laredos march issue

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A JOURNAL OF THE BORDERLANDS MARCH 2012 Est. 1994 Vol. XVII No. 15 64 PAGES @lareDOSnews LareDOS Newspaper

ADDICTION Falling through the cracks: heartbreak and a spiral of despair

“Imagine trying to live without air. Now imagine

something worse.”

— Amy Reed, Clean

Sometimes I understand how powerless I am — the person who brought her into the world, the

person who nurtured her, the one person who should be able to save her. She was a happy child — lots of love, dancing lessons, all the sweetness in the world. Never would I have imagined she would end up on drugs and dancing in a club frequented by truckers “

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Santa María Journal

My life as a Cat Stevens song, two actually, before he was Yusuf Islam and when though

hard-headed, I was tender-heartedBy MARÍA

EUGENIA GUERRA

It might as well be Buda, Texas 1973. I’m at a window on a ranch washing a preposterous num-ber of organically raised eggs —

brown ones, white ones, and the Arau-cana’s greens.

Back then, the music of Tea for the Tillerman, one of Cat Steven’s best al-bums, filled the rooms of our little house that was nestled in a copse of old oaks near Onion Creek. I’d just come in from the henhouse to wash more organically raised eggs than a family could eat.

Eggs again, same vinyl, but it’s not 1973.

The window from which I look out today is at our ranch near San Ygnacio, many years after my betrothed and I lived our lives as back to the land-ers

and happily anticipated the birth of our first and only child.

As I methodically wash the eggs and let the lyrics blow out the win-dows and into the monte, I’m thinking that there might have been a note of prophecy in those lyrics, and though the message was lost on me then, I’m catching Cat’s drift now.

It wouldn’t have mattered back then, because when you are crazy in love you haven’t an iota of the sense that love can become something else, or that you might grow into someone else. It’s been a lifetime pattern, I see now, that by rote I feign surprise at end-ings, even though I’m smart enough to see them coming and because in all likelihood, I was a 50 percent contrib-utor — something you don’t readily

admit when you are young.The vinyl on the turntable makes a

scratchy hiss that dates the music and the age of the album, and Cat Stevens is singing:

“I’m look-ing for a hard headed wom-an, one who will make me do my best, and if I find my hard headed woman, ooh, I know the rest of my life will be blessed, yes, yes, yes.”

My betrothed got his hard-headed woman, albeit one with a tender heart. I’m pretty sure he’d find a word other than “blessed” to recount the sum total of our time together, as certainly would I.

Blessed, however, was the birth of our son George, whose first word was “tractor” and the plural he fash-ioned as we drove past the Interna-tional Harvester dealership in East Austin, “tracterla.” His second word was “inertia.” First things first. Giving his parents and his toys names came later.

My life as a Cat Stevens flashback continues on the ranch in SY with a

three-minute cut called “Wild World” — “Now that I’ve lost everything to you, you say you want to start

something new, and it’s breaking my heart in two you’re leaving, baby I’m grieving. But if you wanna leave, take good care, hope you have a lot of nice things to wear, but then a lot of nice things turn bad out there.”

Was I wishing him well or hop-

ing that nice things would go bad? Whatever. That pot of tea evapo-

rated so long ago.As it turns out, hard-headed, ten-

der-hearted has been a good way to navigate through this life. There’s lit-tle I would change, except that I might have known the real value of kindness much earlier in my life.

My work is done here — 48 clean eggs are in their cartons.

I lift the needle from the turnstile and slip the album back into its sleeve and cover, wondering absently what other portents I may have missed in the massive stack of old albums next to the turntable. ◆

PUBLISHER

María Eugenia [email protected]

STAFF WRITER

Mariela RodríguezSALES

María Eugenia [email protected]

Macedonio Martínez

CIRCULATION, BILLING & SUBSCRIPTIONS

[email protected]

LAYOUT/DESIGN

[email protected]

Read at www.laredosnews.com

Dr. Barbara BakerCordelia BarreraTricia CortezBebe FenstermakerSissy FenstermakerDenise FergusonNeo GutierrezSteve HarmonSantos JimenezHenri Kahn

Cathy KazenArmando X. LópezJosé Antonio LópezSalo OteroEvelyn June PerezJosé RamirezJennie ReedLem Londos Railsback

CONTRIBUTORS

Write a Letter to the Editor [email protected]


RAMIREZ TIRE CENTERwe have them at...

At the 4th Annual Mercurio Martinez IV Memorial 5K

Runners and walkers of all ages took part in the 4th Annual Mercurio Martinez IV Memorial 5K Run hosted by the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communications and Fine Arts. Sponsored by Teens in the Driver Seat, the race began at St. Peter’s Plaza, made its way through downtown, and finished at its point of origin. Proceeds from the run went to the VMT Teens in the Driver Seat Organization and the Teens in the Driver Seat Mercurio Martinez IV Memorial Scholarship Fund.

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Baloons the color of Huelga

The annual march honoring the work of Cesar Chavez for justice and hu-man rights culminated in San Agustín Plaza with the release of black and red balloons.

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Fiscal ConservatismIt is time for Precinct Three to elect someone who will begin the process of removing political favors from county government and who will handle our tax-dollars and the county budget just like each one of us balances the checkbook for our home or business.

Economic DevelopmentDon’t elect me as your next politician; elect me your next community leader. With your help, we will write one of the greatest chapters of sustain-able economic growth in Webb County’s history, one that will make our county a place that our chil-dren will want to stay, work, and play in. Now is our time to be the economic giant of South Texas.

County Employee ProtectionUnder my leadership no county employee within Precinct 3 will be demoted, promoted, !red, or hired, unless for a justi!ed reason, re-gardless of whether they support me or not.

Public Safety Without a doubt Webb County needs a new jail and a new courthouse with adequate capacity and parking for both, and I want to work with local law enforcement to make our community safe for fami-lies.

Quality of LifeEconomic stimulus, public safety, and quality of life are interconnected. Webb County needs more lo-cally owned restaurants and businesses, park spac-es, public libraries for children, and smart growth neighborhoods. I will work with other local govern-mental entities, the business community and my constituents to increase the quality of our lives in Webb County.

Ethics Commission Put the politicos in check! Webb County needs an ethics commission that will hear complaints from employees and citizens in the event that an elected o"cial, including a County Commissioner or department head, commits an ethical violation.

Tough on Crime

I worked for several years as a prosecutor for Webb County, and I fought for justice and I convicted criminals. During my tenure as a prosecutor, I brought hundreds of criminals to justice in order to keep our streets safe. I’m the only candidate in this race with signi!cant criminal law enforcement experience, and I will be tough on crime.

ConclusionI am like you. I work hard in my small business to put food on the table and to pay my bills. I have to watch my spending and balance a checkbook. I bring my experience as a small business owner, as an attorney, as a parent of two daughters and a hus-band and as a hard working person from South Tex-as to the table. I will always !ght for you and Webb County. I will not place anyone’s personal agenda or special interest before Webb County’s Agenda. Please join the One Agenda Campaign and vote for me in the upcoming primary election for County Commissioner Precinct 3..

Honest County Government:It is time for Precinct Three to elect someone who will begin the pro-cess of removing political favors from county government and who will handle our tax-dollars and the county budget just like each one of us balances the checkbook for our home or business.

Let this election be about you and this county we love and call home. Togeth-er, we can build a leaner, cleaner and greener county government.

Community Leadership:

-tion

Development Center

Development Center -

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national Study Center (Successfully fought to save

ValuesI was raised in a single parent household by my mother,

warehouse at $2.75 an hour to clothe me, feed me, and educate me. She would later become vice-president of that company. My mother is now a journalist and a !erce

country as an Army Air Corps bombardier in World War

served his country in that war, and later served his com-munity as a Webb County commissioner. Our beloved

member, embodied commitment to service to family, community, and country.I am a 9th generation Texan on my mother’s side of the family and an 8th generation Texan on my father’s side. I come from hard-working people, and I never lacked for examples of what is to be gained when you invest your-self in your work.

Education

TAMIU with a degree in political science. In the same -

gether, I started law studies at St. Mary’s University.

FamilyMy wife and I have been blessed with two amazing, lov-

I am a father, a husband, active citizen, and a lawyer. I know that what I tend with my heart, my mind, and my hands, gives back, grows, and bears fruit.


Chest Pain Center Accredited by the Society of Chest Pain Centers

Service Excellence in cardiovascular care means that we’ve demonstrated our expertise and commitment to quality cardiovascular care by meeting or exceeding a wide range of stringent criteria to achieve accreditation. And our chest pain patients at the Heart and Vascular Center receive prompt assessments followed by expert diagnosis, management and treatment.

Physicians are independent practitioners who are not agents or employees of Doctors Hospital of Laredo. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or

treatments provided by physicians. This hospital is co-owned with physician investors.

Our accreditation is good for your heart

Garden Share workshop

Lynne Nava of Keep Laredo Beautiful shared with residents of the St. Pe-ter’s Historical District the wealth of information she has about xeriscape, plant propagation, and water conservation. She is pictured on February 25 at “Garden Share,” a workshop sponsored by the St. Peter’s Historic Neighborhood Association. Attendees also shared cuttings, seeds, and gardening tips with each other.

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Historic font now part of Zapata Museum collection

Dr. Hildegardo Flores, part of the core of Zapata County residents who brought the Zapata County Museum to fruition, is pictured with the original baptismal font from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Old Zapata. The Font was in continuous use until 1990 when the new church building was inaugurated. Flores estimates that the font dates back to the 1890s or the turn of the century.

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As are many whose lives were touched by Dr. Al-fonso Martinez, we at the Río Grande International

Study Center (RGISC), are terribly saddened by his passing.

It doesn’t seem possible that some-one as vital as Alfonso can be gone from our circle, and so quickly.

On the damp, cold morning and af-ternoon of February 12 he was walk-ing the streets of San Ygnacio with fellow board member Victor Oliveros and Chris Rincón and Paula García of the River Pierce Foundation to canvas for letters of protest for the proposed oilfield waste dump and to urge folks to come to the Town Hall meeting the next day.

He was helping us that day be-cause his teaching schedule would not allow him to come to the Town Hall meeting. He was doing his part, as he always did.

Except for what I learned in an in-terview when Alfonso was running as a green for a City Council seat a few years back, I did not know him for the physician, scientist, and educator that he was in his professional life. I did have the good luck — as all of us at RGISC did — to get to know him as a board member and a friend.

I admired him for being clear and to the point about our business — no grandstanding, no long-winded elo-quence, just that look over the top of his bifocals to tell us to get on with things. He served as treasurer of our organization and brought much clar-

ity to our financial status.Victor Oliveros and Rudy Rincón,

have lost not only a colleague, but also a close personal friend, the man they lovingly called our “tesorito.”

Over the last year RGISC has worked to establish a more viable,

more visible profile in the commu-nity. Alfonso was part of that move forward, and we were so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with him.

When he was with us in San Yg-nacio that day, I asked him if he was warm enough and he said he was — thermals, layers of clothes, wa-terproof jacket, and a snappy felt hat with a pretty band and all.

He had driven to SY with Victor, and I think Victor had been playing the Ry Cooder/Chieftains San Patri-cio album along the way. One of Vic-tor’s most endearing qualities is that he laces the importance of history into our exchanges, and no doubt that morning he and Alfonso had shared a history lesson.

My last visual of Alfonso that day, and now forever — the afternoon had turned rainy and colder — he and Paula were walking back in a foggy

mist to the place we had started that morning, the River Pierce office on the bluff above the river.

They had collected a nice stack of protest letters.

El caballero de Alfonso was bare-headed, having given Paula his hat.

-María Eugenia Guerra

We will miss Dr. Alfonso Martinez

Paula García, Dr. Alfonso Martinez, Victor Oliveros, Chris Rincón

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REGISTER TO VOTE

IT’S SIMPLE.STOP BY THE WEBB COUNTY ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATION OFFICE

AT 1110 WASHINGTON ST. SUITE #103,OR CALL (956) 523-4050YOU MUST BE A U.S. CITIZEN, 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.

BY JOSÉ ANTONIO LÓPEZ

The soon-to-be unveiled Teja-no Monument continues to add to the discussion of the founding of this great place

we call Texas. For one, Spanish Mex-ican-descent Tejanos clearly believe that the memorial is long overdue. After all, they are living proof of the strong, unbroken genealogical link to Texas’ very foundation. However, what is it about large bronze statues that so lift Tejano spirits and their many non-Hispanic Tejano history supporters?

To begin with, it will be the first monument honoring the founders of Texas. Second, for way too long, main-stream historians have clouded pre-1836 Texas history with a thick fog of exclusion that will finally be cleared by the powerful beams of the Tejano Monument spotlight.

The memorial is a door that has long been shut but will now be open wide, revealing the rich panoramic view of early Texas history.

Inquisitive U.S. citizens — includ-ing many Spanish Mexican-descent Texans themselves — will finally learn more about pre-1836 Texas his-tory, such as the direct connection to extended family in central and north-ern Mexico. For example, why do some citizens in Texas and elsewhere in the Southwest speak Spanish at home? Why is it that so many cities, towns, and communities in Texas and in several surrounding U.S. states have Spanish names? How old are these communities? Who built them? Where did Tejanos come from? What are the details (roots) of Texas independence before Sam Houston’s arrival? How did Spanish-speaking founders like Miguel Hidalgo, Allende, Dominguez, Morelos, and Jiménez influence Texas independence? How did they inspire Tejano heroes such as Las Casas,

Gutiérrez de Lara, and Menchaca? What’s the role of the Mexican states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas in Texas his-tory? What is the connection between the city of Monclova and Texas? How did the vast Southwest region become part of the U.S.?

In reality, Texas (and the U.S. South-west) is the only region that was a cohesive part of another sovereign nation, the Republic of Mexico. With its Spanish language-based cultural makeup, the territory is unmistakably part of Old Mexico. That’s why Span-ish is all around, in the name of our states, cities, and towns, and in every-day culture, such as the very vibrant ambience of the Southwest — its mu-sic, food, the ranch-and-cowboy phe-nomena, and best of all, its friendly, beautiful people.

Thus, although conquered militar-ily, it is forever imbued with a strong Spanish Mexican culture. No other U.S. section can claim these charac-teristics. In short, Texas already had a sense of community with its own laws and strong, organized business and trade systems. It was to these towns deep in the heart of Texas along the Camino Real that attracted the first Anglo immigrants from the U.S.

Yet, for all their blood, sweat, and tears, the Spanish Mexican pioneers of Texas remain virtually unknown to the general public. Beginning in 1836 with Texas independence and sanc-tioned when Texas was admitted to the U.S. as a slave state, Tejanos entered a long period of rejection, existing as a neglected sub-group within the main-stream Anglo society. Quite suddenly, the U.S. Mexico border became a solid wall, symbolically serving to exclude Texas’ Mexican past in the subsequent Anglo-motivated recording of Texas history. It never had to be that way.

The Tejano Monument is timely. As a result of the noisy illegal immigra-tion hysteria, some U.S. citizens con-

tinue to be wedded to an anti-Mexican perspective. For example, it is that stance that is driving the anti-Mexican studies effort in Arizona. Unfounded fear is further fueled by the biased rhetoric of politicians and radio/TV personalities. Ironically, some of these people live in Spanish-named, Span-ish-settled states, such as California, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas.

Not aware of our long history, some citizens question our choice to speak Spanish and preserve our dis-tinctive culture in neighborhoods that were established in the 1700s. In day-to-day matters, Spanish is sometimes spoken exclusively in these barrios. It is the same reason why priests in San Fernando Cathedral have been offer-ing masses in Spanish for nearly 300 years.

Clearly, the Tejano Monument is for the children. Spanish Mexican-descent students have up to now been deprived of their heritage both in the classroom and in mainstream history books. The reason? For years, genera-tions of their parents have been taught that the history of their ancestors is somehow inferior to that of New Eng-land-descent citizens. As such, they take the path of less resistance and opt not to discuss their heritage with their children. So, in that sense, the Tejano Monument offers a much-needed teaching tool. The monument will at long last put the history of New Spain in Texas and the Southwest at a par-allel of dignity and respect with the teaching of New England history. It is

an answer to Tejano parents’ prayers. In short, today’s Spanish Mexican-

descent students are indeed blessed. They are the first generation that will be shown the path to success by a monument dedicated to their coura-geous ancestors. Importantly, it will shine alongside other honorable stat-ues in our state capital of Austin. In achieving this equality, the Tejano Monument signifies a first step to-ward inclusivity and acceptance of Texas history in a seamless manner from its discovery in 1519 to the pres-ent. By approving the monument’s location in a prominent site on the state capitol grounds, Governor Perry has placed a Texas-size version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on the bi-lingual, bi-cultural history of Texas. That fact is important and must not be underestimated.

Finally, the monument equals momentum. Having a sense of own-ership of Texas history will confi-dently inspire and motivate Spanish-surnamed students in Texas and the Southwest to stay in school, graduate from a four-year college, and become productive members of their commu-nity.

It is indeed a new day in the teach-ing and learning of Texas and U.S. Southwest history. As in the myth of the Phoenix, the Tejano Monument represents a new beginning. From the cold ashes of obscurity and rejec-tion, Tejano history will rise and be reborn into a long-lasting Tejano Re-naissance. Ya era tiempo. ◆


Opinion

The Tejano Monument — from rejection to renaissance


FUNDRISE

BY MARIELA RODRIGUEZ LareDos Staff

After many years of being contracted by the city to act as an impound facility for strays, the Laredo Animal

Protective Society (LAPS) no longer wishes to act in that capacity, accord-ing to Jeenie Reed, LAPS board mem-ber, who added that the number of homeless animals that have been eu-thanized has proved to be more than LAPS could bear. LAPS has decided to return to its original mandate — to educate the public in the humane treatment of animals, concentrate on spaying and neutering pets, and pro-vide healthy animals for adoption.

Negotiations are underway for LAPS to lease a portion of its privately owned property to the city in order to facilitate the shift of responsibility for

control of stray animals. The rest of LAPS’ property is intended for a spay and neuter clinic as well as continu-ing adoption programs for pets.

Commenting on the shift in re-sponsibility for the animal shelter from LAPS to the City of Laredo Health Department’s City Animal Control Division, Reed said, “In most cities, animal control falls under the jurisdiction of the city. Animal con-trol is a serious health issue result-ing in about 800 to 1,000 animals per month being impounded. Imagine if these dogs and cats remained on the streets. What would happen if we should have another rabies epidemic? LAPS took on this responsibility in the past; however the job has grown too large for our small humane orga-nization to handle.”

Reed continued, “The City has a bigger budget and the ability to hire

a larger staff. This growing problem needs to be addressed more seriously. The city will be taking on responsibil-ities that ultimately were taken on by LAPS. The City will focus on animal control.”

Reed said that LAPS will no longer be responsible “for such tragic eutha-nasia duties.” She said, we will oper-ate with a smaller staff and focus on reducing the number of strays. We are very excited about plans for the on-site spay and neuter clinic. We are fo-cusing on raising the money to equip and run the clinic and on raising pub-lic awareness of the responsibility of each pet owner to spay/neuter.”

According to Reed, irresponsible pet ownership gives rise to several issues. She said that until pet owners fully comprehend the repercussions of irresponsible pet ownership, the city will continue to experience an is-

sue with over-breeding and unman-ageable stray populations. “Laredo is not the only city facing this problem. In cities all over the world, pet pop-ulations are booming, due to over-breeding. If this is not acted upon by the community, this tragic loss of innocent lives will continue and only grow worse,” Reed added.

“Until the ultimate reality of a large, modern-day facility is real-ized, we must all work together on all fronts — humane education, cruelty investigations, spay and neuter avail-ability, stopping puppy mills, and the list goes on,” commented Reed.

Food, cat litter and especially mon-etary donations are always welcomed by LAPS. Discount vouchers for the spaying or neutering of pets is also available. For more information call the Laredo Animal Shelter at (956) 724-8364. ◆

LAPS ready to hand over impound, euthanization to cityNews

SUBSCRIBE

[email protected]

BY DR. BARBARA BAKERLareDOS Contributor

At the age of 21, human rights activist John Pren-dergast was sitting with a broken ankle watch-

ing television when footage came on about the hunger famine in Ethiopia and Eritrea. This would begin his 25-year-plus social justice career.

On Thursday, March 29, Prender-gast will share his early calling to social justice activism and some of the human rights themes from his in-spiring and thought provoking social justice writings with students, faculty, and community members at Texas A&M International University.

Prendergast — co-founder of the Enough Project, which is dedicated to end genocide in Africa and crimes against humanity in collaboration with the Center for American Prog-ress — has also worked for the Clinton White House, the State Department, the National Intelligence Council, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has been a Big Brother mentor, a youth coun-selor, and basketball coach for over 25 years.

During the spring semester of 2012, TAMIU’s Foundation of Leader-ship service learning course, which is taught by Dr. Carol Waters and Dr. Barbara Baker, has focused on one of Prendergast’s best-selling books, Un-likely Brothers, which is a duet memoir co-written with his first Little Brother

Michael Maddox. The book is being utilized for discussion on mentoring and activism inspiration for the Lead-ership class’ service learning proj-ect on mentoring with Laredo’s Big

Brothers and Big Sister’s Program. Prendergast’s other contributions

and accomplishments include launch-ing the Satellite Sentinel Project with George Clooney that monitors crimes against humanity in Darfur and co-establishing the Darfur Dream Team Sister School Program with NBA basketball star Tracy McGrady. The Darfur Dream Team Sister School Program provides humanitarian funding to Darfur refugee campus to support educational initiatives and cultural exchanges between Darfur and American students. TAMIU’s Darfur Dream Team student organi-zation was established during the fall of 2011.

Prendergast’s March 29 presenta-tion at TAMIU is entitled “War and Peace: Success Stories from Africa and the Implications for the Congo and Sudan” and begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium at TAMIU. ◆


News Brief

Numerous Laredoans are making preparations to witness the unveiling of the Tejano Monu-

ment on the State Capitol grounds in Austin on March 29.

That Laredo sculptor Armando Hinojosa created the 11-piece instal-lation has heightened the signifi-cance of the historic monument for Laredoans. The monument gives voice to the history of the early set-tlers, the Tejanos, who have been marginalized in Texas history.

Through State Representative Richard Raymond, City Council member District 4 Juan Narvaez, Constable Rudy Rodriguez, and Javier Santos of the Fernando Salinas Trust, Dr. Sanjuanita Mar-

tinez-Hunter has organized free bus transportation for those inter-ested in being a part of the unveil-ing. The bus departs March 28 at 7:30 a.m. from St. John Neumann Catholic Church and ends up at the Drury Inn in Austin where Martinez-Hunter has secured a group rate for the travelers of $99 per night per room for one to four persons.

Rep. Raymond’s office is offer-ing a tour of the Capitol after the monument unveiling.

For more information or to re-serve seating on the bus, contact Martinez-Hunter at (956) 722-3497. For hotel reservations please call the Drury Inn in Austin at 512-467-9500. ◆

Bus trip organized for monument unveiling

News

TAMIU brings human rights activist John Prendergast to campus March 29

John Prendergast

www.laredosnews.com


BY MARÍA EUGENIA GUERRA

For the mother of a heroin addict, falling through the cracks of a system meant to save her child, is an annihila-

tion of hope and a spike in the down-ward spiral into greater despair.

Such was the moment in which a date on paperwork foiled Estela Vela’s plan to get her daughter Kelly a bed in a state-funded rehab facility. The 30-day viability of documents signed by her daughter’s physicians for com-mitment expired as the search for a bed came and went, and Kelly turned 18. Vela said a local lab did not draw enough blood to test for heroin, which could have documented her daughter’s drug use before she was 18.

“There are many of us parents who try everything we can to get our chil-dren help, but not all of us have the re-sources for a private facility. Sometimes the system works against us with arbi-trary and unrealistic time constraints,” the Laredo business owner said with a noticeable measure of weariness in her voice.

“It’s been a battle — with drugs, with my daughter, with the system, with her father who was so long in de-nial about her addiction. Sometimes I understand how powerless I am — the person who brought her into the world, the person who nurtured her, the one person who should be able to save her,” Vela said.

She continued, “She was such a hap-py little child — lots of love, dancing lessons, a Gifted and Talented student, all the sweetness in the world. Never in

any of my thoughts would I have imag-ined she would end up on drugs and dancing in a club frequented by truck-ers.”

Where did it start, I asked.It started with truancy, running

away, slipping out of the house at night, and experimenting with drugs. Long after it had happened, long after any evidence could be gathered, Vela said, Kelly told her she had been raped in sixth grade by a boy much older than she.

At 15, Kelly was diagnosed with Op-positional Defiant Disorder and ADD.

“She wasn’t doing heroin at this point, but she was experimenting with drugs. She was already out of hand,” Vela said.

Vela got Kelly into a boot camp in San Benito when she was 16. “She was doing well in her classes. I saw her ev-ery other weekend and could see the good changes in her.

“While I was out of the country, she asked her father to come get her, and he did. He did not believe she had a drug problem. It was the worst thing he could have done. It was downhill from there,” Vela said.

“There’s a tendency in all of us to blame ourselves for the choices our children make. Was it the divorce when she was nine? Was it the series of painful events that led to the divorce?

In hindsight, I try to put it together over and over again. Weren’t her teach-ers noticing changes they could have told me about? How could I not have known she was lost?” Vela asked.

Blame and regrets run out, she said. “There’s this feeling in my chest that the phone will ring and I will hear something terrible has happened to her. She’s overdosed twice on heroin, and one of those times she was in the hospital for two weeks because she as-pirated vomit into her lungs. There was the fear and fright of almost losing her, and there was the near financial ruin

of the hospital stay. She is a danger to herself and no doubt very vulnerable to someone who may want to harm her. Sometimes the feeling in my chest

lets up and tells me it’s OK to feel good things sometimes, to be happy. She can’t wreck my whole life. I have other children and other relationships that are important to me. I have a business and employees who depend on me.”

Vela has attended ALANON meet-ings to find support and to put her

daughter’s addiction into perspective. “’Separate with love and don’t enable her’ is what I tell myself when I look away from the train wreck of a dis-ease that has affected us all,” Vela said. “Drug addiction is a disease,” she re-iterated, “an illness that can cause all of us grave harm. You don’t know this

until it is happening to your child and to you. You cannot pass judgment from the sidelines. You cannot think, ‘Those people just need to get it together.’ It is a disease like cancer, like diabetes. It has a diagnosis and a treatment.”

Vela prays that Kelly will find her-self — the smart, independent girl she once was.

“My daughter is so lost. The devil has a tight grip on her hand, but she is holding on, too. When she stops grip-ping back, it can happen that she can find the strength to seek help, to com-mit herself to a place that will help her. I hope she’ll have that chance. Every day, I thank God she is still alive. Every day, I pray that she will stop being resigned to this life that has no future and no hope. Every day, my heart swells with sadness that my precious child believes she is living the life she deserves,” she said, her eyes welling with tears.

“We need help here in Laredo. We need a lockdown facility here, beds and counseling here. Sadly, it is amaz-ing that we do not have this kind of resource,” she said.

Vela clears her thoughts, the soft-ness in her voice giving way to a hard line about the ready availability of drugs. She said the disease of Kelly’s addiction to heroin is part of a larger debate, that of the efficacy of the War

on Drugs. “We are not winning it. The drug lords are. Their dirty money is at the heart of every heroin overdose fatality, at the broken heart of every family dealing with an addict. Legal-ize, tax, and regulate drugs. It will change our lives. It will change our world.” ◆

Falling through the cracks:heartbreak and a spiral of despair

(The names in this story are fictional; lamentably the events described are not.)

ADDICTION

I understand how powerless I am — the person who brought her into the world, the person who nurtured her, the one person who should be able to save her,” Vela said.


Long after the war, veteran receives Purple Heart and Bronze Star

World War II veteran PFC Valentin M. Aguilar, pictured with his wife Olivia, was recently awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he suffered in Italy on October 1, 1944 and the Bronze Star for ground combat in the European Theater.

Diaz draws place on ballot

Pct. 1 candidate for Webb County constable Abraham Diaz (fore-front with children), was on hand March 12 for the drawing of positions on the Democratic ballot at the Ambassador Event Center on Rosson Lane. He is pictured with friends, family, and other sup-porters outside the hall.

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At the mini-Zumba workshop at LCC South

Zumba aficionadas of all ages were part of the Seventh Annual International Women’s Day Celebration at LCC South. The celebra-tion and its healthy demos were sponsored by the Revolutionary Arts and Empowerment Club (RACE).

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Communicating loud and clear

Members of Communication Workers of America Local 6110 were a strong and vocal presence in the ninth annual march celebrating the life and human rights work of Cesar Chavez. The March 24 parade departed St. Peter’s Plaza and moved through downtown to San Agustín Plaza.

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Lopez presents paper at Austin Colloquim on Religion

Laredoan Armando M. López, a current candidate for gradua-tion at the University of Texas presented a paper at the Central Texas Colloquium on Religion on February 18 at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. His presentation was entitled “Retreating Inward: Self, Other and the Ethical-Religious in Kierkegaard and the Desert Fathers.”

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New addition to the Farmers Market

Tessa Gelhaar, who describes herself as a serial wellness entre-preneur, offers Farmers Market patrons a variety of all natural skin health and beauty care products including soaps, clay masks, as-tringents, shampoo and conditioners, and creams. She is pictured at the March 17 Farmers Market in Jarvis Plaza.

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Gardens good to go

In about 60 days, the Community Garden at the Hillside Recre-ation Center will bear a yield of tomatoes, peppers, and squash, thanks to members of Occupy Laredo and the Río Grande Inter-national Study Center, who prepped and planted the garden.

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The Mystery Customer

Great buys on pots and containers at Big Lots;an off-day at the Great American Cookie Company

BYTHE

MYSTERYCUSTOMER

Tacos Kissi

4402 McPherson

On a cool day, the outdoor seating offered a pleasant moment in the sun, but the MC could have done without La Ley blaring at the highest possible setting. The shrimp cocktail, howev-er, was excellent.

Big Lots

2310 E. Saunders St.

When a comadre told the MC she had purchased raised bed gardening kits made of cedar at Big Lots, the MC drove like a fiend to get there to avail

herself of a good buy. Alas, there were none to be found, but the MC did find great prices on pots, plant-ing troughs, large garden containers, and some really neat Easter baskets for the kiddos.

Chick-Fil-A

McPherson Road

The MC always finds fast, uncom-plicated service at this franchise — pleasant multi-tasking folks at the register get it right, and the MC gets to get on with the business of delivering LareDOS.

Pizza Hut

9810 McPherson Ave

On the evening of Saturday Feb-ruary 25, the MC was greeted by the staff upon entering the establish-ment. Despite the waiter’s soft spo-ken speech, he managed to be polite and attentive to MC’s party of three. Food and drinks were served in a timely matter. The MC’s experience was a very pleasant one, and she would return to this restaurant.

Great American Cookie

5300 San Dario Ave (in the mall)

The MC had a hankering for something sweet, while at the mall. MC he opted to visit an establish-ment with a sensational selection of flavors. While the white choco-late macadamia cookie never fails to satisfy the MC’s sweet tooth, the customer service was not as satisfac-tory. The lack of staff or slow service was evident to the MC as he stood in line for about 10 minutes. The MC finally reached the counter and was

met with a less than enthusiastic em-ployee who took his order. As much as the MC loves to get his sweet fix

from GAC, he may think twice be-fore returning anytime soon.

Johnny Carino’s

7603 San Dario

Mario G. offered great customer service at the curbside pickup on March 1 at 4:33 p.m. The meal, how-

ever, was a huge, cold disappoint-ment. The dressing on the small Cae-sar’s salad was over-the-top acrid, searing to the nose, and the lettuce was well past prime.

McCoy’s

3809 E. Saunders

The MC called around town look-ing for field fence, the large mesh

wire ranchers use — not an uncom-mon item. She started at Home De-pot, where the first person who an-swered the call had never heard of field fence and passed the call onto

Hold for Life. Tractor Supply had heard of field fence but sold it in only

25-foot and 100-foot lengths. Who’s going to build a 25-foot fence? Julie who answered the phone at McCoy’s knew exactly what it was and had the price at her fingertips.

Zapata’s HeBrew Coffee Shop & Bakery

The MC found an unexpectedly de-licious cappuccino at the HeBrew Coffee Shop and Bakery in Zapata. Recently opened by Mundo and Jen-nifer Flores at the corner of Hwy. 83 and Hwy. 16, the shop offers semi-tas baked from a family recipe, em-panadas, cookies, cinnamon rolls, pies, fresh bread, and breakfast tacos. Pictured from left to right are Mayra Alaniz and Mundo and Jen-nifer Flores. They are open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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LareDOS offers this Q&A forum so that the voters of Webb County can learn about the platforms of political candidates in the upcoming elec-tion, and so that the voter can, by the words of the candidates, distinguish one from the other as to interests, character, and priorities.

These are the responses of the three candidates for Webb County Commissioner Pct. 1. — Louis H. Bruni, Mike Montemayor and Frank Scia-raffa. We edited minimally for punctuation and grammar, though not for substance.

-María Eugenia Guerra, Publisher

Pct. 1 incumbent Frank Sciaraffa faces challengersLouis H. Bruni and Mike Montemayor

Please share with us your background, family, education, career.

My background and family history are synony-mous with public service. We are a life-long Laredo family with a legacy of public service and com-mitment to the betterment of our community. As a former City Council member and the former Webb County Judge, and with the lamp of experience at my feet, we are determined to improve conditions in South Laredo. We will represent all people of South Laredo, which should be the primary purpose of all elected county officials, to serve.

My name is Kristopher Michael Montemayor also known as Mike. I am 34 years old, and I am the youngest of four. My mother is Irma Montemayor, who is a librar-ian at United South Middle school. My father is Victor Montemayor, who is retired from Southwestern Bell. My older brother is Victor Montemayor Jr., a builder and owner of Montemayor Custom Homes. My other broth-er is Eric Montemayor who is a vice president in com-mercial lending in Aspen, Colorado. My sister is Debbie Montemayor who is in real estate in San Antonio. I have three beautiful children — a 13-year-old named Krislyn Michelle Montemayor, 9-year- old Kristopher Michael Mon-temayor Jr., and a one and a half-year-old son named Mikel Brandon Montemayor. I am engaged to Rosy Guerra and consider her two daughters, Claudia and Daniela Cardenas, as my own. I graduated from United High School in 1995 and soon after attended Texas A&M International University and Laredo Community College. Af-ter college I enlisted in the United States Navy as an aviation boatswains mate and served onboard the U.S.S. H.S. Truman CVN 75. I served in the USN from 1997-2001 and was in Operation Southern Watch. After enlistment I returned to Laredo and started working at Melton truck lines and soon after started working at Centerpoint Energy as a service technician. I also worked for Halliburton for a short time while I was studying for my real estate license. I received my real estate license and started working for De Lachica Real Estate for one year and then moved to Wright & As-sociates for over three years. I am now working with Coldwell Banker Ana Ochoa & Company. While working in real estate I also worked part time as an on-air per-sonality for Guerra Communications for Big Buck country and my radio name was “Kris Michaels” I also worked for Classic hits 99.3 with the same name.

Louis H. Bruni Mike Montemayor

Frank Sciaraffa

My name is Frank Sciaraffa and I’ve served as county commissioner for Pct. 1 for the past eight years. I’ve been a life-long resident of Pct. 1 and a proud graduate of Cigarroa High School. Family is very important to me, as they’ve been the backbone of my public service endeavors. I’m a proud father of two sons and I make certain to be actively involved in their daily lives. Previously to becoming County Commissioner I served with distinction as a deputy sheriff in the Webb County Sheriff’s Department for eight years and as bailiff for the Webb County’s Commissioners Court. I formerly served as a crimi-nal justice instructor at United South High School.

What is your interest in serving as the Webb County Commissioner for Precinct 1?

Bruni: My interest is to serve the people and taxpayers of south Laredo. We will concentrate on improving conditions in South Laredo. Our children not only need education, but healthy minds, too. Our drinking water, our parks, and our infra-structure are all important goals I aim to improve once we take office. In fact, I will

contribute half of my county pay back to the taxpayers of South Laredo. This money will go to scholarship funds, law enforcement, and methods to find cleaner water.

Montemayor: I see a need for more services to the members of the community, and I believe that the only way to serve effectively is to be a full-time commissioner and to remain open to suggestion from the community on their actual needs. For example, the veterans that make our life easier by making sure we remain a free

country need to be given the respect that they deserve and the assistance that they need to re-integrate into the community. Assistance in the form of temporary hous-ing, food, medical treatment, and job placement. I want to make sure that ALL assis-tance programs remain in force by monitoring them closely and insuring that they are administered correctly and always remain in compliance with all regulations. I want to make sure that the Webb County taxpayers get their money’s worth, and I will not only serve Precinct 1 but I will serve Webb County.

Sciaraffa: I’ve always been an active and committed member of society. Those two factors have been a motor for me during my eight years of public service. Repre-senting and serving my constituents has always been on top of my priority list. Like


many, I care about my community and want to make it a better place to live and raise a family; that’s why I fight effortlessly to ensure that I represent the needs of my con-stituency. I truly believe I’ve done just that and my record of having brought in over $40 million dollars in funding is an indication of my dedication and commitment to the people I serve. My interest for continuing to serve as Webb County Commis-sioner Pct. 1 remains the same; representing and working hard for my community.

What skills would you bring to the decision-making forum?

Bruni: There is no substitute for experience. I am currently the executive officer

of Bruni Energy. I am a former city council member and county court official. Public

service has run in our family for decades. It is a way of life for us. We come to do good, not to do well. Believe me, this position is too important for someone without experience to be cutting their political teeth on.

Montemayor: The skills I bring are mostly learned from the military. In the mili-tary we have to make quick and accurate decisions and under pressure. We were taught to always plan and investigate and concentrate on the task at hand, and if things went wrong we had to make a quick decision. In real estate we have to follow Texas State laws on ALL contracts and also have to help in making certain deci-sions. I have always been the type to investigate before making any decision. I will bring this experience with me and show Webb County that I will not just approve or disapprove anything. I will make sure I investigate everything before making any decision.

Sciaraffa: I’ve served with my colleagues in commissioner’s court for eight years already, and during that time I have been active in the decision-making pro-cess. I will continue to evaluate the issues before us and use common sense solutions that are cost effective, beneficial, and responsive to the needs of my community.

What is your assessment of the current Commissioners Court? Does it have real leadership? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Is it responsive to the needs and wishes of the taxpayer?

Bruni: Consider the times we all live in. This county court has done the best it can with what is made available to them. In some cases, we would have done things differently, especially in South Laredo. There is no justifiable reason for there to be

such a disparity and difference in the quality of life issues found across this county. We are determined to bridge this disparity and place South Laredo on an even play-ing field. All we need is the same water, parks, and infrastructure found in other

parts of Webb County. This will attract business and prosperity. These are true qual-ity of life issues.

Montemayor: There is always room for improvement, and I feel that the current court could benefit by bringing in fresh ideas. The strength of the court is the exist-ing support. The court has a wealth of experienced and seasoned personnel, but the weakness lies in the lack of utilization of the resources and the proper monitoring of programs. The court should allow the department heads to perform their duties in an uninterrupted manner such as the hiring of personnel. Personnel should be care-fully screened and the most competent persons hired. Webb County has recently lost funding due to lack of careful monitoring of the programs and the departments. The taxpayers want accountability and service, and the court is not responding in a satisfactory manner.

Sciaraffa: Like in any governing body we have differences of opinion at times on certain issues, however, we’re able to work together for the betterment of the county and that’s remarkable. That is primarily what our constituents expect of us, and it’s our job to be responsive to the needs and wishes of the taxpayer.

When you speak of “quality of life,” what are you really talking about?

Bruni: We hear these words spoken too often; however, they do have their merit. To some, it may mean fancy shopping malls, green golf courses, and quality schools for our young; however, to most of us, it can simply mean safer schools, clean wa-ter, and streets without pot holes. Every citizen of Webb County should have clean drinking water, restored parks, protected neighborhoods, and a decent job with de-cent wages. We are all entitled to a good education, police protection, and sound in-frastructure, but we’re not too sure we are all sharing these quality of life properties, although we all pay taxes with trust that our county officials will do what’s best for

taxpayers and not special interest groups.Montemayor: We have veterans that are currently homeless as a direct result

of having served their country and then coming back to nothing. We need to imple-ment education and job programs for these veterans. At the very least provide tem-porary food and shelter. We also currently have Webb County residents living in third world conditions because they do not even have the most basic services such as running water, sewer, and paved streets. The federal government has provided mil-lions of dollars to provide these services and Webb County cannot overcome simple requirements such as expensive fees for service connections.

Sciaraffa: “Quality of life” can be diversely interpreted to mean more than one thing. I speak of “quality of life” as a way to evaluate the general well-being of the people I represent and our local society. People expect for their representatives to be proactive in bettering the quality of life at all levels of government. For those same reasons I strive hard to ensure that I do just that. And I have and will continue to do so. To date, I’ve established recreational and community centers in Rio Bravo, Las Presas, and other areas of the precinct, giving young people a safe place where they can enjoy wholesome activities and have access to computers to aid them in their studies. I’ve also ensured securing funding for much-needed infrastructure improvements, such as a paved road in Las Presas subdivision for safe travel. I’m a passionate advocate for the elderly, and I’ve been able to secure over $1.1 million funding for indigent healthcare so that the most vulnerable members of the com-munity get the service they need.

What is your plan for initiating the kind of economic development for Webb County that would keep apace with growth and increased demand

for county services?

Bruni: We have much to do before developing economic appeal. Our plans are to help restore confidence to those who will bring economic prosperity to

Webb County. We have a lot to do from the ground up, starting with a viable plan for economic development and tax incentives and abatements for those who want to invest their business in Webb County.

Montemayor: I plan on staying in close contact with local, state, and federal officials in my efforts to bring more grants and public funds to Webb County. I

will not be complacent with working with only the taxpayer money and what-ever programs are sent to Webb County by formula. There are millions of dol-lars in the state and federal coffers that Webb County is not pursuing and the funds are going elsewhere or back to the government. To expand the current infrastructure and assets to provide the increasing demands takes resources, and we must strive to find those resources. Sciaraffa: Webb County without

a doubt has to move forward with respect to economic development. As the county grows so do the needs for services and as commissioner my hands on approach in securing local, state, and federal funding will remain constant.

Sciaraffa: Webb County without a doubt has to move forward with respect to economic development. As the county grows so do the needs for services and as commissioner my hands on approach in securing local, state, and federal funding will remain constant. ◆

2 0 I LareDOS I MARCH 2012 WWW.LAREDOSNEWS.COM

BY MARIELA RODRIGUEZLareDOS Staff

T o be an artist and a true craftsman is to have a com-prehensive understanding of your craft. The culinary

arts are no different. It is an art form that not only serves as a viable em-ployment survival skill, but is also rich with splendid colors, smells, and tastes. Given the right environment, this art form can also serve as a means of giving back to the community.

Such is the case of native Laredoan Nemecio Dueñes, executive chef and culinary arts instructor for the Lare-do Job Corps (LJC). Certified by the

National Restaurant Association of America, he has overseen the culinary arts program at LJC for the past three years. While working on his associate’s degree at Laredo Community College and working at Johnny Carinos, Due-ñes got a feel for food preparation and the restaurant business. He has worked as a corporate trainer to help open Car-ino’s franchises. He has also worked as a certified chef for Uno Chicago Grill,

and when it closed, Dueñes made his way to LJC.

“As students train, we work with the South Texas Food Bank and Kid’s Café program Monday through Friday. We make meals for about 300 to 400 kids. During the summer, it goes up to about 1,000 to 1,200, probably due to the fact that our kitchen is open year round. We are heavily involved with community service.” Dueñes added, “We want to show students what a real life work environment is like,“ he said.

The LJC culinary arts program be-gan with the purpose of teaching indi-viduals the fundamentals of cooking and baking. Students either learn to cook for themselves or pursue their cu-linary arts talents, depending on their goals. “What we do here is to mold and prepare students for the real world,”

said Dueñes. Those who wish to pursue a career

as a chef may do so after completing their coursework at LJC. Students are sent to San Francisco to attend Trea-sure Island Job Corps, a hub school for LJC. Once there, students have the op-portunity to expand their individual culinary skills. They are exposed to a variety of spices, foods, and styles of cooking.

Dueñes explained, “Because team work in the kitchen is essential, stu-dents are made to work in crew shifts, in the kitchens of various hotels and motels in the surrounding area.” Due-ñes added, “They get more hands-on experience and get to see what it is re-ally like to be an executive chef, or to work with one. The sky is the limit af-ter that.”

The LJC culinary arts program is one of the first participants in the Laredo’s

Farmers Market. Dueñes and his cur-rent group of 20 students can be seen at the monthly market selling their baked goods. Dueñes emphasized that this experience serves to further teach stu-dents what it is like to sell their prod-ucts and reinvest funds toward needed ingredients and supplies.

LJC’s Culinary Arts Program has been in place for the past 25 years. The Laredo Job Corps is a no-cost education and career technical training program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. The purpose of this techni-cal school is to aid individuals ages 16 through 24 to improve the quality of their lives through career, technical, and academic training.

The Laredo Job Corps Center is overseen by the Dallas Regional Office

of Job Corps and is operated by Career Systems Development Corporation. John Bruce is the director of the Laredo center.

For more information on the Laredo Job Corps’ culinary art classes, call (956) 727-5147. ◆

Feature

Job Corps culinary arts program prepares aspiring chefs and bakers

Denitza Cortes preps for baking

Instructor Chef Nemecio Dueñes (back row, white coat) is pictured with students María José Cadena, Luis Lomas, Maylin Blanco, Denitza Cortes, Ricardo Vazquez, and José Maldonado.

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Please share with us your back-

ground — family, education, career.

I was born in San Diego, Texas 71 years ago and I am a fourth genera-tion farmer at the family farm in Du-val County. I am married to the former Rose Mary Moore for 49 years. She was Miss Laredo in 1960 and taught at United South until she retired in 1995. We have four children who are all married and 12 ½ grandchildren. I graduated from Alice High School in 1959, Baylor University in 1962 and attended Baylor University School of Law, becoming licensed in 1965. I have practiced law for 46 years in civil practice and some criminal cases that I have tried over the years as an appointed attorney for the indigent

defendants. I was raised in a rural community by educated parents. My father, who died when I was 13 years old, was with an insurance company agent and my mother was a teacher for 50 years. I am the youngest of five chil-dren, all of whom also graduated from college. I was fortunate to have hard working parents that allowed me and my siblings to attend school without the need of obtaining college loans or grants. I have done the same for all my children who have graduated from the University of Houston, University of Notre Dame, University of Michigan, and Sam Houston State University.

How many years have you been an

attorney?

46 years non-stop and licensed to

practice before the United States Su-preme Court, 5th Circuit Court of Ap-peals in New Orleans, United States District Court for the Southern Dis-trict, Texas Supreme Court and United States Tax Court. I belong to the Texas Bar Association, American Bar As-sociation, Laredo-Webb County, Hi-dalgo, Cameron, and San Antonio Bar Associations. I am also a member of the Texas Bar College and a Certified Mediator and Arbitrator.

How many civil trials do you have

to your credit; how many criminal?

I cannot begin to count the number of civil trials that I have had over the years, except to say that there are nu-merous high profile, very complicated trials involving multiple parties and large amounts of claims. They vary from real estate claims, partitions, pro-bate and estate contests, products lia-bility, construction defect claims, pro-fessional liability defense claims for doctors, lawyers, judges and other pro-fessionals. I have tried cases through-out South Texas, as well as counties in northern and central Texas.

I have tried three criminal cases, all appointed by the court and all tried to a jury. I have never believed in plead-ing a client who I was appointed to represent. Clients are quick to raise issues about the competency of their attorney when that happens.

How many of your cases have

been appealed?

Far too many to remember. As a civil defense lawyer, I have appealed numerous cases where I believe there was an error in the trial, procedure, or in the jury conduct. In a number of these cases I have succeeded and they were reversed while others were af-firmed. I have also appealed cases to the Texas Supreme Court and have argued cases before the United States

Court of Appeals in New Orleans in-volving funds due to a client as a result of some governmental activity.

What has been your best moment

in the practice of law? Your worst mo-

ment?

One of the most significant cases that I remember was one tried in the 341st District Court where I represent-ed a student at LCC who was sued fol-lowing an accident after he ran a stop sign and collided with the plaintiff’s vehicle. At the scene of the accident, the plaintiff ridiculed him and joked to the point that he fell to tears and felt greatly embarrassed, not only because of the accident, but because he has bor-rowed his mother’s car. This was a case that I felt we should deny altogether and force them to try this frivolous lawsuit because their damages were little if any and because I wanted to expose their treatment of my client. The jury agreed with me and denied any damages, even though my client was negligent, but they also found that the plaintiff was speeding. The plain-tiff lawyer was from out of town, I am glad to say. This was a great ending and it serves for the proposition that there are people that still want to abuse the legal system. In another high pro-file case that took place in the United States Tax Court were the government was charging the innocent spouse with taxes due by the deceased husband, a

Elections 2012

Rufino Lopez throws hat into the ringfor 341st District Court judge

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 44

Rufino López


well known political figure. We were able to prevail on the theory of inno-cent spouse and substantially reduce the taxes, penalties, and interest.

As to my worst moment, I can only say that I have none in my 46 years. Ev-ery case I have tried has been a great experience. I fight a good fight, and I keep the faith. I actually give the op-ponent their worst moment.

What was your work experience

before entering the legal field?I come from a long line of hard

working people. We don’t make ex-cuses and don’t ask for pity. My first job as a kid was shining shoes at the courthouse steps in San Diego where the great lawyers of the day, like Judge Raymond and others would appear for trial. While in high school I was a butcher at a meat market.

In college, I worked at First National Bank in Waco. It is this experience that has made me a good businessman.

I have practiced law since December 1965, have hired lawyers and staff, and run a solid business. I have never been a public employee or received a check from the government whatsoever, un-til I began receiving Social Security a few years ago. I have not had an easy check ever come to me. “I eat what I kill.” It makes me a better man.

Have you ever been in private

practice?

The question should be whether I have ever been a public employee. I have been in private practice as well as a partner in a 74-member law firm in Houston, have established my own law firm, and provided employment to many young lawyers who wanted to become litigators and good lawyers. None of this has ever taken place at the public expense. Some of these lawyers have now gone on to establish their own law firms or work for the District Attorney. But they got their start with me.

What fomented your decision to

study the law and become an attor-

ney?

Shining shoes at the courthouse in San Diego on any given Saturday while the Court was in session; to a greater extent, the direction given to me by my parents and family. Frankly, I did not have a choice.

Why do you want this seat on

the bench, and if elected, what will

you bring to the position?

We have an excellent set of law-yers in our community and an out-standing bar association. I have seen their efforts and their passion for the practice of law. I hate to see them wait around for their case to be tried and spend valuable time in the halls. These lawyers deserve better as do the taxpayers. The judge must be able to prepare a charge to the jury and know the difference in the issues involved and the ele-ments required to be met. I am as conservative as they come on fiscal responsibilities, but I am a strong

advocate for the preservation of the rights under the Constitution. The Court has had excellent direc-tion by Judge Ender. I want to see a continuation of such practice and the efficiency in the administration. The Court is not broken and does not need fixing

I have experience in a variety of issues, law interpretation, and ap-plication. I have always extended my hand to the opposing counsel, and I do not feel that you will find any lawyer in our community who is dissatisfied with the treatment that I have given him during the course of our trials. I have always treated them with the highest re-spect and courtesy and when the case had merit, a monetary consid-eration due to some fault by my cli-ent, I am the first one to recommend a resolution; however, when it does not have such merit, I am the first to take them to task. I believe they all respect that. ◆

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Dr. Frances Gates Rhodes is one of the most recognized faces among Texas A&M International University’s

faculty. Since 1988, she has been an asset to the university as an associate professor of English.

Rhodes, an Eagle Pass native, made her way to Laredo after gradu-ating high school. She was then mar-ried and became a mother. Rhodes earned a Bachelor’s of Arts and a Master’s Degree in English Education from TAMIU. She received her Ph.D. in applied linguistics at the Univer-sity of Texas at Austin, while working as an instructor at UT.

Children’s Literature, Multicultur-al Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, Studies in World Folklore, and Studies in World Mythology are among the courses she teaches.

“What holds my interest with chil-dren’s literature — first, it appeals to the child in me. I love the literature. I was a voracious reader as a child. Children’s literature has one redeem-ing feature that no other literature

has: hope,” commented Rhodes.True to her commitment to chil-

dren’s literature, Rhodes has been involved with Literacy Volunteers of Laredo. She has also authored a few children’s books, but has yet to pub-lish them. She plans on doing so after she retires.

Rhodes’ is involved with the TA-MIU faculty senate as parliamentar-ian and elections officer. She also serves in an advisory capacity for both students and faculty as an Om-budsman officer.

“I am the person faculty come to if they have problems, and I can help them resolve their problems by giving them ideas of where to go and what to do. I do not make deci-sions, but I help faculty in their own decision making by providing them with information. I act as the buffer between a faculty member and what-ever the problems he or she have with students, other faculty, or even administration.”

Rhodes commented on TAMIU’s student newspaper, The Bridge. “When The Bridge first started, I was the chair of the department, so I was the first advisor, so to speak. Slowly

but surely it has evolved to the very professional publication we have now. “

When TAMIU first opened its doors, it was considered an upper di-vision school that did not deal with freshmen and sophomores. Rhodes said, “Almost all of our students had jobs and families, and the university was not their first priority. We still have a great number of students with jobs and families, but expanding to freshmen and sophomore grade levels has increased the diversity on cam-pus.”

Rhodes discussed the differences in faculty from the first wave of pro-fessors to the current arrivals. She not-

ed that current professors do not share the closeness that the first cohort did.

“The quality of faculty we had to begin with was really good. That first cohort with Dr. Allen F. Briggs, Dr. Stanley Greene, and Rex Bald was extraordinary. They made sure that everyone that came behind them was also good. Our search committees have by and large been successful,” said Rhodes.

Rhodes expressed her devotion to teaching and children’s literature. “I like the fact that I can inspire others who in turn get other people inspired. Hopefully this results in creating life-long readers, which is a very impor-tant thing.” ◆

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Dr. Panchita Rhodes: an academic lifetime in literature

WHEN SECURITY IS YOUR CONCERN, USE THE BEST

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Heidi Sayler, 20, NDSU

“My experience with Habitat for Humanity has been amazing. I think it is really great how Habitat constructs these homes for people, but at the same time they’re not just giving them away. People are working really hard for these houses. They have to volunteer 500 hours and pay back the full mortgage value of their homes, with no interest of course. It re-ally proves that these individuals deserve the homes we are constructing for them. Because they work so hard, it is almost certain that they are going really take care of their homes. It’s been really fun. I’ve nev-

er done any building before, so I feel a lot handier about what I am doing. I would definitely do habitat again.”

Shuai Liu, 23, NDSU

“I am a senior majoring in civil engineering. I think Habitat for Humanity is awesome! I’ve gained a lot of experience in constructing wooden homes, which is something I’ve never done before. It is also a great experience helping out another community.”


Habitat

Chris Thibodeauo, 20, FSU

“When we left Fitchburg, we weren’t sure what it was going to be like in Laredo, but once we got here we real-ized that everyone is just so nice. Everyone from habitat is extremely helpful. Building the houses is fun and when you leave the worksite at the end of the day you feel in-vigorated. You truly feel like your making a difference. “

Taylor Sevigny, FSU’s activities board

“This is my first year going on an alternative spring break with Habitat. I think it takes a special kind of person to have the patience to work with students who know nothing about construction, and just be part of an amazing cause to help people who are less fortunate than others. I’m really excited to be here, and I would absolutely do this again.”

Sarah Minton, 19, FSU

“I am the fundraising lead with Brain Castello. Throughout the year, we’ve done 16 fundraisers to get people involved in our community and inform them about our desire to take an alternative spring break. Every individual had to raise $400 to come on this trip. We were really nervous about coming down because of the horror stories you hear about Laredo, but then you get down here and see there is nothing to worry about. We have group reflection every night and everyonesays how friendly ev-

eryone is. This is a place we would definitely recommend to other schools.”

BY MARIELA RODRÍGUEZLareDOS staff

Students from universities in Ohio, Colorado, Connecti-cut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nova Scotia

were in Laredo to volunteer over their spring break with Habitat for Human-ity of Laredo. Their time here was part of an alternative spring break program known as Collegiate Challenge. From February through April, Habitat hosts approximately 400 college student vol-unteers. Dates for student visits vary, depending on their particular spring break.

From March 12 through 16 groups from Massachusetts Fitchburg State University (FSU) and Endicott Col-lege (EC), along with two groups from North Dakota State University (NDSU) were a part of the effort to help fami-lies obtain simple, decent, and afford-able housing. Students worked from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day helping to build and finish out four homes in Habitat’s Hwy. 359 subdivision, Tierra Prometida.

“The Collegiate Challenge is an alternative spring break program. We have universities from all over the country coming to help with Habitat,” said Michelle Begwin, program out-reach coordinator for Habitat for Hu-manity of Laredo, “It is really exciting that these kids choose instead of go-ing on a trip to come to Habitat and build. Students are required to pay a $125 fee in order to be permitted to build homes for Habitat. We provide a host site for them and provide then with some activities. They get to work side by side with some of the home owners, which is a very rewarding ex-perience,” she said.

Habitat for Humanity observed AmeriCorps week in honor of the

AmeriCorps members who have been a vital part of Habitat’s work in Lare-do. AmeriCorps, a nationwide pro-gram that offers individuals the op-portunity to serve through a network of partnerships with local and nation-al nonprofit groups, gives individuals the opportunity to use their skills and ideals toward helping others and their communities.

These individuals pledge two to three years with AmeriCorps, in which time they gain new skills and experiences. At the end of their term, they earn a Segal AmeriCorps Educa-tion Award to pay for college, graduate school, or to pay back student loans. During their term of service, Ame-riCorps members may also receive a modest living stipend.

There are four AmeriCorps mem-bers who served as house leaders for Habitat Laredo’s Collegiate Challenge. The groups of students were divided among AmeriCorps members and as-signed to the construction of a specific home.

Kelsey M Hopkins, 24, a second- year AmeriCorps volunteer and an Illinois resident, studied at Michigan University. “I have a degree in con-struction management, so I got to learn a lot more about the construc-tion process itself. I’ve been able to work with volunteers and families, which is the greatest reward for me,” Hopkins said.

Lorenzo A. Salazar, 20, is a first- year AmeriCorps member and one who came from a Habitat home. He said he strives to aid in providing oth-er families with the same opportuni-ties granted to his.

“My experience with Habitat has been really good. My family was struggling and Habitat for Humanity helped us out. I decided to help them out. Seeing happy families in tears

Habitat for Humanity’s Collegiate Challenge


when they receive their homes brings back memories of moving into our home. After my three years are com-pleted with AmeriCorps, I will to con-tinue to volunteer with Habitat.”

Daniel Martinez, 21, a second-year AmeriCorps member is following in his parent’s footsteps with their in-volvement with Habitat.

“My mom was the one that really encouraged me to take advantage of the opportunity AmeriCorps had to offer for furthering my education. Through Habitat I’ve come to find I enjoy working with my hands. I plan on going back to school and pursuing a career in welding. At the end of each day, I have a smile on face knowing I did something to better someone else’s living situation.”

Adriana Gonzalez, 26, a second- year AmeriCorps member studied at the Institute of Technology and High-er Education where she received a de-gree in architecture. Gonzalez joined AmeriCorps to gain construction ex-perience.

“It is a lot of hard work, but it is re-ally worth it. It is really nice to be out here and help out the families and just build. I feel like I’m gaining the nec-essary experience in the construction field, which will help reinforce my ar-chitectural pursuits. The students this week have been awesome. They have all just picked up so fast and helped out so much.”

The students engaged in every-thing from landscaping to window and door installations, as well as trim and baseboard work. For a lot of stu-dents, this was their first time doing construction work.

AmeriCorps members worked un-der the supervision of Habitat’s help-ful and knowledgeable construction crew. They were onsite at all times to provide the students with direction and assistance in completing their daily tasks. If AmeriCorps members had any doubts about executing a par-ticular task, they could always turn for guidance to construction manager Joe Martinez or Hector Tinajero, a construction crew member and for-

mer AmeriCorps member.Consuelo Ruiz, a future Habitat

homeowner, was on site working with the Collegiate Challenge students.

“It is very interesting to get to know different people from out of state. They are very friendly and very eager to work hard for the families. The construction of my home is mov-ing along quickly. The house leaders have taught us all so much and they are constantly encouraging everyone to try their hand at something new,” Ruiz said.

The experience for the students of EC was a bit more unique. Unlike the students from FSU and NDSU, they had the opportunity to stay in two completed Habitat homes. Not only did they work side by side with some of the families, but they also got to see and interact with them after a long day’s work.

George Kuntz, assistant director for student activities at Endicott Col-lege, said, “Our experience has been amazing! We have had such a great time with Habitat for Humanity. For a lot of us this is the second time we are working with Habitat. We enjoy getting our hands dirty building and landscaping. We have been staying in the Habitat community, which is new to us. I think it makes the group feel that much more connected to the proj-ect.”

While residing in the Habitat com-munity, the Endicott students were af-fected by a nearby Kansas City South-ern train derailment that produced toxic fumes and resulted in the evacu-ation of the entire Tierra Prometida subdivision. Ed Sherwood, husband of Carol Sherwood, executive direc-tor of Habitat for Humanity, provided a first person account of an incident involving the Endicott student volun-teers via his blog.

“A drunk female driver collided with one of their rented 15-passenger vans on Highway 359. They were trav-eling to Habitat’s office, having been told to evacuate the Tierra Prometida

NDSU students worked with AmeriCorp’s Adriana González.

FSU students worked on cutting siding.

Endicott College students worked alongside Consuelo Ruiz on her home.

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Habitat subdivision. Five of the college vol-unteers were trans-ported to Laredo Medi-cal Center’s Emergency Room and later they reported having been treated promptly and professionally.”

Despite the evacu-ation and the accident, the Endicott group displayed a great deal of resilience and devo-tion to service by stay-ing and completing the week with Habitat. Kuntz observed, “It was a surreal experi-ence but we forged ahead. We would ab-solutely come back to Laredo.” ◆

I was fortunate enough to spend three days of my own spring break at Tierra Prometida, watching how the AmeriCorps leaders motivat-ed their volunteer crews. I learned a great deal about the spirit of volunteerism, goodwill, and hard, honest work.

The experience with Habitat for Humanity was a truly rewarding one. All of the students were ready to help with anything. The fact that they sac-rificed their spring break to do something good for others is an inspiration.

These days most 20-somethings are plagued by apathy to the world around them. The fast pace of our lives makes it easy for us to take for granted the simple pleasures and rewards in life, such as home ownership. It’s easy to forget that disparities in socioeconomic status leave many individuals at a significant disadvantage. The work Habitat for Humanity of Laredo is doing to improve people’s lives as well as the community is remarkable.

- Mariela Rodríguez

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Re-establishing theAmerican GI Forum Postin the name of the late

Cpl. Juan Rodrigo Rodriguez

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BY MARIELA RODRÍGUEZLareDOS Staff

L ifetime educator Irma O. Flores debuted her self-published children’s book, Jasper, at the Laredo Public

Library on Saturday, February 25. The book was written with the in-tent of promoting paired oral read-ing at home and in the classroom. Children from local and surround-ing elementary schools joined Flores in presenting her book to a crowd of parents, students, and teachers. Jasper was a collaborative mother/daughter endeavor. Flores’ daughter, photographer Linda A. Flores photo-graphed her pet cat Jasper, the inspi-ration for the book. Jasper, an adop-tee from the Austin Animal Shelter, proved a readily available and willing model. According to Flores, that Jasper’s name contained the short “a” sound,

made him the perfect main character. “As a TAMIU educational consul-tant, I have observed many classrooms throughout Laredo, and I found out that the children are lacking the ba-sics. I love to teach reading. When I was a young teacher, I used to have reading classes for small children at home. I had this thought of writing a book to promote poetry, phonemes, choral reading, paired reading, and comprehension. I wanted it to be a reading book. Now with technol-ogy involved, I see too many children reading alone. I ask myself, ‘Are they really comprehending and reading the words correctly?’” Flores said. Asked why she chose to use photo-graphs rather than illustrations, Flores said, “I wanted to see the real thing. Children interpret drawings in dif-ferent ways. My daughter is a profes-sional photographer.”

She added, “I love Linda’s work. She is a graduate of the Roches-ter Institute of Technology. I told her I wanted her to take photos of Jasper with the main props around him. She publishes a magazine called Glim in Austin. She photo-graphs artists surrounded by their works, and that’s the scenario I wanted for each picture of Jasper. She did a lot of work to find the props and make the backgrounds for each picture. Linda also had to deal with Jasper, who has his own finicky person-ality,” commented Flores. Asked about her source of inspiration for the book, Flores said it was her mother. “She died at the early age of 45. We were seven in the family, and she made us understand

that reading was so important. When we were young we would walk and take the Market Street bus to go to the Laredo Public Library. We all had a library card. Mind you, she didn’t know how to speak English. During the time she was getting radiation treatments for colon cancer, she attended ESL classes at Laredo Junior College.” Flores added that her mother’s lasting inspiration motivated her and her siblings to work for college degrees. Flores discussed the struggles of

self-publishing. “It was difficult be-cause everything was done via com-puter and phone calls. I presented the book at Bonnie L. García Elementary School and Nye Elementary School. I love to hear the children reading Jas-per’s thoughts. We have sold 100 copies.” Flores does not plan on writing another book, unless she sees a need to do so. Copies of Jasper are available at www.lulu.com/product/paperback/Jasper/17288205. ◆

News

Family pet Jasper the cat comes to lifein Flores’ reading book for children

Author Flores reading from Jasper.

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BY MARIA EUGENIA GUERRA

Since his graduation in interna-tional relations in 2000 from the American University in Washington, D.C., Sergio Mora

— the former Democratic chair for Webb County — has been immersed in local and state politics.

This election cycle he makes the leap from regional politics to a state-wide race with the news that he will run in the upcoming primary for District I of the State Board of Educa-tion. (SBOE). If successful, he will face Republican incumbent Charlie Garza of El Paso in the November elections. Most members of the SBOE, like Garza, are Republicans.

Mora is no political neophyte, having gained political immersion as a former personal aide to Tony Sanchez in his 2001 bid for governor and as a staff member for both Senator Judith Zaffirini and Rep. Richard Ray-mond.

Mora wants to be an instrument of change on a board that he says “disparages the theory of evolution, readily censors books, has left the door open for creationism, de-nies the very real threat of climate change, and mar-ginalizes Hispanics and Tejanos in Texas history.”

He said the State Board of Education is “a micro-cosm of Tea Party dogma and right wing ideology” — strong sentiments for a button-down Democrat from politi-cally conservative Webb County. The

extremism of the actions of the mem-bers of the State Board of Education, he said, “puts them at odds even with mainstream Republicans.”

He said that incumbent Garza marches lockstep with the Republican ideologues on the board. “Their actions are not compatible with the needs of students and teachers — their actions are actually sometimes detrimental to those needs,” he continued.

He attributed the decline in educa-tion in Texas to the reforms of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and its standardized testing. “Corporate style reforms with an accountability bottom line have not worked for education. Despite being proven a detriment to

our children and what they can learn, 10 years later, variations of the same

system and the same standardized test persist. Standardized testing tells our children there is only one right answer, one bubble to fill in. All other answers are wrong. Critical thinking, inquisi-tive thinking, and curiosity are left out of understanding a subject,” Mora said, adding that trying to meet the bottom line successes of standardized teaching has demoralized teachers. “They fear for their livelihood, and their classroom time is compromised by 45 days of test-ing, a month and a half of testing for the STAAR, and 28 days for TAKS,” he said, adding that two very important groups of students are being harmed by the cor-porate model of test-ing — students with learning disabilities and minorities and low income students.

According to Mora, the optimum educational system would be data-in-formed and not data-driven. Standard-ized testing, he said, focuses on reading and math. “What about history, social studies, culture, and art — the things that ignite the sparks that set kids on lifelong pursuits?”

Mora said, “The front lines of our fu-ture are not in the oil-fields of the Middle East or in trade wars

with Asia. They are in the hundreds of thousands of classrooms all across our nation. In Texas we rank so close to the bottom in high school graduation, whether our children go on to earn col-lege degrees, and how ill prepared they are after high school for college or for the job market. Conversely, we have super-

Sergio Mora: time to counter right wing ideology on the State Board of Education

News

Sergio Mora credits his parents for instilling in him the value of an education. “They put a pre-mium on it,” he said. “My sister and my brother and I all followed that lead, all of us in interna-tional fields.”

He credits his time on Tony Sanchez’s guberna-torial campaign with giving him a firsthand look at the inner workings of a well-funded statewide campaign. “I met the big players, worked with the best political advisors, saw the roles of unions, teachers, and trial lawyers in the Democratic po-litical process, and understood the workings of a grassroots campaign.”

He said that his tenure as Richard Raymond’s district director and his work in Zaffirini’s office were both beneficial in establishing relationships with legislators and “in having a front row seat on how the political and legislative sausage is made.” He credits Zaffirini for holding the line against the right wing reactionary impulses of some members of the Texas Legislature and for her effort to build coalitions.

Mora said that he learned from Raymond’s work to halt Republican over-reaches that were harmful to Latino communities. “I got a real feel for the abuse and neglect that Republican leader-ship is willing to heap on the poor,” he said.

Over the last four years as Webb County Dem-ocratic chair, Mora has presided over some of the most hotly contested races in county history and a political climate he currently describes as “vola-tile, boiling like the hot South Texas sun.”


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WWW.LAREDOSNEWS.COM LareDOS I M A R C H 2012 I 31

On the 1100 block of San Agustín

No one was home on the afternoon that LareDOS came across a shelter fashioned of political signage, tires, and assorted cast-off materials. The shelter, which backed up to a warehouse near the railroad tracks, is lo-cated between Scott and Washington streets.

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At the Cesar Chavez March for Justice

Laredoans of all ages took part in the 9th Annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice that honored the late activist Chaca Ramirez, Dr. Francisco I. Peña, and community activisit Luis Diaz de Leon.

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Journey: to the African savannah, hills and tropicsA moment of enlightenment at the cradle of civilization

BY TRICIA CORTEZSpecial to LareDOS

I hadn’t been on a vacation in two years. I was feeling tired from put-ting in so many long hours at work, and I found myself daydreaming

more and more about East Africa. Since the mid-2000s, I’d read numerous books on the Rwandan genocide, the subsequent wars in the Congo, and fiction books by African and British writers.

My mother and several friends thought I was nuts to head out solo with a big back-pack buckled around my waist. And they were apprehensive about my plans to take public transport, stay in guesthouses, and eat at local dives. What could I tell them? That I would definitely be safe? That their fears about me getting malar-ia, or drinking unclean water, or getting caught up in some political or ethnic instability were completely unfounded? That I knew exactly what I was doing, and had a clear plan for how I would spend two weeks in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda?

But after that first day in Nairobi, in late February, I knew that I wanted to share all that I was observing, thinking

and feeling. So whenever I spotted an In-ternet café, I wrote and sent the following travel posts to my mom and friends.

Africa is intense, and not for the faint hearted. It can overwhelm. The raw natu-ral beauty takes your breath away. So does the tremendous poverty. I made wonderful friends and had incredible conversations with Africans and other muzungu (white/foreigner) travelers. The trip changed me inside…how exactly, I can’t articulate just yet.

Post 1 First day in Nairobi. Wow! What a

large, fast-moving, chaotic city. The people are wonderful. Hired a guide through the guesthouse, Wildebeest Camp, who took me on a tour of Kibera, a slum to the west of city centre.

EYE-OPENING. Some 1.4 million people – ¼ of the city – lives there. There is so much trash. In many places, it feels like you are walking on a carpet of trash and plastic bags. Trickles of raw sewage flow down the side of the path. Kids run up to you, wave, or grab your hand, and shout ‘How are you?’ The Nairobi matatu drivers drive like fiends! (Matatus are 14-passenger minibuses that actually carry 18 to 20 people). Visited the National Archives. Ate lunch at a locals hangout called The Roast House. They rocked the stew and rice and other Swahili sides that I can’t pronounce. The fresh mango fruit drink and passionfruit drink were yummy. That evening went uptown to the more upscale Westlands, and caught a new documentary at the Italian Cultural Institute about lo-cal conservation efforts to preserve water in a river basin in Laikipia, in central Kenya. Had a chance to chat with the Italian filmmaker, and others in this conservation movement. Very cool. Will keep you posted.

Post 2 Nairobi, Kenya - What a difference

from yesterday. Awoke early and headed to Nairobi National Park. The landscape is seared into my brain. Flat savannah of

golden grass dotted with short green trees. Herds of zebras, impalas, giraffes, black African rhino, gazelles, wildebeest and other animals roam free in this vast reserve that sits south of the city. Saw a mama lion

and three cubs ready to hunt! Rode in a big green safari jeep. In the distance, the tall buildings of Nairobi creep ever closer. Felt so free. Crisp breeze and cloudy, but the sun would peek out suddenly, creat-ing a breathtaking contrast of light and shadow on the landscape. So nice to close your eyes, turn upward, feel the warm sun

Wildlife roam as the city encroaches - “Nairobi National Park”

WWW.LAREDOSNEWS.COM LareDOS I M A R C H 2012 I 3 3


on your face and smile. I was filled with wonder for God. He is the ultimate artist. Spent the afternoon in Karen, a nearby neighborhood. Much more wealthy, more white, and a feeling of segregation hung in the air. Felt strange and uncomfortable. Tomorrow, off to Kigali...

Post 3

This morning, I flew into Kigali on RwandAir and my heart leapt with excite-ment. Rwanda — land of the thousand hills — is the country I’ve yearned to visit for years. Flying in, you’re struck by the red earth, green hills, and orderly struc-ture of the villages. Kigali is in growth mode, buildings going up everywhere. It is so clean, it puts any city in the U.S. or Eu-rope to shame. Plastic bags are ILLEGAL throughout the country, and community service and cleanups are mandatory for everyone the last Saturday of the month. The city is spread out over many hills, so going for a stroll is not so practical. Many people hop onto a moto (motorcycle taxi) which will take you anywhere for about $1.

And you must wear a helmet! Spent much of the afternoon at Ivuka Arts — a studio with 15 up and coming Rwandan artists — painters and sculptors. Made new friends with five of them and learned much about their views on their country and life. We

even spent time laughing and working our way through a Kinyarwandan-Spanish-English lesson! Tomorrow, I hope to learn how, nearly 18 years later, Rwanda has re-covered from one of the most horrifying moments in human history.

Post 4 Kigali, Rwanda - I didn’t write the last

two days because it was hard to find Inter-net access. A very moving past two days in Rwanda. I visited two memorials just out-side Kigali - Ntarama and Nyamata. Both in the countryside, and in former Catholic churches. Reminders of the genocide are everywhere. My stomach sinks when-ever I see purple and white drapes on a building — a sign that horrific atrocities occurred there. Ntarama and Nyamata saw between 5,000 and 20,000 Tutsis killed at those sites. Walls ripped open by gre-nades. Walls stained with blood. Skulls, bones, clothing, the old Belgian-created ethnic ID cards, broken eyeglasses — all piled high. I broke down at Nyamata and the guide, whose family is buried in one

of the two massive crypts, told me as I left “Aimez, aimez” (Love, love). I was deeply moved. But my sense is that Rwanda is try-ing so hard to move beyond this period in its history and move toward peace and rec-onciliation and growth of its economy. The capital, Kigali, seems to be reaching for something big, and has high hopes. The leadership urges its university students to become “job creators, not job seekers.” People back home wonder and ask me if it’s dangerous to be in Rwanda, but I don’t think so. Lots of order. Armed guards with huge machine guns patrol on most streets. They keep the peace. Sounds weird to say, but I think it makes sense to do this as the country rebuilds. I’ve had no prob-lem walking around late at night. In a way, Rwanda is almost 18 years old because it was so completely destroyed after the 1994 genocide. It seems like it wants to put the

past behind but there is still much work to do. Despite the beauty of many parts of Ki-gali, there is also a lack of electricity, paved roads, running water. Some people use single candles inside their homes/shops at night. Still, it is a very clean country. Re-markable.

Post 5 Kibeho - Yesterday, I took an early

two-hour minibus ride south to Butare on the Volcano Express. Buses and people in Rwanda and Nairobi are VERY punctual. No “Africa time” here! On the drive there, a mist hung low over the hills, and peas-ants were hard at work by 6 a.m. Butare is the intellectual heart of Rwanda — a small university town. But I was in search of Kibeho — the only Church-approved Mar-ian apparition site in all Africa. The Blessed Mother appeared in Kibeho in 1980s to sev-eral visionaries warning them of the geno-cide, urging Rwandans to change their ways and pray and end the deep ethnic ha-tred. When I got to Butare, I spotted a nun getting into a Land Cruiser with the word ‘Kibeho’ on the side. She gave me a lift to the village, nearly one hour away, very re-mote in the hills. On the way, I saw many children not in school. Lots of farmers and peasants. A large number of tea and coffee plantations. Rwanda produces some of the finest in the world. On the ride, I learned that Sister Rafaela is one of three Polish nuns who run the only school for the

blind in Rwanda. The school was opened in 2008 by the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, a Polish order. The school has 97 children, ages 5-17, who live there almost year-round. Rwanda has an estimated 20,000 blind children and this school in Kibeho is it. Sister Jana Maria gave me a full tour of this peaceful and lovely school, and I was stunned at how much they teach the students to lead productive, indepen-dent lives. They are taught how to read and write in Braille, speak English and Kinyar-wandan, take classes in many subjects, and they are encouraged to continue at university or undertake vocational train-ing. The nuns oversee a staff of 50 teach-ers and therapists. They want to expand the school capacity to almost 200 students but still need funding. Rwandans are a bit reserved, including the children, but not Pelagie. In a classroom with the youngest students, this little girl turned and hugged me and let me kiss and hug her. She stole my heart. Outside, I got so emotional real-izing the miracle of this school, given the deep poverty of this country. I want to go back and help raise money for the school. I hope you will join me in this effort.

Post 6 Kibeho - After leaving the school for the

blind, I walked toward the Marian shrine, about 10 minutes away. My heart felt so up-

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Holi, Indian festival of colors

These TAMIU students marked the advent of Spring with the Hindu celebration, Holi, on March 8, splashing each other with vibrant col-ored powders. The celebration, sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs and the Association of International Students, dates back to Hindu legends associated with the triumph of good over evil.

L aredo Community College and the Laredo chapter of TACHE, Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Edu-

cation, is preparing for a March 31 5K fundraiser for scholarships.

The Nature River Run and Walk be-gins at 8:15 a.m. and begins and ends at the LCC Park on the Fort McIntosh campus. Men’s and women’s catego-ries by age are 13-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, and 50+.

Pre-registration at the LCC Fort McIntosh campus is in oom 310 of the Lewis Energy Group Academic Cen-ter. On the South Campus, registration

is in Room 170 of the Academic and Advanced Technology Center. Laredo Ciclo Mania at 7913 McPherson Rd. is a third pre-race registration site. The pre-race registration fee is $20 for the general public and $10 for students.

Registration at the race — from 7:30 to 8 a.m. — is $25 for the general public.

Awards will be given to the top three winners in each category.For further information on the 5K Nature River Run and Walk, email Leti Spillane at [email protected] or call her at (956) 794-4760. ◆

News Brief

LCC, TACHE prepare for March 31 5K Nature River Run and Walk

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A minority opinion exists that doubts the biography of businessman and the-ater entrepreneur William

Shakespeare, in particular his being credited for the works of the Shake-spearean canon. This longstanding tradition of doubt is known as the au-thorship question, and the minority group consists of scholarly individu-als who have conducted research in the hopes of correctly identifying the individual known as Shakespeare.

Bonner Miller Cutting, a board member for the Shakespeare Fellow-ship and the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition. Cutting, raised the issue during a recent lectures at TAMIU and LCC. The Louisiana native, who graduated with a BFA from Tulane University and a Masters of Music from McNeese State University, is on a quest to answer the authorship ques-tion, something that began as a hobby but has now evolved into a full time job.

Cutting’s parents Ruth Loyd Miller and Judge Minos Miller significantly contributed to this debate. Cutting ex-plained, “Mom’s interest began when I was in college. Mom was a lawyer and had read a series of articles on the au-thorship question that appeared in The

Journal of the American Bar Association. The articles were published in a book titled Shakespeare Cross-Examination. She was intrigued with the Shake-speare authorship debate and things

just snowballed from there.”According to Cutting, the funda-

mental point of disagreement between traditional Shakespeare scholars and this alternative school of thought con-cerns the name William Shakespeare itself. The authorship question argues this was a pseudo name for the true writer of these works. “Traditional scholars hold to the view that William Shakespeare was the actual name of the author, a commoner from the War-wickshire village of Stratford-upon-Avon,” said Cutting.

According to the Shakespeare Fel-lowship, “an absence of a paper trail documenting Shakespeare’s life” is another reason why alternative think-ers are turning to public records, to further uncover discrepancies be-tween the life lived by the man from Stratford-upon-Avon and the life that should have been lived by the author of Shakespeare’s works.

Another curious point is the intel-lect of the individual responsible for the Shakespearean canon. Sir George Greenwood wrote a series of books during the first decades of the 20th century in which he addressed this.

“The biography of the man from Stratford-upon-Avon simply does not compare to the caliber of the man, who invented the Shakespearean canon of writing,” added Cutting.

While many literary scholars and mainstream academics would label these claims as part of a fringe theory, Cutting reemphasized, “The fact that many distinguished and educated in-dividuals would never subscribe to a

conspiracy theory.”Mark Twain’s “Is Shakespeare Dead?”

is a testament to this minority opinion. Other skeptics include Washington Irving, Sigmund Freud, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, Malcolm X, Orson Wells, and Supreme Court Justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O’Connor, to name a few.

Cutting commented, “Most col-leges and universities will not let someone like me come in and talk about this subject. Is this a legitimate subject for academic study, I guess is the question that should be asked. And the answer is ‘absolutely!’”

Through public records, the doubters are gathering the proof they need to establish their credibil-ity.

Does it matter that for hundreds of years students have been taught

what an increasing number of schol-ars, have deemed to be false? The an-swer, according to Cutting, is yes.

According to Cutting, literary biography is often used as a tool for understanding the significance of any given text. If attaching the wrong author’s name to a body of work can lead to misperceptions of the work, then it is important to ex-amine facts, data collected, and his-torical records to insure the infor-mation disseminated is accurate.

“The authorship question is about restoring a sense of authenticity and truth to Shakespeare’s works,” said Cutting.

For more information on Shake-speare Fellowship visit www.shake-spearefellowship.org or Shakespeare Authorship Coalition visit www.doubtaboutwill.org. ◆

Questioning the canon: Shakespeare by any other nameFeature


lifted, emotional and in awe with the blind school, but all of a sudden I saw the purple and white drapes. On the side of this small path sat a quiet memorial. In this half-open building, skulls and bones were stacked, marking the horrors of the genocide. My stomach sank. You can’t escape these ghosts. A few minutes later down the road was the Marian shrine of Kibeho. It sits on a large piece of land on a hilltop overlook-ing other green, terraced hills. It was emp-ty of people with the exception of a few nuns, and an attached school. The breeze was blowing so gently, and thunder was rumbling across the hills. I felt at peace. The Blessed Mother of Kibeho is beauti-ful. She is tall, thin, light brown skin and is called Mary of the Seven Sorrows. Af-terward, I found a minibus back to Butare, then hopped on a moto to the National Museum of Rwanda — small but superbly curated on the outkirts of town. I decided to walk back and asked some of the many people — who walk everywhere — if I was headed in the right direction. The thunder started to rumble louder and fat raindrops started to fall. One lady and a teen boy said yes. No English or French spoken in many of these areas. I kept walking and walking in what was now a fairly hard and chilly rain. The lady turned off the road and I asked the teen boy several times if Butare was straight ahead. He said yes. About an hour later, I asked him once more. He stopped and said ‘no’ and pointed in the opposite direction. I had to laugh at the sit-uation. I was soaked and cold and so glad to see a bicycle taxi. I hopped on and don’t know how this skinny elderly man man-aged to lug me and up and down those hills on an old shaky bike with cars and trucks whizzing by! I then hopped onto a moto to get back to Butare and boarded the 7 p.m. Volcano Express back to Kigali, or as the locals say — Kiga or Chiga.

Post 7Kigali - Yesterday, I went to the official

genocide memorial. Some 259,000 people are buried here. It is a beautiful memorial that sits atop one of Kigali’s many hills. It is peaceful and inside, it details the events leading up to the 1994 genocide — start-ing with German then Belgian coloniza-

tion — and how a plan by Hutu extrem-ists to exterminate the Tutsis was carried out so effectively. The exhibit ends, how-ever, with a strong message of forgiveness. Nearly 1 million people were slaughtered in 100 days. Later that evening, I went to a screening of several short films by four up and coming Rwandan filmmakers, hosted by Germany’s Goethe Institute. Excellent films! Strong story lines. These young filmmakers took us into the daily lives of Rwandans to feel their struggles, immense poverty, and above all, their sense of hope. During the Q&A, the filmmakers were quick to point out that Rwanda is no longer about the genocide and that is has many other stories to tell. Very impressive.

Post 8Today, I took a 5:30 a.m. “express”

bus from Kigali to Kampala, capital of Uganda. On the way, a tire blew out, so we waited patiently on the side of the road while vendors hawked grilled meat on a stick, fruits, and all sorts of cookies and crackers. The trip took 10.5 hours in an old-school coach! Arriving in Kampala, wow, I thought Nairobi was chaotic. Kampala struck me as a city overwhelmed. I felt a crush of hu-manity as I walked throughout the city center. Brushing against so many people and vehicles from the crazy amount of bus, car, and motorcycle traffic. Crater-sized potholes fill the streets. The build-ings are old, faded, and filled with so many shops and small businesses. The red earth of Africa has settled in ev-

erywhere, taking over the streets and sporadic sidewalks. Goats, chickens, and the occasional cow share this very crowded space with the residents. Driv-ing through Uganda, I was struck by the extreme poverty in the countryside, and the small towns/villages. Major lack of infrastructure. Many kids not in schools. Lots and lots of babies and young kids. I was lucky to have made friends with a young Muslim businessman on the bus who helped me find a foreign exchange to get Ugandan shillings. He then took me to the chaotic minibus station where we found a minibus to Entebbe, a town that sits about 1.5 hours away, along the shores of Lake Victoria. Entebbe is where

the main airport is located. Just arrived here a couple of hours ago. Tomorrow, I hope to check out the lake and Botani-cal Center. Air quality is poor, like in Nairobi and Kigali, because of the emis-sions from vehicles and the very regu-lar burning of trash by so many people. The smoke chokes and fills the air. Post 9

Entebbe, Uganda -- It is the time of the short rains. The morning started out overcast and humid. By 6:30 p.m. the dark clouds broke into a strong equato-rial rain. A power outage ensued, but now all is calm. Today is the first day on this trip that I relaxed. Shared a break-fast of African coffee (coffee boiled with milk), African-style banana pancakes, and a juicy pineapple — as well as a lively and lengthy conversation with three new friends at the guesthouse. One from Italy, one from France and one, a South African who lives in the Ba-hamas. Spent most of the day strolling through the lovely Botanical Gardens along Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the water because of the presence of Bilharzia in so many African lakes. This parasite penetrates the skin and travels inside the body. That said, I was taken by the very lush vegetation of the Bo-tanical Garden, as well as the monkeys




BY DENISE FERGUSON

Cigarroa High School per-cussion instructor Rob-ert Castro was the guest speaker at the St. Patrick’s

Day-themed March 13 meeting of the Tuesday Music and Literature Club, presenting a program on the “Kodaly Method of Music Education.”

The Kodaly Method, which was based on the philosophy of Zoltan Kodaly of Hungary, involved the use of hand signs, folk music, games, movement, playing instruments, read-ing and writing music, and singing. A concurrent philosophy of music train-ing was to teach children music nine months before they were born.

“Creativity is a part of everyone’s lives. We are all born creative,” Cas-tro told TMLC members. “In prepar-ing children for a future that no one can predict, creativity is of the utmost importance, and creativity should be given the same status as literacy.”

According to Castro, “Creativ-ity means that the individual actively participates in something. If you ask a first grader if he is creative, he will say ‘yes.’ But at the college level, they will

hold back. Creativity is left on the back burner. Nowadays we need creative minds to prepare for the future.”

Castro referenced St. John Bosco with “A school without music is like a body without a soul.” Castro said that when he taught at Cigarroa Middle School, he was told there was little available space. He replied, “I don’t need a room — just give me 25 first graders and a tree with shade.”

During the business portion of the March meeting, members submitted nominations for new membership and for officers for the term 2012 to 2014. Members also discussed a pro-posal for a change in the membership section of the club’s constitution. The revision was accepted. The election of officers will take place in April.

Maria Soliz, Graciela Diaz, and De-lia Leal formed the hostess committee for the March meeting.

Mary Esther Sanchez, co-chair of the February Valentine’s Day Tea, an-nounced that the affair had been a success, with 130 members and guests in attendance. She said that proceeds from the raffle at the tea would go to-wards funding a scholarship for a lo-cal music student. ◆

Creativity, Kodaly music methodsubject of TMLC’s March program

Tuesday Music and Literature Club

Robert Castro and TMLC President Linda Mott

bers for dropout rates.”Mora believes that other than

teachers, technology is the “biggest gift to education.” He said that he was born into technological advanc-es that have the potential to reform the educational system by improv-ing the immediacy of learning in the classroom.

Mora said that the State Board of Education is governed “by peo-ple who celebrate ignorance.” He added that while children in China are learning how to compete in the global economy, “our kids are learn-ing how to take tests.” Revamping statewide priorities in education, he said, are at the top of his list, in-cluding fighting for funding “for our most crucial endeavor — to educate

our children.”According to Mora, recent find-

ings in neuroscience and neuroplas-ticity — how we learn, the effects of nutrition on learning, repetitions, frontal memory, how neurons oper-ate, how the brain works once you introduce physical exercise — need to be part of the educational de-bate. “We are living in a golden age of learning. Everything is possible now.”

Mora said he is “a proud Hispan-ic” who would effectively represent “the demographic that most needs our help. We play a very big part in the life of our state and our nation. Our voices need to be heard in edu-cation. We have so much potential. Education is the be all, end all of our future,” he said. ◆



and countless species of birds. One spot in these Gardens was used as a filming site for the old Tarzan movies with John-ny Weissmuller! One highlight of this trip has been all of the new friends that I’ve met along the way — both African and muzungu, which means foreigner or white person. Every time a kid, or boda boda (moto taxi) driver or anyone else shouts ‘muzungu!’ at me, I shout back ‘muzungu’ and give them a thumbs up or raise my arms up in the air, and laugh!

Post 10 Nairobi airport -- On my way to

Zanzibar, the spice island! Birthplace of Freddy Mercury from Queen. My flight on Precision Air was very delayed out of Entebbe, so I was rerouted through Nai-robi. Now this flight is delayed. Siiiiigh. Waiting here at an internet kiosk hoping the flight will leave tonight!

Post 11 Stonetown, Zanzibar -- Am staying at

a place that was a former sultan’s harem. Ha! The décor inside Hotel Kiponda is simple but artfully designed. Zanzibar is hot, humid, sticky, tropical. But I like it. The city feels a bit like a mix between Havana (the buildings) and old Fez in Morocco (old walled maze of narrow stone paths). The heavy wooden doors on many homes and buildings are a cul-tural gem. Such intricate carvings. The difference between an Indian and Arabic door is that the Arabic doors are square, and have a chain-looking design around the perimeter, signifying the slave trade, which dominated the island. Visited a spice plantation where the guide cut and let us smell and taste cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, lemongrass, cloves (their specialty export), jackfruit, huge avocados, pine-apple, and so many other spices and fruits that grow in this very fertile earth. There is a great deal of poverty, too. We visited an old cave where slave traders would hide their soon-to-be shipment of slaves after slavery was outlawed in Zanzibar. It freaked me out — then we moved on to an old Per-sian bath (hammam) for a sultan,

and then.....the beach! The sea is so clear and blue, a teal blue. Calm with so many small wooden boats bobbing on the sur-face. The water was cold in pockets so it felt wonderful while swimming. Send-ing lots spice-scented hugz!

Post 12Stonetown -- For the first time on this

trip, I went to Mass. In Zanzibar! An is-land that is 95 percent Muslim. Went to 7 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. The core parishioners seemed to be Indian. The Cathedral was designed by the ar-chitect who designed Notre Dame in Marseilles. So lovely, but in such need of repair and some TLC. Afterward went back to the rooftop terrace at Kiponda for a wonderful breakfast of fried eggs, all of my favorite tropical fruits in the world (papaya, passionfruit, mango, pineapple) and wonderful thick bread toasted and slathered with salty marga-rine and sweet Kenyan plum jam. And a strong French press coffee! I made new friends with a German and Austrian. As we swapped stories and much laugh-ter, a storm waged around us. After a three-hour conversation, I took their advice and headed north, to the beach in Kendwa. Hopped onto a dala-dala – a mini truck with two benches facing each other, crammed with people inside and bags of maize and rice piled on top. For $3, I made the two-hour trip to the northern tip of the island. Stayed in a bungalow at a laid back place with Bob Marley music playing in the outdoor bar area. The white sand is so soft and the water is shockingly blue.

Post 13Kendwa -- Went on a full day snorkel

trip to Mnemba Atoll on a dhow boat, a traditional Zanzibarian/Swahili wooden

sailboat. Took two hours to get there, and three to get back!! The water is SO blue, so clear. As soon as you get in, it’s like going on a safari but underwater. The coral was pretty and there were all sorts of tropical fish, of all sizes, shapes and colors. Some were breathtaking. Like their counterparts out on the African savannah, the zebra fish underwater are numerous. I often found myself swim-ming in a school of them! They would zoom inches near my face and seemed very curious. The sun by the way is FIERCE. Even my dark skin got burnt a painful red!

Post 14Made it back home last night!! Flight

from Zanzibar to Laredo via Nairobi, London and Dallas. I got so sick from my

stomach the last night in Zanzibar. I didn’t think I’d make it back. Fortunately, my Austrian friend in Stonetown stuffed me with lots of meds and, literally, helped me get on the plane.

Alas, am back at the office in Laredo. Can’t stop thinking about this trip. It was an eye opening and in some ways life-altering experience. Yet the people are so engaging once they connect with you. I left Africa with a deep respect and apprecia-tion for their daily struggles, history, cul-ture and precarious future. I also left with a tremendous amount of gratitude for all that we have back home and take for granted. Here’s hoping to someday re-turn and to stay in touch with so many new friends, both African and muzungu! Africa unite!! ◆



BY DR. NEO

GUTIERREZDr. Neo Gutierrez is a Ph.D. in

Dance and Fine Arts, Meritorious Award in Laredo Fine Arts recipient

2009 from Webb Co. Heritage Foundation, Laredo Sr. Int’l 2008, Laredo MHS Tiger Legend 2002, and Sr. Int’l de Beverly Hills, 1997.

Contact [email protected].

Notes from LaLa Land

Graciela Gutierrez, origi-nally from Benavides, was my mother’s first cousin. Besides being a music

teacher, she actually was quite an anthropologist, as evidenced by the Gutierrez World Instrument Collec-tion housed at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.

The collection of 150 instruments from 96 countries was bequeathed to her alma mater upon her death in 2001.

The narrative for a Google site about her collection honors her life and work.

Graciela lived abroad for 33 years, starting her travel in Venezuela in the 1950s as a music teacher for children of workers of Creole Petroleum. She taught music in the mornings, then tu-tored students who knew only French, Italian, English, or Spanish. The com-pany insisted the employees’ children had to know English or Spanish in or-

der to attend school. While there, Gra-ciela found out about teaching oppor-tunities overseas, so she got a job with the U.S. armed forces as an overseas teacher to children of military person-nel. She taught for six years in Germa-ny, taking advantage of her location to travel all over Europe.

She taught in Spain, remaining in Madrid for 25 years. She enjoyed Spain, seeing the places of her ances-try and attending the plays of famous Spanish playwrights. She eventually returned to Benavides, from which she departed for travel several times around South America, the Caribbean Islands, Egypt, and Europe. She vis-ited all the Arab countries, where she particularly enjoyed learning about their religion and music.

One of her most interesting trips was to travel through the Panama Canal. Other cruises took her to the Greek Islands, up the Alaskan coast, into the Atlantic Canadian provinces,

and to the Caribbean Islands. She never experienced any travel

problems until she got to Senegal, where the native people dislike pic-ture-taking, fearing their soul will be removed from their body if they are photographed. So when Graciela took a picture of a marketplace, someone threw a shoe at her. On another oc-casion, when she got to the coast, she was taking a picture of a boat, but a woman thought she was being pho-tographed, so she threw fish water at Graciela. While in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, she and a friend carried a musical instrument she was bring-ing back to the hotel, when she no-ticed a man following them. Graciela wrote, “We got to the hotel and asked the concierge to tell the man to leave us alone. But the concierge said he

couldn’t do it because the man was black and he was white. My friend and I remained in the lobby of the hotel, and we decided to stay there in open sight, rather than heading back to our room. We finally asked one of the bellboys to ask the man what he wanted. The bellboy came back and told me I didn’t want to know what the man said. Finally, after I insisted, the bellboy told me. The man said that Allah had said I was his and he wasn’t leaving until I went with him. After almost two hours, the man ended up leaving.”

Graciela went to heaven at 73, and after all those world travels, she is resting back in her hometown of Be-navides.

And on that note, it’s time for--as Norma Adamo says: TAN TAN !

OLLU home for Gutierrez’s musical legacy

www.laredosnews.com



The Laredo Public Library (LPL) will observe El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Li-bros on April 28 with a cel-

ebration that focuses on literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The events of the fun-filled family day are also sponsored by the Texas Association of Chica-nos in Higher Education (TACHE), a statewide organization established in 1974 to improve of educational and employment opportunities for Latinos in higher education, and Arte Público Press, one of the largest Latino presses devoted to promoting Latino authors and literature.

The event will commence at 9:30 a.m. in the library’s multi-purpose room, with María Antonia Juarez’s presentation on “The Benefits of Read-ing as a Family.” Mary Sue Galindo — author, TACHE president, and LCC instructor — will read from Icy Water-melon/ Sandía Fría, a story about three generations of one Hispanic American family gathered together one summer night.

Diane Gonzales Bertrand will read chapters from her books Upside Down and Backwards and The Ruiz Street Kids. According to Galindo, prior to the event Gonzales-Bertrand will read and visit with the children at LCC South’s Camilo Prada Child Develop-ment Center and with Pre-K students at Centeno Elementary. Arte Público

Press has made these visits possible.Mariana Tristan, assistant director

of Arte Público Press will speak on “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Liter-ary Heritage,” an initiative devoted to getting Latino histories preserved and recorded.

In conjunction with El Día de los Niños, the 9th Annual Poetry Festival Awards will be held between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. The winners will present their poems and receive recognition accordingly. The contest is sponsored by the Diocese of Laredo Catholic Schools, Friends of the Library, Laredo Community College, Laredo Inde-pendent School District, Laredo Pub-lic Library, Texas A&M International University, and United Independent School District.

Galindo commented, “We hope to draw the public into this celebration of literacy. We want parents and children and readers and writers of all ages to come out and buy books, learn how to submit manuscripts, enjoy the read-ings and puppet show, and celebrate the writings of our young poets. She added, “We want to promote and cel-ebrate literacy in our community. Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros is a celebration of literacy and family. We want to nurture our future scholars who will one day take our place in the halls of higher education.”

For further information please call María Soliz at (956) 795-2400 or email [email protected]. Mary Sue Galindo may also be contacted by email [email protected] ◆

Library, TACHE celebrate literacywith Dia de los Niños, Dia de los Libros

News


Feature

BY LEM LONDOS RAILSBACK

DDuring my travels to New Orleans over the decades, I nearly always ride the St. Charles Avenue Trolley.

On this most recent trip, I boarded the trolley early one morning on Canal Street. I asked the conductor to remind me when we were approaching the street for my stop. I rode along admir-ing the great old homes and giant trees in the famous Garden District. As we continued, I noticed what appeared to be some sort of school on our right. I was viewing both Tulane University and Loyola University. I spotted a large, long stone on the ground to my left engraved with “Audubon Park.” I got off at the next stop and walked back to the gate of the park.

The land for the Park had been the old French Plantation de Bore, home of the first mayor of New Orleans. About six miles west of downtown New Orleans, the park is bordered by St. Charles Avenue and the Missis-sippi River. The park was used at dif-ferent times by both the Southern and the Union Armies and after the war served as the training facility for the “Buffalo Soldiers.”

Eventually, the City of New Orleans purchased the land and designated it as an urban park. In 1884, the park hosted the World’s Industrial and Cot-ton Exposition, the first world’s fair for New Orleans. Over time, the city has added several sports fields and picnic areas, and a golf course.

I chatted with several picnickers and learned that a Sunday outing at the park was a weekly event for many families, that hordes of tourists visited the park on every day of the week, and that school groups —e.g., soccer teams and tennis teams — used the sports

fields all through the year. On its east side, the park hosts a rookery, one of the prime birding spots in the region.

I came upon a large statue of John James Audubon, the naturalist born Jean-Jacques Audubon in Saint-Domingue, Haiti as the illegitimate son of the French naval officer Lt. Jean Audubon. His Creole mother, Jeanne Rabine, died when young Audubon was only a few months old. In the face of rising unrest among the African slaves, Lt. Audubon sold part of his plantation in Haiti and used the pro-ceeds to buy a 284-acre farm named Mill Grove about 20 miles from Phila-delphia. He returned to France and to his wife whom he had married years before. He sent for Jean-Jacques and half sister Rose, and in 1794, he and his wife, Anne Moynet, formally ad-opted both children.

Jean-Jacques’s name was changed to Jean-Jacque Fougere Audubon. He grew up during the French Revolu-tion and learned to ride horses, fence, dance, and play the flute and violin. From his earliest days in France, the young boy displayed distinct prefer-ence for the outdoors and birds, which his father encouraged. According to his father’s wishes, Audubon entered a military school in preparation to be-come a navy officer. When he found that boats made him seasick, that he had no love for mathematics or navi-gation, and that he had failed the offi-cer’s qualification test, Jean-Jacques re-turned to land and his beloved woods. When he turned 18 in 1803, Audubon emigrated to the United States and changed his name to John James Audubon. He arrived at Mill Grove to manage his father’s lead mines.

In New York City, he contacted yellow fever. The Quaker women who managed a home for the sick took him

in, nursed him back to good health, and taught him English. He loved Mill Grove. He let the tenants run the grounds and the mining while he spent his days in the woods. He learned basic rules of ornithology. On a return trip to France to secure his father’s permission to marry, Audu-bon met Charles-Marie D’Orbigny, a naturalist and physician who helped him improve his taxidermy skills and taught him the scientific methods of research. Upon his return to the Unit-ed States, Audubon married his neigh-bor’s daughter, Lucy.

Together, they explored the out-doors, and in time Audubon opened a museum of nature. Exhibits includ-ed opossums, raccoons, fish, snakes, birds’ eggs, and other specimens. He moved to Louisville, Kentucky to open a general store and then west to Hen-derson, Kentucky to operate another store. Audubon spent more and more of his time in exploring the outdoors, in painting and drawing of birds, and in learning the ways of the Shawnee and Osage Indians. He evolved into a genuine frontiersman.

In 1812, Audubon gave up his French citizenship and embraced American citizenship. In spite of fail-

ing businesses and other hardships, he visited Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana to explore, draw, and paint. His wife became the breadwinner for the family by teaching children out of her home. Rebuffed by American publishers for his paintings, Audubon sailed from New Orleans in 1826 to England to take over 300 drawings to British publishers who loved his work and his Birds of America, a collection of 435 prints of 497 birds species.

Returning in 1829 to America, Audubon completed more drawings. The Audubons went to England where he continued working on his Birds of America and its sequel Ornithological Biographies that he wrote with Scot-tish ornithologist William MacGil-livray. Audubon purchased the estate that is now Audubon Park and contin-ued travels into New England, East-ern Canada, and the American West. Among Audubon’s contributions are the discovery of 25 new bird species and 12 new subspecies, his enormous continuing influence on the under-standing of bird anatomy and behav-ior, and his high standards for all later works in ornithology. Charles Darwin cited Audubon three times in On the Origin of Species. ◆

The majestic John James Audubon Park of New Orleans

Unpaid Summer Internshipsfor Writers

Please call Meg Guerraat (956) 791-9950

or write [email protected]


BY CORDELIA BARRERA

Dreamland; The Way Out of JuárezBy Charles Bowden, Illustrated by

Alicia Leora Briggs

The acclaimed activist and theo-rist, Gloria Anzaldúa, describes the US-Mexico border as an open wound, una herida abierta,

where the third world grates against the first and bleeds. And as we know, before a scab forms, there is a hemorrhaging, a loss of lifeblood.

On the borderlands this loss wears many masks. It is found in the borders imposed by capitalism and, on the wea-ry faces of thousands of maquila work-ers who have been displaced from their homes in the interior of Mexico. It is found in nationalist and racist epithets that denounce masses of immigrants — job seekers — from the ravaged south. It is found in the silenced bones, the skel-etal remains of countless young women who once labored for slave wages in Juárez, but who now scream for justice from unmarked graves.

In Charles Bowden’s and Alicia Leora Briggs’s book, Dreamland; The Way Out of Juárez, loss on the US-Mexico border-lands surrounds questions and issues that demand new policies, new ways of confronting dehumanizing systems, fresh glimpses of the same dusty vista that is our home. The award-winning book, first published in 2010 by the UT Austin Press, is now available in paper-back.

For over a decade, Charles Bowden has been reporting and documenting social issues on the US-Mexico border. He has carved a fissure in the War On Drugs to disclose American complicity in a system that has created a police state along the borderlands. His books and articles often undermine the credibility of the justice system on both sides of the border; he has many critics and detrac-

tors. In Dreamland; The Way Out of Juárez, he teams up with Texas-based artist Briggs to deliver a haunting, surreal, and mesmerizing portrait of a dying city in ruins — Juárez — that is also a city of dreamers. Dreamland is illustrated like a medieval manuscript, a graphic novel that sometimes reads like a police blotter.

Dreamland is fever-ish, lyrical, and viscer-al. In lurid detail, the book depicts the story of one place: a cream-colored condominium in Juárez where, over a 4-month period, 14 people were tortured, executed, summar-ily buried under the porch in the backyard, and poured over with lime. When the story of this one place, set securely in a middle-class neighbor-hood, broke in 2004, it was one of the first times the uncontainable violence of Juárez was publicly acknowledged. Bowden focuses on one condo, and one man — the “canary” Lalo — to tell the story of a city dying in the ruins of our own making. We must own this city, writes Bowden; we are all complicit in

creating a third world country that pays — in blood — first world prices.

Dreamland combines solid reportage with poetry, police transcripts, and pow-erful images. Bowden’s furious, melan-cholic, morally-invested prose is meant to disturb us into change. He wants us

to not simply under-stand the story of one particular death house used by the Juárez cartel, but to feel the meaning of the loss — like thousands of Mexicans must every day of their lives. We are meant to bear wit-ness, and just as he has deliberately exposed his mind and body to some of the worst ele-ments of the carnage, so must we. Like the artist Briggs, who

made a number of trips to Juárez from 2007 – 2009, we enter the death houses, the mental institutions, the rehab centers and the city morgue to come to terms with the effects that poverty, corruption, and violence have on both the dead and the living.

To create her haunting images, Briggs uses the ancient technique of sgraffito, in

which the artist uses a knife to remove parts of a blackened surface to reveal ar-eas of white underneath. Briggs’s work depicts the careful observation of cur-rent events on the borderlands along-side a dark, expressive quality remi-niscent of medieval personifications of death. Her engravings in Dreamland are powerful and unsettling because they focus as much on the criminals as they do the victims and everyday citizens of Juárez. The images are eerie and frightening, but they scream of a dark beauty and an immediacy that must be reckoned with.

Dreamland is a powerful docu-ment, and a documentary that — like a gripping yet hideous car crash that we unwittingly witness — compels us to keep looking because we crave human understanding, and, perhaps, acknowledgement. Much of what we witness on the border, like much of what the press writes, is a mutual fraud, a fantasy, a lie condoned by the US and Mexican government. But when we look away, we convict the truth. We cannot afford to look away, to bury the dead along with the truth. We must own our Juárezes, just like we must own all our truths, even if they wear the face of our deepest monsters. ◆

Book Review

Bowden, Briggs in Dreamland: Juarez, a city in ruins


BY ARMANDO X. LOPEZLareDOS Contributor

All it took was reading the story of former Oregon distance runner Rhiannon Hull in the March 7 edi-

tion of Sports Illustrated for me to miss being part of the writers’ universe. The harrowing tale of a mother’s ultimate sacrifice told with great suspense and with a loving tone, made me yearn to tell the stories around me.

Fortunately LareDOS publisher Meg Guerra has always provided a home to aspiring writers. Fifteen years ago she helped my brother Goyo and me launch The Laredo Sports Jour-nal and even distributed the first issue of our venture in LareDOS.

Our first issue was nestled safely in her hard-hitting, well-written journal. Like a shooting star, our publication had a bright, but short-lived existence as my brother Goyo and sister-in-law Blasita found their way into the job progressions that led them to their cur-rent employments that enrich our city’s spiritual and touristic development.

Last year by the kind invitation of Laredo Morning Times editor Dee Dee Fuentes and sports editor Dennis Sil-va, I wrote an occasional column and feature story for the LMT’s weekly 956 Sports Unlimited. I dusted off the old writing and reporting muscles and filled late evening and weekend time with my views of the sporting world and human universe around me.

To say that I enjoyed the experience would be a gross understatement. At first I didn’t know if anyone was read-ing, but as the weeks progressed, I found that my words had an audience, and as Meg has always believed, there is a segment of Laredo out there that appreciates reflections on this com-munity that we love so much. Alas, Fuentes and Silva are off to different challenges, and I am once again a free lancer searching for a home.

The general rule in writing is to write about what you know. That means that I will mostly write about sports and the world of border athlet-ics. Many of my pieces will ring his-torical, and others, I hope, will pro-voke action.

I come from a printer’s tradition in which my grandfather Gregorio and my father Gregorio came home to 1707 San Eduardo, the site of two humble houses where my grandparents and my parents lived in the early 1960s. Both men smelled of printers’ ink, a scent that is difficult to describe but remains with you forever.

I followed that smell to my fa-ther’s workplace and rolled and threw newspapers and “baratas” at The South Texas Citizen on Convent and then The Laredo Citizen on Santa María. I have a ton of memories of dusky Thursday evenings in the back of my father’s pickup with my brothers and friends as we delivered routes in the Heights and north Laredo. Seated in the front of the truck were my dad and his life-long buddy Agustin Dovalina Jr. Back at the shop were writers like William Hall Sr., Billy Hall, Matias Arambula, Odilon Arambula, Elizabeth Sorrell, and Roberto San Miguel. Most of them were part-time and guest writers, in-fected by that love of writing and in need of that fix of printers’ ink.

By the time I left Our Lady Of Gua-dalupe School for L. J. Christen Junior High, I found my first sports writing assignment on the Cubs Tales newspa-per supervised by Ms. Annie Barrien-tos. I developed a love for poetry and prose with Laura Rendon, the coolest teacher at L.J. Christen.

Next I was off to Martin High School where I fell under the trance of legendary Ann Shanks who gave me my own sports column, brought LMT sports editor Salo Otero to my class, and made sure that I got a healthy glimpse of the world of journalism. She retired at the end of my junior year, and Sandra Mendiola guided me

to UIL journalism writing competi-tion, shifting my sports mentality to overall writing.

Famed attorney Charlie Borchers came to my high school civics class and told us that he had studied Eng-lish literature in college on his way to getting a law degree, because you needed to get a degree in something that you loved. I loved journalism.

Next came the University of Texas at Austin and admission to one of the best journalism schools in the country and an opportunity to write a couple of features for The Daily Texan, the pa-per of the school’s renowned journal-ism program.

After being admitted to the Univer-sity of Michigan Law School, I came home for the summer and worked with the great Carmina Dannini at The Laredo News. There I worked with yeoman photographers like Cuate Santos and Richard Geissler. The last summer during law school I worked for The Laredo Morning Times where Daninni and Santos had come to roost along with good UT buddy Gloria Pa-dilla.

I married my wife Mary Lou (an English literature major, go figure!) and then moved back to Laredo to start my legal career and had three children along the way. I’ve written here and there on websites, magazines, and for press releases for the theatrical shows that my kids are in.

I began writing for a publication when I was 12 years old, and that printers’ ink has mixed with the Lare-do water deep in my soul. In the com-ing months I hope to bring you stories of the Laredo around us. Thanks, Meg, for letting me share my voice with your readership. ◆

This freelancer finds a homeLaredo Stories

www.laredosnews.com


BY JOSÉ ROBERTO JUÁREZLareDOS Contributor

Laredo became part of the new Vicariate Apostolic of Brownsville formed from the Diocese of Galveston in 1874.

Dominic Manucy was the first Bishop of Brownsville. He served from 1874 to 1884. Unfortunately, even before his consecration on December 8, 1874 he wrote a letter to the Freeman’s Journal of Montgomery, Alabama. He complained that “… I look upon the appointment to Brownsville as Vicar Apostolic as the worse sentence that could be passed on me for any crime!” Brownsville dis-trict was a “country without resources and the Catholic population” was “composed almost ex-clusively of Mexican greas-ers — drovers and ladrones. No money could be got out of such people not [even] to bury their fathers!”

Liberal Mexican President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada banished 22 Sisters of Char-ity and threepriests to escort them to Brownsville on Feb-ruary 22, 1875. The tejanos were delighted with the nuns and asked Bishop Manucy to allow the Sisters to stay for six months or a year and they were to sustain them. Manucy answered that he did not have money for the Sisters of Char-ity and they would interfere with the cloistered Sisters of Incarnate Word and the Ob-late priests. The Bishop felt he could not decide without the authorization of the Mexican ecclesiastical authorities to allow the Sisters to stay.

The tejanos knew that the Sisters of Charity would be excellent teachers,

visit the families, and help the sick. The sisters were to have left on March 3, but Masonic lodge members created problems and bad weather forced them to stay a few days longer. The tejanos began to arrive at the railroad station at 4 a.m., and the Sisters got there at 9 p.m. Some 300 persons disconnected the railroad coach carrying the nuns for 20 feet, shouting “Let the Bishop go.” The nuns could not stay without the Bishop’s permission.

Mayor Parker and a large number of police were unable to control the masses which numbered 3,000. Parker asked the Bishop to intervene but the Bishop answered that it would not be prudent to expose himself to the insults

of gross and undisciplined individuals. The Bishop told the mayor to inform the 3,000 souls that he would promise to invite the Sisters to return as circum-

stances allowed. The tejanos returned the railroad car

and allowed the train to continue to Point Isabel. The prom-ise never came. For the first time, the Bishop vis-ited ranches close by and saw the “primitive” life of poor Mexicans. The tejanos gave him a cold shoulder and after seven months Manucy moved his the seat of the bishop to Corpus Christi in Sep-tember 1875.

Holding Institute, originally known as Laredo Seminary, was founded in 1880 at Lare-do by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, founded for the instruc-tion of Mexican children. Manucy was born in St. Augustine, Florida, son of Pedro and María Lorenzo Manucy, and educated in Mobile, Ala-bama.

At the end of Bishop Manucy’s term Father Claude C. Jaillet served as Vicar General of Brownsville from 1885 to 1890.

San Agustín was raised to the cat-egory of pro-cathedral when a Spanish Catalán, Pedro Verdaguer, was appoint-ed as Apostolic Vicar of Brownsville in 1890. Verdaguer came to a Laredo which had changed drastically. In 1881-82 four railroads converged in Laredo — the Texas-Mexican from Corpus Christi, the International and Great Northern from San Antonio and St. Louis, the Ferrocar-riles Nacionales de México from central Mexico, and the Río Grande and Eagle Pass.

By 1890, Laredo’s population had grown from 2,053 in 1828 to 11,319, in-cluding many English monolinguals. In

1896, therefore, Bishop Verdaguer had St. Peter’s Church built for the Anglo-Americans. The Bishop also constructed

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Church in 1897 to serve the parishioners in what was then north Laredo. Cristo Rey was built to the east in the Heights. The west-ern part of the city, thanks to the gener-osity of “a Catholic from the northern part of the United States,” had El Divino Redentor Church built in 1909. In 1894, the Religious Sisters of Mercy initiated the work that led to the establishment of Mercy Hospital.

In 1905, Verdaguer added to the priests’ rectory that was built in 1885 in the Mexican vernacular style prevalent in Laredo.

Bishop Verdaguer was known as “El Obispo Ranchero.” He was beloved by Laredoans and all his flock. After 20 years as Bishop he passed away in 1911 while on a Confirmation tour near Mer-cedes. He is buried in a mausoleum in our Catholic Cemetery. ◆

A diocesan chronicle: 1874 to 1911Feature

Vicar Apostolic Dominic Manucy

Most Rev. Pedro Verdaguer de Prat

This is an installment in a series of narratives about the diocesan

History of Laredo, from its founding in 1755 to the present.


South Texas Food Bank

Community gardens flourish, pecan harvest feeds the hungry

BY SALO

OTEROSalo Otero is the direc-tor of marketingfor the

South Texas Food Bank. He can be reached at [email protected] or by calling

956-726-3120.

BY SALO OTERO

The South Texas Food Bank mission of feeding the hun-gry has been taken to a new field — two fields, in fact.

One is a community garden at Mis-sion Luterana Agua Viva Church in El Cenizo and the other a pecan harvesting experience for several Laredo teenagers on the old. Richter family ranch off Highway 83.

What started as an 11-bed garden behind the Lutheran church at 3520 Cecilia Lane almost two years ago is now into other lots in the rural com-munity south of Laredo. The goal is to have 30 beds growing produce, noted Jaime Arizpe, regional coor-dinator for the Office of Border Af-fairs of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

As a member of the South Texas Food Bank (STFB) board, Arizpe got the STFB involved. Agua Viva Church opened a Kids Café called Pan DeVida almost two years ago. Kids Café provides an after school meal to needy children. Agua Viva pastor Mariana Mendez has used produce from the garden for meals to feed the almost 100 attending Monday through Friday.

The community garden program is coordinated by the University of Texas Pan American Rural Enter-prise Development in cooperation with the Buckner Foundation and the Texas A&M Prairie View Co-Op Extension. The Texas A&M Interna-tional University Students in Free Enterprise are also involved.

El Cenizo resident and former farmhand Tomas Hernandez, 82, has been involved since day one as

a volunteer, bringing a wealth of garden experience. He has helped in the community garden, planting cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, carrots, and other items. “I know a little bit about it,” he beamed. “By 7 a.m. I’m here ‘en fuego’ (on fire and ready to go).”

Additional planting beds are in progress at a lot along the Rio Grande. A $5,000 Home Depot grant helped buy garden beds, tools, seed, and other materials. During a gar-den tour by STFB representatives, Hernandez pointed to some new produce that includes broccoli, rad-ishes, beets, cauliflower, squash, melons, and chile peppers. “Esto es puro bueno (This is all good),” he said, eyeing the greenery. Fruit trees might also be planted soon.

Arizpe noted, “The Buckner Foundation, a Dallas-based group, has a program through its children and family services division geared to colonia residents becoming more self sufficient.” The gardens are helping feed residents of El Cenizo and Río Bravo in the South Texas Food Bank Kids Café and elderly programs.

“The STFB is about building co-operatives like this one with the goal of reaching our mission of feed-ing the hungry,” said a food bank spokesperson. “We are not just a food bank, but a non-profit looking to better the lifestyle of our resi-dents.”

About the pecans harvested in November, STFB executive director Alfonso Casso Jr. noted, “We espe-cially thank the Richter family — Chuck and his wife Gayle, David, and his wife Ginger for allowing us

on their farm to gather pecans from the 80-to-100-year-old trees their grandfather planted years ago. Also, thanks to the Border Patrol (North sector) for bringing their Explorer troop to help and Roy García with the City of Laredo Community De-velopment Community Service who also brought kids to help harvest. It was a tremendous experience for them. The harvesters collected 492 pounds of pecans to help feed our needy families.”

The need is great in the STFB ser-vice area as reported in the program numbers by Casso and STFB chief financial officer Mike Kazen during the February board meeting. The food bank distributed to a record 24,122 families per month in 2011. Families receiving assistance were 289,463 compared to 263,736 in 2010. The 2011 total reflects there were

236,828 children, 465,370 adults and 691,624 meals served. To start 2012, 886,133 pounds were distributed in January, which is up from 871,988 pounds in the same month last year.

The food bank distributed 9.7 million pounds in 2011. Program reports for January: Adopt a fam-ily — 633 families on file with 535 bags distributed and 85 on a waiting list. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) mainly for the elderly had 6,944 individuals served with 87 on a waiting list. The SNAP outreach program (formerly Food Stamps) registered 395, representing 584 adults and 639 children. Kids Ca-fes served 13,949 after school meals to 697 children Monday through Friday. The 2011 total was 191,435 meals. Walk-in emergency bags were 130, representing 240 adults and 185 children. ◆

On the banks of the Río Grande


BY MARÍA EUGENIA GUERRALareDOS Staff

Honoring the Past, a 20th Anniversary Salute to Laredo Businesses and Secretaries” is the theme

of the annual gala and fashion show sponsored by the Volunteer Services Council (VSC) of the state-funded Border Region Behavioral Health Center (BRBHC).

The much anticipated event is set for Wednesday, April 25 at the Lare-do Country Club. Organizers note that it will begin promptly at 11:30 a.m.

The event is a major fundraiser for the non-profit VSC for services

for individuals with a mental illness or an intellectual and developmental disability. The VSC provides funds for clothes, eyeglasses, extraneous medical exams, transportation to exams, supplies and classes for the BRBHC arts in health care program, and other costs the center cannot cover.

Famous after two decades for its noble cause and its allegiance to camp, humor, fashion, and showcas-ing local dance and music talent, the Secretaries Day show and luncheon has become a favorite of secretaries, bosses, and the general public. The event includes a raffle for original art, a perfume basket, a wine basket, and a $500 HEB shopping card.

The raffle art includes work by Norita Montemayor, Jessica Diez Bar-roso, Gayle Rodriguez, and partici-pants of the BRBHC arts program.

Community members and clients of the BRBHC will model ensembles provided by SteinMart and Polly Adams.

Marilyn De Llano, vice-president of the VSC and a longtime advocate for mental health efforts in Laredo and Webb County, is producing the event with the assistance of Gayle Rodriguez. Rene Garza, Paul Foster, and Gene Granados are assisting De Llano and Rodriguez with music for the event. Sandy Peerman and Jessi-ca Diez Barroso are coordinating the choreography. Priscilla Beckelhyner, Norita Montemayor, Paty Figueroa, and Yolanda Venegas are seeing to the fashion fittings.

“The entertainment is being final-ized,” said De Llano. Musical num-bers as of press time include Dolly Parton’s paean to secretaries, “Nine to Five,” which will be performed by VSC publicity coordinator Jo-Ann Kahn. Other performances include “We Are the Champions,” an hom-age to local athletes; and “South Pacific,” “California Girl,” “Break-fast at Tiffany’s,” “Beauty and the Beast” duet, and “I Got You, Babe.” The show includes a tribute to three iconic and tragic figures in entertain-ment who struggled with substance abuse — Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Amy Winehouse. The finale, “You’ve Got to Have Faith,”

includes a performance by clients of BRBHC. The United High School Lariettes will perform “One” from A Chorus Line.

VSC President Molly Martinez said the annual event is the result of a great deal of teamwork for a com-mon cause. “This is one of the largest undertakings in our history. It has evolved from something that started at a residence 20 years ago and has grown year after year.”

Martinez said that 11 loyal sup-porters of the annual event will be honored this year, including Conoco Phillips, G.G. Salinas, Inc., District Attorney Chilo Alaniz, Carranco & Lawson, Sames Motor Company, Powell Watson Motors, Dr. Ike’s, CPA Felix Velasquez, Guillermo Be-navides, Falcon International Bank, and the Webb County Probation Of-fice.

“We are able to do this year after year because of the collaborative ef-fort of many and because Laredoans are generous in their support of our work,” De Llano said, adding, that the importance of the annual event is heightened by “state and federal cut-backs that are evident everywhere in programs that offer care for those with mental illness

Tickets for the event are $65 for individuals and $650 for a table for 10. For reservations or for further information, call Kathleen Seitel at (956) 794-3240; Molly Martinez at (956) 724-2300; Ardith Epstein at (956) 723-8950; and Adriana Ramos

20th Annual Secretaries Luncheon and style showpromises fun and high fashion for a noble cause

Feature

Can’t find a hard copy?Go to www.laredosnews.com


BY MARÍA EUGENIA GUERRALareDOS Staff

I’ve just set down a copy of the Fall 2011 edition of the Conchos River Review, the literary anthol-ogy published by the English De-

partment of Angelo State University. I’ve had the pleasure of reading

the 16 pages of George Neel Jr.’s short story “The Way It Had to Be.”

Set on the South Texas ranchlands on the eve of a young Marine’s depar-ture for combat in Korean in the 1950s, this is a rich and well told story about what we gather up to move ourselves from the protective familiarity of the life we know and love to answer a call to duty, and in doing so, to take on a life of unknown dangers and vari-ables.

The beauty of Neel’s prose is that it is even-handed, most of the drama told in the simple act of one last morn-ing fishing on the grassy shore at Wil-low Pond on a South Texas ranch.

Neel does not have to dip his pen into the inkwell of sorrow to find the words for all the possible tragic out-comes — there’s plenty of it implied in the subtle exchanges between the pro-tagonist Joe and the protective ranch

foreman Santiago; and in exchanges with a former high school football teammate, now a casualty of the same battle that Joe will join; and Joe’s girl-friend Cynthia, who does not want him to leave. Conflicts abound, but not a single one of them big enough to keep Joe from boarding a bus the next day to join his platoon for deployment to Korea.

It is on the lush Bermuda grass carpet of Willow Pond that this story builds to its dénouement as the young soldier fishes for the lunch he will share with Santiago who is en route to the pond by horseback. It is here that Neel’s narrative shines like the bright, good thing that it is. The reader is transported pond-side to hear the last yip of the coyotes just after daybreak, to see and smell the pond, and to see the inside of Joe’s tackle box and to understand why he has chosen the red and white lure with “three gangs of treble hooks.”

It is the beautiful specimen of a fe-male large mouth bass at the end of Joe’s line, splendid in size and fat with the eggs of her progeny — and what Joe will do with her — that shade in the story about the sensibilities of the tender-hearted soldier. Though Santi-

ago encourages him to throw the bass in the pan for lunch, Joe disengages her carefully from the hooks, method-ically weighs her (8.5 pounds) with the portable scale in his tackle box, and re-turns her — to Santiago’s dismay — to Willow Pond.

Four smaller fish, now filleted, will meet the sizzle of lard in the pan over the campfire Santiago has made. The men enjoy their lunch of fish tacos, a pot of coffee, and some empanadas de

piña that Santiago’s wife made. Santiago rides off, and Joe is left to

doze at the edge of the pond, to drink in the glorious overhead sight of a vee-formation of geese headed north, to contemplate the importance of the fish he put back into Willow Pond, to take a last look at the rise and fall of the terrain that channels rainfall into the tank, and to hear himself say it will be 15 months before he will see this place again.

Review

George Neel Jr.’s short story — a literary whopper told on the eve of departing for the Korean conflict

José R

am

írez


Three graduate students from the Bush School of Govern-ment and Public Service at Texas A&M University at

College Station spent part of their Spring Break in Laredo for a mission trip hosted by the Río Grande Interna-tional Study Center (RGISC). Their area of interest was the border and envi-ronmental issues affecting this part of South Texas.

Dinorah Sánchez, student group leader, is a second year student from Baytown. Accompanying her were Ra-mon González of Nuevo Laredo – also a second year student (both graduate in May) – and Jack Huguley, a first year student from Shreveport, La.

RGISC’s goal in hosting the gradu-ate policy students is to make this visit an annual event, and to create a strong connection between the Bush School

and Laredo/RGISC.Sánchez and González are both fo-

cusing on state and local government, with Sanchez hoping to go into city management. Gonzalez will begin law school in the fall at George Washing-ton University. Huguley is focusing on international relations with a focus on the nature and behavior of countries. He is especially interested in China.

When the students arrived March 10, RGISC board members held a wel-come dinner and presented them with their itinerary for the next few days.

On March 11, they visited with Dr. Jim Earhart and Tricia Cortez of RGISC to learn more about the organization and environmental concerns in Lare-do. They then headed out to the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center and worked on the Paso del In-dio trail, and potted native plants at the on-site nursery. Students met with Tom

Miller, director of the center, and veter-an Laredo Community College biology instructor Rukmani Kuppuswami.

The following day, students worked with Dr. Earhart and Cortez on formu-lating two solid surveys for RGISC’s joint effort with the City of Laredo to reduce the use of plastic bags in Lare-do. One survey will be for retailers, and the other for the general population.

Afterward, students met with oth-er RGISC board members Dr. Rudy Rincon and Victor Oliveros at the UT Health Science Center – Laredo cam-pus where they received a briefing on the development of colonias in South Texas. They toured colonias along Hwy 359, and in Rio Bravo and El Cenizo.

On Tuesday, March 13, students vis-ited with Judge Oscar J. Hale Jr. of the 406th District Court. Students learned about Hale’s efforts to build a drug court program and how the district courts in Laredo manage and share a growing civil and criminal docket.

Afterward, students met with Carl Schwing, assistant director of the city’s

water utilities department, who pro-vided a full briefing on Laredo’s water and wastewater needs. They learned about the city’s many ongoing projects to increase capacity as well as efforts to lower the amount of water consumed per person per day. Laredoans present-ly consume an astounding 200 gallons per person per day.

The students traveled with RGISC board member Meg Guerra to San Ygnacio and Zapata to visit two large-scale commercial operations – located in a remote part of the Zapata County – that take in massive quantities of oil-field waste from the Eagle Ford Shale. They also learned how the communi-ty of San Ygnacio recently united and garnered a victory in stopping another similar waste dump from being con-structed in their small, historic town. They had a chance to observe the river from a bluff in Zapata and at Falcon Lake. On the way back, they stopped at a new café/bakery in Zapata called HeBrews to taste freshly made semita and expertly brewed cappuccino.

- LareDOS Staff

Jack Huguley, Ramon González, and Dinorah Sánchez

Maria E

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Guerr

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DO

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TAMU Bush grad students learn of border, environmental issuesNews


LAPS returns to original mandate of education, spay/neuter effortLAPS

The new Puppy Palace was built with a donation from the South Texas Out-reach Foundation. The artists are Jessica Tovar and Lydia de los Santos.

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BY CATHY KAZEN AND JENNIE REED

As 2012 rolls along, the Laredo Animal Protective Society (LAPS) is in the midst of change. We look

to the future with anticipation and hope. We are grateful to LareDOS for the opportunity to write a monthly column to keep Laredoans informed as to the ex-ploding and overwhelming problem of stray animals in Laredo and some of the planned solutions.

The primary change occurring as this article goes to print is that negotia-tions are underway for LAPS to lease a portion of its privately owned property to the City so that they can take on the responsibility for control of stray ani-mals and bite observation cases.

LAPS will retain the use of the rest of our property. We are cooperating with the City in the effort to have an on-site

spay and neuter clinic. The shelter will be seeking donations and holding fund-raising events for the $35,000 needed to equip the clinic with its basic necessi-ties.

As the City takes on the impound responsibilities, LAPS will return to our original mandate which is to educate the public in the humane treatment of ani-mals, concentrate on spaying and neu-tering of Laredo’s dogs and cats, and to provide healthy animals for adoption.

We are most grateful to the United Way of Laredo for their contributions which allow us to offer $75 discount vouchers for the spaying or neutering of any dog or cat in Laredo. Anyone wish-ing to take advantage of this program may call 724-8364 on the day of the vet appointment and the discount voucher will be faxed to their vet.

We ask the public to please continue to spay and neuter their dogs and cats,

and we thank all of our loyal donors for their support and understanding as to the immensity of this task.

Our main goal will be to continue to address the overwhelming problem of stray animals in Laredo. ◆

BY CATHY KAZEN AND JENNIE REED


Serving Sentences

The haircut was a ploy; I could not gauge the inadequacy of our imagination

BY RANDY KOCH

On a warm Sunday afternoon in September 1981, I stood behind the counter of the Pitstop, a narrow, wooden,

100-year-old building with two plate glass windows facing Lamberton’s Main Street. It still had the tin ceiling, but instead of mirrors, sinks, barber chairs, and a bell over the door, it now contained a pool table, three pinball machines, a foosball table, a juke box blaring Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” and the newest video game, Pacman.

I pulled a steaming Tombstone pizza from the small silver oven on the coun-ter, slid it from the rack onto the round cardboard from the package, and cut it into eight wedges. I carried it to the booth in the back where “Buffy” Burns chalked his cue and Randy Tordsen squinted through his thick glasses as he lined up a shot at the side pocket.

“Put your money up,” Buffy said as I took the cash from the table for the pizza. He jabbed me with the thick end of his cue.

I pushed the bills in a pocket on the front of the Zieske’s Lumber Yard apron tied around my waist. “I’d just kick your ass anyway,” I said over my shoulder as Tordsen eased the seven in the side. I walked back to the front.

Julie stood at the end of the counter near the upright freezer. She wore white tennis shoes, blue jeans that curved around her thighs and hips, a black but-ton-up blouse. Her hair lit by the late sun coming through the windows looked reddish-brown.

As I walked by her, I leaned over her shoulder.

She held the cards fanned out in her hand against her chest. She looked up at me. “Is that the only way you can beat me? By cheating?” She smiled, her

cheeks rising, her dark eyes squinting. I first noticed her during the sum-

mer when she and her sisters Lolly and Teresa, who came from West St. Paul to visit their grandparents, walked into the Pitstop one weekend. Julie seemed ur-ban, streetwise, exotic. And despite — or maybe because of —being the subject of local rumors, she was also the object of my flirtations.

“Shit,” I said, “I can make pizza, count out change, run this place, and beat you all at the same time.” I picked up my hand, drew from the pile, and discarded.

“Is that right?” She picked up my dis-card. A small asymmetrical blue-green cross was tattooed on her left wrist. She grinned, tucked the card into her hand,

pulled another off the end, and laid it face-down on the pile. “Gin,” she said and spread her cards in front of her.

“Oh, crap,” I moaned and pitched my hand on the counter. “Again?”

She nudged my cards around with the end of the pen, counted, and shook her head. “That’s not very good, Randy,” she said as she wrote on the notepad.

I pushed the cards at her. “Winner deals.”

She gathered the deck and shuffled. I watched her, and when she lifted her eyes, we smiled, not about the game or her teasing but about something name-less transpiring in the air between us.

At 6 p.m. when Buffy and Tordsen

hung up their cues, I shut off the pinball machines and Pacman game, grabbed the money bag, heavy with quarters, off the top of the freezer, turned out the lights, and locked the front door. My brown 1970 Plymouth Gran Fury stood out front. Earlier, in the midst of some teasing, Julie offered to cut my hair, so now we got in, rolled down the windows, and with Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic” on the eight-track player, I drove down a deserted Main Street. At the elementary school, we turned west. Shadows cast by the late afternoon sun flickered through the branches of elms and maples and dappled the broad windshield. I turned south on Douglas and parked in front of the small white house I rented for $75 a month.

Inside, the light from the round fluorescent tube on the kitchen ceiling reflected off the glossy white walls. I pulled a chair from the table and sat down with my back to the window, the shade drawn. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

Julie stood in front of me with the scissors in her right hand, smiled, and combed my hair back with her left. I felt little ripples of air on my face as her arm moved back and forth.

We both knew the haircut was a ploy, the scissors a prop designed only to give it some credence, the comb breaching the final distance between us before I put my hand on her hip and drew her to

me. The scissors fell to the floor behind us.

In the months that followed, I never felt I could get close enough to her, even when sitting thigh to thigh in the car or feeling her cheek pressed to my chest. I wanted to be so close that I was inside of her, merged with her. Not just that phys-ical, intoxicating entrance that made me stumble out of my brain, throb so I was nothing but pulse. No, she made me want to slip into her as if swung off a rope into a cool lake, as if fading into a dream, as if I were her memory wait-ing to be recalled. What I felt for Julie was instinctual, genetic. What I felt was imprinted on me with the certainty of a migratory route.

The next spring we drove to West St. Paul to visit her family — her dad Butch, her mom Mary, Teresa and Lolly, two older brothers Mike and Paul, and the youngest, Willis, Jr., who everyone called Choppers. One afternoon, Julie and I followed Mike upstairs and sat on the edge of his bed. He had black hair and the shadow of a thin mustache and wore a white wife beater, a large tattoo covering his right shoulder.

“Watch this,” Julie said to me. Then, Mike, his face grave and his

eyes fixed on me, stood in the middle of his bedroom and swung nun-chucks — links clicking, bars whirling around his shoulders, behind his back, from hand to hand.

I couldn’t name what his performance meant or foretold, couldn’t think beyond Julie’s fingers threaded with mine. I didn’t see the coming complications, the desertion I eventually felt and provoked. I could not gauge the inadequacy of our imaginations.

Faster and faster, the nun-chucks blurred, like a baton twirled by a manic cheerleader trying frantically to keep up with the music. ◆

“The world arises from naming and naming itself is the product

of hilarity, invention, fortuitous accident, the elsewhere and elsewhat

and elsewho, the imagination. So too darkness, the sense of desertion,

profound isolation, inadequacy, that you will never be loved enough

no not ever.”

—Dean Young from The Art of Recklessness


BY DENISE FERGUSON-LareDOS Contributor

During a high school English literature class, we studied the tribulations of a literary character who had moved

to a new location. The teacher suddenly broke off the discussion to ask, “How many of you have ever relocated?”

Of the eight students who raised their hands, the teacher asked, “How many of you liked your new neighborhood?” Two students raised their hands. The teacher related the emotional concerns of the re-maining disenchanted students to those of the story’s character. Apparently, the devil you know is preferable to the devil you don’t know.

The subject of relocation stress is the subject of articles in pop culture lit-erature and video. I myself had a classic mean girls experience in the fourth grade. I had started off at a Pawtucket, Rhode Island school which had been built five years previously and accommodated K-12. It was a beautiful school, most of the teachers were congenial, and I was hap-pily integrated into the social network of my fellow classmates.

Then the other shoe dropped. With the help of close relatives, my parents man-aged to purchase a 40-year-old house in a Pawtucket neighborhood that was actu-ally more decadent than my current one, and less diverse ethnically. As we drove by the prospective school, I discovered that it was about 80-years-old and looked like it was a haven for evil witches.

The first thing my new home room teacher did was to announce to the students, “Denise has all A’s on her re-port card!” She might as well have said, “From this day on, we shall all detest Denise!” The Mean Girls script had be-gun. To add to the dilemma, the classes rotated among three teachers according to subject matter, which was new to me. The coup de grâce was the fact that the old, dank and dreary school was academi-

cally accelerated beyond the level of my previous one. My days involved taking social and academic pummeling from three teachers and the long-reigning top student and her posse.

As spring approached, the three teachers summoned my mother to an-nounce that they were thinking of re-taining me in fourth grade. My mother warned them to stop the attacks, teach the kids some manners, and do their jobs. Things improved after my mother’s visit. The teachers were less hostile and be-came more innovative in their attempts to bring me up to date.

In particular, my fifth grade math teacher Miss Ryan regularly matched me with an amiable classmate for long divi-sion practice, and suddenly I mastered it. My confidence returned. My overall grades rose, and in sixth grade I gradu-ated second in my class, just under the smartest and meanest girl.

So, by age 10, I had learned that an ethnic group is perfectly ca pable of swallowing its own alive if they are so inclined, as most of the children involved were of the same ethnicity as I was.

Other than one bully experience, my junior high years went reasonably well. From there, the school system directed us back to my original school to complete my education. But, as the expression goes — be careful for what you wish. When I arrived back at my early childhood school, I found that my old friends had changed, I had changed, and the ambi-ence of the school had changed.

Several years later, as a science teach-er at a Rhode Island public school, I was offered a National Science Foundation grant to Union College in Schenectady for six weeks of advanced study. I found I was assigned to an all-black female floor of a dormitory, not intentionally so des-ignated. My fellow grantees were from South Carolina and Georgia. I had initial concerns that I was about to be involved in a mean girls script, but that did not happen. The group of eight young wom-

en teachers welcomed me with typical southern hospitality, and it was ultimate-ly their consistent support that allowed me to master challenging physics and as-tronomy courses. They also invited to me to join them in visits to the college Raths-keller and short trips to the city. Some of us remained pen pals for years after. All this came to mind when I recently heard the well-publicized opinions of a woman who had trouble adapting to Laredo. While most of us do indulge in vitriolic outbursts at stressful times in our lives, venting on Facebook might result in an outright horror show.

If the complainant was in any way connected with the military assigned to Laredo to protect us with their own lives, I think they should be given a pass for public venting. After all, what greater stress is there than realizing that your spouse or child might not ever come home from work?

My husband and I never looked back after leaving Rhode Island in 2003. Our last 12 years there had overseen the last illnesses of our parents. Now, we were looking forward to a new life in Houston. The aura of our move was a joyous one — not full of trepidation and fear. Houston turned out to be a giant replica of Rhode Island with its multiple ethnicities and its nearby ocean, and it even exhibited some splendid oak trees. “Welcome to Texas,” was a common greeting from those who knew we were new to town.

From there we relocated to Janesville, Wisconsin — quite a contrast. An apart-ment manager screamed at me when I asked if dogs were allowed. People ini-tially acted suspicious when they were getting to know us, and they liked to badger me about my physical appear-ance. But Janesville was one of the most beautiful places on earth, and we took the grumpies with it.

When we were called to Laredo, we re-belled — much too hot, too many trucks, terrible congestion. As I worked to update my Spanish at the Janesville Blackhawk

Community College, the teacher told me that she had spent time in Laredo to mas-ter the language.

Regretfully, I haven't mastered the language. Every time a Laredoan ob-serves my struggle to find the correct words, he or she decides to either switch to English or use pantomime. Overall, I find the demeanor of the people of Lare-do as supportive as the young southern women in Schenectady.

I would advise the following for those who find themselves pining for past lives which do not mesh with current de-mands: try residing in an apartment with a one-year lease or less in order to study the dynamics of the region and to make the most comfortable ultimate choice. Make a new family if your “real” family is not nearby by joining Newcomers and Friends of Laredo (LaredoNewcomers.com), or choose one of the many houses of worship and social clubs. Volunteer with Sisters of Mercy, Habitat for Human-ity, Laredo Literacy, Doctors Hospital or Laredo Medical Center, Voz de Niños, Laredo Animal Shelter, or environmental groups. Take part in sports or support lo-cal teams. Make use of the City’s low cost recreational activities as well as walking/biking paths, pools, and trails. Enjoy the facilities offered by Texas A&M Univer-sity and Laredo Community College in the arts, science, music, and theater, or take courses. Visit the beautiful Laredo historic districts,the Republic of the Río Grande Museum, and Fort McIn-tosh at LCC. Enjoy the monthly Farm-ers’ Market and get involved in festive activities.

If all else fails, take a Zumba class! A recent Internet article by Nancy

Colier — writer, public speaker, inter-faith minister, and psychotherapist — said, “Well-being is an internal state, not dependent on external circum-stances. The substance of well-being is our own compassionate presence — a compassion for what we are living now.” ◆

Moving can be a bust, but it can enrich you, tooOpinion


MSM Ranch Suppliers at 4410 E. Del Mar Boule-vard (outside Loop 20) is offering boarding for

horses.Just a stone’s throw from the bustle

of Del Mar as it meets the loop, MSM’S location has the feel of a rural setting. A quick tour evidenced impeccably clean stalls and some well-cared-for equine boarders.

Jorge Mendez, a partner in MSM, said that none of the three packages offered include the cost of feed, which runs an additional $175 to $200 a month.

A basic $225 boarding package includes feeding twice a day, clean stalls, a fly mask, a SimplFly supple-ment, going to the round pen once a week, a bath and hoof oil once a week, time on the walker, plenty of parking for trailers, and access to the 100’ by 200’ riding arena on the premises.

MSM’s $275 package includes all of the above and de-worming every eight weeks.

The third package, which bears a $375 price tag includes a twice a week workout in the round pen, bathing twice a week, and shoeing every five weeks. “With the third package, the owner can call ahead so that we can have their horse saddled and ready. When they are finished riding, we’ll bathe the horse,” Mendez said.

He added, “We are a straight shot down Del Mar. We look like we are out in the country, but we are not. We are, in fact, conveniently located for many of those who board horses with us.”

Mendez said that MSM also boards 4-H and FFA project lambs and goats. “The kids can come out here to work with their animals,” he said.

For more information on boarding at MSM, call Mendez at (956) 724-2222 or (956) 763-0810. ◆

MSM offers convenient boarding for horses

News BriefM

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At LCC’s International Women’s Day celebration

LareDOS publisher María Eugenia (Meg) Guerra, center, was hon-ored at LCC South’s Seventh Annual International Women’s Day celebration on March 8 at the Billy Hall Student Center Community Suite. The event was sponsored by the Revolutionary Arts and Cultural Empowerment Club (RACE). Guerra is pictured with RACE sponsors and LCC faculty members Yadira Rodriguez and Mary Sue Galindo.

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BY STEVE HARMONLareDOS Contributor

A group of 15 Texas A&M International University students rang in 2012 in a new country 4,600 miles

away as part of TAMIU’s “Reading the Globe” program, a campus-wide read.

Now, their experiences, thoughts, and images are available on TAMIU’s web site at tamiu.edu/spotlight. The site includes a student blog, a photo gallery, and a compilation video doc-umenting the trip.

The freshmen students traveled to Santiago in December. They were selected for the program after a com-petitive essay based on their reading of the University’s campus read se-lection, “Santiago’s Children: What I Learned About Life at an Orphanage in Chile,” by writer Steve Reifenberg. Reifenberg visited TAMIU in Octo-ber.

While in Chile, they visited the or-phanage that was the setting for the book. In Santiago, they attended a se-ries of academic lectures, visited Pablo Neruda’s house, met with faculty at the University of Bio Bio in Concep-ción, and learned about Chilean cul-ture. As guests of host families, they had daily opportunities to become

immersed in Chilean social reality, international relations, history, and economics. TAMIU students participating in the study-travel project were Judith Abrego, Carolina Atilano, Alejandra Ortiz-Caballero, Joseph Dilworth, Uriel Domínguez, Sabrina Espinoza, Lisa Estrada, Selina Fuentes, Kath-erine Garza, José Jacobo, Leslie Mar-tínez, Margaret Medellín, Francisco Palacios, Norma Nuñez, and Daniel Villalobos.

Dr. Conchita Hickey, TAMIU exec-utive director of TAMIU’s University College, said the trip was designed to highlight the realities of Chilean life.

The students were especially moved by the chance to meet and provide gifts to the children of Casa Hogar, the home featured in Reifenberg’s book.

This is the fourth TAMIU student group in the “Reading the Globe” pro-gram. Previous study-travel sites have included Poland, Ghana, and Cambo-dia.

Spring Break at TAMIUNeumann University nursing stu-

dents from Pennsylvania visited Lare-do and Texas A&M International Uni-versity as part of their clinical obser-vation. Pictured from left to right are Vince Cucunato, Heather O’Donnell, Caitlin Lotty, Teresa Rush, and Katie Schneckerburger. ◆

‘Reading the Globe’ posts Chilean travels

Texas A&M International University


At the French Quarter Bazaar

Dwayne McGee of Half Dead Oak Jewelry is pictured on February 25 with Mark Nix and Evelyn Perez, as they discussed the fundamental prin-ciples of jewelry making.

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Contributor to Farias Military Museum fund

Rancher Frank Staggs, pictured with Cordelia Flores, was thanked by lo-cal veterans for his generous $2,500 contribution to the fund for the con-struction of the Juan Francisco Farias Military Museum. They are pictured at a March 15 meeting at Los Generales.


Feature

THE TEJANO MONUMENT On the south lawn of the Capitol grounds,

history stands corrected BY MARÍA EUGENIA GUERRA

LareDOS Staff

There are so many aspects of the soon to be unveiled Teja-no Monument that will have bearing for generations of

Texans to come. There is the tangible – the sight of something that beautiful and artfully executed in so prominent a place on the Capitol grounds. The di-orama of 11 bronze sculptures tells a story centuries in the making, a story long discounted and ignored by the official chroniclers of Texas history.

And there is the intangible, the im-measurable conviction, commitment, and effort of that handful of present day Tejano visionaries who put the monument’s concept together idea by idea, worked at the arduous task of getting legislation passed, commis-sioned Laredo artist Armando Hino-josa, raised the money, and brought it to life as a major installation on the Statehouse grounds.

The names of those men, members of the board of directors of the monu-ment project — along with Armando Hinojosa’s – are now, too, committed to Tejano history: Dr. Cayetano Bar-rera, Homero Vera, Andres Tijerina, Renato Ramirez, and Richard P. San-chez.

Zapata banker Renato Ramirez, a man deeply rooted in a family legacy of South Texas ranching, is recognized as the rainmaker for the funds that got the monument built.

“At the end of the 12-year journey, I feel relief that we got it done, proud to be a member of the team that over-came so many obstacles, gratitude to the many who believed in me and wrote big checks, admiration for the

many who contrib-uted so much sweat equity to the project, and disappointed with the Hispanic leadership in many organizations that ignored my pleas for support. It is embar-rassing that the entire population of the city of San Antonio, the cradle of Tejano his-tory and Tejano cul-ture, donated $600,” Ramirez said.

In a December 2011 story in newstaco.com Ramirez quipped that while the decade of the monument-in-the- making was not a long time in the 500-year timeline of Tejano his-tory, it was a long time to carry around a 250-ton statue.

“The monument will be the topic of discussion in many circles for years to come. Hopefully, Tejanos will ex-perience a renewal of self-esteem and pride in their heritage. The immediate, tangible impact is the Tejano history curriculum, which is being taught in Austin ISD and will hopefully expand to other school districts and universi-ties,” Ramirez said.

Thanks to a generous grant from Walmart and funding from the Renato and Patricia Ramirez family partner-ship, and IBC, the Tejano curriculum was developed at the University of Texas by Dr. Emilio Zamora in the De-partment of History and by Dr. Maria E. Franquiz and Dr. Cinthia Salinas in the Department of Education.

Ramirez characterized this educa-tional component as, “Quite a contrast from what is happening in Arizona and Alabama.”

Dr. Andres Tijerina, a professor of history at Austin Community College and vice-president of the monument board, spoke with heartfelt praise for the work of his fellow board members over the last 12 years. “Cayetano was diligent, dedicated, and unswerv-ing in his mission. Renato went into the fundraising with the tenacity of a bulldog — very effective. Richard ran through the halls of the Legisla-ture taking care of diplomatic details, and Homero did the deep, detailed re-search that gave the monument and its figures historical authenticity.”

Tijerina said that the commit-

ment and actions of the board mem-bers was such “that it was as if every-one of them had shouldered the entire responsibility” for the monument. He added, “None of us has ever stood to take the credit for everything he has done.”

The educator said that there is meaning in every aspect of the Tejano Monument, and that it is accurate in minute detail.

“The longhorns are modeled after Enrique Guerra’s cattle, registered DNA Texas longhorns, which are de-scendants of the original cattle his family brought here in the 1750s. Ar-mando’s bronze longhorns are true to vein, hair, and hoof. The saddles, the


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David Almaraz graduated from St. Mary’sSchoolofLawin1977.HereceivedhisB.A.andhisM.A.fromtheUniversityofTexasin1972.In1980,hewasappointedAssistantU.S.AttorneyfortheSouthernDistrictofTexas,LaredoDivisionwherehewasthefederalprosecutorfrom19801985.Asasolopractitionerfor26years,hehasgainedrecognitionforhispassionrepresentingclientsalloverTexasandtheUnitedStates.AsACLUChapterPresident,heremindsjurorsandjudgesateveryopportunitythattheBillofRightsmustbedefendedinspiteofoverzealousprosecutorswhotendtooverlookthe4th,5thand6thAmendments.HeisamemberofNACDLandTCDLA.

David Almaraz

AlmarazBldg.,1802HoustonLaredo,Tx.78040P.O.Box6875Email:[email protected].(956)7273828Fax(956)7253639

BY MONICA MCGETTRICK

Following a tradition of help-ing students succeed, Lare-do Community College is excited to introduce May-

mester classes, which offer students a convenient way to complete de-velopmental or state-required core courses in just three weeks. Students can attend classes Monday through Thursday or Friday through Sunday.

These courses are a boon for stu-dents who wish to complete their de-velopmental courses in order to be ready to take college-level courses by summer or fall. Students also can use financial aid to cover the cost of their May-mester classes.

The May-mester courses schedule is online at www.laredo.edu under

the What’s New section. Students should remember that in order to register for classes, they must be ad-vised. Students should schedule an appointment with their class advisor to make sure they are ready to enroll in May-mester classes. Registration is now in progress for classes that will run from May 14 through June 2.

For students unable to take May-mester courses, online registration for summer sessions I and II, as well as the Fall 2012 Semester, begins April 16. For more information or to make an appointment with an advisor, con-tact the Student Success Center at 721-5135. Students with a declared major can contact their correspond-ing instructional department for ad-visement. ◆

May-mester courses offer convenience

Laredo Community College

In the Cesar Chavez march for justice

The Danza Azteca Matachines were a beautiful, colorful part of the March 24 Cesar Chavez March for Justice. The matachines dance to venerate La Virgen de Guadalupe.

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1, 2 and 3 bedroom floorplans available. Prices starting at $725Town houses and corporate suites also available

For more information, please contact:www.carmelapts.com

Carmel Apartments Office Hours830 Fasken Blvd. Laredo, Texas M-F 8:30-5:30956.753.6500, 956.753.6502 fax Sat. 10:00-5:00

The best kept secret in Laredo

Sit back, relax, and welcome home

At ESGR Awards Conference in Austin

Adolfo “Pope” Gonzalez Jr., full time Active Guard Reservist with the 436th Chemical Company of the National Guard; Ron T. White, deputy executive director for the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR); and Adolfo Gonzalez Sr., chair of ESGR Area 13 are pictured at the recent ESGR conference in Austin.

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February 29, still cloudy and the rain yesterday was pretty light, but it rained, and we are happy with it. March 10, two

inches over the last two days. Won-derful stuff, and the ground is mushy soft.

Along with the rain come two very small and cute red heifers. Romeo Yates is the sire and one mama is Es-puma, and Birdsong is the other. The little girls, born only four days apart, have discovered each other and stick together. They loyally followed their mothers through a driving rain this afternoon. Tonight they are deep in hay in the green shed.

We have now registered our Long-horn cattle with the Cattlemen’s Texas Longhorn Registry. I’ve mentioned this organization before, but will say again that CTLR is the only longhorn registry that first requires a visual test done by longhorn authorities and a DNA test on all animals passing the vi-sual test. We kept all our lineages on the cattle for 28 years, and that made some of the paperwork easier.

The DNA requirements are strict, ruling out any cross-breeds. That is the big problem we’ve had with other longhorn regis-tries which have allowed quite a slide away from the real thing. Our cattle don’t seem to notice the new change, but I do.

Night before last brought a hard north wind, dropping temperatures and the wish to be home in bed. How-ever, Sissy and I joined Kendall County rancher and landowner stakeholders as

they worked on the process to bring the Upper Cibolo Creek into compliance with the EPA. This has been a two-year process headed up by Ryan Bass of the City of Boerne who has gotten an almost impossible task done well.

At the beginning we joined a big group of varied stakeholders because it was a great opportunity to learn how to actually get a stream cleaned up. There are many creeks in Bexar County in the same shape, but we’d never seen such a community effort as this one. Kendall County folks are still rural enough to know what a clean stream means and want to do the right thing. Beginning with basic education, we moved on to stream monitoring and then broke into groups based on our talents and inter-ests.

Sissy and I have continued our edu-cation by helping the Cibolo Nature Center do stream and e-coli testing. Cibolo Watershed data was collected throughout the long process and now hired consultants will put it all togeth-er. The other night we discussed what ranchers and farmers thought could be done to keep contaminants out of the Cibolo. Of course feral hog trapping came up and everyone agreed that trap-

ping one by one was useless. One ranch-er described his efforts to get the whole hog herd in a big trap at the same time and said that was the only way he could hold down the numbers.

It is remarkable that there was no finger-pointing by anyone during this process. Everyone wanted to help and did so. It was most generous of the folks of Kendall County to have allowed us to join them. -Bebe Fenstermaker

Lonn Taylor, the Rambling Boy now from West Texas, caught my attention back when he was a columnist for the Desert-Mountain Times in Alpine. When that publication ceased operation the Marfa Big Bend Sentinel began pub-

lishing Lonn’s weekly columns. Now he has col-lected some of those stories into a book, Texas My Texas: Musings of The Rambling Boy that snatches the

reader up for the ride as he rambles all around Texas and sometimes beyond. We not only meet interesting people from the past but also ones of today. I found it hard to put my copy down

even to do necessary chores. Lonn will have a book signing in

San Antonio, Sunday, April 1, at 3:00 p.m. at the Twig Bookstore in the Pearl complex. The book signing will be for Texas My Texas: Musings of The Ram-bling Boy and for Texas Furniture Volume I: The Cabinetmakers and Their Work, 1840-1880, which is being reissued. He coauthored that book with David War-ren in 1975.

Lonn has had an interesting life, and West Texas is lucky he chose to retire there with his wife, Dedie, after 20 years as a historian at the Smithso-nian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Washington, DC. Prior to that, he was curator and direc-tor at UT Austin’s Winedale Historical Center and curator and deputy direc-tor of the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe. He has also authored and co-authored several other books. He is fun to talk to and listen to, and I hope he has a million more stories to record.

- Sissy Fenstermaker


Maverick Ranch Notes

Rain and new heifers usher in Spring; work underway to clean Cibolo CreekBY BEBE & SISSY

FENSTERMAKER

“Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them; and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures.”

— Thomas de Quincey


rope, the pistol are accurate duplicates of real artifacts in Mr. Guerra’s collection,” Tijerina said.

According to Tijerina, the monu-ment’s figures will be unveiled on March 29 by children who are direct descen-dants of the Balli, Guerra, Navarro, and De Leon families and by the children of the monument’s board members and the writers of the Tejano curriculum.

Sculptor Armando Hinojosa said that now that the installation is complete with “grass, landscaping and bronze plaques,” he’s “letting things sink in.”

He said the work of the Tejano Mon-ument has great meaning for him, and that to date it is his most significant work. “I’m happy it’s done, but I’m sad, too,” Hinojosa said, adding, “This has been such important work. There were some stops and starts with the fundrais-ing and with the whole process of bring-ing the monument to life, but working with that group of individuals was in-credible. They knew what they wanted, where they wanted the monument, and they were determined, proud, and hard working.”

Hinojosa said that in recent days as he has looked at the installation up close and from afar, he gets a sense of the magnitude of what has been accom-

plished and he feels the pride of having been part of the telling of so large and long overdue a story. “It’s humbling,” he said.

Hinojosa said he is proud that his work will be seen by thousands of visi-tors who tour the Capitol grounds. He’s proud, too, he said, to share the 22-acre parkland with the work of the late Ital-ian sculptor Pompeo Coppini who mod-eled the statue of Jefferson Davis and other figures for the Confederate monu-ment. Coppini was also the sculptor of the Littlefield Fountain Memorial at the University of Texas.

Ramirez said his feelings on the eve of the unveiling of the Tejano Monu-ment are best expressed by Dr. Manuel Flores at TAMU-Kingsville — “For Teja-nos and all Texans, the unveiling of the Tejano Monument should be more than a historical experience. It should signal the dawn of a new era where Texas fi-nally recognizes its roots and honors the founders of the legacy that has become the Lone Star State. It’s enough to bring tears to the eyes of an old Tejano-Mexi-cano. Por fin, justicia y reconocimiento de los verdaderos fundadores de esta gran región. We are Españoles, Mexicanos, Mestizos, y Tejanos ready to lead Texas to a new and grand destiny.”

On the south lawn of the Capitol grounds, history stands corrected. ◆

TSTA/NEA, unions come together in Chavez march

Sergio Mora, Hilario Cavazos, and Ernest Davila are pictured at the March 24 Cesar Chavez March for Justice, proponents for the educa-tional needs of children.

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Pecan harvest benefits STFB

Roy García is pictured with some of the volunteers who harvested nearly 500 pounds of pecans at the Richter Farm. The harvest benefited the Lare-do Food Bank. Volunteers included Border Patrol Explorers from the USBP North Sector.

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