the hunting was or what the gang was doing, Richard would light out for his house.
"Where's Richard?" his friends would ask.
"Oh, it's time for Star Trek," another would answer.
Richard's passion even at that early age, was space. Whether it was reading about it, watching science fiction about space travel, or imagining he was in the outer fringes of the solar system, he lived and ate space.
Now, after 32 years of aerospace experience, he has reached the peak of a career that took him from dusty little Brownsville to the highest scientific and space-project responsibilities with private contractors like McDonnell Douglas and to the inner circles of NASA's upper management
Richard graduated from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering and then moved on to the national space agency. To the layman, things like System Development and Verification, Communications, Negotiations, Flight Design Management, Space Shuttle Simulator Training, Flight Dynamics & Trajectory Officer Training, and Mission Planning and Analysis sound like esoteric subjects.
To him, it was but another step on the quest for his dream.
After three decades in the business, he can rattle off his accomplishments like a mantra.
"I've had experience leading groups in International Project Management, Operations Management, Aerospace Engineering, Contractor Supervision, Space Shuttle Operations real-time Flight Control, Systems Integration, and stuff like that," he say matter-of-factly.
Sanchez also participated in NASA's Extreme Environment Mission Operations Project (NEEMO) where he managed directorate organizations for two NEEMO space flight analog missions in an underwater habitat. Among his specific responsibilities were included guiding participation in the evaluation missions and preparing and leading the process for the selection of ‘aquanaut’ candidates for three missions to the underwater habitat.
Think that's a mouthful?
How about his role as Deputy Manager for NASA Flight Surgeon training? In that capacity, he helped to implement training programs to help certify more flight surgeons for Space Shuttle and Space Station console duty than in any other time in the past.
Since 1985 to the present he has been the Senior Project Manager for Medical Operations/Space Medicine Division, Space Life Sciences Directorate.
He was also Operations Manager responsible for major scientific payloads on four Space Shuttle missions and as Jet Propulsion Engineering liaison, supported international payload customers, managed training and certification for international payload support groups (90 - 150 personnel) in shuttle real-time procedures and operations coordination, and directed real-time operations in the shuttle Payload Operations Control Center and payload Program Manager Support center.
What does all this mean?
He coordinated and integrated scientific payload customer Shuttle requirements for two Space Radar Laboratory mapping missions and the first high-energy particle physics experiment flown on the shuttle (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer).
On another mission, he also managed the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (mapped 80% of the world in nine days) and even saved major Payload Project from crisis due to sudden loss of the Project Manager.
He also managed the Space Shuttle flight design functions to ensure overall mission success of shuttle flights STS-32 and STS-37 and acted as Flight Controller in the Houston Mission Control Center for shuttle flights STS-61A and STS-61C. He has trained extensively in shuttle rendezvous operations.
But most of all, Richard likes his math. While at McDonnell Douglass, he performed launch window, trajectory, and orbital analysis for space shuttle missions. And he also developed algorithms for interplanetary launch window computer programs.
After a career at the highest levels of space technology, Sanchez is thinking of retiring and coming back home, perhaps even teaching local kids interested in space travel and technology.
"Students should be taught that everything is possible," he said. "The place where I grew up is now a parking lot for the federal courthouse, and that's kind of humbling. But change is inevitable. One has to learn how to deal with it and move on."
"This is the kind of person our university should be looking for," said UTB-TSC trustee Rene Torres. "Here's a hometown boy who achieved the highest levels in science and technology. What a role model he would make for those students who are dreaming of entering a science career."

RUSTEBERG’S PUBLICLY-FUNDED SHADOW GOVERNMENT CLOSER TO REALITY

By Juan Montoya
The local daily’s staff is stretched far too thin for it to cover all important public policy decisions made by every governmental entity.

That's probably why we didn't read that the majority of the members of Brownsville Public Utilities Board voted to accept a Memorandum of Understanding with the so-called Comprehensive Planning and Coordination Board invented by local banker Fred Rusteberg and his cabal of plotters to impose a shadow government on our city.

This "committee's" work does not come cheap. It is the crown diamond of the $900,000 Imagine Brownsville pipe dream that was paid for by the City of Brownsville in the waning days of former Mayor Eddie Treviño's term. It's draft budget calls for $381,000, of which $206,000 would be in in-kind services that participating entities would provide, including $85,000 for an executive director.

The plan also calls for each participating entity to chip in $25,000 each to fund Imagine Brownsville's staff and projects for a yearly total of $175,000.

Additionally, Mayor Pat Ahumada said another $800,000 already spent in city services and staff time should be included in the bill.

The plan purports to be a master plan that is expected to guide the community’s growth for the next 10 to 20 years. However, it carries no authority to force local entities to follow it.

Yesterday, during the PUB meeting, only Ahumada and member Ramon Hinojosa raised any doubts about the scheme to use public money to finance an appointed board of political sycophants and business lackeys.

"I asked them how long we were supposed to continue funding those $25,000," Hinojosa asked. "They couldn't tell me. Will it go on for the next 10 or 20 years?"

Ahumada , a strong critic of the whole Imagine Brownsville scheme, was even more acerbic in his questioning. He asked whether public money should be used to fund a body like the committee that is accountable to no one except its members and those who appointed them.

"There is no transparency and no accountability in this," he agreed.

Imagine Brownsville will be made up of the executive director of each entity (or a nominee by the majority of each) which in turn will appoint a private sector counterpart to form the whole committee.

The entities include the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, the Brownsville Community Improvement Committee, the Brownsville Public Utility Board, the Brownsville Navigation District, the Brownsville Independent School District, the University of Texas at Brownsville-Texas Southmost College, and the city.

The first three (GBIC, BCIC, and BPUB) are made up of members appointed by the city commission. That group will then oversee the activities of an executive director, a facilitator, a grant coordinator, a legal services staff member, and an administrator assistant.

Not all of these entities have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Imagine Brownsville to come under its umbrella and fork out $25,000 a year for its operating budget. Only the BCIC and the PUB haves jumped on board so far.

"Whether it's the GBIC, the BCIC, of the BPUB, the money is coming out of the same pocket," Hinojosa contended. "It's city taxpayers footing the bill."

And, even with a so-called Memorandum of Understanding, the legality of such an entity running roughshod over the entire local governmental landscape is questionable .

"They (members) can only recommend," Hinojosa said. "They can't force anyone to follow what they recommend."

In fact, City Attorney Mark Sossi said that the so-called Comprehensive Planning and Coordination Board is an "informal" entity and is not subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act. However, plans by this board are already on the boards to guide the social, economical and educational development of this area without public accountability.

In other words, local residents or elected governmental bodies cannot hold this shadow group accountable to anyone except for the members of the board itself.

Critics also point out that since the Imagine Brownsville "master plan" was not really a planning instrument such as the one in place by the City of Brownsville, it is hard to see how future city commissions can be forced to comply with the goals set forth by this ad-hoc entity.

"A real plan includes changes in the codes of the different departments and ordinance changes that must go through the public-hearing process," said a former city planner. "In either of those cases, this Imagine Brownsville master plan doesn't meet those criteria. And aren't we forgetting that the city already has a master plan required by the state and federal governments?"

Ahumada contends that the "plan" amounted to an accumulation of existing plans and U.S. Census information.

Further, he said that no other entity such as the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College or the Brownsville Public Utilities Board contributed to its $900,000 cost. "The residents of the city are picking up the whole tab and this unelected committee is going to use public funds to operate it," said Ahumada. "Who are they accountable to?"

The "plan" is 470-pages long and is a compilation of suggestions held in forums held across the city by its organizers. However, as Emma Perez-Treviño points out in a recent Brownsville Herald article, the CPCB has met to organize its future "coordination" with no public oversight or participation. This is intriguing in that this group's stated aim is to guide the direction of the city's future.

I'LL HAVE THE DELUXE, PLEASE!

By Juan Montoya

Not content to already have students pay some of the highest tuition and user fees in the state, the TSC Board of Trustees continued its high-living ways and approved the completion of a $640,000 mural to be painted on the front of the school’s new library.

Either the board members – with the notable exception of Rene Torres – haven't figured out that we live in one of the most economically distressed areas in the United States with high poverty levels and comparatively low wages or they don't care.

More than $400,000 of the cost will come from the $68 million bond issue passed by college district taxpayers. The rest will come from the UTB general budget.

"This is not the time to spend," Torres told the local daily. "That money can be used for something else — add a new room to the library or buy more computers."
More than $400,000 of the cost will come from the $68 million bond issue from Brownsville taxpayers, money that has been designated for the school’s construction projects. But the additional funding will come from the UTB general budget, money that could have been used for many other purposes.
The new library, which opened in August, will hold only a third of the school’s books compared to the old facility. David Oliveira, the chair of the TSC Board of Trustees, said the aesthetics of the mural makes it worth the more than one-half million price tag.

"I think that anything you can do to make your campus nicer helps you recruit students, recruit faculty, and get great programs," Oliveira told the Brownsville Herald. "This is a mural that we believe is going to be a spot that a lot of people will come to and remember. It will give our campus a uniqueness that will help us stand out."
The bond issue passed in 2004, but only after taxpayers rejected an original issue for $97 million to fund construction.
The administrators then pulled out all the stops and promised residents a new library. The issue was scaled down to $68 million and voters approved the tax.
Oliveira said he agreed that the mural was costly, but said that beauty comes with a price.
"You could build all your buildings with the ugliest features and spend less money," Oliveira told the paper.

EXCUSE ME IF MY PRIDE IS SHOWING...

By Juan Montoya

Once in a while it's good to step back and give thanks for the good things that happen to those close to us.

I take this opportunity to congratulate my son Miguel Angel Montoya for a job well done in this Saturday's UIL competition. About 400 students from five middle schools (including Oliveira Middle School where he attends) were in competition in different subjects.

I am proud to say that Miguel won first place in graphs, charts and maps among sixth graders in the competition. I wish I could take credit for this achievement, but Miguelito is just a natural in the subject.

And to all the other winners and competitors, good work.

Congratulations son! Job well done.

A CALL TO ARMS

By Juan Montoya

Shall we sit idly by as a shadow government is imposed upon us?

Is indifference the mark of a sunshine patriot?

These are not idle statements made by someone who has nothing else to do but twiddle his thumbs.

This is a warning that what is happening in Brownsville now is the wresting of self governance and handing the right to control your own destiny to an economic and political elite that seeks to shape a future in its own image, not ours.

I speak of the pustch being engineered by IBC president Fred Rusteberg. Let's call a spade a spade. For years, Rusteberg and his bunch have virtually run the city. They have unilaterally decided which way our future has run.

As private businessmen,that's par for the course. But now that the he wants us to fund his pogrom, it's time to tell him (and them) we're not playing, or paying.

As outlined in Perez-Treviño's article in the Brownsville Herald, Rusteberg and his cronies have constructed a COMINTERN of Imagine Brownsville to be be made up of the executive directors of governmental entities (or a nominee by the majority of each) which in turn will appoint a private sector counterpart to form the whole committee.The entities include the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, the Brownsville Community Improvement Committee, the Brownsville Public Utility Board, the Brownsville Navigation District, the Brownsville Independent School District, the University of Texas at Brownsville-Texas Southmost College, and the city.
They have as their aim control of the city's future. No more, no less.

Given the current political situation, a majority of the city commission will probably ignore the wishes of the majority of the city voters and appoint someone else than the mayor to represent the people on that "committee."

The first three entities (GBIC, BCIC, and BPUB) are made up of members appointed by the city commission.That group will then oversee the activities of an executive director, a facilitator, a grant coordinator, a legal services staff member, and an administrator assistant.There is only one catch, however. Not all of these entities have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Imagine Brownsville to come under its umbrella and fork out $25,000 a year for its operating budget.

Only the BCIC has jumped on board so far. It figures, Charley Atkinson is the chairman of that bunch, and we all know he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

But what about us?

Revolutions have started for less causes than this. This bunch wants public money to operate without ever having gone to the public for its approval, much less election.

Remember what the U.S. revolution was about? Remember taxation without representation?

This is what, at its crux, this is all about. How can we allow these economic powers to manipulate a democratically elected government and stand silently by? Have the sacrifices of our veterans and dead soldiers been in vain?

You make up your mind. I shudder to think that my destiny and that of my children will be decided by a megalomaniac and his sycophants. Either we're real Americans or we live in a time and space that mocks the real meaning of a democratically elected government.

LAURA BETANCOURT TURNS IN OSCAR-WINNING PERFORMANCE

By Juan Montoya

Billed as a"Red Carpet Extravaganza," the $100 a person reception to kick off Cameron County Court-at-Law No. 2 Judge Laura Betancourt's bid for a second term was nothing short of a choreographed announcement of a sure thing.

Held at La Cantera Events Center in Brownsville, it was filled to capacity with anyone who's anyone in Cameron County judicial and legal circles. Latecomers (it started at 6 p.m.) had to drive to the back parking lot and maneuver past tall grass and puddles after the spaces in the front parking lot and across the street overflowed. Precinct 2 Constable Pete Avila's deputies had their hands full directing traffic and keeping traffic flowing.

Here and there political opponents such as Ernie Hernandez and Ernesto De Leon chatted amiably as they waited in line to get a refreshment. Both are former city commissioners vying for the Precinct 2 commissioner's seat now held by John Wood, who did not attend. However, his campaign assistant Gabino Vasquez was there as his proxy. Their opponent (there's seven of them), the Rev. Victor Alvarez also worked the crowd.

In the rear, by the wall, District Judge Arturo Cisneros Nelson chatted with a lawyer. Toward the middle of the room, Count-at-Law Judge Arturo McDonald (a former teacher and unopposed candidate for re-election) talked shop with Hudson Elementary Principal Dr. Rita Hernandez.

All around, various lawyer, elected officials, court personnel and bailiffs, and politiqueras (now called political consultants), milled about and helped themselves to the buffet table in the middle of the room.

Former Brownsville Navigation District commissioner and Mistress of Ceremonies Evelon Dale was only slightly more syrupy than the rum and coke. Dale has become something of a public relations innovator. The night's theme was a Night at the Oscars, with financial contributors to the event listed as nominees, with a few big winners getting Oscars depending on the size of the contribution.

Off to the side local Legal Eagle Ruben Herrera talked it up with PUB member Emmanuel Vasquez who was joined by Democratic candidate for county judge Eddie Trevino and a few others. Herrera, a court heavyweight, said he didn't know that Vasquez had been a standout halfback while playing touch football as a youngster in Southmost's Cromack Elementary.

Trevino, obviously not a draft prospect, nodded agreeably nearby.

Given the attendance and the quality of those who forked over the C-note to enter, it is obvious that no one in their right mind is going to run against Laura in next year's Democratic primary. Standing in her entourage as she hugged her Oscar, brother David Betancourt and sister Lali beamed as the mariachi strains filled the room. If half of the people that sympathize with Laura side with David in the coming election for county treasurer, he might benefit by riding Laura's train.

Justice of the Peace Tony Torres, also facing reelection, said he could not imagine how someone could afford to challenge Laura. Torres is also running unopposed as of today. But you know county politics. Challengers have until January to announce.

A partial listing of those present were Pct. 1 commissioner Sofie Benavides, JP Linda Salazar, Judge Rolando Olvera, Municipal Judge John Willilams, Judge Ben Euresti, Judge Gilbert Rosas, city commission Anthony Troiani, BND commissioner Carlos Masso, County Clerk Joe Rivera, Judge David Sanchez, Port Isabel JP Benny Ochoa, District Judge Janet Leal, city commissioner Rick Longoria, and BISD member Rick Zayas .

Some candidates for office (besides those already mentioned) included Leonel Garza, Hector Pena, BND commissioner Martin Arambula, David Gonzales, and Dolores Zarate.

As successful as Laura's "extravaganza" was, we wonder whether the theme pachanga will catch on. We can already envision a Thanksgiving theme with prizes for best turkey, a country theme with best hillbilly, a cholo theme with best homey and Baby Doll, etc.,

But perhaps we just should quit while we're ahead.

VILLALOBOS GOES PRE-EMPTIVE FORUM SHOPPING

By Juan Montoya

David Gonzales, candidate for judge of Cameron County Court at Law 3 must be feeling pretty good just about now.

Gonzales, whose last foray into elective politics ended in disaster when he ran against King Eddie Lucio III, now has the unabashed support of sitting Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos.

The most visible indication of the support for Gonzales (also a III) were the invitations mailed to county residents for a Nov. 18 "Meet and Greet" shindig at Blanquita's Restaurant in San Benito. On the front of the glossy postcard-size invitation, smiling Dave was bookended by San Benito Mayor (left) Jack Garcia and on the other side by Armando (DA Man) himself.

We can't remember the last time any county DA even endorsed a candidate to a judgeship. In fact, this may be the first time this has happened as far as anyone can remember.

A few of us were sitting at Juanita's Cafe on International Blvd. pondering this question when one of the cynics at the table suggested that if Gonzales beat Dolores Zarate and Everardo Garcia, the DA's office would have a friend in that court.

Of course, anybody can say anything. But come to think of it, if the DA's office wants a quickie search or arrest warrant, wouldn't the court of someone you supported publicly be the most logical place to ask?

We'll see what happens come primary time. However, if the race comes down to a runoff, then the drawing power of the suave Armando may not be as widespread as many would think. Stay tuned.

THE RODRIGUEZ COSA NOSTRA TRIES TO PLUG THE DIKE

By Juan Montoya
Not content with having had their cake for the last 40 odd years living it up at the Brownsville Independent School District, Athletic Director Joe Rodriguez and his minions are trying at all costs to keep the truth from the Brownsville residents who have subsidized their entire professional lives.

In the latest move to keep district taxpayers in the dark, Rodriguez’s legal team went before 444th District Court Judge David Sanchez Wednesday to get orders of deposition for BISD board member Catalina Presas-Garcia, Accion America President Carlos Quintanilla and (ready?) El Rrun Rrun Blog writer Juan Montoya.

Rodriguez, et al, want to know how it was that Presas-Garcia, Quintanilla and Montoya got hold of two reports written on alleged wrongdoing by Rodriguez while he has been athletic director. More specifically, the Rodriguez hitmen want to know the source of the reports and how these three people got them.

Copies of the reports – which by the way have been circulating locally and in cyberspace for months – were turned over to the Cameron County District Attorney’s office by Presas-Garcia so he could investigate the allegations of abuse of district (public) resources and personnel to benefit Rodriguez’s fundraising efforts on behalf of his nonprofit.

The nonprofit used district resources and personnel to raise funds for give two scholarships annually to each of the five high schools. However, the amounts raised were nowhere near the totals handed out. There have even been reports that some of that money ended up in private bank accounts.

AcciónAmerica president Carlos Quintanilla said his organization was mailed the reports along with a Freedom of Information Act request from the office of Public Information Officer Drue Brown.

"We opened the envelope up and there they were," he said. "We don't know who gave them to Cata. From what we can tell, a lot of people got those reports. We didn't give them to Cata."

In a posting called Monday, October 12 AccionAmerica Battles BISD Mano-a-Mano, El Rocinante also posted a comment that listed a GMail address where readers could obtain the reports. That address was .http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3Y95w_cDQ6CMTUyNWFjZDMtOTAzMC00OWFkLWExYzUtNWZkZDhkNGE3NGU1&hl=en .
Now, we don't know why the Rodriguez Dream Team is so aghast at letting people in the district know what the AD has been doing with their money all this time, but we agree with the Texas Attorney General's Office that theses public documents relating to a public employee, and paid with public funds should be open to the public.
Is there something wrong with that?

They forum shopped for the right judge(David Sanchez) to give them everything they wanted. They shopped wisely, for Sanchez, who was placed as Democratic chairman by former County Judge Gilbert Hinojosa, was then anointed to the 444th by the same machine. He won against longtime judge Gilbert Rosas, much to every one's surprise.

When El Rrun-Rrun listed the links to the reports, we urged Coach Joe to Email us his response. After all, Rodriguez wrote (of course it wasn't him!) in a lengthy article in the Brownsville Herald complaining that the his responses weren't included in the reports that Presas-Garcia forwarded to the DA.

Now, after all that, he wants to make her seem like the spoilsport in all this.
Coach, you've been milking a loss to Seguin in the late 1960s as your ticket to run amok as a cacique in the district for decades. Now that the jig is up, you want to keep the patronage going through your descendants. Isn't it time to give it up and just go quietly away?

We don't want to hear about the football player who was injured when you went to visit him at the hospital and all he wanted to know was whether the Golden Eagles had won the game. Yeah, I know, it makes me want to cry, too, just like you do after a few beers at the bar and keep telling that story over and over again.
We want to know what's up with the reports and why you and your underlings want to keep them under wraps at all costs. If you have nothing to hide, let them out. If you don't, the opposite applies.
P.S. Those Southmost gals are tough, Joe. Be careful.

IBC'S RUSTEBERG CREATES UNACCOUNTABLE SHADOW GOVERNMENT

By Juan Montoya

Nearly everything's in place for the coup d'etat planned for the takeover of democratically-elected government in the greater Brownsville area engineered by local banker Fred Rusteburg and his handpicked cadre of political lackeys, businessmen and developers.

The plan – at a cost of $900,000 – was paid for by the City of Brownsville in the waning days of former Mayor Eddie Treviño's term. Called Imagine Brownsville, it purports to be a master plan that is expected to guide the community’s growth for the next 10 years.

However, except for the 300 community residents who were shepherded through its compilation by its paid contractors, it carries no authority to force local entities to follow it.

In fact, City Attorney Mark Sossi said that the so-called Comprehensive Planning and Coordination Board is an "informal" entity and is not subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act.

However, plans by this board are already on the boards to guide the social, economical and educational development of this area without public accountability.

In other words, local residents or elected governmental bodies cannot hold this shadow group accountable to anyone except for the members of the board itself.

Furthermore, since the Imagine Brownsville "master plan" was not really a planning instrument such as the one in place by the City of Brownsville, it is hard to see how future city commissions can be forced to comply with the goals set forth by this ad-hoc entity.

"A real plan includes changes in the codes of the different departments and ordinance changes that must go through the public-hearing process," said a former city planner. "In either of those cases, this Imagine Brownsville master plan doesn't meet those criteria. And aren't we forgetting that the city already has a master plan required by the state and federal governments?"

Mayor Pat Ahumada, a critic of his predecessor's lame-duck move contends that the "plan" amounted to an accumulation of existing plans and U.S. Census information. Further, he said that no other entity such as the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College or the Brownsville Public Utilities Board contributed to its $900,000 cost.
Additionally, Ahumada said another $800,000 in city services and staff time should be included in the bill.
"The residents of the city are picking up the whole tab and this unelected committee is going to use public funds to operate it," said Ahumada. "Who are they accountable to?"

The mayor said he had to dissent from the plan on principle. The rest of the city commission approved the plan in July. The commission has not approved the proclamation accepting the Memorandum of Understanding.
The "plan" is 470-pages long and is a compilation of suggestions held in forums held across the city by its organizers.

However, as Emma Perez-Treviño points out in a recent Brownsville Herald article, the CPCB has met to organize its future "coordination" with no public oversight or participation. This is intriguing in that this group's stated aim is to guide the direction of the city's future.

As outlined in Perez-Treviño's article, the COMITERN of Imagine Brownsville will be made up of the executive director of each entity (or a nominee by the majority of each) which in turn will appoint a private sector counterpart to form the whole committee.

The entities include the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, the Brownsville Community Improvement Committee, the Brownsville Public Utility Board, the Brownsville Navigation District, the Brownsville Independent School District, the University of Texas at Brownsville-Texas Southmost College, and the city.

The first three (GBIC, BCIC, and BPUB) are made up of members appointed by the city commission.

That group will then oversee the activities of an executive director, a facilitator, a grant coordinator, a legal services staff member, and an administrator assistant.

There is only one catch, however. Not all of these entities have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Imagine Brownsville to come under its umbrella and fork out $25,000 a year for its operating budget. Only the BCIC has jumped on board so far.

Rusteberg noted that the plan is "really a beginning" and a "call to action for all of us to work together."

In other words, what Rusteberg and his cadre will be able to do is to direct the economic development of the city and its entities toward a future of their own liking. A recent critic of the plan noted that there is no component in this "plan" for services to veterans.

"How can it be called comprehensive plan if they left out veterans?" he asked. "We are over 24,000 in the county, most of them in the Brownsville area."

Will the entities in the Imagine Brownsville takeover plan willingly abdicate their responsibilities to the residents who elected them through the democratic process to a group hand-picked by the likes of Rusteberg and his fellow bankers and businessmen, some of who are directly responsible for financing politicians' elections?

Unless this Juggernaut is stopped in its tracks by the citizens of Brownsville, democratically-elected representation in the city will be an illusion.

CHELO SILVA, LIKE HER HISTORY, SHUNNED IN BROWNTOWN

By Juan Montoya

We have written in the past about the fire that destroyed the 123 Lounge, an institution on Brownsville's 14th Street strip of honky-tonks and beer joints.

But while owner Javier Ruiz is busily rebuilding the bar, someone reminded us that before it was a tavern, it was also a restaurant owned by none other than the parents of Chelo Silva, one of the pioneers of traditional Mexican music. In fact, she used to wait on tables for her parents.

Her biographers say that Chelo, called La Reina del Bolero (Queen of the Bolero), reigned over Tejano music scene with her romantic ballads and passionate performances in 1940s and into the 1960s.

She was born Consuelo Silva on August 25, 1922, in Brownsville, the oldest of seven children. She began singing as a teenager at school and in her church (Guadalupe Catholic Church on Lincoln Street). In fact, locals say her first public performance was at a Guadalupe Church Kermess.

Pharmacist Vincent Crixell says Chelo had been noticed by local musicians while still in her early teens. A few years later, she was singing regularly with a local group, the Tito Crixell Orchestra, headed by Vincent's father.

"Chelo performed in the first Charro Days in 1938," he remembered. "My dad had to ask permission from her parents so she could sing."

Her online biography said Chelo made her mark on a wider audience in 1939 when she was asked to sing on a local radio program hosted by the poet, composer, and author Americo Paredes.

That radio show gave her wider exposure and opened the doors for her. It wasn't long before she was performing regularly at Corpus Christi's Continental Club. Silva also later married, and divorced, Paredes.
However, breaking into recordings was difficult for Chelo and it wasn't until she was 30 that she landed her first record deal with Discos Falcón of McAllen, Texas, where she would go on to record over seventy titles.
Liner notes on a compilation of her hits indicate that by 1955 she signed with Columbia Records. The move paid off almost immediately as Silva put together an impressive string of hit songs, including “Imploración,” “Esta Sellado,” “Sabes de Que Tenga Ganas,” “Soy Bohemia,” “Inolvidable,” and “Amor Aventurero.”

A few bars in her old neighborhood have Silva's recording on their jukeboxes, notably Willy Garza's Border Lounge, Maria's El Siete Mares, and Mike Chapa's La Catorce Bar. Most of the bars on Market Square also have her most popular songs on disc.

"Many people in my generation remember Chelo," Garza recalled. "We kind of grew up with her music."
The success of the Columbia recordings led to several touring opportunities throughout the Southwest and Mexico, including tours with then-notable stars such as José Alfredo Jiménez, Javier Solis, Vicente Fernández, and Lola Beltrán.

By the 1960s, Silva was the most well known of the female Spanish-language singers, her popularity reaching outside the United States and into Latin America.
Silva died of cancer in 1988 at the age of sixty-five. Fortunately for fans and historians, much of her music has resurfaced in the form of reissues and compilations. Following the death of the Tejana superstar Selena, there was a resurgence in the root music that had paved the way for younger generations.
In 1995, Arhoolie Records released “Chelo Silva,” a best-of collection that includes some of Silva's most-loved songs, including “Imploración,” “Esta Sellado,” and “Amor Aventurero.” Now, after her death, Chelo Silva remains one of the most influential figures in the history of Mexican music. And where do you think Chelo is best remembered?

Not in her hometown, that's for sure. Except for some indications that Chicano-In-Residence Meme Maldonado at UTB-TSC is working on yet another cultural documentary, no one seems to remember that Chelo put Brownsville on the musical map.

Yet, the program at last year's Water Street Market Music, Art and Surf Fest held in June 6, 2008, included tributes to Chelo alongside rock legend Bill Haley.

"Brownsville is like that," Ruiz said. "We would rather recognize people from outside than to remember our own artists."

IS JUDGE NELSON ASKING AN EYE FOR AN EYE?

By Juan Montoya

If our sources are right (and they usually are), we understand that Judge Arturo Cisneros Nelson will order that the county pay for a costly retinal procedure for convicted child murderer John Allen Rubio.

Apparently, Rubio has developed problems with his retina and petitioned the court to provide the medical procedure to have it corrected.

The cost for the procedure is estimated by some county insiders to be somewhere around $100,000.

"I guess Rubio wants to correct his eyesight before he gets executed," one said.

The tab for the retrial of baby murderer Rubio is past $226,000 and rising.
Add that to the cost of the first trial, and it becomes clear that the case will continue to drain Cameron County's indigent defense fund.
The tab for Rubio's first trial in 2003 has not been released by the Cameron County Auditor's Office, but if this latest retrial is any indication, the use of expert witnesses, defense attorneys, and other miscellaneous costs will push it way past the $500,000 mark.

Rubio, a Porter High School graduate, was found guilty November 2003 on three counts of capital murder in the deaths of his children Julissa Quesada, 3, John E. Rubio, 14 months, and Mary Jane Rubio, 2.

His attorneys Ed Stapleton and Nat Lopez have been the beneficiaries of the county's generosity with their fees approaching $100,000 each. In his appeal of the conviction on his first trial, Rubio claimed that he had not been allowed to question his accuser after his wife (also charged in the case) testified in court.
Given the fact that the state is seeking a capital murder conviction, the county is under obligation to provide Rubio's defense attorneys with the experts, lab work, psychiatrists, etc., as they might deem necessary.

"Now Nelson wants him to get his eyes fixed," groused a county employee. "What next, plastic surgery?"

CATALINA PRESAS-GARCIA TAKES ON THE BOYS AGAIN

By Juan Montoya

Go early and get front-row seats to watch the latest scrap between BISD board member Catalina Presas-Garcia and the majority of the board.

The latest confrontation is heralded in seemingly innocuous agenda item 10 and in an action item having to do with litigation after the members meet in executive session.

Sources in the district say that the majority of the board (board president Rolando Aguilar and Trustees Joe Colunga, Ruben Cortez Jr. and Rick Zayas) will introduce a motion to hire the Harlingen law firm of Denton, Navarro, Rocha & Bernal, P.C. to conduct an investigation into alleged wrongdoing against former Special Needs director Art Rendon.

The same firm performed the investigation of former Superintendent Hector Gonzales.

To Presas-Garcia, having yet another investigation into Special Needs smacks of costly duplication.

"Why do we really need to have essentially the same investigation redone?" she said. "What could they possibly find out that they didn't find out when they investigated the superintended and Special Needs?"

On Jan. 12 BISD's current board placed Gonzales on administrative leave with pay and ordered an investigation of him and the BISD Special Services Department.

On May 12, the same majority proposed Gonzales' termination "for good cause" and hired Navarro to prosecute the case against him. The board said at the time that Gonzales would receive all of the protections afforded him under Chapter 21 of the Texas Education Code.
Gonzales received a letter outlining the allegations against him and appealed to Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott, who then appointed Guerra as hearing examiner.

The TEA hearing officer sided with the district and Gonzales has appealed the findings.

The Brownsville Herald made requests under the Texas Public Information Act for the report by the Navarro law firm about its investigation, as well as Gonzales' termination letter.

However, since the firm was working the litigation for the district, the district claimed the documents are protected under attorney-client privilege and refused to reveal the information that was used as a justification for the firing. It wasn't until Gonzales requested an open hearing that the alleged improprieties were aired.

"This is just more of the same," Presas-Garcia said. "They're up to their old tricks."

Trustees Dr. Enrique Escobedo, Catalina Presas-Garcia and Minerva Peña usually vote together against the majority. However, when Presas-Garcia gave the Cameron County District Attorney copies of two reports made on allegations of possible wrongdoing by BISD Athletic Director Joe Rodriguez, she was left on her own by the other two.

The Texas Attorney General's Office issued an opinion saying the district should make the reports available to the public, but the BISD sued the AG in a Travis County courthouse to quash their release.

Presas-Garcia argues that the majority ought to hold Rodriguez to the same standard they are holding Gonzales.
She said the reports show that Rodriguez violated numerous BISD policies, but that the investigation of Gonzales and BISD's Special Services Department has turned up no alleged policy violations.

At their Tuesday meeting, there item number 10 calls for a discussion and review of Public Information Requests procedures for process of the request and include the Open Records Act.

"I understand that Joe Rodriguez asked for my personnel file," she said. "I don't have anything to hide. He can look at anything he wants. But there are some people that will be very uncomfortable when they open up theirs."

Presas-Garcia said that she wants to know why the nonprofit corporation that Rodriguez set up for his scholarship fundraiser used district employees, resources and equipment to hold the events. Also, she said that two students per each of the five high schools received from $250 to $350 scholarships when the nonprofit raised around $25,000.

"That still leaves some $18,000 unaccounted for," she said. "There have been some reports that someone saw transfers made to to personal accounts. I'm really interested to look into some of that."

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ALIVE AND WELL: TIME PICKS GARCIA

By Juan Montoya

Mmm, let's see if we've got this right.

If you are the president of a hybrid university-community college (UTB-TSC) and you:

1. Engineered the overthrow of the former college president so you could be named president,

2. Built a new $12.5 million library in such a way that there is room on the shelves to handle only one-third of the books that were available to students in the old library. In other words, two-thirds of the books will be missing.The new building – to be paid with part of a $68 million local taxpayer bond issue – will only be able to hold 100,000 of the university’s total collection of 300,000 books. As a result of this brilliant management, students will have to wait until books are available to them to study,

3. Presided over a massive "gross academic fraud" involving stolen tests and answers by students and staff. A police investigation found student employees and regular staff used their positions to steal test answers and sell them to students,

4. Rode shotgun over the formation of the so-called "partnership" between the University of Texas University System and the Texas Junior Southmost College District where the resources of one of the most poverty-ridden areas of the country subsidized massive construction projects under the name of the UT system,

5. Agreed as part of the conditions to that "partnership" that poor little UTB-TSC would refrain from asking for money from the state's Permanent University Fund (gas and oil) in return for the prestige of placing UTB plaques on local taxpayer funded structures;

TIME Magazine will name you – Juliet V. Garcia – one of the Ten Best College Presidents of 2009.
Garcia, the first female Hispanic president of a college or university in the U.S., shares the distinction alongside Mary Sue Coleman, of the University of Michigan, and Gordon Gee, the president of Ohio State University, among others.

Does anybody really think that UTB-TSC ranks alongside these two institutions?

It is rumored that the Vatican is also looking at the canonization of Garcia and has at least one witness who testified she saw the college president walking across the Ft. Brown Resaca late at night as the fog descended on the institution.

However, St. Juliet might have to wait her turn. Apparently, the Church has its share of female Latina saints already on board.

WHY RE-INVENT THE WHEEL?

By Juan Montoya

(Editor's note) South Texas is on the cusp of entering the wind energy industry. Meanwhile, other regions of the country have already experienced the advent of this renewable energy source. In southwest Minnesota, from where the following article is excerpted, they have been coping with wind power and have a few things that they could teach us.)

The last time I spoke with Cameron County Tax-Assessor Tony Yzaguirre was to provide him with information on how communities in southwest Minnesota were benefitting from the taxation of wind turbines in their communities.

I provided Yzaguirre with information concerning tax rates on the energy produced, and not necessarily on the taxation of the area of land where the turbines were constructed.

After waiting a few weeks, I ran into Yzaguirre again. I asked him if he had perused the information I had left for him at his office. He said he had, but that our state representatives would not dare tax the corporations behind the wind turbines. He said the political will to enact legislation to allow communities to get a portion of the bounty generated by the turbines simply did not exist.

However, as these turbines advance toward South Texas, it would be beneficial if we knew what the experience of other regions and communities with renewable energy has been. Why re-invent the wheel?

From the Worthington, Minnesota Daily Globe

WORTHINGTON (Mn.) – The Rural Minnesota Energy Board and the Association of Minnesota Counties have identified the wind turbine production tax as their No. 1 priority to be resolved in the upcoming legislative session. What they want is for the state to reverse its 2008 action that calculated production tax payments into a county’s maximum levy. The move limited a county’s ability to finance projects.
Both Nobles and Jackson counties have a keen eye on the outcome of the production tax issue, as major wind farm projects are planned for construction in each county in 2010.
In Nobles County, enXco is planning a 201-megawatt Nobles Wind Farm to consist of 134 turbines. The wind farm will be concentrated in Olney, Dewald, Larkin and Summit Lake townships.
In neighboring Jackson County, two projects are being developed for 2010 construction. Iberdrola Renewables will erect 58 turbines in Enterprise and Wisconsin townships near Jackson, while enXco plans to construct 134 turbines in Heron Lake and Hunter townships near Lakefield.
Nobles County Commissioner David Benson, who is also former chairman of the Rural Minnesota Energy Board (RMEB), said he was among those that fought hard to get the wind energy production tax in place. Now the counties are back where they started.
Initially when wind turbines began cropping up in rural Minnesota, counties were only collecting a tax on the base and the tower — a mere 10 percent of the value of the turbine, said Benson.
“We, on the Rural Minnesota Energy Board, said that’s ridiculous — there’s not enough income to the local entities,” he added.
Eventually, RMEB backed a plan in which counties would collect property taxes on 30 percent of the assessed value of the entire tower — including the nacelle, which is the turbine’s generator. Benson said the nacelle is 90 percent of a turbine’s overall value.
Not long after the state changed the tax formula, one of the major wind energy companies took Lincoln County to tax court on the issue. Benson said the legal fight lasted for about 18 months and ended in a settlement. Still, the county was left with a legal bill of more than $100,000.
“We saw that as just not fair,” said Benson.
The next year, RMEB convinced the state that the Minnesota Department of Revenue needed to do the assessments on wind towers and defend that assessment in a court of law if necessary.
As time went on and towers depreciated in value — at least on paper — the Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED) Coalition went to work to developing a tax that would be collected based on the amount of energy production from each turbine.
The wind energy production tax went into effect in 2003.
“This was something that was supposed to be in addition to what the normal state aid is,” said Benson.
It was extra money until it was taken away by the Minnesota Legislature in 2008.
“Two years ago, this was all gravy for the counties,” said Nobles County Assessor Byron Swart. “Lincoln, Murray and Pipestone (counties) had big (wind turbine developments), so they got the most money.”
Swart said those counties could do special projects with the additional money coming in through the production tax — projects in which the county didn’t have to go to the taxpayers with either bonding projects or property tax increases.
“With the money (Nobles County) could build a library,” said Swart.
That would certainly be an option, agreed Benson. However, if the state does reverse its decision on the disbursement of production tax revenue, he said he would like to see the money spent on things like roads and bridges, or programs that reduce crimes and benefit families.
“Transporting these large loads has an impact on our roads,” said Benson. “We have so many needs. We may lose our program aid, and I would like to put (the tax revenue) into preventive work.”
In 2009, Nobles County collected approximately $125,000 in wind energy production tax dollars from 37 turbines. That money, in essence, reduced what the county could levy in property taxes. Residents see a slight tax break as a result of the state’s change, but it has ramifications for counties already struggling to keep within their budgets.
It will only get worse if changes aren’t made to the formula before the 2010 wind farm developments are completed.
Swart said Nobles County anticipates property tax revenues from turbines to jump to more than $1 million by the time the turbines are fully online and producing energy in 2012.
In Jackson County, Auditor-Treasurer Kevin Nordquist said the county collected $219,000 in wind energy production tax revenue in 2009. Of that, the county retained $175,000, while $31,000 went to the townships where wind turbines are located, and $13,000 was paid to the school districts.
In 2010, with school districts taken out of the funding formula for wind energy production tax revenue, 80 percent of the tax stays with the county and the remaining 20 percent goes to the township. Nordquist said Jackson County will collect $350,000 and the townships will get $90,000. The county currently has 114 wind turbines in production.
“We do not expect to see full production revenues from the new towers until payable 2013,” Nordquist said. By then, the county will have approximately 306 towers in operation, generating an estimated $1.34 million in wind energy production tax revenue for the county and townships.
The hope now is that before those new turbines come on line, the state will no longer tie production tax revenues to levy limits.
“Wind development is occurring in areas where we didn’t think it ever would,” said Benson, adding that with more counties realizing the tax formula needs to change, more support is being gathered to present to the legislature.
Benson said areas of the state that initially didn’t seem conducive to wind energy production are now looking to wind turbines as a source of revenue — including counties in northwest and west-central Minnesota, southeast Minnesota near Rochester and even along the state’s North Shore.
Wind energy development projects will continue to crop up as long as it’s profitable and, according to Benson, it is the major U.S. companies and international players that are reaping the benefits.
“We want wind energy for the benefit of the planet, but we should all be able to benefit,” Benson said. “The individual landowner that has a tower (contract) gets a good payment, but that’s just a minuscule of the profit these companies are getting.”

A SMALL BUSINESSMAN CALLS IT QUITS. RATS!

By Juan Montoya
Felipe has always been into business.
A native of Coahuila, this naturalized citizen came to this country with a pocket full of dreams about making it in the United States and improving his and his family’s economic condition.
He always had a sharp eye for an opportunity, and when he saw that large department stores like Target, Walmart, Dilliards, Marshalls, Old Navy, K-mart, etc., were selling pallets of slightly damaged merchandise and electronic appliances such as floor samples, he invested in the business.
He leased a warehouse by the railroad tracks on Lincoln St. just a block away from Guadalupe Church and set up shop. As he started selling his goods, he began to stock the warehouse and marketing his wares.
At the Sportsman Lounge – and in other places – he let the owner use large screen televisions for free as a kind of advertising for his business. When a customer commented on the nice picture on the set, he would tell him he could get him one for less than half the price he could get it at the store.
When he wasn’t there, the owner would tell customers that Felipe could get them one for a fraction of the cost they could get one in the stores.
Over time, Felipe’s business flourished. He hired more people to help him pack, sort, label and store the goods. Sometimes he got a bonanza. Other times, he got a pallet full of junk. However, since he was a good customer, the truck drivers hauling the goods would tell him which pallets seemed to have more value.
After a while, between 15 to 20 workers were helping Felipe at his warehouse and delivering goods to customers. A steady stream of clients – from this side and from Matamoros – filled his shop. He hired a technician to fix electronic items that had suffered some damage on the trip across the country. Business was good.
He started taking some of the best merchandise to the 77 Flea Market on Saturdays and Sundays. A good marketer, he usually came back with an empty trailer after having sold all his goods. After the flea market, he usually treated his workers to a barbecue and beers after their week’s work.
Then came the rats.

The warehouse is located facing a neighborhood street to the west. To the east, an empty lot stretches almost to the next corner, perfect for the two-legged rodents.
They started coming in through the floor at first. Whatever fit through the holes they broke in the floor went out. At first, it was small stuff: a television, a stereo, video games.

The the holes started getting bigger as they went after the bigger stuff.

Each time, Felipe's workers would patch the holes, and each morning they would reappear.

One time they broke a hole through the wall. Finally, after Felipe had reinforced the walls, they came in through the corrugated steel roof.

Felipe would call the Brownsville Police Department each time to make a report. They always said they'd call back when they found something. They never did.

Finally, Felipe had had enough.

"I emptied the warehouse and my living space where I kept my clothes and refrigerator," he said. "Now there are not even any cockroaches. There's nothing for them to eat."

He also had to let go of all his workers, except for one or two to help him at the flea market.

The BPD states in its 2008 crime statistic report that there is one property crime reported every 51.98 minutes and one burglary ever 5.5 hours. From 2003 to 2008, burglaries increased from 1,024 to 1,590. The operative word here is reported. Many people, like Felipe, eventually did, simply stopped reporting the break-ins.
Even though the PD reported that the department cleared 14.84 percent of all burglaries – higher than the nationa 12.4 average – it's of small consolation to the other 85.16 percent of the victims like our small businessman.

Felipe keeps a collection of the business cards left him by the different police officers taking his reports. He has at least 20 to 25 cards in his truck.

"I lost more than $36,000 because of the rats in the warehouse," he said. "I'll never open another business here."

SALUTE TO VETS: PATRIOTISM WITH OUR EYES WIDE OPEN

By Juan Montoya

In Brownsville, as across the nation, Americans turned out to local and national ceremonies to honor the men and women who have served in our country's military.

This year, the observance of their service has been heightened by the events in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by the act of terror at Ft. Hood that killed 13 and wounded 30.

Those thoughts weighed heavy upon those gathered Wednesday at the Veterans Memorial Park on Central Boulevard. Speaker after speaker emphasized the support of this nation to its men and women currently in uniform in harm's way, and those who served in the past.

The names etched on the black marble slabs included some who died in action and others who still walk the streets of Brownsville or are languishing in local rest homes.

Those present may have supported the past president when he initiated the war in Iraq. Some may have not. Regardless, they were all united in supporting the service of the men and women who answered the call.

Many remember that some most our wars – like Vietnam – were started by the deception of presidents who created incidents like the Gulf of Tonkin, phantom weapons of mass destruction, the blowing up of the Maine, etc. Regardless, citizen patriot soldiers answered the call.

But we have grown up a bit since then and we now know that "our country right or wrong" is followed by "when it's right to keep it right. And when it's wrong, to set it right."

After the deception in Iraq and Vietnam, our patriotism should be clear and with our eyes wide open. There is no worse patriotism than a blind one. It allows demagogues to lead entire nations into bloody confrontations for reasons that may not be in the best interests of the nation.

Let's take heed of what U.S. Marine Corp General General Smedley D. Butler, who joined the Marines in 1898 and saw action all over the world, winning two Medals of Honor, had to say.

However, he is best remembered not so much for his military exploits as for his apostasy during his latter years. A statement he made in 1935 sums up the drastic turnabout: "I spent 33 years in the Corps, and spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business."

He also said he had been a racketeer for capitalism who "helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street."

And let's also, when we honor our veterans for their service, remember that when they act on behalf of our nation, they are sent to dominate entire nations and the people who live there. The patriot soldier fights for his country, but at times many must pause and wonder whether the politicians realize what they are asking them to do.

In "The War Prayer," Mark Twain exposed the folly of asking Providence to protect a nation's soldiers against those of another nation. His words, published as per his wishes after he died, should temper our lust for war and blind patriotism because we only have to see the other side of the coin and realize they, too, are praying to the same God.

"O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with hurricanes of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

When I joined the Marine Corps as a volunteer in 1972, I didn't know that the war was started – and ended – for mostly political reasons. I didn't care. But after losing many friends there and thinking about them as I watch my own boys grow, I feel a responsibility as a veteran and as a citizen to question the authority of politicians who would expose our generations to war for reasons other than the defense of our country.

I want Osama. I don't want to invade an unoffending nation or kill its people.