AFTER SISTER SYLVIA'S CONVICTION, WHERE TF'S CHARLIE?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Before the trial of his sister Dr. Sylvia Atkinson on bribery charges, you couldn’t shut up her brother – former U.S. Customs and Brownsville City Commissioner Charlie Atkinson – about his sister’s innocence. 

On Facebook he was ruthless calling people mojados y mojadas, stupid, uneducated and ultimately – if you didn’t agree with his family – you were deleted from his account.

He argued that his sister was a consultant and that the the FBI were known to make mistakes and that he and the defense counsel were going to prove that the FBI were, if not malicious, stupid.

During Atkinson's trial her big brother David Atkinson – a retired U.S. Custom agent – was there day after day sitting next to Sylvia, giving her any documents she needed, and handled the laptop to prove the government, it's FBI agents and the federal prosecutors, were  wrong. The gall of indicting an Atkinson.

Her two sisters – both educators in the Brownsville Independent School District – were in the audience front row every day. But Charlie never went one day. On the day the jury was going to render a decision, her parents were there as were her two sisters and her brother David, but not Charlie.

Remember it was Sylvia who bent the rules to get BISD to hire her him as a coach at Faulk Middle  School after he was fired from U.S. custom for abusing his authority and entering a restricted area at the Brownsville-South Padre Island Airport after he was denied access. She used her position as ex- assistant area superintendent and head of Human Resources under superintendent Dr. Carl Montoya. She manipulated Montoya easily.

Charlie used his position as a city commissioner to enter the restricted area at the airport after his superiors denied him entry and disobeyed a direct order which he tried to justify by trying to say he wasn’t using his position as a customs agent but he used his authority as a city commissioner instead. His superiors had witnesses who were his own custom colleagues who testified he flashed his Custom badge and pull rank to enter. After they told him he would not enter, he replied he would have each one fired for embarrassing him in front of his entourage.

Sylvia placed Charlie at Faulk but he had his eye on being a head varsity coach at Hanna Early College High School. It took him two years using his sisters' influence to get him transferred to Rivera Early College and High School after BISD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas resigned. 

Zendejas kept Sylvia and Charlie in control but she soon found out that they couldn't keep them on a leash for long. Once Zendejas was out, Sylvia started moving principals around on her whim.

After Sylvia's conviction on eight federal felonies and Judge Fernando Rodriguez assessed her an 80-month sentence, he deactivated his Facebook page and left his family – including his mom and dad – to endure this very embarrassing situation on their own. (After this guest post appeared, Charlie apparently felt the sting and reactivated his Facebook page.) His brother David also also disappeared. 

The Atkinson women – unlike the brothers – appear to have more ovaries than the men, local wags say.

When the going gets tough, the Atkinson men get going.