AUTHOR ON UTB-TSC PARTNERSHIP CREDITS ADELA WITH SAVING TSC

By David E. Pearson, Ph.D.
Author of Partnership Affairs: The Fall of a Community University
Publisher: ‎ Southmost Books
Publication date‎ October 15, 2025

The May 2 Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees elections feature a candidate, Adela Garza, who can rightly be credited with saving the community college.

Most of us probably remember how, more than a decade ago, TSC was in a partnership with the University of Texas at Brownsville. This “community university” had a vast number of stresses and internal contradictions. These included separate budget centers, sources of revenue, and ownership of property. 

There was an internal clash of  cultures between two different classes of faculty, staff, and students. There were two distinct missions with two separate governing bodies in place to pursue them. 

By the end of the first decade of this century, the partnership’s community college component had withered. Relatively little money was going into vocational and technical programs. Tuition had increased substantially. There was no real champion on campus for TSC.

The nature of the partnership had caused one of its components to become a figurative orphan, and it was perhaps inevitable that at some point the orphan would grow up and run for office.

Enter Adela Garza. 

Winning Place 1 on the board in 2008, she insisted that the trustees had the right to exercise real decision-making authority. Especially so when it came to the board’s legally prescribed fiduciary obligations to community college students and district taxpayers. 

Feeling the Board of Trustees was simply being used as a rubber stamp for administrative decisions, she began asking questions about campus issues large and small. A number of construction projects then in progress were hugely over budget, and she took a stand against what she saw as fiscal irresponsibility. 

To Adela, the community college’s functions and constituents, its mission and its resources, were not simply means for supporting the larger partnership: they were ends in themselves – ends which had been improperly subordinated to the institution’s university component. 

Yes, she believed that. She had, after all, been elected as a trustee of Texas Southmost College. Adela’s spirited defense of TSC shook up the partnership. The administration responded by trying to put in place a new operating agreement to govern the institution’s two components. 

Rhetorically this was cast as a marvelous thing, something that would guarantee a brighter future for the students and people of South Texas. In truth it was a ploy to strip the TSC board of its authority through a series of contractual agreements giving the university almost complete operational and budgetary control. 

By the fall of 2010, that ploy was on the verge of success. Today, TSC would not exist in anything but name had it not been for Adela’s extraordinary defense of the community college. 

* She provided hard evidence of the university’s plan to seize total institutional control. 

* She rallied a majority of the trustees to defend their community college. 

* She successfully lobbied the Texas legislature, resulting in SB 1909 and HB 3698, bills mandating that Brownsville be the home of an independent community college. 

“I am so proud of what we have accomplished,” she said afterwards. “I go back sometimes and I realize what a big role I played.” Not just a big role. Adela Garza played the key role in giving us the Texas Southmost College we have today.

EARLY VOTING:

April 20-28

ELECTION DAY 

May 2

(David E. Pearson, an Army veteran, graduated magna cum laude with honors in sociology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University and was a postdoctoral fellow in international security studies at The Ohio State University. During his career he has served as professor of sociology, as academic senate president, as host of the radio show Society Under Fire, as founding director of the Dual Language Certification Program, as vice president for partnership affairs at the University of Texas at Brownsville, and as dean of the campus at San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley Campus, where he is currently emeritus professor.) 

To order book, click on link: https://www.amazon.com/Partnership-Affairs-Fall-Community-University-ebook/dp/B0FWFHVNM1?ref_=ast_author_mpb

SOUNDS LIKE THE LADY (SHE'S NO LADY) DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH...

Occupy  Democrats

BREAKING: Melania Trump publicly throws a tantrum about Jimmy Kimmel roasting her at his “alternative” White House Correspondents' Dinner, demanding ABC FIRE him!

Ze First Ladee did not find Kimmel’s jokes about her very funny; if we had to wager a guess, it was probably the part where he said “Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania. That was my impression of Jeffrey Epstein,” that REALLY set her off.

Her bizarre “I was not sex-trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, so stop saying that I was” press conference makes it clear that she is very sensitive to the issue…and has something to hide.

In a very rare public statement, Melania publicly denounced Kimmel for “hateful and violent rhetoric” and demanded that the parent company, ABC, stop “enabling” his “atrocious” behavior:

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”

“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community?”

Hey, Melania, if you are concerned about “hateful and violent” rhetoric, maybe you should have a talk with, we don’t know, YOUR HUSBAND, who does nothing but spew hateful and violent rhetoric all day and throughout most of the night.

If she’s really so concerned about people linking her to Jeffrey Epstein, maybe she should appear before Congress and testify under oath.

Sounds like the lady doth protest too much…

DUELING ENDORSEMENTS: EDDIE FOR SHARIFF; GONZALEZ FOR GARCIA

 

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
As far as anyone can remember, we have never had local candidates for the board of the Brownsville Navigation District endorsed by other candidates on top of the ballot.

Both candidates for Place 2 – Shariff Gonnella and David Garcia – are being endorsed by other candidates, Gonnella by Eddie Treviño, the incumbent Cameron County Judge, and Garcia by District 34 U.S. Rep Vicente Gonzalez.

At the local level, Treviño has been reelected to office twice, and Gonzalez is running for re-election after the original district was changed to favor Republicans from the Corpus Christi area. 

Endorsements, besides giving candidates a boost, also carry some risk. Although the race for the BND is strictly nonpartisan – as is the Texas Southmost College and the City of Brownsville and the Brownsville Independent School District – the political lines have been blurred.

Treviño is currently in a runoff race with outgoing Brownsville Navigation District chair Steve Guerra for county judge as a Democrat, and both he and Gonzalez, who easily won the Democratic primary nomination, face Republican challengers this coming November in the general election.

Behind the scenes lurks Guerra –  the proverbial 800-pound gorilla – who is supporting Garcia and has apparently talked Gonzalez into publicly endorsing him against Treviño's candidate Gonnella. 

U.S. House District 34 covers Cameron, Willacy, Kenedy, and Kleberg counties, including parts of eastern Hidalgo County. 

Gonzalez is currently serving his first term as a representative of the US House District 34. He previously represented US House District 15 from 2017 to 2022, and is currently serving his fifth term in the U.S. Congress.

His Republican challenger is Eric Flores, who won the Republican nomination in the U.S. House District 34 race by a margin of 10,000 votes. Flores will face off Gonzalez this November in a district that favored Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Flores led the primary polls against five other Republican candidates, earning 16,781 votes.

And Gonzalez would do well to remember that Treviño was the top vote getter over Guerra in his race for re-election for Cameron County Judge– which is critical to his own race against his Nueces County opponent Flores. Treviño received 14,505 votes, or over 43 percent to Guerra's 30 percent of the votes, or 9,961.

South Texas Democrats have long memories. Come November, will Treviño supporters remember that Gonzalez – by unnecessarily endorsing Garcia against Treviño's choice for the BND down the ballot – was in effect working against their candidate for county judge and, just as they did for Trump in 2024, cast their votes for Trump's Republican candidate Flores?

SCOTUS HANDS ABBOTT AND TRUMP GERRYMANDERED DISTRICTS

Team Gina

That means Greg Abbott and Donald Trump’s mid-decade redistricting power grab, designed to rig in up to five new Republican seats, is now the official playfield.

This is exactly how Republicans try to hold onto power when they know voters are turning on them. They redraw the lines, causing chaos in the midst of important elections.

But we can still fight back, and we will fight back — because no matter how hard he tries, Greg Abbott cannot gerrymander the governor’s election. But the question is whether we have the resources to seize this moment and win.

We have an end-of-month goal of raising $100,000 by today so we can stay on offense against Abbott, organize statewide, and continue fighting for working Texans.

Will you chip in $5 to help us have the resources to take on Abbott this November?

Donate $5 »

AFTER THREE DECADES OF WAITING, WILL THE EAST LOOP FINALLY BECOME A REALITY?

By Juan Montoya

As envisioned way back in 1993 by then-Cameron County Republican Judge Tony Garza and four Democratic commissioners, the passage of Project Road Map as a bond issue would address the future transportation needs of the county.

That was 33 years ago.

And for the umpteenth time, the commissioners court and county administrator Pete Sepulveda have promised that construction of one of the projects –the East Loop – was to be built with the passage of a bond issue to improve and construct new transportation arteries and projects across the county.

The Brownsville Herald dutifully reported that the court unanimously approved the resolution in support of the East Loop project that will – someday – connect Veterans Bridge to the Port of Brownsville and alleviate congestion by hazardous-material laden trucks on International Blvd. down the middle of downtown Brownsville. 

The project is being managed by the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority (CCRMA) and is one of the top five priority projects for Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (RGVMPO).

The latest motion to approve the resolution was offered by Pct. 1 Commissioner Sofia Benavides and seconded by Pct. 2 Commissioner Joey Lopez.

"It's been a long time coming, but previous Pct. 1 commissioners and county administrations have always supported this very necessary project," Benavides said. "I'm glad I'll be here to cap off our collective efforts."

What happened along the way from the county residents' passage of the bond issue in 1993 and the current affirmation of its construction 31 years later?

The needs remain the same, according to local residents and businesses along SH 48 and International Blvd. Those arteries are still congested with 18-wheelers laden with overweight cargoes, trucks carrying hazardous materials and petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, and other toxic and flammable chemicals.

These highway monsters crawl along the route past churches, schools, public housing projects and single family dwellings. Periodically, trucks have spilled chemicals along the road and residents struggle to wend their way battling the 18-wheelers along the route. The scene below is witnessed daily along the route that includes the heavy trucks passing by Porter Early College High School.

Back in 1993, Garza – later Texas Railroad Commission chairman and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico under the George W. Bush presidency – said that by using the Texas Department of Transportation's Pass Through Financing Program program, the commissioners were able to secure two-thirds of the costs associated with the project list that would see only one-third of the cost paid by the county. The rest would be paid by the state as the projects came online.

After campaigning on behalf of the projects, the court saw the Project Road Map successfully approved by a two thirds majority vote on August 14, 1993.

Project Road Map projects, many since completed, addressed transportation and drainage needs in the county, including some far-reaching projects such as the widening of Southmost Road in Precinct 1 and many other projects in the northern precincts. But the monies for the East Loop were lost in the county's Black Hole of finances and filtered out to the construction of the Los Indios (Free Trade) Bridge, even though the project wasn't listed among the projects in the the bond issue.

Two years ago, Sepulveda – also executive director of CCRMA – said the project is approximately 11 miles long and will connect with the existing South Port Connector (read SpaceX Space Corridor)  road on State Highway 4. He said the Loop will begin at the intersection of I-69E and University Drive and will end on SH 4 (Boca Chica). He said the cost will be approximately $215 million and that the let date is set for 2027.

To Southmost resident Adolfo Aguilar, who lives along the Port of Brownsville-Los Tomates Bridge
near Canales Elementary, the project's completion more than 35 years after it was passed on the bond issue can't come true soon enough.

"You shudder to think what would happen if we had a hazardous chemical spill near one of the schools like Canales or Porter High School," he said. "They are closed campuses and would have no place to run. This project should have been among the first to be constructed. But the boys from Harlingen and the rest of the county nos ganaron pisada (beat us to the draw)."

Sepulveda recounted to commissioners the reason behind the project's construction.

“Addressing our area’s mobility, our international trade corridors which are of regional, statewide and national significance, is of the utmost importance,” Sepulveda told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service. 

“The East Loop project is vital for national and international commercial traffic and to our area’s economic development. It will address congestion, promote public safety, alleviate commute time and improve our residents' livelihood for many years to come.”

Sepulveda said the East Loop projects is currently going through what is called a “functional classification” process at the Federal Highway Administration. He said that classification will allow the use of federal funds for the project.

“The resolution passed by Cameron County Commissioners Court basically lets the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration know that the project is a high priority for Cameron County since it is an international trade corridor leading to the Port of Brownsville.”

Sepulveda said that responded that the resolution will help CCRMA access federal funds for the East Loop project. He said the City of Brownsville has also approved a similar resolution.

“The first segment, which is the South Port Connector road from Ostos Road, inside the Port, to State Highway 4 was built and opened a couple of years ago. So the segment from the Veterans Bridge to State Highway 4 is a segment we’re working with TxDOT on. Part of the funding that will be utilized for the construction is federal funding,” Sepulveda explained.

"We received correspondence last week from the RGVMPO that they’re coordinating that process with the Federal Highway Administration. They had concerns on some of the streets surrounding the East Loop project. I believe most of those are inside the city limits of the City of Brownsville."

The Brownsville Herald reported that the CCRMA website has a page dedicated to the East Loop project. It states:

“The City of Brownsville, TxDOT, Cameron County, and the Port of Brownsville have all entered into partnership to further the development of the East Loop project. The East Loop corridor serves the Port of Brownsville, which exports and imports over 6.3 million metric tons of steel petroleum, machinery ores and other international trade exports to our Mexico partners. The East Loop project will also serve as the overweight corridor that runs currently within the City of Brownsville.

“Creating the East Loop Corridor for trucks traveling from Mexico and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates to the Port of Brownsville will reduce congestion on I-69E and SH 48, as well as reduce the time of travel on all roadways in the Corridor.

“The East Loop Project consists of the construction of a four to six-lane roadway from SH 4 to I-69E (U.S. 77/83) and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates," Sepulveda said.

One of the biggest selling points back then was the removal of the truck and hazardous materials traffic through East Brownsville from Highway 48 and International Blvd. Along the route, the trucks carrying the hazardous cargoes, congesting traffic and polluting the route with exhaust and noise, traversed next to schools, housing projects, churches, the college, neighborhoods and small businesses.

The wear and tear on the roads was constant, and the noise and congestion was, and to a large degree, still is, a nuisance to many people living along the route.

At least one of the former commissioners says the move is long overdue and welcomes the funding.

"We had set aside funding for that from the Project Road Map bond issue more than 30 years ago," said Lucino Rosenbaum Jr., who was Pct. 1 commissioner when the Project Road Map was passed. "Subsequent administrations have kind of put it on the back burner, but now I'm happy to see that the county is getting the project going. The late Carlos Cascos was one of my fellow commissioners when we went to the people to get the funding through the bond."

"The project will allow us to move commercial vehicles that are overweight and carrying hazardous cargo from residential, commercial and school zones in one of the most heavily traversed streets in Brownsville," then-County Judge Carlos H. Cascos told the Brownsville Herald.

"I'm glad to see that this project is coming to fruition even after that long delay," Rosenbaum said. "I know Carlos would be proud that the project on which we worked on together so long ago is actually becoming a reality."

"After all this time, I'm glad to see that they are working it out," he said. "All the ground work has been done for the project and I don't think that it is going to come to a stop for any reason."

Once built – if it eventually is built – the East Loop Project will: 

* Facilitate the movement of Export/Import on the Corridor with Mexico has is growing every year

* Make the movement of imports and exports from the port of Brownsville easier. 

* And perhaps of more importance to local residents, it will eliminate 17 stops and 6 school zones which planners say will significantly improve air quality in the East Loop Corridor.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said a used-tire shop owner whose business sits across Canales Elementary on International Blvd. "Every day we see those heavy trucks pass through here carrying all that dangerous stuff. Dios favoresca que no pase una tragedia." 

"THE WICKED FLEE WHEN NO MAN PURSUETH" (PROVERBS 28:1)

O'DONNELL: In [the suspected shooter's] manifesto, he wrote that 'I'm no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.' What's your reaction?

TRUMP: I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're horrible people. I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. I'm not a pedophile.

 
O'DONNELL: Oh, do you think he was referring to you?

TRUMP: Excuse me. You read that crap from a sick person. I was totally exonerated. You should be ashamed of yourself, reading that. You're a disgrace.

So let me get this straight…

He’s never gone to this dinner before… Goes this year… There’s a “shooter” in the same building as the President, VP, and Speaker… VP gets evacuated first… And somehow the takeaway is… “we need a $150M ballroom”?

And now the internet is doing what it always does— connecting dots that may or may not even be on the same page.

I don’t know what’s crazier: the situation… or the explanations.

BIBLE-THUMPING TRUMP PROVES A DEVIL IN SAINT'S CLOTHING...

Scott Byiers
Shakespeare does it again. Could this be more apt?

Dennis DeRado Sr.
A well placed bolt of lightning that day would have gone a long way in restoring my faith.

Herbert Grigsby Jr. 
He is holding the Bible upside down?!!

Nelson Bell
Big at the little and bottom at the top !!! O'NELLY

Merlin Ivory
The Bard nails it once again!

Peter Michael Stuart White
Madness in great ones should not go unwatched - Shakespeare (Hamlet).

Peter Von Berg
As usual, Shakespeare said it best.

Ma Penowski
Its nearly like it was written specifically for him.

THE PRICE PALESTINIANS ARE PAYING FOR A GREATER ISRAEL EMPIRE

PRAY FOR THE KIDS AT CHURCH TODAY: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE ISRAELI GENOCIDE; MASKING INFANTICIDE

UNICEF

As of early 2026, reports indicate that over 17,000 to 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed by the "chosen people" in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, with reports suggesting more than 50,000 total children have been killed or injured. 

The UN has described the situation as a "graveyard for children," with many more trapped under rubble, thousands suffering from life-altering injuries, and thousands separated from their families.

Key Data on Child Fatalities (Oct 2023 – April 2026)Total Killed (Gaza): Estimates from organizations like Save the Children and UNICEF indicate over 17,000–20,000+ children have been killed.

Daily Toll: Reports indicate an average of at least one child killed every hour, or roughly 28 children per day
.
Infants and Toddlers: Over 2,100 infants and toddlers under two years old are among the dead in Gaza.

Injuries and Missing: UNICEF estimates over 50,000 children have been killed or injured, with thousands missing under rubble.

West Bank: In addition to Gaza, over 120+ children have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 2023.

HOW WOULD THEY FEEL TO SEE THEIR OFFSPRING PRAISE THEIR KILLER?

Congress,gov

President Trump defended white nationalists saying they included “some very fine people,” while expressing sympathy for their demonstration against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. 

It was a strikingly different message from the prepared statement he had delivered before, and a reversion to his initial response over the weekend protests.

Speaking in the lobby of Trump Tower at what had been billed as a statement on infrastructure, a combative Trump defended his slowness to condemn white nationalists and neo-Nazis after a melee in central Virginia, which ended in the death of one woman and injuries to dozens of others, and compared the tearing down of Confederate monuments to the hypothetical removal of monuments to the Founding Fathers. 

He also said that counterprotesters deserve an equal amount of blame for the violence. “What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, at the alt-right?” Trump said. “Do they have any semblance of guilt?” 

“I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups. But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me,” he said. “You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists,” Trump said. “The press has treated them absolutely unfairly.” “You also had some very fine people on both sides,” he said. 

The Unite the Right rally that sparked the violence in Charlottesville featured several leading names in the white-nationalist alt-right movement, and also attracted people displaying Nazi symbols. As they walked down the street, the white-nationalist protesters chanted “blood and soil,” the English translation of a Nazi slogan.

PATEL LAUNCHES OFFICIAL FBI INVESTIGATION INTO ALCOHOLIC CONTENT OF BREWSKIES: HELLO, MY NAME IS KASH, AND I''M AN ALCOHOLIC...

BUSTED: New reporting reveals FBI Director Kash Patel previously disclosed arrests for public intoxication (2001) and public urination (2005) in a letter tied to his Florida Bar application.

The 2005 letter, obtained by reporter Trevor Aaronson of The Intercept through a records request, details both incidents and Patel’s acknowledgment that fines were paid. At the time, Patel was working in the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office.

These revelations come as Patel faces growing scrutiny over alleged alcohol abuse while in office, which he has denied.

CALVIN AND HOBBES, PRIVATE EYE: THE CASE OF THE PUSHY DAME; RAYMOND CHANDLER REDUX

WILL 3RD TIME BE THE CHARM FOR EL RRUN-RRUN'S GBEDC INFORMATION REQUEST?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

For the second time, a Public Information Request by El Rrun-Rrun has again yielded little – if any – of the responsive materials requested.

A recent public information request has raised questions about the creation and hiring of A Director of Government Affairs position by the Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corporation (GBEDC).

In response to the request, the organization stated that no information was withheld or redacted. The first request generated a one-page response that did not address any of our questions.

This second time, the materials provided did not include several types of records typically associated with hiring and position creation, including:

*Board action or approval

*Job postings or recruitment materials:

*Applications or information on other candidates
*Interview notes or evaluation records
*Documentation explaining the creation of the position
*Any analysis distinguishing the role from existing publicly funded government affairs functions

While economic development corporations are not always required to publicly post positions, the absence of these records raises questions about transparency and documentation.

The situation also raises broader questions about whether publicly funded entities are maintaining clear records to demonstrate:

*A defined need for new position
*A transparent hiring process
*Clear separation from existing publicly funded functions

A follow-up public information request-will be submitted to determine whether these records exist.
This issue highlights the importance of transparency and accountability when public funds are used.

ELECTIONS OFFICE ADDRESS EARLY VOTING BALLOT GLITCH

EARLY VOTING TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE

EARLY VOTING BROWNSVILLE NAVIGATION DISTRICT

EARLY VOTING LAGUNA VISTA

By Remi Garza

Cameron County Elections Director

To All Contracting Entities:

Please be advised that a few of the Early Voting Sites have experienced a situation where once the ballots are scanned by the precinct scanner they are not falling into the Transfer Case (Ballot Box) properly.

It appears that they are getting caught on a guide inside the box that should allow them to fall freely into the Transfer Case. Consequently, they are interfering with additional ballots from being scanned and we have had to use the Emergency Ballot Box until the pathway can be cleared. 

As a preventative measure we are going to exchange the receiving part of the ballot scanner, which houses the Transfer Case, from the DS 300 for the DS 200 receptacle. We will not be replacing the Scanners themselves as they are working properly. This should allow for the ballots to fall freely into the Transfer Case as the internal guide has a different design.

We are still investigating the cause of this situation and are working with our vendor. We believe several factors could be influencing the situation, such as the weight of the ballot stock, the relative humidity of the polling sites and/or the heat from the printers in more heavily utilized Early Voting Sites. 

Regardless of the contributing factors, we believe that we will no longer have the situation we are currently experiencing and the guide will no longer interfere with the continued scanning of the ballots at the Early Voting Sites.

Thank you for understanding and I want to assure you that all ballots cast have been properly processed and are secure in the Transfer Cases at each site. 

Further, that the exchanges are happening while the early voting sites are open and active and under the supervision of the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office. As of this time the only locations that have been switched out are the Brownsville Public Library, the San Benito Community Building, Southmost Public Library, and the Main Office at the Cameron County Judicial Complex. 

Tomorrow we will be exchanging at South Padre Island Community Center, Port Isabel City Hall, Laguna Vista City Hall, Los Fresnos Community Center, and Rancho Veijo City Hall. 

As time permits, if it becomes necessary, we will coordinate with the Sheriff’s Office with respect to the other Early Voting Sites.

MAKE SURE YOU PUT SLEEPY JOE ON YOUR VISITORS' LIST...

THEY HAD A FALLING OUT, LIKE CAMALIONES OFTEN DO...

Chuy Aguilera posted this a few months ago. Wonder why the fallout since Aguilera's  wife was Judge Chuy’s campaign treasurer when he ran for Justice of the Peace? He is now in a runoff for 107th District Court against Noe Garza.

SO TRUMPSTERS: DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR IDOL, OR YOUR OWN EYES?

An AP photo of the Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009 and a screen grab from the White House YouTube livestream of Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration appear to show a large difference in the number of inaugural attendees.

By Associated Press 

President Donald Trump’s speech Saturday at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency turned into the latest battle in, as he put it, his “running war with the media.” He had two central complaints: that the media misrepresented the size of the crowd at his inauguration and that it was incorrectly reported a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. was removed from the Oval Office. A look at those assertions:

TRUMP: 

“I made a speech. I looked out. The field was — it looked like a million, a million and a half people.’’

The president went on to say that one network “said we drew 250,000 people. Now that’s not bad. But it’s a lie.’’ He then claimed that were 250,000 right by the stage and the “rest of the, you know, 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.’’

“So we caught them,’’ Trump said. “And we caught them in a beauty. And I think they’re going to pay a big price.’’

THE FACTS:

Trump is wrong. Photos of the National Mall from his inauguration make clear that the crowd did not extend to the Washington Monument. Large swaths of empty space are visible on the Mall.

Thin crowds and partially empty bleachers also dotted the inaugural parade route. Hotels across the District of Columbia reported vacancies, a rarity for an event as large as a presidential inauguration.

PUT ON YOUR HIGH-HEEL SPIT SHINES, CAUSE WE'RE GOING OUT MAY 8

BROWNSVILLE'S GREAT FOUNDERS: A RUNAWAY SLAVE CATCHER AND A SLAVE OWNER WHO STOLE THE LAND

MAYOR JOHN COWEN'S ANCESTOR WILLIAM NEAL, A FOR-HIRE SLAVE CATCHER 

CHARLES STILLMAN THE "FOUNDER" OF BROWNSVILLE WHO STOLE THE LAND FROM RIGHTFUL OWNERS, AND A SLAVE HOLDER

1850 Cameron County census showing Stillman's slave 

By Juan Montoya

If ever there was a curse cast upon future generations it was by the people who named this city Brownsville and the county Cameron.

Why do we say that?

Local historians love to regale us with tales of the 500 brave defenders of Fort Texas, an earthen structure with walls 15 feet wide shaped into a six-sided star built near the present-day golf course next to Texas Southmost College. The finished walls, they say, stood nine to 10 feet tall.

Zachary Taylor had ordered the fort built right across the river from Matamoros in May 1846.
Taylor left Major Jacob Brown in charge of the fort on his way to fortify Point Isabel.

He heard the cannonade as Mexican forces began a siege on May 3 bombarding the fort with their artillery.

The Mexican cannon ball fire was ineffective after the fort's defenders knocked out the guns shooting from Matamoros. Although the confrontation at Fort Texas lasted six days, only two U.S. soldiers died in the bombardment, but that toll included the fort commander Brown.

The late Bruce Aiken used to say that the Mexican Army stopped their cannon fire when they saw that their cannon balls bounced harmlessly off the earthen walls of the fort. Firing continued from the Mexican side sporadically, and erratically.

Aiken said that during one of the lulls three days into the siege, Brown walked out of the fort and was standing by a wall when one of the cannon balls rolled by him, bounced off a wall, and and struck him in the leg, shattering it. (The sketch above that appeared in Harper's Magazine showing an exploding shell killing Brown is fanciful, since the Mexican cannon balls did not explode)

Over the next three days, gangrene set in and he died on May 9.

Why on earth did Brown venture outside the fort on that fateful day and get himself killed? Boredom? Ignorance? Bravado?

Whatever it was, it got his fool ass killed and both the fort and then the city were named after him.

The same goes for Ewen Cameron, which the plaque above has him dying "with his face to the foe."

Actually, hard-luck Ewen was one of a gang of plunderers (filibusters) who raided northern Mexico on  July 1842. This was four years before Zachary Taylor was ordered to the mouth of the Rio Grande by President James Polk.

After a battle December 26, 1842 that left 650 Mexican townspeople dead and 200 wounded, they were captured in Mier, Tamaulipas by the Mexican army and sent to Mexico City.

Not wanting to merely execute all the raiders, they were given the chance to escape death by the luck of the draw, blindfolding them and have them draw beans. If they drew a white bean, they would be spared, but if they drew a black bean, they would be executed. 

At Perote Prison, a jar containing 159 white beans and 17 black beans was presented to the Texan prisoners. Each man drew a bean from the jar. The 17 Texan prisoners who drew black beans were executed by Mexican firing squad.
Actually, for the Mexicans to give the prisoners such good odds of surviving speaks well of their civility.

Cameron drew a white bean in the lottery, and he was allowed to live and serve time in a Mexican prison. But no, Cameron thought he could escape his captors and was caught in the act at least twice, prompting the Mexican commander to order his execution "with his face to the foe," as Texas lore suggests when he refused a blindfold and bared his breast shouting at them to fire, "fuego."

Cameron could have left well enough alone and survived. But noooo! He had to tempt fate and his luck ran out.

Cameron County is now named in his honor and we, as its residents, are left to wonder why.

We live in a cursed region, it appears. With a city named after someone who did not have enough sense to stay inside a perfectly good fort and a county named after another who had been given a chance to live and still attempted to escape and got himself killed, what hope does this area have?

The future, indeed, cheats you from afar.

WE SAVED TSC, AND OUR NEXT CENTURY OF PROGRESS IS YET TO COME

By Adela Garza

We are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Texas Southmost College this year.

Since back in 1926, this community, – once said to be the poorest in the United States – nurtured our community college district like a child. It gave local veterans and residents the opportunity to learn a skill, start a profession, or use it as a first rung to transfer to universities across the nation.

And its open enrollment gave non-traditional students like me a second chance to validate our self worth.

But just a scant 13 years ago, TSC almost ceased to exist. The  plans were drawn, the proposals made, and – without local residents becoming aware – a bill was being considered in Austin to  transfer all its real estate,  buildings, bank deposits, and other financial assets  to  the  oil-and-gas  wealthy University of Texas System.

That  almost happened when I was first elected to serve on the  college  board in 2008.  A forceful college president working with a pliant board had already forwarded plans to  do away with  TSC, and its district would disappear only after local taxpayers finished paying its bond debt. 

After that, the little college that had given so many of our young people, veterans, and  residents the first rung to realize their dreams and uplift their families would be gone.

Our local students were already paying university-level tuition and fees, and only a dismal 16 percent graduated after six years. The rest fell through the cracks, their federal grants depleted with UTB-required "remedial" courses that didn't count toward graduation and they couldn't afford the high tuition and could not  continue their schooling.

We said enough!

In the face of fierce opposition from an elitist stratum of our community, four of us –Rene Torres, Trey Mendez Kiko Rendon and me, a bare majority on the board – said we wouldn't stand by and give our educational birthright away and deprive future generations of the educational opportunities that only a community college can give us.

The combined forces of the UT System and local shakers and movers threatened us with personal and professional destruction, to ruin our businesses, and boycott our professional livelihoods. The college chaplain even picketed the professional offices of one of our majority and threatened him with eternal damnation. 

If they had had their way, we wouldn't be celebrating the century mark of our college's anniversary today. Our college would have been a thing of the past and the fat cats in Austin would own our little school which had ben nurtured by the blood, sweat, and tears of our humble community. 

They said we wouldn't be able to gain accreditation as an independent school, that our enrollment would disappear, and that our students would fail. We were wined and dined, begged, cajoled, and coerced to give up on TSC. We held on and stood our ground up to those forces seeking to destroy it.

I cannot tell you how often –  in the darkest of those times – we felt like giving up in the face of this overwhelming adversity. But we thought then that it was worth it to save our TSC. It was worth it then, and it's worth it now.

The separation came and went and the opposition stood by, ready to watch us fail. But a Higher Power smiled upon us and our little college and drove us to work a little harder harder, and to persevere against the odds. Today, 13 years after we reestablished our independence as a stand-alone institution of higher education we have achieved this:

* We've reduced tuition and fees three (3) times to make TSC the most affordable college in the RGV

* We earned independent national accreditation despite the nay-sayers

* We've grown enrollment by over 130 percent

* We've built a state-of-the art workforce training program

* Today, TSC's graduation rate outpaces the state average  

The best years – our next Century of Progress – is still ahead. With your continued support, we can keep building what we started. 

EARLY VOTING:

April 20-28

ELECTION DAY 

May 2