WGAF IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS IN AUSTIN, OTHER LOW PLACES

By Juan Montoya

They didn't care what City of Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said.

Nor did they give a rat's butt doing what Cameron County Eddie Treviño begged them not to do.

Or even that Cameron County District Attorneys Luis V. Saenz urged them to vexation to cease and desist.

In fact, they didn't care what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the medical experts cautioned them about avoiding (or attracting) large  crowds.

No, the owners of the new 777 Bingo Hall at 5216 N. Expressway held their grand opening Sunday as the county and city peaked of the COVID-19 pandemic. On that same day Treviño and the Cameron County Health Department announced a record 1,140 positive COVID-19 cases had been confirmed in the county.

The day before it was 1,106. And the days before that another 816, and so on. In just one short week, the county racked up almost 6,000 (5,689) positive cases and recorded 61 deaths. All told, the number of "confirmed deaths," according to Treviño and his medical advisors, is 247, a ludicrously low number no one believes.

The higher positive test numbers reflect the fact that the state has sent personnel to speed up the tallying of testing results. They have also moved in to inspect and improve the county's record keeping to reflect the true number of fatalities, which county officials assert – including Treviño and his medical director Dr. Jaime Castillo admit –  is "hundreds" more.

The area under is under the COVID-19 onslaught. It's the worst it's ever been.

The fact is, everyone – including Texas Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. in full reelection mode – was urging from television screens, billboards and mass mailouts to wear their face mask, maintain a social distance, wash their hands, avoid crowds, etc.

Uncharacteristically showing signs of desperation toward the later part of his runoff election against Brownsville lawyer Sara Stapleton, Lucio took to mass mailouts funded by various PACs depicting him in COVID-19 battle gear wearing a face mask and handing out food to people in cars. Once done vanquishing hunger, he promised to be our COVID-19 fighting senator.

So how was it that the Lucios' landlords and their fervid supporters, the Rodriguezes, despite the appeals of the senator and his state rep son in their campaign, went right ahead and did exactly what they had campaigned against? And why did father and son stand – and continue to stand – in silence and did not protest forcefully against the bingo hall operating now in the building they had just recently vacated as a campaign warehouse?

When photos began to appear in social media showing scores – if not more than 100– cars in the parking lot of 777, many people thought that the bingo belonged to the Lucios. Expenditure reports show that the owner Rodolfo Rodriguez, rented it for use as a Lucio campaign headquarters and warehouse. What happened to the senator's promises in his campaign he would fight to preventing the spread of the virus, many asked.

Lucio III quickly tried to dispute the assertions, distancing himself and his father from Rodriguez and his wife, the owners.

But the damage had been done because everyone associates them with the building. In fact, the senator's campaign finance reports show that in all the time he has been there, his campaign only paid $1,800 to C.R. Emmanuel Investments August 8, 2019.

Lucio's big bash at his announcement and kickoff was held there a month later September 8, 2019 and featured Norteño megastar Ramon Ayala, Ruben Ramos y la Revolución Mexicana as well as Robert and Bobby Pulido Jr..

Reports show the the Pulidos and Ramos were paid a fee ($4,000 for daddy, $1,400 for Bobby and $4,500 for Ramos), but none shows for Ayala, known to easily command fees in the $20,000 range. Just as there is no entry in the expenditures, there is also no in-kind entry for payment to the group nor is there one by the Rodriguez for use the property for the kickoff event.

(Or did father and son go dutch on those?)

Not that it matters much to Rodriguez. Before he brought his capital from Matamoros he was the mandatory go-to guy in construction with well-placed friends at all levels of that power hierarchy. Pesos are no object.

The club's grand opening was to be July 5, according to its advertisements. But Sunday during its opening people shared photos of the full parking lot. Commenters took the business to task for what many interpreted as a callous disregard for the current crisis. It committed one of the no-nos to the current crisis – it created crowds.

Sanitary practices or not, the danger of infections is ever present when the county has racked up around 15,000 positive cases, most of them in Brownsville.

Multiply it once or twice (not by 10 as the CDC does), and
you're looking at some 50,000 others who have been infected. Air conditioning systems which circulate air carry the virus back into the air.They leave there and go to their, and to our, homes.

That's the science.

But is there political will power to prevent these kind of situations that may needlessly expose people to be infected? Mayor Trey Mendez, who recently singed off on directing businesses to follow a policy of limited occupancy to 25 percent wavered between admonishing the sinner and then left it up to the individuals to protect themselves if they decided to go out.

This did not sit well with some posters. Mendez and Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz are called out personally, as is Lucio.

And when Mendez posts "Don't be alarmed," it's too much for a few in the cyber community who lays the blame directly on public officials.

"When you get  our leaders saying they believe the worst is over, you get people flocking in masses..."

Another was even more direct in officials implementing the policies in place to prevent the spread of the virus in the city.

"It's obvious people don't care so it's time people are forced to do so..."

Unlike Mendez, Treviño didn't say much. Once people found out that the numbers on cases and deaths he gave out in press conferences, the shows lacked credibility. He has lacked the gumption to confront SPI on keeping its beaches open and other locales that attract tourism like hotels, lounges and bars where the virus has infected the help. Whatever he says doesn't much matter now.

And DA Saenz said that local officials had tired of telling people to take shelter and stay at home.

"No hacen caso", he said. "We tell them and tell them."

Bingo has become a competitive business in Brownsville. Some competitors wondered whether the acquisition of the required permits to operate had been easier to attain because of the perceived cozyness of the operators with the Lucios. But the senator showed that he's an even-handed fellow and an equal opportunity offender.

In the past, the Isbells, operators of the International Bingo on W. Price Road, have supported Lucio if not politically, then financially. They're not a big PAC, but contribute well for a local business. Even before he left the Rodriguez's warehouse property, Lucio he knew his friends were opening a bingo. place there. Now Eddie's new friends are the Isbells' competitors.

It was time to pull out all the stops, hey?

This crisis is bringing out the best and the worst in all of us. But as one of the commenters posted above, when the local officials can't even get their facts straight enough to give the public a true picture of the problem, how can they expect to impress upon peoplem the seriousness of the situation.

And when it appears that some of these officials give a nod and a wink to activities by friends and political supporters for financial gain that appear to run contrary to the national, state and to their own efforts to restrict activities that draw crowds to one place and facilitate virus transmittal, how can you take it for serious?

In the case of local officialdom, we are have only seen the worst.