IS RICKY ZAYAS LOSING HIS GRIP ON REALITY?

By Juan Montoya
The way the story is told by at least two eyewitnesses is that Brownsville Independent School District board member Lucy Longoria and former superintendents Hector Gonzales (her former boss and now a district consultant) were having lunch at a local Pizza Hut.
At a nearby table there was sitting a party of individuals who are known associates of former BISD trustee Ricky Zayas who was defeated handily two years ago by Longoria in a board election.
No more than 15 or 20 minutes passed and then who suddenly appeared at the restaurant, cell-phone camera at the ready to catch Longoria and Gonzales in the act of brazenly eating lunch in an establishment often patronized by the public? Yes, it was Ricky.
"He made it rather obvious because he went directly to their table and started snapping away," said one of the witnesses. "Longoria got up and in turn took his picture. Now there is some talk that there might be some type of harassment complaint being contemplated against Rick."
Now, we understand that Zayas has long felt that his defeat by Longoria was part of a dastardly conspiracy engineered in the bowels of a den of his enemies and that he was undeserving of his political and professional career being derailed by the shadowy group. Still, after two years, interminable (and costly) litigation, and an unwelcome tarnishing of his image locally, it has become apparent that Rick hasn't gotten over that bump in the road.
Still, taking pictured of someone having lunch at a local restaurant is pushing it just a wee bit, don't you think? Sure, we don't have too many expectations of privacy in a public establishment, but common decency and civility are things that the local culture appreciates. This may have gone beyond the pale.
We are also told that the offended parties are also on the lookout for some of these images to appear in cyberspace so they can initiate a proper response to their dissemination. Take heed Rick. People are watching.