HEY EDDIE, OUR LIVES MATTER, TOO! CLOSE THE BEACHES

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, Democratic Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino appears at his frequent press conferences surrounded by medical experts who warn of the dire consequences of the spread of COVOD-19 unless drastic measures are adopted by residents.

You know, social distancing, wearing face masks, avoidance of crowds, etc.

But like Abbott, Trevino adopts the "do as I say and not as I do," approach. The medical experts counseling caution are being used as props to justify their lip service to precaution with their eyes firmly fixed on the "prize," the money, honey.

For while other states have adopted strict measures like curfews, mandatory wearing  of face masks, and even mandatory quarantines for travelers from virus hotspots, Abbott and Trevino want to have their cake and to eat it, too.

Take, for example, his and the commissioners' intransigence in opening up the Cameron County beaches for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. When people are on the beach, will they wear masks? How can you enforce that? You can't. And since everyone in the valley goes to South Padre Island, it's a welcome mat for the COVID-19 to spread across the  entire delta.

(Forget Elon Musk Beach on Boca Chica. He can just say he is going to use it and shut it down at will.)

There has been, however, a backlash to this laissez-faire approach already. We have learned that a petition is making the rounds by the county's registered voters to demand that Trevino keep the beaches closed and that it will be presented to the judge - and forwarded to Abbott - for its implementation.

On the one hand, they both pay lip service to combatting the virus, and on the other, they hunger for the lost income that  invariably results from those restrictions. Abbott opened the beaches for Memorial Day and slowly opened the gates for crowds to mix at will when he made the use of face masks a "recommendation" instead of a requirement.

He opened restaurants and bars and allowed crowds to mix without the mandatory precautions and then - when it blew up in his face - blamed the drinkers in bars for the zoom in the contagion. If he learned a lesson from Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), it's that it's easy to blame a drunk. No one will take his side. How can you go wrong?

Locally, that was seen as a restriction on how far county and municipal governments could go, but when the virus infections blew up in Abbott's face, he quickly wheeled back away and said he had not specifically prohibited them from acting on their own. Then again, he didn't specifically say it not was mandatory. He left a hole big enough for him to wiggle through in a wheelchair.

Trevino, who has seen the county's international bridge income plummet as the federal government imposed travel restrictions on non-essential travel between the U.S. and Mexico for both Mexicans and United States residents and then extended it one more month given the infection rate on the Mexican side of the border, decried the move and urged the opening of the frontier.

He quickly back-pedaled when the contagion explosion occurred after the May and June lowering of the barricades.

Now, as the July 4 holiday approaches and his mouth - and the other county commissioners' - water at the thought of the $10 per vehicle entry fee to the Isla Blanca and Andy Bowie parks, they are again giving money more weight over human life and health by deciding to keep the beaches open and expose residents to COVID-19 infection and potential death or serious illness.

You only live once, they seem to be saying, and if we get your $10 while you're here, well, we can live with that even if you can't.

Organizers are hoping to collect at least 5,000 signatures from registered county voters before Friday to prevent the opening of  the county's beaches. What will Trevino and the county commissioners heed, the cry of the voters, or the sound of the 30 pieces of silver tinkling into the till?