CISNEROS GOES CRAZY IN SHERIFF'S RACE; OMAR'S LAWSUIT ON THE WAY

By Juan Montoya

Apparently driven to despair by the fact that his brother and his own family endorsed his opponent Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio in a Sunday newspaper ad, challenger Joe Cisneros is now facing a libel lawsuit as a result of claiming to a broadcast reporter that the incumbent is "confused" and is in the "early stages of dementia."

Those coments have caused the normally subdued sheriff to say he will come out gunning for Cisneros in a libel lawsuit.

Cisneros made the comments to Channel 4's self-appointed speed cop and and taco-joint critic Ryan Wolf. He said the comment on the dementia was made to him by the sheriff's sister, a claim challenged by Lucio.

"Mys sister doesn't even talk to him," the sheriff countered. "I have my checkbook ready for when I talk to my attorney today. When you start making statements about people's health or of people's perceived disabilities without any medical proof, that's crossing the line."

In fact, Lucio said, society's views on personal disabilities have advanced to the point where people's privacy outweighs any petty political gain that may be had by revealing a person's alleged illness to the public.

"If a my neighbor's child has autism or other disabilities, I don't have any right to spread that to the public and invade his privacy," he said. "A person's health is a very serious personal matter."

Lucio said that he has semi-annual physicals and has received a thumbs up on his physical and mental well-being. The lawsuit may force Cisneros to reveal where he may have gotten the idea that Lucio may be afflicted by any type of mental problem.

"Shooting from the hip is easy," Lucio said. "But as I have said, wearing an gun and a holster like he does in his campaign signs doesn't mean that the person will make a good sheriff. Spreading these kinds of untruths shows a lack of respect for our growing elderly population. We should respect their experience and age because if you add both of these qualities up it equals wisdom."

This is Cisneros' third attempt to get the Democratic nod for his party's nomination for sheriff. In his statements to Wolf, Cisneros cited a statement that Lucio allegedly made that he is not a county employee.

"He says he's not a county employee... He's confused," Cisneros stated in his own television political advertisement. "By God if he receives a check from the county... With the name Cameron County... He is a county employee," Cisneros said. " His motto is honesty and integrity... He needs to be honest with the people... His own sister has made comments that he's at the early stages of dementia."
Lucio said the comment was only made because he's an elected official.
"We're going to be able to file a libel suit against him. My sister doesn't even talk to him... I think he's upset because his family is supporting me 110 percent," Lucio said.

Lucio's supporters also say that Channel 4's Wolf is not entirely off the hook either because he made no effort to contact Lucio to verify Cisneros' libelous statements to verify the allegations.

"If you repeat a libelous statement, you're just as guilty as the person making them," said one. "It makes you wonder who's crazier, the one who made them or the one who repeated them to the public." '