LENNY BUTTS INTO INTERNET SPAT, DOES CHEEZMEH'S DIRTY WORK

By Juan Montoya

It's been a while since we've last peeked into the small world of Brownsville Fire Department Chief Lenny Perez.

You remember Lenny. He's the same Lenny that allowed his underlings to send Station 6 personnel and fire trucks to Vela Intermediate for a Fire Prevention Week presentation only to have a fire break out in an apartment in nearby Coffeeport (now on the stretch renamed Jaime Zapata) that led to the death of a child.

Since the crews were making a presentation at Vela, the fire crew from the station on Old Alice Road had to be sent there, only to arrive too late to prevent the fatality. That resulted in a lawsuit being filed against the city.

Then there was the occasion where Perez issued an indefinite leave of absence as a disciplinary action to firefighter Marco Longoria after he refused to submit to having a drug test performed on him by an authoritative clinic technician but had it performed at another site by certified personnel that same day.

Lenny took umbrage at Longoria and issued the edict. After costing the city thousands to defend his actions, a panel ruled against the city and Longoria is back on the job. His case was defended by the Brownsville Firefighters Association.

Then there was the case of the pet dog adopted by the firefighters at Station 6 that caused Perez to go ballistic, and he personally went to the station to take custody of the offensive pooch. Even though there was a whole station crew there, Perez singled out members of the union and sought to write them up for the incident.

At the time of the incident, a group of Brownsville firefighters filed a police report against the fire chief accusing him of "taking" their puppy. Longoria was, and remains, president of the union and Jorge Lerma, at that time a firefighter at Station 6, is a board member of the Brownsville Unity Council, a coalition of unionized members from different professions. Rico Bocanegra, also a firefighter is president of the BUC.

Perez justified his taking the dog to the dog pound saying that having a pet at the station constituted a "liability."

"One of the kids can pull the dog's ear or do something and the dog can bite him. That's a liability. ... The dog runs around the station. It can get hit by one of the fire trucks."

To say that there is bad blood between Perez, the BUC and the Firefighter's Association would be an understatement.

Enter Erasmo Castro, the self-appointed Head Cheez of the Internet group Cheezmeh who has pretty much thrown the mantle of community watchdog of Brownsville over their shoulders. Castro took umbrage that the the firefighters and EMS department paramedics, previously members of Cheezmeh, left the group. As if that wasn't bad enough, they endorsed Yolanda Begum over Castro's choice of Erin Hernandez Garcia, the daughter of Cameron County Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez for Justice of the Peace 2-2.

Then, to his dismay, Castro, who is not above calling people who disagree with his political philosophy or opinions in general, "idiots and "bitches," on his Facebook page, was insulted over what he alleges were libelous statements directed against his ample person on the Brownsville Crossfire blog operated by Lerma.

After conferring with Perez (and getting direction from him?) on the phone, he submitted a formal complaint demanding that the chief take disciplinary action against Lerma for "posting libel and defamatory posts and comments" against him and calling him the "mastermind and exposing my criminal background."

He also wrote Perez to complain that Lerma has "interjected these posts but has also included pictures of a "Fat Bastard" character from a movie making fun of my weight and implying that I'm a bastard."

After informing Perez that he was a taxpayer and a voter in the city and that "I am a resident of Brownsville who at the moment is studying a Masters Degree in Austin" and said he had filed a police report against the bloggers in that city. He added that "if action is not taken by this the city's employer, I will pursuit (sic) any and all relief granted by the law. If relief is not granted I will consult with legal counsel."

As an afterthought, he added in his own writing on the bottom of his formal emailed complaint that "please note that it is also Rigo Bocanegra permiting (sic) libel material to be seen and distributed from this page."

Well, apparently that tickled Lenny to no end and he sent notice to Lerma at Station 6 and to Bocanegra at the Central Fire Station that a complaint and investigation into possible misconduct under Texas Govt. Code Ch. 614 and ordered them to give a statement.

Not to be outdone, Bocanegra and Lerma filed a complaint against Castro with the Brownsville Police Dept. alleging his complaint with the city against the operation of an Internet blog on their own time constituted harassment that could endanger their livelihoods.

Now, we don't know if the Texas Gov't. Code for municipal employees covers activity outside the firehouse, but to have the likes of Perez place himself (and the city) as an arbitrator of free speech on the Internet is somewhat of a stretch. Does Lenny know what he's getting the city into by intruding himself in his official capacity into this spat?

Or will his desire for vengeance blind him to the fact that he is stepping way over the bounds of his authority and calling the operation of a blog a "subversive act?"

We can just imagine the civil attorneys out there with their mouths watering to see what Lenny does and how much they will be able to take from the city as a result of his actions.