GO OUT OF TOWN FOR A FEW DAYS, AND HELL BREAKS LOOSE

(Ed.'s Note: You'd think that by now cyber savvy Head Cheeze Erasmo Castro would know better than to expose himself to mass mediated public criticism. Early in the campaign for the Brownsville Independent School District against incumbent Carlos Elizondo and challenger Otis Powers he learned that he who lives by the sword can die by it as well.

During that campaign, some of his past postings were widely distributed where he called some students "hood rats," and "little whores" and he realized that once you fall into the placid-looking pool of Facebook, it is extremely difficult – if not impossible – to get out.

Now, as an elected official to a position of respect where his every move is associated with the school district he represents, he is finding that perhaps the Facebook limelight isn't all it's cut out to be. Yeah, Erasmo might get his jollies out of posting pictures of cockroaches in his oatmeal at one of the Brownsville barrio coffee shops, or dirty dishes at a panaderia (Keep it Clean!), but when other cyber sleuths start posting shots like the ones above, the tables get turned and it's not pretty.

What would any reasonably sane person say if the guy in the photos was trustee Minerva Peña, or say, Dr. Sylvia Atkinson, for example? On the first picture – and apparently earlier that night – the lone male representative on the BISD board is seen toasting a Jaigerbomb with unseen revelers, and later (he's wearing the same clothes), passed out on a booth at a Whataburger restaurant, the same Whataburger, by the way, where TSC losing candidate Carlos Rios passed out while in the drive-through.

Could it be, as some of his supporters have said, that the drink Castro is quaffing in the photo is actually tea, and that da dude is just worn out after  along night of fraternizing with the electorate? Others would say, hey, the guy deserves some privacy. True, but the guy we're talking about actively sought and spent money to attract the public's attention and got himself elected to a position of public trust. If someone found Tony Martinez in a hotel room with a chicken, wouldn't they immediately recognize him not as Martinez, the individual, but simultaneously as Tony Martinez, City of Brownsville mayor?

Same goes for any elected official, now including Mr. Castro. No, that isn't a chicken, maybe spicy chicken or a taco de huevo con tocino. We can't tell, but you get the point. He – and other elected and public officials – sought the public's trust to represent them not only during board meetings, but in every aspect of their lives 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It's a heavy responsibility and pitiful few know how to live with it and up to it. Some never do. But Erasmo, it's time you do. After all, the first public meeting where you are a board member is looming on the horizon and all eyes will be on your comportment. Will you be up to stepping to the plate?

If not, get ready to take some shots, and they're not going to be as pleasant as the Jaigerbombs you had that night.)