VILLARREAL FEELS LETTY'S FOOTSTEPS, REPORTS PI EMS

By Juan Montoya
How do you define "small"?
How about City of Brownsville District 4 Commissioner John Villarreal?
We visited his challenger Letty Perez-Garzoria during a chicken BBQ fundraiser being put on by the local firefighters who had endorsed her over him for the upcoming May 11 elections (early voting starts Monday) and she told us that Villarreal had passed by twice to check out the competition.
Now, some of us have been involved in local politics and thought that perhaps it was the nerves and paranoia  of a

political candidate and left it at that.
Little did we know that Villarreal had spotted a EMS truck and crew from Port Isabel that was passing by on the way back from transporting a patient to a Brownsville hospital and was invited by the firefighters to a free plate of food so they could get a bite to eat during the course of performing their duties. In fact, the local firefighters donated the plates to their colleagues – EMS paramedics – because they understood that if they were called on an emergency, they wouldn't have time to get a bite to eat.
Well, Villarreal thought it was a dereliction of duty and a waste of Port Isabel taxpayer money for the EMS crew to stop and take a free plate of food offered to them by their fellow firefighters and reported them to their superiors and the mayor of P.I. He also posted the comment on the Cheezmeh Facebook page, one of his ardent supporters.
That set off a firestorm and backlash against John the Snitch that he never imagined. From as far away as Harlingen, the comments questioned the pettiness of the Browntown tyrant and "bully."
"For being a city commissioner I would expect you to have a general knowledge of how emergency responders hectic shifts work," wrote Adriana Contreras. "Your ignorance is just insulting. Bottom line: these guys are always on the run and if they see a little chance to get their meal they have every right to do so. If you must know, they probably won't eat the food until they get another break."
Then, from Harlingen EMS, this: "The imbecile you talk about is no other than the idiot John Villarreal who has nothing else to do than to hassle our local heroes. I guess medics and firefighters should not be able to pick up a meal given to them in gratitude for their work. Thank you public servants."
It didn't end there.
Teresa Saldivar wrote: "The rats already occupy seats at City Hall. We want them out. This (John's) post was so petty of Commissioner Villarreal. It did him more harm than good."
"A pero no tengas un pinche atake de corazon Johnny-Boy," wrote Eduardo Valdez. "Entonces si te va valer V---- donde comen estos pobres homres. Che Snitch, mind your business, bro."
We later found out that Villarreal had called the PI EMS supervisor Charlie Wood to report the EMS crew stopping to pick up a free plate of food and that once they told him he said to forget about it. But things were to get even better.
Letty Perez-Garzoria said that she looked outside the door of the building where she was holding her fundraiser and noticed a Brownsville City Health Department truck outside and an inspector talking to her daughter. Upon inquiring, the inspector told her that they were under orders to stop every time they saw a BBQ pit smoking to inquired whether the required city permits (at $25 a pop) had been acquired. Garzoria told him that all her calls to the city health inspectors had been ignored and not returned.
The inspector said he would let this one slide, but that in the future he would have to issue a citation if she held a fundraiser without one.
"Who was he trying to fool saying that they were under orders to stop every time they saw a BBQ pit smoking to ask whether they had a a permit," she laughed. "We know where this is coming from. I think John is hearing the footsteps."