THE PROVERBIAL CONTENTIOUS WOMAN

"It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in an ample mansion," Proverbs 21:9

By Juan Montoya
For the last two budget years Precinct 2 Constable Pedro "Pete" Avila has asked the Cameron County commissioners court for money to enlarge his quarters.
Cramped into a tiny office across the hallway from Cameron County Justice of the Peace Tony Torres, Avila's deputies must share the small space with the copy machine, police radio, desks and computers, and with the secretary with all her baggage.
In this case the secretary, a holdover from the previous officeholder Abelardo Gomez Jr., is none other than Melinda Henderson. Henderson has been identified by some sources as the reason that Brownsville Police Department spokesman Jimmy Manrriquez received a suspension for allegedly looking up Henderson's husband police record as a favor to her.
The woman reportedly had his record looked up and the confronted hubby with his past transgressions and told him Manrrique had looked up the info for her. Hubby in turn filed a complaint with BPD's Carlos Garcia and a chastened Manrrique got his due.
Now we understand that this is not the first time that the haughty Melinda has run afoul of procedure. We heard Pete had also warned her about carrying on a feud with bailiff Raymond Shears last October and that she had complained to county and state officials about him. But while she was within her right to complain about the bailiff's alleged offenses against her, her boss determined that using county resources and equipment to carry on her tiff with the luckless Shears while on county time was not kosher.
As a result, we have learned that Pete had issued a written reprimand to make her cease and desist from her campaign against the bailiff.
When Avila took over the Pct. 2 constable's office, he had wanted to bring in his own receptionist. However, he had not taken office yet when the "pitaso" came to him that Sofia Benavides, commissioner for Pct. 1, would be very grateful if he would please keep little Melinda on board as a personal favor to her.
Realizing that having an enemy on the court that set his budget and salary would not be the smartest politics, Avila relented and kept the mendacious Melinda at the office's helm.
"Poor Pete," said a courthouse source. "Maybe that's why he's been trying so hard to get a bigger office. Imagine dealing with Mel day in and day out. Pete's not that big. No wonder he wanted at least a wall between them. He's just lucky someone in his office didn't look up the dirt on her hubby. The he'd really be on the spot."