WE NEVER KNEW RRUN-RRUN WAS "EASY," OR CHEEZMEH IMPARTIAL

"And we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
'Cause if you really want to hear our views
"You haven't done nothing"!

From Stevie Wonder

By Juan Montoya

Every once in a while someone tells us that we have been the object of derision or scorn in some dark corner of cyberspace.

The fact that it was – once again – in a Cheezmeh posting on Facebook didn't surprise us much. We've grown weary of even clicking on to that page unless we want to know where we can find a stray dog, adopt a pussycat, avoid a police checkpoint or peek in on someone sniping at local people while munching on doughnuts perched on a Lazyboy chair in Austin.

That said, we – as have others active in cyberspace – have been witnessing the convoluted evolution of the Cheezmeh group since its inception as a so-called grassroots organization to its current state as a...well, it's hard to tell what. What may have started as a spanking new forum for new ideas in the city has now deteriorated into a sort of segunda of shopworn gimmicks ruled over by a doughnut-munching head mistress who won't stand any guff from underlings, or from her betters for that matter.

We speak of Erasmo Castro, of course.

Over time, that cuddly munchkin has evolved into a ruthless Gargantua devouring his enemies with missives sent out from his cave in Austin. When he does come down to review the troops, it's always a smaller cadre that he encounters. That's why when the group decided to do away with the thin veneer of political impartiality and begin to take sides in local political races, everyone knew it would be a matter of time before it would also fall victim to the rampant polarization of the area.

Then, when fortune smiled on them and they were at the right place at the right time when the community soundly rejected Charlie Atkinson's rerun for city commissioner and voted in Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa and then the voters chose newcomer John Villarreal over former city commissioner Tony Zavaleta, Cheezmeh felt its oats. Suddenly, a community-wide rejection of these candidates had been their doing, and only their own.

This grew to be a common trait of the group. When local blogger Bobby Wightman led the move to deny Fly Frontera – represented by his nemesis Carlos Quintanilla also from Dallas – incentives amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, Cheezmeh was a latecomer to the issue, but made like it was leading the parade.

Predictably, when the city denied the airline subsidies, Cheezmeh leaped at the chance to assert itself as the paladin of Browntown. It's easy to claim credit when someone else does the work.

Well, this led to a falling out between Castro, former Cheezmeh adherents and Wightman. Those defections just kept on coming. The Bartons, the Groves, Helen Flores, the Brownsville Firemen Union, the Brownsville Unity Council, etc., all demurely separated themselves from the Head Cheez and his minions.

Then the heroes of the black-playera-clad group – Tetreau and Villarreal – proved by their actions to be less than ideal role models of civility.

Tetreau couldn't keep her domestic problems with her mate from ending in the city lockup or in the police and newspaper reports and Villarreal's rant at a public park over a voter abuse group left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

Then Castro's spat with Zeke Silva over his support of Luis Saenz for Cameron County District Attorney ostensibly over the Head Cheez's claim to veto power over the Cheezmeh blog deteriorated to a point where the blog meisters pulled the plug blog on the blog saying it was constructed to be a community tool rather than a personal organ of power.

"I don't have to explain myself to anyone...I reserve the right to remove anything..." Castro asserts.

The support of the Cheezmeh cadre has been an incidental one to personal friendships with the likes of Elia Cornejo Lopez, Erin Hernandez Garcia, and Rebecca RuBane because Erin gave them free legal advice, and Elia and Rebecca were "friends."

"It was a given that we were going to ask our friends to support Erin," he says. "We had already declared we were not going to enter into the primaries, man."

Castro now counters in a recent posting that Silva forced Cheezmeh's hand in the DA's race and said: "We were thrown into that race by the stupid Saenz people, especially Zeke who is s piece of shit."

Regardless of what Castro says, it was obvious since before early voting that he mired the group deep in the political muck with the obvious candidates, most notably in the Masso and Hernandez races.

But alas, Erin did not fare very well in the Justice of the Peace race, and both she and Masso are in for tight runoff races.

In the DA's race, Masso's 8,072 votes were just 306 over Saenz's 7,766. However, included in that total are an astounding 192 mail-in votes for Masso. That may prove, as a local blogger states, "problematic."

In the JP 2-2 race, Yolanda Teran Begum's 2,960 votes beat Erin's 2,507. Not only must Erin make up the difference, she must also get at least one more vote to overcome Begum's lead.

The Cheezmeh association with a political pariahs like Ernie Hernandez and his family and with a candidate like Masso who has yet to fully answer for his role in the Port of Brownsville's $21 million Bridge to Nowhere fiasco will doubtless hasten the group's declining fortunes.

Castro, complaining to his adoring admirers in his remaining Facebook forum, sounded like a long-suffering and toiling mother who is working her fingers to the bone for ingr

ate children who simply don't understand the toils and travails of putting out snippets of wisdom on the Internet.

"I do my best in attending to individual needs and requests, but if you think that running a page as big as this one is as easy as running the Rrun-Rrun or any other blog, you are sorely mistaken...Peace."

Now, if Castro actually had to create posts instead of cutting and pasting from the Internet as he does, he might have a point. But he doesn't.

And we thought we had our work cut out for us actually writing original pieces. We're in the wrong business.

NEW VFW ALCOHOL POLICY, QUARTERMASTER'S NO BYOB RULE SHAKES UP POST

By Juan Montoya

For many years, walking into the Brownsville VFW Post 2035 meant running into commander Luis Lucio, a combat Marine. With his ubiquitous plastic bottle of whiskey and mineral water, he would hold court at the bar, or, on some weekends, at a large table dominating the hall. Many other vets would also shun beer sold at the post and opt for a Bring Your Own Booze (BYOB) policy.

However, now when you visit the VFW, Louie or the rest vets who would bring in their booze from outside and stand at the bar buying mineral water for set ups as they whiled the evenings away chatting with the patrons are now noticeable for their abscence.

Upon entering the portals of the hall now, a handwritten sign warns patrons that outside alcohol will no longer be allowed in the premises.nowhere in sight. The VFW, which had sold liquor by the drink when they first set up on Veterans Road behind the Hygeia plant off Price Road stopped selling liquor some time back after they couldn't sell enough to make the cost of the license worth it.

Then, on the VFW website and on Facebook postings, the reason the VFW stopped allowing outside alcohol to be brought in is explained.

"Patrons:A note on the liquor liability. Most mainstream insurers would not insure the VFW Post 2035 due to our high risk BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle/Liquor) policy," it stated. "The risk of liability from patrons dispensing their own... liquor is simply too high to cover and the direct contribution to sales has been small, with many hard liquor drinkers buying only one setup for $2.00 to last hours or even asking for tap water or using ice for their liquor, meanwhile using our electricity, VFW Post 2035 manpower, supplies, space and miscellaneous.

"The BYOB policy has therefore been suspended so the VFW Post 2035 can at least get a basic insurance policy and satisfy bank requirements to have adequate insurance. It would cost thousands more to insure for BYOB nor is it even recommended to allow it."

Nowadays, if you visit any establishment like the Palm Lounge or even the Boss Club (the old VFW on Paredes and Los Ebanos), you will probably run into some of the old gang that used to frequent the VFW with their plastic liquor holders and set ups holding up the bar like they used to do at the VFW.

"Things were getting out of hand," said a frequent VFW patron. "Sometimes the regulars would get real loud and a few had to be helped to the bathroom because they had gone past their cups. The membership took a vote and decided to implement the new policy."

Will the new policy at the VFW affect the post's money-raising efforts to pay off the note on the sumptuous building, or will it mean decreased income for the post that would even mean closing itor even securing refinancing?

The new VFW directors have been discreet on their plans and are hoping the new rules will encourage those veterans who prefer a more clubby atmosphere to bring their mates to the post's karaoke night and rental hall functions.

For the liquor drinkers, have bottle will travel.

SUNDAY, A MEMORIUM TO PIONEER RADIO BROADCASTER JOSE CANTU: "ME ESTAS OYENDO, CHUCHA?"

(This Sunday the Brownsville Heritage museum and the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum will feature a presentation on 1940s and 50s radio pioneer Jose Cantu. I learned about Cantu when I worked at the Brownsville Herald from old timers like by Oscar del Castillo who founded the Spanish-language Heraldo de Brownsville in 1934. Cantu's "Programa Popular" was featured on KBOR 1600 AM. He was an advocate for Hispanics' civil rights throughout the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Cantu's programming showcased local talent, news bulletins and provocative interviews. It lasted from 1946 to 1952. On June 7, 1952 Cantu lost his life in a car accident. We reprint our article in advance of the presentation by Conjunto Association president Lupe Saenz.)

By Juan Montoya
Longtime Valley residents who were around the late 1940s and early 1950s still talk about Jose Rangel Cantu, a broadcaster who used radio to champion the rights of Hispanics through his “Programa Popular” which aired in the afternoons.
"He was the son of the people,” said Roberto Anduiza, who worked with Cantu for many years. "He was a man of struggle, who knew firsthand the necessities of the people. In his own particular way, he wanted to open the eyes of the people so they could discover the possibilities and their potential.”
Cantu was born Feb. 23, 1912, in Matamoros, and lived in Brownsville many years before he started working in radio. Researcher Carlos Larralde said his father abandoned the family when Cantu was very young. He was only two when his mother Refugia moved to Brownsville, desperate to earn a living.
He worked as a shoeshine boy and delivered groceries to help the family. Later, he became a house painter. Encouraged by his mother, he practiced articulating and speech before a mirror. He soon found he had a gift for making people laugh, and he included comedy into his sales pitches at the paint store. It was there that he met store clerk Maria de Jesus Solis, known as Jesusita, or Chucha.
Over time, when he had become a radio announcer, he would use his trademark phrase “Me estas oyendo, Chucha? (Are you listening, Chucha?).”
After he married Chucha in 1936, she encouraged him to try speaking commercials on the radio. Hearing about a job opening, he applied with KGBS radio station north of San Benito. The station was an affiliate of the Colombia Broadcast Service and under broadcaster Primitivo Mendez, Cantu began to learn about the broadcasting business. That introduction soon enabled him to land a job in Brownsville’s KBOR radio station.
His natural ability to make people laugh soon earned him a niche at the station, something not unnoticed by Minor Wilson, manager of KBOR. He decided to try him out for a Sunday afternoon variety show. The format would feature local talent and local news of interest to Hispanics. With Cantu’s natural charm and wit, the show “Programa Popular” soon became a favorite of listeners across the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
It was just after the Second World War, and the region was growing by leaps and bounds. Services like water, electricity, sanitary sewer, police protection, and street paving could not keep up with the growth.
invariably, the poorest barrios in the city were in the worst shape. Need was everywhere and Cantu, a man of conscience, was there to expose the neglect and abuse existing in the area. According to the late Frank Ferree, known as “The Angel of the Border” for his own work among the poor on both sides of the border, Cantu was “a man who fought for the needs of the people and who would respond without fear for the people of the border in their hour when they most desperately needed help.”
Wilson recognized Cantu’s radio charisma at once. “He was a natural,” Wilson said. “ He just went on the air and told it like it was. There were no nerves, no profanities and no mistakes when he spoke.”
His show soon attracted local performers eager for an audience to launch their careers. Singers like Lydia Mendoza, Chelo Silva, Delia Gutierrez Piñeda, Eugenio Gutierrez, and the young Ruben Vela performed to appreciative radio audiences. Mendoza, from Houston, sang “Mal Hombre,” and it became one of her biggest hits.
He encouraged her and her relatives to form a group, and they did. In time, he became the most famous broadcaster in the Valley, attracting fans in every barrio in the city.
His stand on behalf of the poor in the area made him immensely popular. The late Bernie Whitman, who had a pawn shop in Market Square, said his popularity with the lower economic classes he defended was legendary.
“He could go in the barrios and neighborhoods, everywhere, and you could recognize his distinctive voice,” Whitman said. “The trust people had in him was tremendous. Everyone had faith in his integrity and he didn’t give them cause to lose that trust.”
Cantu’s militancy in defending the poor knew little bounds.
He unmercifully lashed merchants who charged exorbitant prices for their products, farmers who paid meager wages to local workers, city officials who did not provide the same municipal services to the poor sections of town that were available to richer areas, and the plethora of injustices that prevailed at the turn of the 1950s.
One of his most popular themes was pleading with border officials to open the international bridges to Mexican farmworkers so they would not drown trying to cross the river. Perhaps one of his most controversial issues was the semi-slavery conditions of women in Matamoros’ red-light district.
No one, neither crooked businessmen, nor neglectful public officials, escaped his wrath. Still, Carnation Dairy Products, Royal Crown Hair Dressing, and other well-known companies sponsored the program, unmindful of the criticism from conservatives who considered him a radical.
Historian Bruce Aiken wrote that when Cantu’s died on June 7, 1952, after crashing into a tree outside Brownsville and was instantly killed, the people believed he had been killed for his criticism of powerful men, notably the Del Fierros, a notorious Matamoros clan.
It was rumored that his brakes had been sabotaged. There were tales that a woman from Matamoros who had been in the car suffered broken legs and was removed from the scene and whisked away.
Some said it was his stand against prostitution in Matamoros that had gotten him killed. As the time of his show approached that day, a multitude of people gathered around the station created a traffic jam. Many did not want to believe that their champion was dead.
When another announcer came on the air and confirmed the news, cries of anguish erupted from the crowd and even grown men were seen dabbing the tears from their eyes. Brownsville was overwhelmed by Cantu’s funeral, where honors were bestowed on “a friend of those in poverty.” It is estimated that 8,000 people tried to attend his funeral Mass at the Immaculate Conception Church.
“No one could control him,” Whitman recalled. “He didn’t sell himself. His greatest contribution was to disseminate information that the people needed, because no one else had the courage to do it.”

ITS GARZA-PEREZ AS DEMO CHAIR, HOCKEMA OUT, SHERGOLD SEETHES

By Juan Montoya

By far the most surprising result of Tuesday's voting were the results in the Cameron County Democratic party chairman, or shall we now say chairwoman?

Acting chair Jared Hockema seemed to be coasting toward a win over local attorney John Shergold and political "activist" Sylvia Garza-Perez until the results came in.

Not only did the only gal in the race leave the boys behind, but she did so in an astounding fashion. Her 11,126 votes left behind Hockema with 6,373 and Shergold with 3,665.

That result left many people scratching their heads in wonder and asking"where did she get so many votes?"

Many associate Garza-Perez with Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez, but her

vote totals included 6,253 early votes, 4,804 election-day votes, and only 69 mail-in votes.

That meant that Garza-Perez will not face a runoff election since Hockema garnered only 30.1 of the vote and Shergold 3,665, or 17.32 percent.

That huge margin left some wondering whether there was some hanky-panky going on, but the results indicate to others that a converging number of factors, including but not exclusive to basic grassroots campaigning. Emails suggested that perhaps the rumors of 300 votes being cast in Las Yescas, a hamlet in northeast Cameron County, may have fueled her victory, but no proof has appeared to support that claim.

Still others say that the years of nurturing the Democratic networks had paid off for her. Still others say her politiquera connections paid off handsomely for her.

"Sylvia is the niece of politiquera Herminia Becerra and has made some ambiguous comments about the use of the use of politiqueras in elections," said Jim Barton in his blog meanmisterbrownsville.

El RrunRrun ran a photo of Shergold and former Texas Gov. George Bush as a novelty, but this set off Shergold accusing the blog operators of playing "dirty" and being "despicable," as well as an attempt to torpedo (!) his candidacy and democracy as we know it. We noted that the incongruency of a candidate for Demo chair shaking hands with a Republican governor warranted us posting it, if for no other reason than for the mere paradox of the thing.

This didn't set well with the "Roca," who said people like us were the reason that corruption flourished in Cameron County. Well, we listened politely and let him have his say while trying to insert our explanations edgewise in there somehow, but to no avail.
Shergold said he was shaking hands with "W" out of courtesy because Bush had wandered in to congratulate his former boss Doyle Willis, known as the "dean of the Texas Legislature" and the opportunity presented to meet him.

"Bush attended out of courtesy even though Willis did not always vote for him" Shergold explained.

Well, Shergold wasn't buying our lame excuse for running the picture and we decided to take our lumps and end the conversation there. We sincerely hope that it wasn't us – an esoteric blog in cyberspace – that caused John's to lose to Garza-Perez by almost 8,000 votes. We sincerely hope John doesn't either.

READY FOR ROUND 2 OF PRIMARIES? OH, THOSE MAIL-IN VOTES CONTINUE TO HAUNT CAMERON COUNTY RESULTS

By Juan Montoya

Now push has come to shove.

After the dust settled on the 2012 primaries, it has become clear that there will be yet more bare-knuckle fights for the next 60 days in contests ranging from the congressional nominations of both parties to constables and justice of the peace races locally.

Starting with the Democratic congressional race where Filemon Vela Jr. riding on his family's coattails in the Democratic Party easily outdrew his seven other opponents garnering 18,223 votes while former Solomon Ortiz aide Denise (Saenz) Blanchard received 5,805. It is difficult to see how Blanchard hopes to make up the almost 3 to 1 deficit despite her stated "passion" to serve.

Expect Blanchard to bare her claws and try to tap anti-Republican sentiment in her party by pointing out Vela's obvious GOP ties such as his wife Rose running for Chief Justice of the 13th Court of Appeals as a Republican against Roy Valdez, the Democrat.

It's interesting to note, however, that Vela garnered a full 9,791 votes in Cameron County alone. Just about half of his total came from the other parts of the district extending all the way to Gonzales County. Blanchard, on the other hand, got a measly 2,994 from here.

On the Republican side, Texas Southmost College trustee Adela Garza and Jessica P. Bradshaw are caught in a death embrace to see who will face either Vela or, in an upset, Blanchard. With only 200 or so votes separating them (Garza 4,566 to Bradshaw's 4,364), the race will determine who the Republican voters in the new district want to go against Vela Jr., who displays photos of his late father, a federal judge, and his mama, a former City of Brownsville mayor, who is also listed as the treasurer for a Republican Texas State Representative in Nueces County and has contributed thousands of dollars to Republican candidates to defeat Democrats. Regardless, Blanchard faces an uphill fight against Vela unless serious money from nationwide Demo PACs becomes a factor.

Who will carry their banner against the Demos.

Will it be Garza, who has served some 30 years on local public boards or Bradshaw, who comes down to Browntown to reestablish her Hispanic roots and Brownsville residence every two years in time to run for office?

The voting in Cameron County was tight, with Garza taking her home county by 149 votes (1,956 to 1,807). The other candidate, Paul B. Haring got 1,291 votes in Cameron County out of the total of 3,675 in the entire district.

An encouraging note was the result of the Texas State Board of Education (District 2) where former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez went down before San Benito city commissioner and San Benito CISD trustee Celeste Zarate Sanchez by a total of 30,592 to 24,176.

The other candidate, Larry Garza, of Kingsville, pulled a respectable 13,889. Both of Cortez's opponents are longtime educators and many wondered why the Texas State Teachers Association had bucked the system and endorsed Cortez over such obviously better qualified candidates. In fact, the rank and file ignored George Borrego, president of the Association of Brownsville Educators, whose board endorsed Cortez, with only a high school diploma.

We understand that Garza might endorse Sanchez in the coming weeks. Even with his past service on the BISD board, Sanchez beat Cortez in Cameron County by a vote of 9,738 to 6,907, a respectable margin of nearly 3,000 votes.

We ran into Cortez at the Rene Oliveira confab where he was still meetin' and greetin' in preparation for the runoff. For some reason or other, he walked right by us

and didn't even say hello. Now, why would that be?

In the other runoff races that remain, former Cameron County Ass. DA Carlos Masso beat out former DA Luis Saenz and fellow DA Maria De Ford. Masso's 8,072 votes were just 306 over Saenz's 7,766. Included in that total are an astounding 192 mail-in votes for Masso, the second-highest total after the 211 mail-in votes cast for Arturo C. Nelson, who won the race for 138th District Judge over Veronica Farias.

The mail-in total seemed suspicious to Citizens Against Voter Abuse (CAVA) activist Mary Helen Flores, who said her group would be analyzing the results and would take actions against anyone identified as being part of a vote "harvesting" activities involving paid politiqueras who charged for delivering the mail-in votes to candidates.

De Ford, who signed CAVA's "no paid politquera" pledge, garnered 6,672 votes, only 33 of which were mail-in votes. Saenz garnered only 47 mail-in votes.

Sheriff Omar Lucio also beat his Democratic opponents Joe Cisneros and Terry Vinson without the need of a runoff with a whopping 60.06 percent of the vote, plus the ubiquitous 191 mail-in votes. Cisneros got 55 mail-in votes and Vinson got only 25. Lucio faces Republican Santiago "Jimmy" Manrriquez in November. Jimmy got only 3,528 votes in his party's primary as the only candidate for the position.

Another candidate who won't need a runoff was Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides whose 69.42 percent of the vote (3,296) include 11o mail-in votes and easily topped her challenger Fausto (Pato) Martinez's 1,452 votes. Martinez garnered 69 mail-in votes.

The race for Justice of the Peace 2-2 came down to a surprising conclusion with the predicted runoff between Yolanda Teran Begum and Erin Hernandez Garcia. Begum's 2,960 votes beat Erin's 2,507. Javier Hernandez came in a surprising (and close) third with 2,298. After that Refugio "Cookie" Covarrubias placed fourth with 1,891.

Yet, many observers expected the mail-in votes to give Erin Hernandez a boost and it did not happen. She got only 30 mail-in votes compared to Begum's 20 and Javier Hernandez's 11. Cookie, however, apparently took the bait from the politiqueras and plunked down his $125 a week to get the 110 mail-in votes on the ledger.

"It's obvious that the Ernie Hernandez clan got the message on mail-in votes and had the ladies walk in their mail-in vote instead," said a voter at a victory party. "Even with that vote, Erin did not win. Now they have to be looking at the 190-plus mail-in votes that were cast in the other races like Masso's and Lucio's and wondering if they should bite. If things get desperate, I am betting they will."

"I had some of those ladies come talk to me about selling me their mail-in votes and I told them that I would rather that they introduce me to the voters so that I could explain my stand on the issues and let them decide whether they would want to support me," said Begum. "Not one of them accepted my offer."

Constable Pete Avila will also be in a runoff with former constable for Pct. 2 Abel Gomez. The pair came in close with Avila's 3,952 barely outdistancing Gomez's 3,267. Juan Torres came in with 2,348 and Roel Arreola drew only 893 votes, only 8.4 percent of the total.

As in the other cases involving mail-in ballots, Gomez got 191 mail-in ballots compared to Avila's 27.

The obvious disparity in the mail-in ballots did not escape the eye of CAVA's Mary Helen Flores, who noted that she found it particularly disheartening to see that some judicial candidates obviously had found the numbers offered by mail-in votes too tempting to pass up. She noted that Rebecca Rubane, with 144 mail-in votes, Rolando Olvera, with 145 and David Sanchez, with 145 votes indicated to her that they had been acquired by the same person.

"Neither Olvera nor Sanchez had an opponent," she said. "They had no need to even go after the mail-in votes."

In her Facebook page Citizens Against Voter Abuse Cameron County, she lays out the disturbing pattern of what appears to be some candidates getting the same votes from the same people. In particular, she noted that the name of politiquera Tomasita Chavez and her daughter Ardiana Garza kept cropping up in "assisted voting" notations on the mail-in ballots that went to law enforcement candidates like Lucio, Gomez, and Masso each with 191, 191, and 192, respectively.

"I had to get out of town today and get away from that mess," Flores said in a telephone call from Bayview. "But once I get back we're going to have to ask these candidates, especially the judges, why they continue to do this."

SPACEX PROJECT HERE NOT LINKED TO NASA

By Juan Montoya

It doesn't matter how many times we repeat it here, but since the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation, United Brownsville and the rest of the lambiscones associated with the Sunshine Boys at the Chamber of Commerce will not clarify the very limited parameters of SpaceX's project here, it falls to our lot and we welcome the opportunity to do it.

First of all, no matter what people like retired Herald advertising executive Hector Solis tells those who will listen at a his favorite local watering hole, the firm's contract with NASA to ferry supplies to the International Space Station is not related to the firms' efforts to set up a satellite launch pad at Boca Chica.

We will not launch astronauts from Boca Chica, or for that matter, any manned space missions anywhere else.

SpaceX's Brownsville operation will not be related (at all) to the company's operations in Cape Canaveral or to NASA.

It is not related (at all) to the December 2008 NASA announcement that SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon Spacecraft were contracted to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). The $1.6 billion contract represents a minimum of 12 flights, with an option to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of up to $3.1 billion."
In fact, NASA has nothing to do with the local project. SpaceX will not fire NASA missions from Brownsville, despite the pipe dreams of BEDC gurus.
It also will not send manned spacecraft to the ISS, the moon, or for that matter, Mars, despite the comments of Bob Lancaster, President of the Texas Space Alliance.

The reason is simple. In order to reach the ISS whose orbit is inclined at 51.6 degrees, the launch azimuth from Brownsville would be approximately 42 degrees, which would take the craft over populated land masses, a no-no in FAA regulations.
"It is exciting to think that you will be able to see the launch of a manned space misson to Mars," Lancaster said to wild applause.
Not to be.
Instead, it is to be a minor launch site where SpaceX will program launches of limited commercial payloads (communications, weather satellites, etc.) for private customers that could include foreign states or other businesses.

SpaceX fired its two-stage, nine-engine Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. earlier this month which is now docked to the space station.
In addition to being the first privately funded launch to the space station, it could help cement a $1.6 billion contract SpaceX has with NASA for 12 flights to the ISS as a replacement for the space shuttle program, which ended last year.

Again, none of them are from Boca Chica.

If and when – and we won't know until more than a year from now – after the appropriate government agencies approve SpaceX's plans for Boca Chica, we still don't know whether the Brownsville site will be chosen over the other two sites in Florida and Puerto Rico by the company to begin with.

So hold off enrolling the kids in a propulsion engineering course or getting them fitted out for a NASA jumpsuit. Let's not give away the farm (or lomas out in the wetlands and tidal flats), until we know the specific details of what we are getting in return for allowing an industrialization of the area.

If we don't and we end up with a bare-bones concrete pad and an occasional launch (once a month) by technicians who alight on our town for the firing and then leave, then we might have second thoughts about our investment.

And, as an economist-philosopher once said: "A nation (in this case, community) and a woman are not forgiven the unguarded hour in which the first adventurer that came along could violate them..."

THE FUTURE CHEATS YOU FROM AFAR: THE SHERGOLD-"W" BUSH PHOTO OP

By Juan Montoya

Aren't politics something?

When I was attending the University of Michigan, among one of my required Journalism classes was one on constitutional law.
Now, having been raised in South Texas, I had no idea that people like Clarence Darrow, Mike Wallace, Margaret Bourke White, Williams James Mayo, and other heavy hitters in their diverse fields had attended school there.

So it was with some surprise when we walked into class one day and had to be patted down by Secret Service agents before they let us in the classroom.

To our surprise, President Gerald Ford was speaking with our instructor and after a small introduction, took some of our questions. After the perfunctory questions, "How's Betty doing after her rehab?" asked a classmate, the questions got a little heavier.

"Why did you pardon Nixon before he even faced a jury?" and "How could you sign off on the magic-bullet theory on the Kennedy assassination?"

Ford, if you'll remember, was on the Warren Commission that explained how a bullet could go through Kennedy's spine, exit though his throat, make a 90-degree turn toward Connally, go through his shoulder blades, make another 90 degree turn and strike his right wrist and was found up virtually unharmed on the hospital gurney the next day.

If so, this bullet traversed 15 layers of clothing, 7 layers of skin, and approximately 15 inches of tissue, struck a necktie knot, removed 4 inches of rib, and shattered a radius bone.

Of course no one believed it then, and probably some of us still don't believe it now.

After the Q and A, some of the students had their photos taken with Ford, I not being among them. In those days, the memory of the Nixon pardon was still too fresh for the militant mindset of the time.

But the reason this story comes to mind is because we at Rrun-Rrun received this Email showing John Shergold, a Brownsville attorney who has run for various offices in the Democratic Party, including this year's try at the chairmanship of Cameron County.

This photo (judging by Shergold's ample hair) was probably taken just about the time that George W. Bush had beaten Ann Richards in a no-hold-barred election where the trademark cutthroat Bush politics would be refined on his way to his two disastrous presidential terms in office.

In other words, the wound was still too fresh for most Democrats to stomach a handshake with W. This is probably the last thing that John would probably want to see as we head to tomorrow's election, but it is a keeper, isn't it?

THE HEROES OF MEMORIAL DAY TOO MANY, TOO YOUNG

By Juan Montoya

That's my friend Felipe "Pito" Castañeda's name in the bottom of the middle column at the Veterans' Park off Central Boulevard.

Like others who have gone on before us, Fito came back from the Vietnam War and enrolled at Texas Southmost College and sought a degree in education.

He's been wounded in the 'Nam and to his death was convinced that the numerous dousings of Agent Orange defoliant he and his Airborne unit buddies got there contributed to his many kidney and liver ailments that weakened him over time.

In a sense, a lot of our soldiers who didn't die immediately in the jungles and hospitals of that country came back to die a slow one here.

But Fito wasn't one to complain. He was drafted to go serve and – like many other Rio Grande Valley patriot soldiers – he did. Felipe and the Castañeda family lived on Fronton Street, the gateway to La Muralla barrio, as tough a neighborhood as they come in Browntown.

Throughout our history this country has seen its young go off to fight the wars of this nation on foreign soil. Sometimes it is a clearcut threat to our national security or

our interests. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is because the politicians failed at diplomacy and a blood quotient was required of the new generation.

Since the start of this country, the flower of freedom and democracy has been watered by the renewing force of its patriots' blood.

The Civil War cost the young nation more than 625,000 dead. WWII took 405,399. WWI took another 116,316. Vietnam followed with 58,209. Korea took 36,516 (conflicts also kill). The American Revolutionary War took 25,000. The War of 1812 took 20,000. The Mexican-American War took 13,283 mostly to disease and unsanitary conditions. The War of Terror continues to take our young, now at 6,280 and counting.

And so we go on.

When old men fail at getting along, their young must often be called upon to settle their scores.

Like my friend Felipe, they accepted their duty and performed their responsibilities ungrudgingly.

Whether we agree with the justifications for the wars (Vietnam, Iraq, etc.) or we don't, there is no denying the courage and valor of those that served and our respect for the memory and courage of those that fell. We remember them on this Memorial Day.

DID PRO-NELSON PAC BREAK THE LAW DIVULGING CHALLENGER FARIAS' EXPUNGED RECORD?

By Juan Montoya

One of the liveliest race in Cameron County has t be the one between incumbent 138th District Judge Arturo Nelson and challenger Veronica Farias.

In a series of ads running the last two weeks, a Political Action Committee named Citizens for a Better Judiciary, has run a series of ads calling Farias a "troubled attorney" and listing details of previous charges against her.

This was preceded by an ad run by Farias taking Nelson to task questioning Nelson's judicial performance in the case of a child molester that she claimed the judge allowed to go free on probation only to have the defendant engage in sexual abusive criminal cond

uct with a minor.

This drew the heated response of Nelson's supporters such as former district judge Robert Garza and others who defended their colleague and accused Farias of misstating the record.

But it was the PAC – Citizens for a Better Judiciary – that listed at least two previous charges filed against Farias in 2008 and 2011 in newspaper ads and listed the specifics of the cases.

There was only one problem, however.

According to Farias, both charges listed prominently in the PAC's ads were expunged from her record by a court order last July. The order prohibits anyone (whether a PAC, law enforcement official, or any individual) from opening the files or the expunged records of the arrests and are "not open for inspect6ion by anyone..."

When Farias approached the Brownsville Herald, which ran the PAC's ads, the editors there went back to their files and made a notation tat the charges arising from the police reports had been expunged from the public records by a court.

But there is more.

Apparently, the principals in the PAC (and the search is on to find out who it is) may not only have viola

ted the court order, but also broken the law contained in Title I, Chapter 55 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. And what's more, not only did the PAC apparently break the law, but in not clearing its ads with Nelson may have violated yet another criminal statute.

The law states that: "the release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the expunged records and files for any purpose is prohibited..

"A person who acquires knowledge of an arrest while an officer or employee of the state or any agency or other entity of the state or any political subdivision of the state and who knows of an order expunging the records and files relating to that arrest commits and offense if he knowingly releases, disseminates or otherwise uses the records or files...

"An offense under this article is a Class B misdemeanor."

This comes into play, according to Farias supporters, because the PAC lists its address as 855 W. Price Rd., the same building that houses the offices of Roreig, Oliveira and Fisher, principals with State Rep. Rene Oliveira in the law firm.

It is also the same address listed for the Cameron County Bar Association. Should the investigation reveal that Oliveira or his law firm were involved in the preparation of the ads and the dissemination of the expunged files, it could result in sanctions applied to whoever is found to have been involved. Oliveria falls under the definition of an officer or employee of the state.

So far, the Brownsville Police Dept. has looked into the complaint and has forwarded the evidence it uncovered to the Cameron County District Attorney's Office.

But Farias is not stopping there. She says she will to journey to Austin to speak personally to officials with the State Ethics Commission and file a complaint against the PAC, and Nelson, if necessary.

"I will be there eat 8 a.m.at the doors of the Ethic Commission," she said.

Farias said that under the Texas Election Code, all candidates must follow the Code of Fair Campaign Practices that states that: "I will not permit the use of character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on any candidate or the candidate's personal life....

"I will not use campaign material of any sort that misrepresents, distorts, or otherwise falsifies the facts, nor will I sue malicious or unfounded accusations that aim at creating or exploiting doubts without justification, as to the personal integrity or patriotism of any opponent...

The code that every candidate signs with the state also states that a candidate "will immediately and publicly repudiate methods and tactics that may come from others that I have pledged not to use or condone. I shall take firm actions against any subordinate who violates any provision of this code..."

Now the question becomes: Did Judge Nelson authorize the ads using expunged records and files? And if he did not, will he disavow the ads? Farias said that all candidates' who have signed the code have their pledges on file with the Ethics Commission.

"If Judge Nelson didn't sign the code of fair campaign practices, why didn't he?" she asked. "He may just try to wash his hands of responsibility by saying it was a committee that did it, but that is not very credible. The Ethics Commission requires any "committee" acting on a candidate's behalf to get the candidate's authorization for an ad."

With election day coming on Tuesday and word spreads of the Farias-Nelson controversy, there's no telling whether the result will be a backlash against the PAC's tactics in support of the incumbent.

IF ANYTHING, CORTEZ SHOWS HE'S THE ULTIMATE POLITICIAN

By Juan Montoya

Even as he defends himself and members of the former Brownsville Independent School District board majority for violating civil rights of former employees and conspiring to rig an insurance contract and steer it to his political supporters, former trustee Ruben Cortez continues to bamboozle voters in the northern reaches of the Texas State Board of Education's District 2.

Cortez, who was roundly rejected by BISD voters tired that he and the majority of which he formed part, pulled down the district from an all-time pinnacle of having been awarded the prestigious Broad Award and in two short years gobbled up a $175 million reserve fund to just under $68 million.

The district, which gained a $2 million student scholarship award as a result of the Broad, went literally as his detractors said, from "Broad to Broke."

And the firing of three major administrators – superintendent Hector Gonzales, Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez, and Special Needs Director Art Rendon – sparked lawsuits in

state and federal court. A federal judge denied the four defendants – Cortez, Rick Zayas, Joe Colunga and Rolando Aguilar – qualified immunity meaning that they would have to answer the charges as elected officials and as individuals.

A federal appeals court upheld the local decision and later refused to reconsider.

Yet, still after all that, Cortez has somehow managed to convince the leadership of the Texas State Teachers Association, part of the National Education Association, and the Victoria, Texas, branch of the Service Employee International Union to endorse his candidacy over his two opponents, both highly-qualified and educated. One Larry Garza, is a Kingsville pharmacist with over a decade on the local school board, and the other Celste Sanchez, is an assistant superintendent of curriculum at the San Benito ISD where she was also a board member and a sitting city commissioner.

Cortez has only a high school diploma as his educational credentials.

"You have to give Cortez credits for his chutzpah," said a voter waiting outside the Central Blvd. Public Library in Brownsville during early voting. "But thinking it over carefully, the voters would be doing our schools and our children a disservice to reject these other highly qualified people and vote for a career politician."

Yet, that is the very choice that George Borrego, president elect of the Association of Brownsville Educators, is advocating.

"Ruben has supported educational issues and employees important to education," Borrego said."We feel we need someone with his view to represent us at the State Board of Education. We are out-numbered. We feel very secure that Ruben's going to win and represent us well."

To think that this professional union rep would pick Cortez, whose slogan "Keeping Politics out of the Classroom," goes contrary to what he did while on the BISD board defies belief.

Cortez was sued by former Special Needs Department Director Art Rendon, who stated in a sworn deposition in his case (Southern District of Texas 1:10-cv-00198) against Cortez and the board majority that:

"58. On or about June, 2008, Ruben Cortez, a sitting board member on BISD, contacted Plaintiff directly via telephone. He instructed Plaintiff to hire his sister, Linda Aguilar, for summer school employment as a Special Education teacher.

59. Plaintiff informed Mr. Cortez that BISD had hiring policies in place and instructed him that the hiring application for the summer of 2008 had already been accepted and processed.

60. Cortez sent Plaintiff his sister's application and insisted Plaintiff call her immediately and giver her a job. Plaintiff set up a meeting between Cortez's sister Linda, Ana Lerma, who was a Special Education supervisor, and Dr. Lee Garcia, Assistant Director for Special Services. At the meeting, Ruben Cortez's orders were followed, and Linda Aguilar was given a job for the summer of 2008.

And this is the kind of person the teachers union – whose members were probably elbowed out by Cortez's interference in the hiring process so the district could hire his ssiter – wants to represent us in Austin?

BRADSHAW: "NIEGO SER DE MATAMOROS; NI ME LLAMO PUENTE

By Juan Montoya
With only a few days left before Tuesday's primary elections, at least one of the Republican candidates for the new Congressional District 34 is having serious identity problems.
Jessia (Puente?) Bradshaw, in a quarter-page ad that appeared in the local daily states unequivocally that "I do not lie," then goes on to tell some whoppers.
In the website "Texans for Jessica," paid for by her campaign committee "Friends of Liberty For Jessica, "her biographical sketch plainly says: "Born in Matamoros, Mexico, Jessica grew up in Brownsville, Texas with her mother and two sisters."
Compare that with her ad today under the headline that states that: "Leaders Lead, not Mislead."
"I am a Brownsville native and currently live in Brownsville."
What are we to believe, that she is Brownsville native or that she was born in Matamoros as her campaign committee (and Jessica herself) attests?
Could it possibly be that Ms. Bradshaw is ashamed to admit she was born in Matamoros from Mexican parents? Or perhaps she sees her Mexican heritage as a liability in winning votes and wants to hide it from her fellow Republicans?
It's obvious that she is handling her own campaign's media offerings. A good public relations person would have had her embrace her heritage and point out the greateness of this county in becoming the melting pot for the best and the brightest from all over the world, Matamoros included. What's wrong with that? Why lie?
She then goes to state that "Robinson," one of the names that she used before her marriage to Jonathan Bradshaw, was her "maiden name."
Now, we were all under the impression that her maiden name was "Puente," or so her campaign had led us to believe. In fact, she uses the "Puente Bradshaw" moniker on her campaign logo and her literature.
So which is it, then?
Perhaps Ms. Bradshaw's confusion also extends to her charges that her campaign opponent (Adela) Garza is "running for congress on a campaign full of misinformation and deceit..she has misled voters about me."
She, of course, would never do that herself. Right? We all remember some transcripts from a Bradshaw conversation with some supporters where she was recorded saying this about Adela:
"I really believe that this candidate all the lies that she's making up. She's overstating her influence. You know like, oh I have connections here, I have connections there...so she has some people thinking that that's the case and I'm telling you right now, it's not true. As a matter of fact she has some very shady business going on where she used some of her influence locally to fire some very good people from some very good positions where they would have helped a lot of minorities...
That's not "misinformation and deceit?"
Now we have found out as a result of the ad that the reason she was registered to vote both in Travis and Cameron counties was because "Travis County did not cancel my registration as expected."
A certain Jessica Robinson (d.o.b. 5-1-74) has two VUIDs:
One in Cameron - 1181585157 registered at 44 Calle Duquesa and
One in Travis - 1131347027 registered at 12500 Uvalde Creek Dr.
And a certain Johnathan Samuel Bradshaw (d.o.b. 5-23-70) also has two VUIDs:
One in Cameron - 1181585135 registered at 44 Calle Duquesa and
One in Travis - 1131411560 registered at 12500 Uvalde Creek Dr.

But she saves the best for last, according to her ad in the paper.
She is obviously ignorant of the fact that a majority of local residents elected the majority on the Texas Southmost College board of trustees based on their platform separating the community college mission from the UT System. She says that as a result of Garza's "vote on the UTB-TSC partnership, severely weakened both institutions resulting in 600+ lost jobs in Brownsville and the Valley."
Doesn't she realize that it was the UT Regents in Austin who cast the separation vote first before the TSC trustees even considered the matter?
The rest of her charges against Garza also ring hollow. Let's take one by one of her "bullets."
That Garza "crippled" the Los Fresnos CISD as a trustee by firing a proven superintendent and replacing him with her personal friend as a favor."
Now, we were under the impression that it takes a majority of a seven-member board of trustees to make any decision, let alone one as important as replacing a superintendent. Did Garza's vote nullify the other six? That statement indicates Bradshaw's complete lack of knowledge of serving on any public board. In fact, she never has. We'll ascribe that statement to ignorance of board dynamics. The last we heard, the Los Fresnos CISD is alive and well.
She states that Garza worked for "Congressman (Blake) Farenthold, her son-in-law's employee," for less than one year" and never handled legislation as she claims."
Farenthold, as the elected official, is of course the person entrusted to handle legislation. As far as we know, Garza, in her role as field director in the southern end of the district handles the groundwork which is the foundation for any legislation. That means that Garza, in her capacity and purview, can "handle" legislation.
And what does her son-in-law being employed by the congressman have to do with anything? We know David and you don't want to have him as an opponent in a political race. We're sure Ms. Bradshaw will attest to his effectiveness, therefore the slur.
As far as who's supporting Garza, well, that is up to each individual. If State Rep. Jose Aliseda, a former popular Bee County Judge, endorsed her over Bradshaw, that is his prerogative. In fact, Aliseda had this to say about her:
"Yes, I have endorsed Adela. I did several months ago. I thought she was the best of the three candidates running, mainly because I believe she is the most qualified, she is a conservative, she has been a Republican for a long time, she is currently serving on the College Board of Trustees in the Valley, and we need people that are experienced and that know how to move around in government, and I think she is the one. The other two candidates don't have her experience and qualifications, so that's why I endorsed her..."
The interviewer (Bob Price, of Texas GOP Vote) then compared Garza with Bradshaw's approach to representative government:
"Contrast that with one of her opponents(Jessica) , who spent almost the entire evening sitting at her table with her campaign team and hardly speaking with anyone. She then ducked out early, whereas Garza was one of the last to leave and then went on to have more discussions with local leaders about district issues. That is what representation is about."

If anything, Ms. Bradshaw's ad is instructive in that her charges against Garza and her denials of her own heritage indicate a very insecure personality who wouldn't think twice of selling her own folks down the river to attain a desired political post.

CASCOS BARES HIS SOUL AT OLIVEIRA JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTION CEREMONY

By Juan Montoya
In the forty or so years that I have known Carlos Cascos, his speech last night at the Oliveira Middle School National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony had to be the best last speech i have ever heard him deliver.
No, it wasn't a call to arms as he was apt to give when he was fighting for his political life when votes went missing in his race with Democrat standard bearer John Wood.
And it wasn't a plaintive appeal to his fellow commissioner in the first year of the 12 he served as county commissioner for Pct. 2 when Mike Cortinas transferred all of the road material budget item to San Benito's Adolph Thomae and left Cascos with an empty caliche bin at the warehouse at the 14th Street county barn.
It wasn't a rousing one either as when he became the second Republican to occupy the county judge's seat after defeating Democrat honcho Gilberto Hinojosa in a no-holds barred contest still memorable in the political talk at the county coffee shop.
In an era when we have two Republican congressional candidates with roots in Mexico (Adela Garza and Jessica P. Bradshaw) and at least one of the handful of Justice of the Peace (2-2) candidates (Yolanda Begum) also hailing from our neighboring country, it was heartening to see first-hand that the American Dream is still very much alive and manifesting itself in the likes of the Cameron County Judge.
In his remarks, Cascos told the 30 young inductees to the NJHS inductees of a young man born in Matamoros from parents from Mexico City and San Fernando who entered out local public schools (Los Ebanos, aka Sharp Elementary) in the anti-Mexican era when even speaking Spanish was agaisnt the rules.
"That young man was me. There was no National Honor Society when I was growing up," he told them. "In fact, even admitting that you were from Matamoros was looked down upon back then."
Nonetheless, he outlined his ascent though academia and on to Brownsville High School, Texas Southmost College, then on to get his accounting degree at the University of Texas. Today, he is a certified public accountant, is a diplomat in the Academy of Certified Public Accountants and is certified as a forensic auditor.
After a short stint with the Department of Public Safety, he joined a nationally-known accounting firm with offices in Brownsville.
"I remember when I went to see the counselor at Brownsville High School and she told me that college wasn't for me, that i should look for a trade," he said. "And I wasn't the only one they told this to. But we're stubborn sometimes."
"We didn't have things like financial aid back then," he told them. "But we knew what we wanted."
He also reminded the inductees and guests that technology had speeded up the transfer of knowledge so that each new generation possess an exponential increase of know how not available to previous generations.
"When your parents were growing up there was no such thing as a cell phone, or iPods or iPads," he said. "Nowadays a three-year-old can figure out how to program a remote faster than I could."
However, he cautioned the young scholars that because they are now part of an elite group of students nationally, they also inherited a responsibility to be role models for other students because anything they did would reflect on their membership in the organization.
"With great power comes great responsibility," he said. "You are going to be a role model for someone."
Then, in his closing statements, he brought back the students to the ground.
"Never think that you know more than your parent," he siad. "You might think that you're getting away with it, but sooner or later you'll get caught. Your parents have been there and can see what you're doing. You are book smart, but you are not street smart."

ERIN HERNANDEZ BETTING A LAW DEGREE WILL TRUMP A LIFETIME OF EXPERIENCE

By Juan Montoya

By now we've all heard the justifications of Erin Hernandez Garcia's supporters that we should all jump off the elections cliff and vote for her because she has a law degree and we don't.

You know Erin, she's a local lawyer who happens to be Cameron County Precinct 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez's daughter, a point she doesn't readily acknowledge on her campaign literature to limit her liability over his quasi-legal escapades.

The mantra has taken yet another twist now with these same acolytes claiming that the candidate that they see as Erin's main opponent Yolanda Begum isn't educated.

As usual, these simple statements strike a chord with people who might not know any better. Now we understand that Begum's supporters are making their point forcefully that not only does Begum have an education, but that in terms of life experience, she is heads and shoulders way above Erin whose legal practice has consisted mainly of keeping her dad's money-making schemes (such as the vending contract with the county) barely legal.

"To be clear, Yolanda Begum graduated from both high school and college," one of her supporters wrote us. "She is also certified in anger management and domestic violence resolution skills apart from obtaining many years of formal education in liberal arts. Yolanda attended

a community college where she graduated with a business and accounting degree."

Unlike Erin, whose family has been siphoning the resources of local public entities like the city and now the county, as she was growing up, Yolanda’s family was by no means wealthy, they said.

When she married Mike Begum, a downtown retail pioneer who immigrated to Brownsville

in the early 1950’s from Russia, they operated and managed numerous women’s and children’s retail stores in the valley and Yolanda branched out to operate other small business interests including starting a restaurant, property management, an art studio, and a beverage company.

As far as her family, Erin has nothing on Yolanda. She is the eldest of seven children, with one of her brothers being a prominent doctor, her second brother is a lawyer, and her sisters all had careers ranging from a biochemist, human resources director to interior decorator.

Not only has Begum spent almost all of her adult life in the valley, she has also been involved in charities, business organizations, civic organizations, teaching children on probation, and teaching woman with cancer how to utilize alternative life saving strategies for surviving cancer.

Her two children, Sasha and Alex Begum, are both successful lawyers.

No stranger to life's adversities, Begum, a cancer survivor, was forced to undergo thee years of chemotherapy, radiation, cancer surgeries, and finally was able to beat cancer through the use of alternative medicine and diet. Two younger sisters were not so fortunate. They were diagnosed with breast cancer and died after long-fought battles with the disease.

There was a reason why the Texas Legislature, in its wisdom, created the Small Claims Courts with the specific provision that no legal degree is required for that position. The legislature wanted people who could be fair to folks who did not hire lawyers.

The Legislature wanted Justices of the Peace to be regular folks who could hear common sense arguments and not apply legalese or complex procedural hoops to folks coming before these courts. They were set up so that regular people with everyday problems could go and argue their own case without having to hire an expensive lawyer. These courts were an alternative to the Federal, County or District Courts where all the Judges are lawyers.

Some political opponents argue that a law degree is the only qualifier for Justice of the Peace. A Law degree does not bring with it life experiences, wisdom, compassion, integrity, honor and an ethical disposition.

A cursory look into the many lawyers and public officials with law degrees who are currently

under federal indictments in Cameron County should dispel that misconception. Does a law degree in and of itself, then, bring the qualities that are vital for a good public official or Justice of the Peace?

President Reagan was once quoted as saying: "I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

Erin Hernandez's minions are probably past the point of understanding or of viewing the point objectively. But even in Begum has no law degree, she does bring life experiences, wisdom, education, compassion and integrity to the office of the Justice of the Peace that Erin would need a whole lifetime to achieve. No one in Begum’s family has ever run for public office and she is not a career politician. She is not looking to use the position as a spring board to further her political aspirations or that of her immediate family.

But as a mother, a teacher, a successful business woman, and a civic leader who wants to bring positive change to this position and address issues such as truancy so that youth do not

become societal tax burdens in our community, Begum is about as different from Erin as night and day.

Given her family's track record, do you really expect someone like Erin Hernandez to offer integrity, respect, accountability and honesty to this position?

Between a law degree used for her family's and personal benefit and Begum's wealth of life experience dedicated to our community, Begum is our choice.

SYLVIA ATKINSON: THE IRON FIST INSIDE THE BISD VELVET GLOVE

By Juan Montoya

As the Brownsville Independent School District board of trustees and administration move to utilize the $12 million Daniel Breeden Elementary School and realign the boundaries of its 54 campuses, the spear carrier for the move of personnel throughout the campus has fallen on none other than Asst. Supt. Human Resources Sylvia Atkinson.
Atkinson, by no mean the world's sweetheart, has become, in the opinion of some local teachers and administrators, the "power behind the throne," and the "iron fist inside the velvet glove" of the BISD administration.
"When you see Sylvia on the scene, it does not bode well for anyone," said a middle-school teacher. "Something not nice is up."
Breeden, the district’s newest campus, is located at 3955 Dana Road. The board last October adopted a 2012 balanced $475.3 million budget that maintained the current level of pay for all full-time employees, avoided any layoffs, did not tap into fund balance and left the effective tax rate unchanged.But is did not include start-up costs for Breeden, which BISD now estimates will include $1.5 million for necessary furniture, equipment and supplies and $2.5 million in staffing costs. The former administration under Brett Sprinsgton apparently miscalculated the funds necessary to operate the school, current BISD administrators said.
But now, as plans are being made to use it, teachers and administrators are wary of the Human Resources Dept.'s strategies to utilize the district's staff.
Many say that if Atkinson's record in her rise to power after she left behind a trail of superintendent positions stretching from Los Fresnos to Socorro ISD is any indication of what is going to happen here, some people are in for a nasty surprise.
"Her favorites will get the best positions and the rest will get the shaft," said a teacher. "It always happens with her."In fact, before she was hired by the district as Grants Administrator, Atkinson had made it known that she was prepared to announce her candidacy against former trustee Ruben Cortez.
Just days after she was showing her campaign cards to her potential supporters, the district announced that she had been tapped for the $87,000 job formerly held by former CFO Tony Juarez.
Sources then indicated that some board members approached Atkinson (whose brother Charley was a City of Brownsville commissioner) and told her that if she wouldn't run, the majority would vote to get her the plum position. In the end, she did not announce and got the job with the BISD.
Atkinson's career has been marked by conflict and charges of favoritism and cronyism in almost every district where she has worked. When she was at Los Fresnos, a divided community ousted her after a school election with many school employees charging that she kept a coterie of favorites and disdained others.
On December 2005, she resigned from the Los Fresnos Independent Consolidated District after she could not muster the majority vote on the board to maintain her job. The LFCISD shelled out more than $205,000 in severance pay when she resigned.
And, thanks to a law championed by state Rep. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, the state penalized the district for awarding severance in excess of a superintendent's annual earnings and the district took another $80,000 hit in state funding, too. It was the largest cut to any district in more than two years.
As part of Atkinson's severance agreement, Los Fresnos agreed to rescind a number of negative documents from her personnel file, according to documents on file at TEA.
In April 2006, after leaving Los Fresnos, Atkinson landed in the Santa Rosa Independent School District where she served as superintendent for about eight months.
After conflict there, she left to take the job of superintendent of Socorro Independent School District in January 2007. Charges of favoritism and cronyism have followed Atkinson there, too. Her hiring of Ida Trevino and her husband Guillermo Salinas and Andres and Cynthia Lopez, who all worked with her in South Texas, for the Socorro ISD Police Force, irked some locals who claimed they were hired simply because they knew Atkinson.
Trevino beat out 15 other qualified applicants for the job of task force commander, even though she only had a high school diploma and a cosmetology degree. Critics said they believed cronyism played a role in her hiring since Trevino worked briefly as the chief of police for the Santa Rosa School District.
The El Paso Times and KFOX television station had reported that Atkinson had been at the center of an investigation into the district's hiring practices and allegations of cronyism.
Trevino and Salinas left the SCISD after a number of controversies including one where Trevino charged that a district employee had threatened bodily harm on her son, a charge strongly denied by the accused. No charges were ever filed or arrests made in that fiasco. When Atkinson she left, the SCISD agreed to give her one-year salary as severance. At the time, her salary was $220,900.
And when former Veterans Memorial High School Principal Acacia A. Ameel was placed on administrative leave with pay on Sept. 21, 2011, the day after a Board of Trustees meeting at which BISD presented plans for the school to become a magnet and college preparatory campus, witnesses said that Atkinson was one of the first administrators to visit the campus.
At meeting held at the school, several VMHS students and community members expressed concerns about the STAMP program, which was then in the planning stage. Some sources said that Ameel sympathized with the students and parents and that some meetings to protest the changes were held in her office.
On April 4 this year by a 4-3 vote, trustees denied Ameel’s grievance at Level III, which sought reinstatement to her position as principal. Ameel's attorney John Shergold said the trustees had violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by holding a the Level III hearing in closed session when Ameel had asked for it to be in open session.
A lawsuit, undoubtedly, will result on the matter.
Then, in mid-October last year, on her department's recommendation, the BISD trustees approved former city commissioner Charlie Atkinson (Sylvia's brother) for a physical education teaching position at Faulk Middle School.
Atkinson has three sisters who work for BISD: Sylvia , Sandra Powers, the supervisor of BISD’s Special Olympics programs and wife of former trustee Otis Powers, and Mary Tolman, the administrator for State Compensatory Education services. At the time, several applicants for the positions cried foul, saying some were already certified and more qualified than Charlie Atkinson to get the position.
In March, Michael A. Alex, a former Porter High School track and cross country coach who had a racial discrimination lawsuit against the BISD in 2010, amended his suit after the district hired the former city commissioner for a physical education teaching position at Faulk Middle School. Alex, who is black, had been unable to obtain a position with BISD since a 1995 incident in which he was fired.
Unlike Atkinson, Alex holds a valid lifetime teaching certificate for secondary health education and secondary physical education. Although the certificate is valid for life, it was revoked from Sept. 6, 1996 through March 26, 2001.
Atkinson has made no bones about wanting to become BID's next superintendent.
However, as in 2011, a majority of thre trustees are wary of having the controversial figure at the helm of the district. For now, she has become the district's favorite to put out brush fires and silence dissent to the board's and administration's decisions.

"She's not someone you want to mess with," said a teacher. "The board better watch their own backs with her."