THROUGH THE TEARS: RECRIMINATION AGAINST THE HERALD

(Ed.'s Note: The late Erasmo Castro wasn't even in the ground yet when the recriminations against Brownsville Herald educational reporter Gary Long – who wrote a glowing piece about Castro being the "Fighter that Brownsville needed" – and taking him to task for not reporting stories critical of the performance of the Brownsville Independent School District, which they say tended to sanitize the district's performance.

Over the years, Castro broke stories of waste, fraud, malfeasance, and outright theft by some BISD administration and employees. BarbacoaGate, the self-dealing by some BISD maintenance staff selling it bad fertilizer, etc., were some of the issues the Castro uncovered and which Long could not ignore. 

For the most part, Long's coverage gave the district the opportunity to try to defuse the issues and evade public responsibility.

With the Herald no longer a meaningful watchdog – and merely an advertising cash cow for AIM Newspapers – Castro's demise and absence on the board leaves the doors wide open for abuse. Unfortunately, the criticism of Long and the daily are well deserved. Erasmo will be missed and we're the worse for his passing. RIP)

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