PENA'S FULL-COURT PRESS BACKFIRES

By Juan Montoya

Sylvia Cisneros is livid.
The Las Prietas barrio saleswoman of wheelchairs and other necessities of the aged and handicapped was working door-to-door along Old Port Isabel Road on the other side of town when she got a call from her 86-year-old mother Guadalupe.
Her brother Jose Alberto, was having a seizure as a result of an unwanted visitor at their home.
"My mother weighs about 115 pounds and he weighs about 260 pounds," she said. "My brother suffers from a seizure disorder. There is no way she could handle him when he has a seizure."
While the Cisneros have grown accustomed to Jose going into seizure occasionally, this time the seizure did not come about as a result of a chemical or physical imbalance.
"A man with a badge and a gun showed up at out door and threw a subpoena and $10 at my mother's feet after he knocked and she opened the door," said Sylvia Cisneros. "Then my brother walked out of his bathroom and when he saw the man with the badge and the gun he went back into his room. The officer followed him in the house and threw the papers and the money at him. He's not well, and when the officer left, he stressed out and went into a seizure."
Both Guadalupe and Jose Alberto Cisneros voted through the mail in the runoff race for Cameron County Precinct 2. Now, as a result of the challenge to those ballots by losing candidate Ruben Pena, they were visited by the process server hired by Pena's lawyers.
The Cisneros identified the process server a former Cameron County Sheriff candidate Rick Herrera and they have gone to the Brownsville Police Department, who sent them to the sheriff's department, who in turn sent them to local constables. In each case they were told that Herrera was not one of their officers and that there was nothing they could do.
And in an unprecedented occurrence, a large number of persons called KGBT, a Spanish-language station, to complain about Herrera alleging he abused his authority by harassing and verbally abusing them when he served them with the subpoenas. (El Rrun-Rrun is attempting to obtain a recording of the complaints from the radio station).
However, that is not sitting well with Sylvia Cisneros, who was on her way to the 700 Building where Pena's law office is located.
"The lawyers who sent Herrera to my home were hired by Pena," she said. "I want to know what gives them the right to come into my house without our permission. How can someone just go into someone's house and walk in without permission? My brother was scared and went into seizure because that man with a badge and a gun (Herrera) just walked in after him and threw the papers in front of his door. I want to know who's responsible for this."
Pena, who is attempting to gather enough witnesses to overturn the election results that resulted in his loss to Ernie Hernandez by 49 votes, apparently is resorting in trying to get enough voters to say they did not know who they voted fr when politiqueras mailed in their ballots.
But for Sylvia Cisneros, the methods his attorneys and process servers are using smack of intimidation and coercion.
"This is not right," she said. "They can't allow this kind of behavior to continue like this. Now we're really glad we didn't vote for him. If he doesn't watch out, he might end up getting charged and sued himself."

(P.S. To anonymous: Thanks for your editorial corrections and your civility in pointing them out.)