AVERTEST CONTRACT QUESTIONED, NO COMMISH COURT APPROVAL; CAMERON COUNTY BAR PETITIONS FOR REPEAL

By Juan Montoya
Just last week, Cameron County Luis V. Saenz sent his gopher Asst. DA Rene Garza to the Dancy Building to get the approval from commissioners for him to spend $24,999 to pay for three billboards addressing domestic abuse which featured his name and office shield prominently.
The fact that the billboards were to be placed in spots in the county which pushed him to victory four years ago gave commissioners cause to pause and they approved the contract with Lamar Billboard with the condition that only the name of the office, not Saenz's, be included on the billboard.
The separation of powers has always been a hallmark of county government. All contracts that are entered upon by the individual departments must be approved and bear the signature of the county judge. One arm of the government cannot usurp the other.
Saenz knows this well.
Virtually every state and federal grant and contract with vendors and other governmental bodies must first be approved by the court. His reps are always there requesting their approval (and the court's legal counsel) before entering into any deals.
But is Saenz's case, courthouse watchers have detected a tendency of Saenz to bypass the executive and legislative branches and go on off his own authority to cut deals that could potentially expose the county to liabilities.
Take, for example, his sale of 500 eight-liners to a Georgia corporation without the clearance of anyone but himself. That may have netted his office $100,000, but it did not have the approval fo the county commissioners. If those same machines are being used in a place where a crime is committed and someone gets hurt, who is liable for the sale?
On the political side, Saenz promised he would not emulate his predecessor Armando Villalobos by reselling the machines that they may be put to use again. That's a liability he will have to face on his own.
That is what is happening in Saenz's latest unilateral move to change the condition of his Pre-Trial Diversion contracts with first-time offenders. On August 31, Saenz – through Garza – surprised the legal community by saying that the rules under which PTD defendants must comply had changed.
He unilaterally contracted with Avertest, a company out of Richmod, Va., to administer substance abuse testing to PTD defendants. Instead of reporting once a month or randomly as they used to, they are now required to report 365 days (weekends and holidays included) upon penalty of revocation from the program.
That applies right now to the PTD defendants only, but the plan is to have it apply to all defendants on probation as well. As draconian as this may seem, there's another catch. Instead of paying the usual $5 fee for the test, they will now pay $17 per test, with $8 going to the DA's Office.
Our inquiries into whether the signing of the contract or the change in the PTD policy had been brought before the commissioners court for their approval indicate that neither has been done.
Legal counsel tells us that the contract and the change in policy was not brought before the commissioners court, but was approved by the Board of Judges. The judiciary, under the Texas Government Code, are limited to the hiring of the auditor, court reporters and judge's personal staff. In other words, it was an end-run by Saenz.
This led to a barrage of criticisms that may yet came and bite Saenz in the butt. There is already talk of legal challenges to the unilateral changes in the requirements under the PTD contract signed by the defendants on the advice of their attorneys.
And jut recently the Cameron County bar members are circulating a petition to have the new testing requirements and costs repealed.
In their website, they state:

"The Cameron County District Attorney's Office has announced their intention to utilize the third party company AVERTEST for Random Urinary Analysis as a condition of Pre Trial Diversion ("PTD") contracts, including those PTDs which have already commenced.

This policy would subject PTD participants to check in 365 times a year see if "randomly" selected for testing. If selected, they must report to one of two collection facilities in Cameron County by 5 p.m. that very day, unless it is a weekend or holiday, in which case they only have until noon. Failure to call in or report for testing on the day selected would be considered a violation of their PTD agreement. This means that no PTD participant, according the policy being implemented, would be able to leave Cameron County at all during the term of the program for fear of being selected.

While this may be appropriate for programs such as Drug Impact Court, it is grossly inappropriate for participants in the PTD program, who must meet stringent requirements just to be considered for the program, such as being a first time offender, among many others.

Moreover, the District Attorney's Office, while claiming AVERTEST helps them achieve true randomness in selection, has admitted that probation officers are able to influence the frequency of testing for specific individuals. This defeats the randomness of selection, and further allows AVERTEST to increase their profits by increasing the oppression imposed on these FIRST TIME OFFENDERS. This is immoral and unjust.

We are vehemently opposed to the implementation of this policy, and we urge the District Attorney's Office to change their course in this matter, and to further refrain from implementing ANY policy which shirks the responsibilities of the county in favor of private companies whose profits are directly proportional to the punishment of Cameron County citizens.

Justice, and the People of our County, are NOT FOR SALE.

To sign the petition, go to the link below:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no-avertest-for-PTDs

POLITICAL HACKS SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME FOR COUNTY

By Juan Montoya
When Cameron County Program Management and Development Director Frank Bejarano left for retirement earlier this year, his department was full of top-level administrative talent.
There was a former planning administrator for a former county judge, a former director of the county health department, and the former interim director for the Private Industry Council before he came to the county.
All of them were highly qualified in program management, grant applications, implementation, reporting, etc., and thoroughly versed in the byzantine world of state and federal grants, deadlines and meeting the strict guidelines associated with them.
After the applications came in to fill the position Bejarano left, the county – under the direction of County Administrator David Garcia and HR Director Manuel Villarreal – picked Mark Yates, a former county auditor who left in disgrace and in handcuffs least time he worked for the county.
But Yates had a few qualifications that the the other three competent applicants did not have. He had political connections with the old Gilbert Hinojosa regime.
Pct. 3 Commissioner David Garza – David Garcia's longtime benefactor – championed Yates, also from his precinct. And so Yates was chosen. He has been in the position for the better part of a month.
If you get a chance to see Yates in action during a county meeting, the first thing that will come out of his lips is that he is not "yet in the loop," in particular grants, is still "in the learning curve," has "a bit of homework to do," and he will "get back to you on that issue," commissioner.
And when he needs a grant explained to the court, it'll be one of the three holdovers from the Bejarano regime who has to come forward and explain the intricacies of this or that grant to the inquiring commissioners.
Aside from being out of the public service loop for decades and not being up to speed on county services, what makes Yates different from the other three? His surname?
How did we gr to this fix?
County Administrator David Garcia replaced county judge appointee Pete Sepulveda when Carlos Cascos left. Garcia is himself a political appointee who was taken on by Gilbert Hinojosa at the behest of U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz's chief of staff Lencho Rendon.
Today, Garcia is raking in $180,000 for his troubles.
No one is going to say that Garcia is a crackerjack. He has played off his political connections and natural sympathies from people for his handicap to worm his way up the pecking order. Taking the tumultuous state of affairs in the county with an appointed county judge, the departure of HR Director Arnold Flores, and others, he might have well offered Bejarano an attractive raise to keep his expertise on board during these troubled times. But Bejarano wasn't a bootlicker or brown-noser like those people Garcia is used to dealing with. A straight talker, Bejarano gave you the straight skinny whether it pleased the listener or not. There was no sugar coating.
When he retired, Garcia did not make an effort to entice him to stay even though the work product coming out of that office was above reproach and much better than that coming from Garcia's own department.
Look at the hirings under Garcia:

At Program Management and Development:
1.Yates, who took a deferred adjudication plea in return for no conviction on approving an insurance contract and payments for it without the authorization of the county commissioners. He was accused of violating the competitive bidding process for renewing an insurance contract without Commissioners Court approval. The contract in question was worth $1 million with United of Omaha Life Insurance. The last thing he was doing was selling shrimp. He had been out of public service so long that even a planning degree from the days of yore did not make him a better candidate than the personnel already at PM and D. We understand he is earning $70,102, even more than Bejarano was earning when he left. Yates was an auditor, not a planner. These are two vastly different arenas and expect to see Yates lean on the staff as his learning curve turns into the Indianapolis 500.

At Human Resources:
2, Manuel Villarreal: Villarreal was hired to replace Arnold Flores at HR at $50 an hour. Villarreal was one of the Hinojosa holdovers and is known to be pliant to the powers-that-be like Garcia (and his boss Sepulveda. Sepulveda, by the way is getting paid $230,000 as county judge, but not by Cameron County. He is paid by the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority. He answers to no one and neither the taxpayers nor the voters have a say so in his employment.) There were qualified personnel at that office who applied and were turned down. They did not have the political connections Villarreal had.

At Elections
3. Remi Garza: Garza was hired at $76,000 for the Cameron County Elections as its administrator and chosen over eminently qualified elections administrators with decades of experience. He just happened to have been the chief of staff for Gilbert Hinojosa. That, apparently, was enough qualifications for Garcia to recommend his employment. There were also a number of staff at elections who were running the office when Roger Ortiz and Chris Davis were around and who were doing all the grunt work to make Davis and Garza look good. Their tasks turned out to be thankless.

At Emergency Management
4. Tom Hushen: Chosen to be County Emergency Management Coordinator at $65,317. He was – you guessed it – the emergency coordinator under Hinojosa. And yes, there were people there who could have done the job and were passed over, too.

At Administration:
5. Javier Villarreal: David Garcia's Asst. County Administrator. We have nothing against Javier. He was County Auditor Marta Galarza's right-hand man when it came to the budget. But bean counting and county administration are like day and night. His father, by the way, is Manuel Villarreal, at HR.

What kind of message does this give to staff at these departments who have been laboring to make the come-and-go administrators look good? It makes them realize that no matter how good you perform your job, you will always be bypassed when it comes to promotion or to get the top job because you're not willing to be a political hack like David Garcia was to get his job.
Take a look at Garcia's performance as administrator for Public Works. He turned a blind eye to his supervisors getting charged with stealing driveway pipes and selling them for personal profit, ignored the continuing lackluster performance of his Public Works Chief in exposing his workers to unprotected labor in trenches (see graphic at right), and allowed the injury of employees as a result.
Instead of progressing in the delivery of public services under Garcia, we are regressing back to the sordid past that Cameron County used to be.

FIL WANTS MEX GUVS EXTRADITED; HOW ABOUT PAL LETTY?

By Juan Montoya
By now we're getting used to U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela Jr.'s call for this or that action knowing full well that nothing will come of it.
We heard him rail against the deaths of three American citizens killed in Matamoros, against the "inaction" of Veteran Administration officials for a hospital here, and now for the extradition of
two former Mexican governors from the border state of Tamaulipas accused of working with Mexican drug cartels.
Vela and  U.S. Congressman Michael Maccaul sent the letter to U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
In the letter the two congressmen ask for the extradition of former Tamaulipas governors Tomas Yarrington and Eugenio Hernandez Flores so that they can be tried in the United States.
“These two former governors of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas are accused of being key players in criminal enterprises that had a significant negative impact on communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico Border,” the congressmen stated in the letter.
Tomas Yarrington served as the governor of Tamaulipas from 1999 to 2005 while Hernandez held the post from 2005 to 2010.
News reports indicate that both Yarrington and Hernandez continue to live peacefully in Mexico. Yarrington reportedly travels continuously from Mexico City to Ciudad Victoria Tamaulipas while Hernandez frequents ritzy restaurants in Cancun with his family.
Yarrington is accused of having worked with the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltran Leyva cartels to further their criminal enterprises. Federal officials have seized various houses belonging to Yarrington in South Texas, including a luxury condominium in South Padre Island.
 Hernandez is wanted on money laundering charges and federal officials have seized various properties in South Texas as well as in San Antonio.
Curiously, neither congressman demands that Lynch "immediately" take steps to extradite Matamoros Mayor Leticia Salazar, the main force behind the formation of the paramilitary Grupo Hercules under the direction of her Social Development coordinator Luis Biasi who are charged with kidnapping three American citizens in Progreso, (That's Fil and Lety in the photo at left. Get her, Fil!)
Progreso is part of the municipality of Matamoros.
 The three U.S. citizens Alex, 22,  Jose Angel, 21, and Erica Alvarado, 26, were picked up Oct. 13, 2014 by the group and their bodies were later found thrown in a roadside ditch.
According to their mother Raquel, the brothers came upon Grupo Hercules members beating up on Erica and her Mexican boyfriend and tried to intervene and all were hauled away in two trucks bearing the name of the Matamoros mayor.
Their bodies – showing signs of torture and beatings – were found in an empty lot west of Matamoros and east of El Control where they were picked up.
Salazar said her administration was ready to cooperate with state authorities investigation the siblings disappearance and deaths. However, in nationally televised interviews, she denied any involvement with the group or its formation. (That's her in her cute beret announcing the activation of Grupo Hercules.)
Salazar's actions as mayor have come under heavy criticism for what some say is her authoritarian manner. She has outlawed altars to La Santa Muerte in Matamoros and stopped women in scanty clothing from serving alcoholic beverages in convenience stores arguing that it will lead them to prostitution.
Her remarks that "next to God, I am the maximum authority" in Matamoros has added fuel to the fire.
Now, with the FBI reportedly investigating the case, it is expected that members of the Grupo Hercules will be questioned on the role they played in the students' disappearance and deaths. According to Tamaulipas state police sources, the three siblings and the Mexican national were killed the same day they were picked up by the group and were found last Thursday. Their hands and legs were tied with rope and each bore a single gunshot to the head.
Their vehicles were later found in the impoundment lot belonging to Biasi. Despite her involvement in the matter, Salazar has been feted by Vela on the Brownsville side and rode a car in the Charro Days parade. Apparently, pink-collar criminals are out of bounds for Fil Vela.

LUCIO REWARDED BY GOP FOR CASTRATING DEMOCRATS, DENYING ABORTIONS TO VICTIMS OF RAPE OR INCEST

By Juan Montoya

Last January, Ten. Eddie Lucio Jr. was the lone Democrat to vote to make it easier for Republicans t\o consider and pass legislation without any support of Democrats.
Recently, he got his reward.

Lucio castrated his fellow Democratic senators by supporting the Senate’s Republican majority rule change that makes it possible for senators to consider GOP-backed legislation without the necessity of gaining support from any Democrats.

The move was approved 20-10 along party lines and the decades-old rule that required a two-thirds majority to debate a bill on the Senate floor was scrapped in favor of a new three-fifths rule. Instead of 21 senators, it will now take 19 senators to consider legislation.
Educators in South Texas decried the Lucio vote saying that by giving the Republicans in the Senate a free hand, deprives Democratic senators of fighting for compromises that protect school district funding for their poor Texas communities.

Republicans hold 20 seats in the 31-member chamber, so if they are united, they can control the Senate agenda without Democratic help. 

Under the old rule, which dated to 1947, taking a bill up in recent years generally required bipartisan support.

Only Lucio voted with the GOP majority, while one Republican, Craig Estes of Wichita Falls, abstained from the vote. Republicans hailed the change as one that “will make the Texas Senate even better and help us deliver a conservative agenda a majority of voters elected us to pass.”
Democrats decried the change, noting that whether majorities were GOP or Democratic, the rule forced bipartisan cooperation and compromise.
In the 2011 session, for example, Democrats blocked a bill to restrict abortions by using the two-thirds rule to keep it from coming up for debate. Republicans finally passed the measure in a special session, when the rule was not in force.
Democrats also used the rule to prevent consideration of a bill allowing college students to carry handguns on campus and another measure authorizing private school tax credits.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick backed the change. As a senator from Houston, he pushed to alter the rule in previous legislative sessions.
Well, Lucio is now getting his 30 pieces of silver from Patrick.
He appointed Lucio Jr. to the state’s Joint Interim Committee to Study Border Security earlier this month.
The Joint Interim Committee was created in accordance to the Border Security Omnibus Bill (House Bill 11), which was passed during the 84th Legislative Session.
Lucio stated he was, “honored to be one of the five Senators appointed to the Joint Interim Committee to Study Border Security.”
“For the first time since 1993, I was the only senator on the Senate Subcommittee on Border Security to represent a border district.”
Lucio has also voted in favor of new law that requires underage women to provide additional personal information (including home phone number and address — i.e. information where their parents can be contacted), and judges will be allowed to take additional time to come to their decision. 

Democrats had pushed for an amendment that would allow for minors to obtain a bypass immediately upon request if the underage woman had been raped or abused by incest, but this amendment was ultimately thrown out under the justification that the bill was "intended to bring judicial clarity, and put more protections around the minor."

The "judicial clarity" implies that it's up to the individual judge to decide what is best for the teenage women hoping to get an abortion. (In the picture below, Lucio is in Brownsville attending the "Standing with Texas Women" rally. Notice the bloody coat hanger.)

WE TAKE IT BACK: SAENZ'S NAME NOT TO BE ON BILLBOARDS

By Juan Montoya
Up until two months before the March 1, 2016 primaries, voters driving along the major highways in Harlingen and La Feria will see three billboards at a cost of $25,224 compliments of public funds expounding the work against domestic abuse waged by Cameron County District Attorney's Office.
We had previously reported that the commissioners had knuckeld under the pro-DA Luis V. Saenz effort to have his name prominently displayed on the billboards – only two months before the Democratic primary in March 1, 2016. The contract is from October to the end of December.
Despite the objections raised by Precinct 3 Commissioner David Garza over the apparent political stock that Saenz might gain over his opponents in the upcoming primaries, Asst. DA Rene Guerra assured them that politics was not behind the erection of the billboards in the northern part of the county.
(Rene Garza, by the way, is the brother of Remi Garza, the new Cameron County Elections Administrator. Before that, in Gilberto Hinojosa's administration, Remi was his chief of staff. He also ran and lost against David Garza for Pct. 3 commissioner.) Commissioner Garza asked why the billboards could not state that the offenses would be prosecuted by the DA's Office and not have the name of the elected officials featured so prominently on them.
That made it appear, the commissioner contended, that the county was paying for election publicity for the incumbent. It was a point supported by Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez.
Rene Garza contended that it would be Saenz who was going to prosecute the offenses in court and that the inclusion of his name was appropriate.
Regardless of what fund is used, some argued, the money coming into the DA's Office was public money whether it was generated by forfeitures, fines, or county appropriations.
In the end, with some slight modifications (the exclusion of Saenz's name) by the commissioners, they voted to approve Saenz's request for the billboards. However, they did so on the condition that only the Cameron County District Attorney's Office name be included in the billboard, not his name.
Since he has took office four years ago, Saenz has been a prolific public persona who has sought the greatest bang for the buck with a number of issues besides the domestic abuse issue. He also took credit for the capture by the U.S. Marshal's Office of convicted fugitive murderer Amit Livingston in India, the closing of eight-liners arcades, and the forcing of DWI defendants to have their blood drawn if they refuse to blow into a  Breathalyzer.
Garza did promise that the signs using the roses and the "black and blue" would not be used. Some critics had said the signs using the roses, a battered woman, and the bars were "weird."

FUROR ERUPTS OVER DA'S NEW DRUG-TESTING POLICY

By Juan Montoya
A new policy put into place by the Cameron County District Attorney's Office in  late August that requires defendants placed in its Pre-Trial Diversion program to report 365 days by phone and may result in them being required to undergo more costly urinalysis testing up to three times a week has drawn the ire of the defense attorney community.
Only first-time offenders are allowed into the PTD program and are charged a $250 fee by the DA's Office.
When he entered office four years ago, Cameron County D.A, Luis V. Saenz suspended the PTD program saying his predecessor Armando Villalobos had turned it into a money-making scheme which had allowed defendants who didn't qualify to enter it.
This August 31, Saenz initiated the new policy for first-time offenders under the PTD program that will hike the cost of each test from $5 to $17 per test. Reportedly, about $8 of the additional cost will go to the DA's Office.
The new company introduced by the DA's Office is called Avertest and its offices are located next to Gomez Sheet Metal and  Roofing on Tyler Street across the street from the county parking lot.
The company is headquartered in Richmond, Va.
Local attorneys with clients in the program have charged that the new requirements break the PTR contract their clients signed with the the DA's Office. They charge that having their clients report daily, including weekends and holidays, and making them come in from their jobs to take the test places an undue burden on the poor and could result in the loss of their jobs to others.
Under the new policy, attorneys are required to notify clients that are participating in the PTD program at their own expense and to have them fill out new forms acknowledging the new requirements. They were also required to inform their clients of an orientation meeting where the new rules were explained by Avertest and DA representatives.
One attorney reported that his client had told him he was forced to strip and make a 360-degree turn before a testing supervisor before he gave his sample.
A further complication seems to have arisen in that the new policy has never been approved by the commissioners court although the County's Board of Judges signed off on the practice.
Asst. DA Rene Garza, who has been the front man for Saenz in the implementation of the new requirements for participants, defended the new requirements saying that the defendants knew what they were getting into and had been granted the "privilege" of participating in the PTD program.
"I would never attempt to judge your powers of persuasion while you negotiated an agreement with the prosecutor who has chosen to honor your client with the privilege of a Pre-Trial Diversion Agreement," Garza replied to an attorney questioning the new requirements. "Those negotiations are left entirely in your capable and diligent hands."

Another attorney said her client, a single mother, was being subjected to unfair financial burdens under the DA's new rules for testing.

"This is crazy because I have a client on PTD who has already paid $17.50 three (3) times this month alone," she said. "This comes out to $52.50 halfway through this month. She has yet to pay the balance of $720.00 by the end of this month. She has been on PTD since June 30th and has
completed almost everything except community service hours. Also, she has been having to call daily since August 31, 2015, the day of notice to all. She is barely working part time and she is a single Mom. These conditions are setting everyone up for failure!!!"

Garza defended the DA's new testing policies saying that Avertest uses a proprietary software program that determines who will be tested. He said that in the past, probation officers tested defendants in unsanitary conditions that could have produced legally questionable results.

"The randomness of a computer picking a name for a person to submit a sample is a different action from the frequency of testing, unless that frequency number is zero, 1, or depending on the month 28, 30 or 31..not including the variations of leap years, leap seconds, the Spring forward or Fall back of an hour for daylight savings time or the end of time and existence as I know it," he replied to another query questioning the frequency and randomness of the testing.

Another attorney was more blunt.

"So which is it?" he asked Garza. "Is it completely random per their super secret proprietary random name out of a hat program, or does the probation officer have latitude in the frequency of testing? It can't be both," he charged.

"If the latter, what assurances do we have that the company coming down from Virginia to profit from this arrangement will not be able to influence how many times defendants are tested? Since, you know, they make more money by forcing this garbage down the throats of FIRST TIME OFFENDERS here in our fair County?"

Another lawyer was even more to the point:

"Come on, Rene. I know for a fact you're not that dumb," he answered. "What shocks me is that you think we are. I can only assume you are feeding us the same bullshit sales pitch Avertest prepares for all its clients. 

"THE PRIMARY MOTIVATION OF AVERTEST IS TO MAKE A PROFIT. YOU HAVE 

ADMITTED YOUR "RANDOM" NAME GENERATOR CAN BE INFLUENCED BY THE

PROBATION OFFICER. THAT IS CALLED A LIMITING PARAMETER, AND IS

NECESSARILY INCONSISTENT WITH THE RANDOMNESS YOU CLAIM. HOW HARD

IS THIS TO UNDERSTAND?

"It's clear we'll just have to duke this out case by case. But if this DA's office insists on outsourcing the County's criminal justice responsibilities to private companies who profit by imposing these types of hardships on FIRST TIME OFFENDERS, including private prisons or probation companies, to the detriment and erosion of the civil rights of the citizens of Cameron County, then this defense bar must do what it can to see that a change in leadership occurs. It is our professional, ethical and moral responsibility to do so."

End Part 1

Next: Did DA's Office overstep its authority by skirting the approval of the Cameron County Commissioner Court and the legislative process?

FRESH FROM SKINNING US FOR $140,000, NOW IT'S FAJITAS

By Juan Montoya

Just a week after Ronnie Oliveira – State Rep. Rene Oliverira's cuz – was successful at selling a majority on the City of Brownsville Commission a "branding" program to change its image, he is the emcee and poised to turn in another sizzling performance at the Buda Fajita Fiesta.

The Buda Area Chamber of Commerce hosts its 2nd Annual Fajita Fiesta in Buda’s City Park September 25 and 26, 2015.
The chamber claims that the Fajita Fiesta attracts people and competitive cookers from across the Great State of Texas.
We wonder what terms of endearment Ronnie will conjure up to endear himself with his listeners there.
While he was in Brownsville selling his "Igniting the Future of Texas" logo and marketing program, he regaled the likes of Mayor Tony Martinez, and the rest of the commissioners with his Brownsville roots climaxing in a folksy story about how his father "worked here in this very courtroom."
It didn't matter that an online poll showed that an overwhelming majority (82 percent) were underwhelmed with his "Ignite Texas" logo, or that there were suggestions that a high school art student could have come up with a better one, Ronnie didn't skip a beat at the negative feedback to his firm's work product.
"My father and his brother always talked to us about giving back to the community," he deadpanned, ingratiating himself to his listeners.
However, at the end of the selling job, Oliveria walked away with a $140,000 check. So much to going back to your community and "giving back."
 In Buda, Texas, he'll probably regale the rubes with his accounts of how he drove pat the town back in the days of yore when he was in school in Austin and wondered what there was in Buda and promised hisself he would one day visit and "b'gosh folks, here I is."
If anything, Oliveira has been able to adapt himself to circumstances to come out on the positive side of things. But how he'll be able to stomach some of the "facts" that the Buda Chamber put in its Fajita Fiesta website may turn out to be even too much for his cast-iron constitution. We all know that fajitas were discovered (and consumed) in the Rio Grande Valley way before they were known in the Rest of the United States, Buda included. But, hey, hucksters were never ones to let facts get in the way of a good yarn.
Here are a few, for example:

"The word fajita is not known to have appeared in print until 1971, according to the Oxford English Dictionary." You mean that we've been speaking and writing words that didn't exist before then?

"The origin of what we today call fajitas, goes back to the 1930s to the Texas ranch lands of the Rio Grande Valley. During cattle roundups, beef were often butchered to feed the hands. Throwaway items such as the hide, the head, the entrails, and meat trimmings such as skirt were given to the Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) as part of their pay." Wellll, maybe, but not really. It's creative, though.

"Fajitas appear to have made their way from campfire and backyard grills to commercial sales in 1969. Sonny Falcon, an Austin meat market manager at Guajardo’s Cash Grocery, is believed to have operated the first commercial fajita taco concession stand September of 1969 at a Dies Y Seis celebration in Kyle, Texas." Damn, you mean that now Kyle is the Home of the Fajita? It's bad enough its former mayor Mike Gonzalez is fleecing us for $200,000 annually for his United Brownsville. Now the town where he was mayor has taken over our fajita lore, too.

(Now, here's a whopper.)

"Did You Know that General George Washington and his American Revolution soldiers more than likely ate Fajitas from Texas cattle?" Why not add barbacoa de cabeza and mollejas, too, while you're at it? Did George like the eyes or el cachete? 

We don't know how Ron will fare in Buda, but judging by his performance in Brownsville and his absconding with $140,000 of public cash for his defense of his ho-hum logo, he'll probably do alright and amaze the peasants with the "sonorous timbre of his voice and his twinkling eyes."

WHAT HAPPENED TO PIASA AT THE NORTH INDUSTRIAL PARK?

(Ed.'s Note: The news reported that the board of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation was considering entering into a contract with a California-based super developer to have him take over the North Brownsville Industrial Park brought back a flood of memories and glowing press releases by the GBIC and the Brownsville Economic Development Council, its parent corporation. The terms of the contract have not been divulged and we suspect that – like many other BEDC, GBIC productions – the local taxpayers will get screwed again. As usual, the GBIC has said it will not reveal the terms of the binding agreement until after it has been approved by the board. The BEDC's Jason Hilts and his sidekick Gilbert Salinas assured us the park was "poised" to launch Brownsville as the "epicenter" of North America and Latin America. That was four years ago. Today, it remains an empty trailer park used by long-distance haulers to snooze and rest their rigs at no charge. Below is some of the hype spewed by these two fine gents  over the years.)  


New industrial park aims for competitive edge
Brownsville Herald
June 13, 2011 

Construction is complete on the North Brownsville Industrial Park, which will hold its grand opening on Wednesday. 

The park, designed for light to medium industrial operations, took two years and $4.2 million to build, paid for through state sales tax revenues funneled through the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and nearly $200,000 in federal money from the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Construction entailed building roads and installing utilities at the site, which is divided into 11 lots and located at Paredes Line Road and the newly constructed SH 550 loop. 

Planning began in 2007. The lots range in size from 2.5 to 10 acres. 

The park is "Class A" certified and "shovel ready," according to Cleveland, Ohio-based site selection firm The Austin Company. "Class A" means the park meets a number of standards related to infrastructure, permitting, zoning, location, etc., while "shovel ready" means a company can move in right away and start building.

The park comprises a 73.5 acre tract, divided into 11 lots that range between 2 to 10 acres in size. This property has earned the coveted "Shovel Ready" seal by an international site selection firm, The Austin Company, which has also qualified Brownsville as a 

The park’s first tenant is PIASA, a food-flavoring and spice-processing company based in Monterrey, Mexico, that signed on after the project was announced in 2007 and bought the first two lots. 

Gilberto Salinas of the Brownsville Economic Development Council, which promotes economic and industrial development of the Brownsville-Matamoros region, said the company will create more than 100 jobs. 

"I think this is an excellent example of leveraging public funds to recruit industry," he said. "Here’s an example of a company that’s going to invest several million dollars in capital investment. They’re going to lay down bricks and mortar and employ people. This is how we create wealth in this region. This is how we get on the map in regard to industry." 

Salinas said BEDC has "some pretty strong leads" on other prospective tenants. Of the 10 or so prospects BEDC is actively courting, three are expressing interest in the new park, he said.

And the BEDC press release:

"Through the hard work, vision, and commitment from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC), plans for the construction of a $4.2 million dollar 73-acre 'class A shovel-ready' industrial park have come to fruition."

Industry cheerleaders like Inbound Logistics applauded the GBIC for diving "directly into the real estate business, acquiring a 73-acre property four miles from the port and contracting with the not-for-profit Brownsville Economic Development Council (BEDC) to market the site's 11 lots.
"This is our first shot at developing land in the greater Brownsville 'borderplex,'" they quoted Gilberto Salinas, the BEDC's vice president.  

"Located at the epicenter of North America and Latin America, the North Brownsville Industrial Park is designed for light to medium industrial operations with the opportunity to suit an array of industrial operations seeking a clean environment, quality labor force, proximity to international hubs, excellent transportation services, and most importantly, a city with a pro-business environment." 

International Business Times
January 18 2012
"We've taken advantage of our truly geographic location, said Jason Hilts, president and CEO of the Brownsville Economic Development Council. He gave an example: We were able to reach out to PIASA and provide them with something that they couldn't really do out of Monterrey – to supply their U.S. customers overnight if need be.

PIASA is a Mexican company that sells spices and seasonings, and Brownsville gave it an opening into the U.S. market. It did the same for the airline AeroMexico, which wanted to provide more flights in and out of Brownsville because of its port access and its proximity to South Padre Island, a popular resort destination.
This past May 27, 2008 , the anchor company to the new industrial park PIASA, a Monterrey company that sells spices and other seasonings, announced plans to break ground on a $6 million plant in Brownsville.
It purchased land at ther industrial site at between $12,500 to $15,000 an acre then.
Later, when local businesses tried to buy land there, they found that just six months after the 11.38 acres were conveyed to the buyer, the remaining 73.5 acres were appraised at $60,265 to $80,398 an acre.
The local daily reported that the park took two years and $4.2 million to build, paid for through state sales tax revenues funneled through the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and nearly $200,000 in federal money from the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Construction entailed building roads and installing utilities at the site, which is divided into 11 lots and located at Paredes Line Road and the newly constructed SH 550 loop.

El Rrun-rrun
June 20, 2011
PIASA is a food-flavoring and spice-processing company based in Monterrey, Mexico, that BEDC spokesmen said had signed on after the project was announced in 2007 and bought the first two lots. Gilbert Salinas, the spokesman for the BEDC, said the company will create more than 100 jobs.
The PIASA promises have changed (more grandoise) at every reading. Salinas had said in 2008 that the firm plans to invest more than $1 million in a 52,000-square-foot, top-notch manufacturing facility that will create 81 jobs paying a minimum of $15 per hour.
The firm's website states that that it had , in 2003, "started operations in our new production plant in Apodaca, N. L., Mexico." Later, in "2005, we optimized our spices and chile operations inaugurating another factory in San Luis Potosi."
Local businessman Mario Villarreal, who has extensive business interests in Mexico's maquila industry – was not convinced that PIASA intended to establish a manufacturing facility at the site it acquired at land-rush bargain prices.
"We'll probably see them establishing a warehouse with maybe five or six people working out of the distribution center, if that," he said. "They made the same promises to McAllen and now that they got the GBIC to get the land at a bargain, I don't see them hiring 100 workers when they can get 10 times as many workers in Matamoros or San Luis, Potosi for the same price. It doesn't make economic sense."

RUMORS OF INDICTMENTS AGAINST DA'S FOES WIDEN

By Juan Montoya
From La Feria to Brownsville, there are widening rumors that Cameron County District Attorney challenger Carlos Masso and perhaps Pct. 2 Constable Abel Gomez might be indicted before the March 1 primary, possibly over mail-ballot fraud charges.
Some rumors even include Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio.
The rumors have gained credence because they have become so widespread across the county.
At least six politiqueras have been indicted in state court and another in federal court over abuse of mail-in ballots during the 2012 Democratic Party primary elections. Several have pleaded with the state and some still face charges over the same issues.
Masso, Gomez, and Lucio were some of the principal recipients of mail-in ballots in that election.
After that election, a joint election-fraud task force was formed made up of the Texas Attorney General's Office, the Cameron County District Attorney's Office and local federal officials. In the pre-sentencing report filed in the case of Sonia Solis, the only politiquera tried in federal court, several other politiqueras were mentioned. Neither Solis nor any of the other defendants have publicly admitted they took money from specific candidates.
But as the March 1, 2016, primary election approaches and, rumors abound that DA Luis V. Saenz, as part of the joint task force, may have a primary surprise for his opponent in the form of an indictment.
"Don't put anything past Luis," said a source at the courthouse. "His aunt (former district clerk) Aurora de la Garza used to manage them during her reign at the district clerk's office. He's had a good teacher. But if he's going to do it, he better do it now or else it'll look like prosecutoral misconduct."

YZAGUIRRE'S BIRTHDAY BBQ IS ON FOR TODAY

(Ed's Note: The Birthday BBQ that was to be hosted by Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector at his El Ranchito Escondido behind his home at 1305 Honeydale and  had been cancelled due to an unexpected illness in the family is on for today at the same location.. Yzaguirre said that the tickets purchased for the event will be honored. If you know someone who was planning to go, Tony asks that you call them and inform them of the change. Until then, he extends his gratitude for the support and extends his invitation.)

COUNTY BITES BULLET: DEBATES $21.7 MILLION VERDICT

By Juan Montoya
In what has been a long-running dispute over land donated in 1958 for the use by Cameron County of of a "public park, and parkway and park road purposes," the current commissioners court has to decide what to do about a $21.7 million verdict in a jury trial held this past August.
The heirs prevailed in the 2009 lawsuit they filed in 138th District Court and the county appealed to the 13th Court of Appeals in 2013.
At dispute was the ownership of the land that comprises a portion of Andy Bowie Park on South Padre Island.

The Tompkins heirs sued the county, County Judge Carlos H. Cascos, and commissioners Sophia Benavides, John Wood, David A. Garza, and Edna Tamayo in their official capacity, alleging various causes of action, and contending that the leasing of the land for a hotel violated an easement that the land be used only “for public park, and parkway and park road” purposes.
An Isla Blanca Park advocacy group contends that at that time former Cameron County Parks Administrator Javier Mendez staged a sham public hearing to facilitate the misuse of the donated property for park purposes only.
In the case remanded by the appeals court, the Tompkins contended that on October 16, 2007, without the the heirs' knowledge, or agreement, Cameron County, as approved by the county judge and the commissioners, entered into a concession agreement with Bharat R. Patel, President d/b/a Affiliated Management Systems. Pursuant to the concession agreement, Cameron County leased to Patel approximately 6.5 acres in Andy Bowie Park, thereby abandoning the alleged Park Purposes easement on the leased property.
Visiting Judge Federico Hinojosa presiding presided over the trial court case last August.
Since the appeals court remanded the case back to the trial court, new commissioners on the court were now named as defendants. Former County Administrator Pete Sepulveda (now county judge), Pct. 2 Commissioner Alex Dominguez, and Dan Sanchez were named in the new trial along with the original defendants Benavides and Garza.
Sepulveda was county administrator when the case was filed.
Following Hinojosa's instructions, 10 jurors said they had agreed on every question, but that two had not.
The verdict read:
Question 1:
 "By entering into the Concession Agreement fee for the Hilton Garden Inn, did Cameron County abandon the 1958 Easement for "public park, and parkway and park road purposes, as to the 6.5 acre tract?
Answer: Yes

  Question 3: By issuing a Request for Proposal for the 20.9 Acre Tract, did Cameron County abandon the 1958 Easement for " "public park, and parkway and park road purposes"?
Answer: Yes

In all, the jury awarded the heirs $21,170,000 in damages.
Now, as the commissioners deliberate on whether to pay, settle, or continue appealing yet another verdict and incur even more legal costs, or to ask the court to ignore the jury's verdict and throw out the judgment.
To see entire charge and verdict, click on link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6lw4gOEnGiESllnZU1ld21WQVQ1Yy1qV3BhUjBiYTZqc2Vn/view?usp=sharing

SAENZ WILL DISPLAY NAME ON BILLBOARDS...AT PUBLIC COST

By Juan Montoya
Up until three months before the March 1, 2016 primaries, voters driving along the major highways in Harlingen and La Feria will see three billboards at a cost of $25,224 compliments of public funds expounding the work against domestic abuse waged by Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz.
Despite the objections raised by Precinct 3 Commissioner David Garza over the apparent political stock that Saenz might gain over his opponents in the upcoming primaries, Asst. DA Rene Guerra assured them that politics was not behind the erection of the billboards in the northern part of the county.

Garza asked why the billboards could not state that the offenses would be prosecuted by the DA's Office and not have the name of the elected officials featured so prominently on them. Guerra contended that it would be Saenz who was going to prosecute the offenses in court and that the inclusion of his name was appropriate.
Regardless of what fund is used, some argued, the money coming into the DA's Office was public money whether it was generated by forfeitures, fines, or county appropriations.
In the end, with some slight modifications required by the commissioners, they voted to approve Saenz's request to have his name featured prominently on the large billboards.
Saenz has been a prolific public persona who has sought the greatest bang for the buck with a number of issues besides the domestic abuse issue. He also took credit for the capture by the U.S. Marshal's Office of convicted fugitive murderer Amit Livingston in India, the closing of eight-liners arcades, and the forcing of DWI defendants to have their blood drawn if they refuse to blow into a  Breathalyzer.
Guerra did promise that the signs using the roses and the "black and blue" would not be used. Some critics had said the use of the roses and the bars were "weird."

ELON, ELON LIKES YOUR MONEY, HE TAKES A LOT THEY SAY

"ELON"

Elon wears his dot.com like a crown
He calls his child Damian
'Cause he likes the name
And he sends him to the finest school in town

Elon, Elon likes your money
He takes a lot they say
Spends his days counting
In a garage down by Tesla way

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day
When the New York Times said, "God is dead
And the war's begun, Errol Musk has a son today"

And he shall be an Elon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be an Elon
In tradition with the family plan

And he shall be Elon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Elon

Elon sells SpaceX balloons in town
His rocket business thrives
Damian blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly

And Damian, he wants to go to Venus
Leaving Elon back in Mars
Take a balloon and go sailing
While Elon, Elon slowly dies

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day
When the New York Times said, "God is dead
And the war's begun, Errol Musk has a son today"

And he shall be Elon 

And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Elon
In tradition with the family plan

And he shall be Elon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Elon

And he shall be Elvon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Elon
In tradition with the family plan

And he shall be Elon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Elon

YZAGUIRRE'S B-DAY BBQ ON FOR TOMORROW (24TH)

(Ed's Note: The Birthday BBQ that was to be hosted by Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector at his El Ranchito Escondido behind his home at 1305 Honeydale and  had been cancelled due to an unexpected illness in the family is on for Thursday at the same location.. Yzaguirre said that the tickets purchased for the event will be honored. If you know someone who was planning to go, Tony asks that you call them and inform them of the change. Until then, he extends his gratitude for the support and extends his invitation.)

TOURIST KILLED BY EGYPTIAN FORCES WAS FROM TAMAULIPAS

Varied Sources

One of the Mexican tourists shot and killed by Egyptian forces hunting militants in the country's western desert and who mistakenly opened fire on several vehicles was a resident of El Mante, Tamaulipas, Mexico,

Luis Barajas Fernandez, 49, had been visiting Egypt for the first time. His wife, Susana Calderón, was wounded in the attack and is expected to survive.

In all, 12 people on Sunday, Sept. 13. The other dead are believed to be Egyptians.

Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu called the aerial attack "an unjustified aggression."
Barajas Fernandez, had been visiting Egypt for the first time, his sister told the AP.
"He had never gone to Egypt before," said Ana Barajas, who lives in the northern Mexico state of Tamaulipas. "It was for pleasure," she said of the trip.
The married 49-year-old had worked as a salesman in hospital and medical supplies.
"It is an unparalleled hurt," she said of his death, adding the Mexican government was going to take care of the response to her brother's death, and the repatriation of his remains.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO GBIC MEETING? IS GBIC GIVING UP THE NORTH INDUSTRIAL PARK BOONDOGGLE?

By Juan Montoya
By all accounts, the meeting of the board of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation that was held last week was suddenly postponed and the where Oscar Garcia Jr. was to make yet another pitch for  $454,592 of  a recommended three-phase small-area plan was dropped and replaced by another proposal that would have resurrected the abject industrial park funded with the corporation's money.

Actually, it's the quarter cent sales tax share of the 8.5 cents that puts some $4.5 million not the GBIC's coffers. Over time, local sharpies have discovered that the board is pliable and that if enough movers and shakers with United Brownsville, Ambiotec, and relatives of influentials show up, it can be used as a their personal ATM machine.

Garcia  has already gotten $185,000 of the $750,000 recommended by (The Mother of All Plans) plan to "implement" the $454,592 plan that identifies 32 small-areas to develop. For that $185,000 Garcia, a "project manager" with Jacobs Engineering, turned over 90 pages of diagrams and gobbledygook that included 50 pages of index cards filled with arrows and notes from a meeting and phone conference with "stakeholders."

All that pilferage of funds was based on the Brownsville Comprehensive Plan that cost the city another $900,000. That was started under the administration of Eddie Treviño, now the legal counsel for the Brownsville Public Utility Board. That instrument, in turn, was used by IBC President Fred Rusteberg, UTB President Julieta Garcia and UTB VP Irv Downing to justify a United Brownsville Coordinating Board who self-appointed themselves to provide "a forum" for public projects and to "lessen the burdens of government" of elected officials.

Since then, there has been a feeding frenzy at the PUB, the Port of Brownsville, and the GBIC by the socially and economically well-heeled of the city.

Garcia Jr. was on the PUB when the board approved its participation in the $454,592 study and latched on with Jacob's Engineering as project manager. He resigned two years early from his term on the baord to cash in on the "plan." His was the only proposal the board considered when they approved giving his outfit the $185,000. After whetting his hunger on that little morsel, he was back for another $407,000 of taxpayer dollars on Phase II.
Theoretically, Garcia Jr. should never have been considered by the GBIC since he had gone through the Brownsville Economic Development Council and had been turned down by the full board. The BEDC vets projects to be funded by the GBIC. In Garcia Jr.'s case, however,this would have been the second time that he had bypassed the BEDC vetting process. 

(We thank MeanMisterBrownsville blogger Jim Barton for the details he provided on the maneuvering going on behind the scenes  at the meeting.).

With Garcia Jr.'s item postponed and changed, no one was expecting the next move contemplated by the GBIC board and championed by the city commissioners who attended, including City Manager Charlie Cabler and his crackerjack staff.

The plan seems to be rather simple (and generous).

The board planned to give total and exclusive control of the The North Brownsville Industrial Park which cost taxpayers $4.2 million, covers 73 acres with 11 sites with full utilities built some four years ago. In those four years, they has been no visible movement and industries have not flocked to the site.

It now serves as a rest area for truckers who use its unused concrete.slabs to park overnight and save on truck trailer stop charges.

BEDC Director Jason Hilts introduced the new and improved item #3 at Monday's GBIC Board Meeting. Sam Marasco of LandGrant Development, wants full and exclusive control of then ill-conceived industrial park to entice potential tenants to the nsite. Exactly what it is going to cost the city no one knows because GBIC members grew uncomfortable with the wording of the contract that was set to be approved. Is Marasco in cahoots with Garcia Jr.'s Jacobs Engineering and have the developer apply for a "feasibility" study that will tap the GBIC in an end-around?

Being, as he calls himself, a super developer, it was obvious that Marasco – through Garcia Jr.? – had lined his ducks in a row. Barton writes: "Commissioner Debbie Portillo read a prepared statement in support of the GBIC working with Mr. Marasco. Essentially, she said she'd seen such partnerships work in the past. Commissioner John Villarreal said he'd attended the ribbon-cutting for the industrial park, but not seen any progress since then. He praised Marascos skill in working through problems "on another project with the city."

We have made a request for a copy of the contract so we can have our three readers peruse it and decide for themselves whether handing over the $4.2 million park to the private developer. We also have questions about why the GBIC (through vetting of the BEDC) built the park in the first place. IS this just a way of diverting attention away from the ineptness shown in spending the people's money on yet another White Elephant? 

OF GREAT TEACHERS, MENTORS AND PLAIN GOOD PEOPLE

By Juan Montoya

A few of us were reminiscing about our past lives as college students at Texas Southmost College and recalled some of our former teachers.

Some of them came to mind because they taught Journalism, British Lit, or U.S. History.

One of those that came to mind was none other than John Garrison McAllister, Another was O..Henry Sears, Norm Binder, Jim Sullivan, Gonzalo Gonzalez, Robert Rossman, Ruby Wooldrige among others.

I recalled how McAllister helped his students get their first newspaper gigs at the Brownsville Herald or helped them to enroll in other colleges through the use of his office phone so they wouldn't have to spend money on long distance calls. In those days one could walk right into the office of TSC president Arnlufo "Nuco" Oliveira and later, Albert Besteiro.

Those were more laid back days, of course.

When I transferred to another school from TSC, I had taken two British Lit courses with Sears. He was one of those teachers who came in with his Norton's British Literature book and a few notes.  I can almost remember him walking through the hallways of the old Tandy building with his book tucked under one arm. As the class progressed, he would leave the notes aside and begin speaking from memory. It was mesmerizing to hear him go from "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, "Turning and turning in the widening gyre. The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,.." and then switch in  mid verse to something by Samuel Taylor Colerige like "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.

There was no denying the man knew his stuff. Later, at a Midwest college, I would remember fragments of his poems and recited bits of them. Only when I got surprised looks from Literature majors did I realize that Sears had a heavy influence in my love for the written word. In fact, he was kind enough to read and critique the first short story I ever wrote.

Likewise, Norm Binder would love to throw out some ideas in his Latin American courses just o generate debate and discussion in his classes. When someone asked him whether the paternalistic nature of U.S. governments toward Latin America meant that we still had the "White Man's Burden" outlook on foreign policy, Binder asked whether it was the responsibility of this country to spread their viewpoints on their neighbors.

Jim Sullivan was another good teacher who brought a wealth of insight, often from arcane documents other instructors didn't find. He once read us a letter from a slave living in Texas in the early 1800s whose owner was married to a Mexican woman (or Mexican-American). In it, the slave spoke with affection for the woman who he said protected them from the slave owner.

And Gonzalo Gonzalez would stop his biology classes sometimes to tell us about the home remedies from people along the border. He said his mother still lived in her ranch along the river and never left it, even though her sons and daughters took her to California and New York on trips. One of his favorite stories was about the use of crushed egg shells mixed with milk that was used by pregnant ranch women as calcium pills are today.

"And can you guess what the calcium pills are made of?" he asked. "Would you believe crushed eggs shells?"

A newspaper friend sent me an obituary notice of John McAallister the other day. Apparently he died last April and is no longer with us. He was a reporter with the Brownsville Herald and went on to get his Master's Degree of Arts and began to teach English at Southmost College and Pan American University. Later on he taught at Rivera High School until he retired.  O. Henry Sears also died as did Norm Binder. I don't know about Mr. Sullivan, but I hope he is till with us. I think I heard that Gonzalo died, as well. 

Remembering the days at TSC got me thinking of some of those teachers and instructors who are still around from those days. Thar reminded me of "The Hill," part of Edgar Lee Masters Spoon River Anthology where he talks about Fiddler Jones.

"Where is Old Fiddler Jones 

Who played with life all his ninety years, 

Braving the sleet with bared breast, 

Drinking, rioting, thinking neither of wife nor kin, 

Nor gold, nor love, nor heaven? 

Lo! he babbles of the fish-frys of long ago, 

Of the horse-races of long ago at Clary’s Grove, 

Of what Abe Lincoln said 

One time at Springfield."

A belated thank you to all of you.

BEWARE OF EX-BROWNTOWN P.R. GEEKS BEARING GIFTS...

By Juan Montoya
One was the former chief of staff for Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.
Another was a Talking Head for a local television station who went off to make his name (or not) in the state capital and then, once the charm resulted in lower ratings, opened his own public relations firm in Big Bad Austin.
And still another was a former newspaper gal in Brownsville who sought her calling as a public relations shilling goods and services in Austin.
All three – Buddy Garcia, Ronnie Oliveira and Lisa Marie Gomez – have latched on to the Liquefied Natural Gas industry and have descended upon us bearing "gifts" such as jobs, clean industry, and future nirvana using their ties to Brownsville as their hook.
Oliveira is a double dipper. Leaning heavily (and melodramatically) on his Brownsville roots (father a cop, mother a teacher) and his cousin the Texas State Rep. for the area (get it?), he was able to wrest a lucrative $140,000 public relations "branding" contract over other firms which were ranked above his proposal.
When the online poll on his design turned out 80 percent against, he nonetheless convinced our city commissioners (Mayor Tony Martinez, Rose Gowen, Deborah Portillo, and John Villarreal) to approve giving him the gig. Oliveira said he was well worth it because he was not only going to provide the city with his lackluster logo, but also sacrifice himself to be the cheerleader for the city in the branding campaign.
We are not worthy.
LMG, in the other hand, is shilling for Annova LNG using the fact that she was raised in Brownsville and worked for the newspaper there as the sentimental umbilical cord.
"Job! Jobs! Jobs! is her mantra. She knows hunger when she sees it.
And Buddy, what can we say about Buddy, is adept at using the political influence of Lucio's senate position to twist arms as his boss taught him in the years they spent together giving away the South Texas farm in Austin (for a slight fee, of course).
As far as we know, neither of the three have won any Pulitzers, although reading their glowing resumes in their websites, they make themselves out to be mavens of the highest order.
All they want is for us to believe them that – since they spent time in Brownsville stepping on the lowest rung of the professional ladder – this entitles them to come bearing dubious gifts upon the skeptical peasants. They are asking the people here to accept the potential of environmental disaster, unsightly gas flare towers, possible groundwater contamination and the threat of natural gas explosions a scant few miles from populated areas.
Why should the people take their spiel at face value?
"Because we're from Brownsville," they shout in unison even though the last time any of these snake oil salesmen lived down here was decades ago.
The ringmaster is Garcia, of course. He is the pivotal money man hired to line up the proverbial ducks in the water for the LNG billionaire corporations to set up shop on the Brownsville Ship Channel in return for their 30 pieces of silver.
So far the Trojans have not been as pliable as those of yore. Laguna Vista, Port Isabel and South Padre Island have said "nyet." An the Cameron County commissioners tabled Annova's $25 million tax break request as did the P.I. ISD on Annova's $195 million tax abatement application.
Maybe they like their water and air clean so that their children and their children can enjoy them without looking over their shoulder at the belching flames from the smokestacks or the chemicals leeching into the waters that provide the habitat for fish and fowl.
What price tag can you put on those "gifts"? 

BY POPULAR DEMAND: $140 K LOGO IGNITES INSPIRATION

(Click on graphics to enlarge)

FEDERAL AGENCIES ECHO LOCAL OPPOSITION TO LNG PLANTS

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Annova:

"CESWG does not concur with the Project Purpose and Need Statement, as currently written. CESWG will coordinate with the applicant and FERC to formulate appropriate Basic and Overall Project Purpose statements for the proposed project, to be incorporated into project documents."

EPA on Texas LNG:

"In the discussion of Alternatives, we recommend the EIS describe how each alternative was developed, how it addresses each project objective, and how it will be implemented.We also recommend the EIS clearly describe the rationale used to determine whether impacts of an alternative are significant or not. Finally, we recommend the EIS describe the methodology and criteria used for determining project siting."

By Juan Montoya
Fresh from a rejection by the Cameron County Commissioners Court on a request to grant it a $25 million tax break over 10 years, Annova LNG has also received a no-vote from the port Isabel Independent School District for their request for an additional $195 million in tax abatements.
 The generalized negative reaction to both these multi-billion dollar Liquefied Natural Gas export terminal facilities has resounded across the political landscape and has shown that politicians like Tex. Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., State Reps. Rene Oliveira and Eddie Lucio III, Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez and the trustees and administration at the Port of Brownsville are way out of touch with an alarmed constituency.
 But lest they think that the people are off the mark, all the have to look at is the comments by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the case of Texas LNG and the U.S. Corps of Engineers in the case of Annova to see that the hurdles facing these two proposals have many hurdles to go.
The Port Isabel ISD trustees on Tuesday voted not to grant Annova the abatements. This followed the Cameron County Commissioners Court tabling their request for similar considerations.
Meanwhile, the charge dto force the companies down the throats of the people of Cameron County, Port Isabel, South Padre Island and Laguna Vista have met with determined resistance from residents alarmed that their delicate environmental features that lure fishermen and tourists will be tarnished by industrial smokestacks and pollution.
These are the identical concerns addressed by the federal regulatory entities. To see the full documents on the applications, click on links below.

CORPS Comments on Annova:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6lw4gOEnGiEemRONFRxdnJRc2NaNGFEZTczMGRSd1prYUFR/view?usp=sharing

EPA comments on Texas LNG:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6lw4gOEnGiEQUo5SlhSc09RRHRMU0gzemxocEFNemhpNHo0/view?usp=sharing

COUNTY GOVERNMENT BY PROXY IN DEEP SOUTH TEXAS

By Juan Montoya
Imagine this scenario.
Cameron County Judge Pete Sepulveda, who was appointed to that position when Carlos Cascos left to become the new Texas Secretary of State has never been elected.
When and if either Pct. 4 commissioner Dan Sanchez or Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez decides to run for the county judge's office in the 2016 primary against Sepulveda, it will be up to Sepulveda to appoint their replacements.
And Sepulveda, who is not dependent on the Cameron County Commissioners Court to pay his $230,000 salary, is beholden to no one. He is also the CEO the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority. He can cut deals and quid pro quos as much as his little heart desires and can fairly pick whoever he wants. "I'll appoint you, you'll support me. Deal?"
So, if that happens, we will have an unelected county judge appointing two county commissioners (Pcts. 2, 4) to represent the voters in those jurisdictions.
Both commissioners just got elected to new four-year terms. With three years left on their terms, this means that their replacements will be able to vote on the upcoming 2016 budget. We will, in effect, have taxation without elected representation since Sepulveda (not elected) will make it a majority.
Will this come about?
Appointments generally are good until the next general election, so will the appointees need to also run for their respective seats in the March primary as well?
Things, as Alice in Wonderland used to say, are getting curioser and curioser.