Our attention was called to a Facebook entry that says that former Cameron County Investigator and Port of Brownsville Police Chief George Gavito turned 61 on Saturday.
We heard he was in San Antonio that day and that he was making his way back to Brownsville over the weekend.
Gavito is one of those people that make up the cultural fabric of this city. His family is one of local pioneer stock since the early days. With George it's either you like him or not. He has been embroiled in numerous controversies inside law enforcement and outside.
The Gavitos have been in many levels of government and have been associated with the likes of former Cameron County commissioner and judge D.J. Lerma, Aurora de la Garza, D.A. Luis V. Saenz and Texas Rep. Rene Oliveira and Sen. Eddie Lucio. Invariably, gregarious George is often in the spotlight.
Whether it's deserved or not, every year that the 1989 Mark Kilroy satanic murder case comes up during Spring Break, Gavito's name is brought up. During the Alex Perez tenure at the Cameron County Sheriff's Office, Gavito was the face in the news that every media outlet – local, national and international – sought for comment. George was only too glad to put on his best coat, comb his ample mane, and titillate reporters with delicious tidbits of information available nowhere else.
The hit-for-hire case of St. Joseph student Joey Fisher in 1993 followed the Kilroy case and propelled him into the local spotlight when a grandmother paid a hitman to kill the boyfriend of her granddaughter.Retired since to a career in business (he also has a restaurant in San Marcos) he has opened up a working-class bar in downtown Brownsville just around the corner from the El Jardin Hotel called El Barril. But he has also kept his hand in local politics and the revitalization of the downtown area.
Most recently, he has been active with his cousin's OP 10.33 activist organization, and gained yet more media attention when he and the St. Joseph Bloodhound football team passed out mosquito repellent in anticipation of the zika outbreak in poor downtown neighborhoods.
Whether you like him or not, he is a player in our area. We extend out belated happy birthday greeting to him.
1 comment:
Seriously, he's 61???? Dang, he doesn't look a day over 67.
Can someone else comment. I feel badly that he didn't get any.
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