JULIET COME LATELY

By Juan Montoya
In what has become a new local trend, University of Texas-Texas Southmost College President Juliet V. Garcia has jumped on the Brownsville schools' chess team phenomenon bandwagon and has become their unofficial representative for national media.
Just as Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. has sought to cash in on the Brownsville Farmers Market success by introducing bills in the state legislature to promote healthy eating and combat obesity, Garcia is now touting the benefits of the king’s game.

Lucio's public relations minions have spread the ink far and wide to try to make Farmer Eddie seem like a lovable hayseed interested in us eating well. He's become a gentler, "greener" Eddie.
In the case of Garcia, her new-found role as chess spokesperson has left some parents of students who struggled to get the local school district to help them get their kids to tournaments across the valley scratching their heads.
“Where was she 13 years ago when we couldn’t get the school district to help us with transportation to get our kids to tournaments across the valley?” recalled one after reading of Garcia’s unstinting support for the program in an extensive article in Sunday’s Brownsville Herald. “We had to do fundraising by selling chicken plates and washing cars in parking lots to raise money to keep them going. Hell, the college didn't even have a chess team worth mentioning back them. Now Garcia is trying to say she was our biggest booster."

Some parents also remembered that it was not Garcia, or Solomon Ortiz, of Eddie Lucio, or Rene Oliveira who came to their aid. Rather, it was a politician who is now being demonized and who had no stake whatsoever in the matter.

"Pat Ahumada went before the school district and spoke on our behalf," said a parent. "As a result, the chess teams in the schools were funded initially with $7,000 to defray transportation costs. I know he's in some trouble now, but we can't forget that he was the only one who came forward and spoke on our behalf.

For his part, Ahumada said that it was Russell Elementary school teacher J.J. Guajardo, who under the direction of a Korean immigrant, launched the chess movement by seeking support at the grass roots level after compiling am impressive list of wins over big-city chess powerhouses.

The community at large then rallied behind the students and contributions came in from all quarters, truly a community-wide source of pride.

The team of young players from Russell dominated the 1993 state championships. They also went on to win state championships seven consecutive times. The rest, as they say, is history.

"Garcia is trying to rewrite history and become a cheerleader after the hard work has been done by the parents and the students," said the parent. "My kid has already gone to college and benefited by her chess experience. It's nice to have her support the chess movement, but it's highly misleading to make her out to be our champ. She simply wasn't there at the time with either money or other resources."