laredos september 2010

DOS2010 Est. 1994 Vol. XVI, No. 9 LocaLLy owNEd 64 PaGESa JoURNaL oF THE BoRdERLaNdS SEPTEMBER

Oh, may I join the choir invisible of those immortal dead who live again.

George Eliot, The Choir Invisible

Joe A. Guerra lived a life of love, grace and purpose - -

a life committed to God, family, and community

WWW.LAREDOSNEWS.COM 2 | LareDOS | SEPTEMBER 2010

LareDOS | SEPTEMBER 2010 | 3 WWW.LAREDOSNEWS.COM

As a proven leader, I humbly ask for

your voteTo complete our mission.

For the next four years* Increase Public Safety.

* Secure Better Paying jobs.* Promote Economic Development.

* Improve City Infrastructure.* More Police and Fire personnel.

* Secure more Federal and State Funding.* More park and recreational centers.

* Bring a Veterans Clinic for Laredo’s Future.

* Respect Green Space for Laredo’s Future.

* Revitalization of downtown. * Develop partnership to promote Laredo

as International Trade Hub.* Support all our local educational institutions.

For the past four years, as a full time mayor with an open door policy, I have

been working diligently to improve our city by focusing on public safety,

infrastructure, economic development, international trade and promoting quality

of life initiatives for all our citizens.

Accomplishments During My Administration

* No increased taxes.* Reduction of crime.

* Secured “State of Art” equipment for Police and Fire Department.* Brought millions of dollars in Federal and State Funding.

* Secured immediate FEMA assistance for flood Victims.* Initiated Civil Service for City Employees.

* New Park and Recreation Centers.* Resurfaced more than 2000 streets for better mobility.

* Strong relations with County, State and Federal Agencies.* Project Cuatro Vientos-South Laredo.

* Led ban on “No Cell Phone Use” in school zones.* Veteran’s Museum a Reality 100% Support for our Vets.

* Jefferson water Treatment Plant improvements.* Public Transit and Airport improvements.

* World Trade Bridge lane expansions.* Blue Ribbon Committee on Health.* Programs for our Senior citizens.

* For 18 years spent several days on Wal-Mart and HEB Rooftops collecting Christmas gifts for needy children and seniors.

EARLY VOTING BEGINS OCT. 18-29ELECTION DAY IS NOV. 2, 2010

For a ride to the polls call 753-3400, 753-3401, or 763-9241

PD. POLITICAL AD-ROGELIO RODRIGUEZ TREASURER 6402 E. BARTLETT, SUITE 3


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Mika AkikuniJuan Alanis

Cordelia BarreraEmilie Boenig

Eric EllmanBebe FenstermakerSissy Fenstermaker

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Roger Sanchez Jr.Steve Treviño

Sr. Maria Luisa VeraCortez Neeth-

Weepingtree

Contributors

Write a Letter to the Editor [email protected]

To the Editor:Why do political parties and others have

to decide the fate of children born to illegal immigrants? Why should these innocent children be denied American citizenship? I find this akin to abortion: depriving the innocent of their rights to live, and now for those born, stripping them of their citizen-ship. I also find it insulting that they are referred to as “anchor babies” when they have no fault in the conditions they are born in.

On another subject related to im-migration, in mid August of this year I read an article which appeared in one of our local newspapers regarding U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar’s position on immigration, and I am in favor of his approach in facilitating all people want-ing to come to the U.S. to work in a legal manner, in jobs Americans do not want to fulfill. We can no longer ignore the horrific stories of those good immigrants trying to come to the U.S. to work, not to steal, not to kill. Let’s just remember the thousands who have lost their lives in trying to reach our country in the hope

of a better way of living for their families. These people, if given the chance, would not risk their lives and would not have to pay the thousands of dollars the coyotes charge them to cross them over the US border. The price they have to pay these

coyotes is astronomical. Just think about how many years they have to work in their own countries in order to collect the fees to pay, and then, on their way here, they die on the desert from dehydration, they are robbed, or they are killed. How

can we ignore the recent massacre of over 70 immigrants, mostly from Central and South America, trying to come to the U. S. to work honorably?

MailboxLetters to the pubLisher

Dear Editor:It looks like we are going to have

another old-fashioned Laredo mob-bing in District No. 3. As I understand, three new candidates have paid their fees and registered to oppose Council Michael Landeck at the next election. The trick, of course -- if the mobbing follows the pattern of the old mobbing (I have lived in Laredo since 1972, but I have been coming to Laredo since the 1950’s), is that several opponents get on the ballot and oppose the gabacho, the runoff comes up -- and it usually does -- the two worse losers -- i.e., the two receiving the fewest votes combine their forces in their endorsement of the favored “son” -- usually the second-

best vote-getter in the primary. The combined votes of the “back-

ers” of the second-best, of the third-best, and of the fourth-best (the worst of the bunch) combine to form a ma-jority. Thereby, the three worst vote-getters win the Council seat. If voters in a precinct most heartedly wish for such inferior vote-catchers/candidates to represent them, then those voters deserve everything that they get. But the rest of us don’t.

As should be widely known, our City Council and our City administra-tion have been on a spending binge for a long time. All the while, however, Councilman Landeck alone has served as a brake on the out-of-control speed-

ing train of expenditures. Only be-cause he has spoken out publicly and long about his concerns over certain projects did those projects get pruned back to reasonable limits or cancelled altogether. Or, perhaps, those projects just got postponed -- at least until the gabacho can be eliminated from office.

If the real property-owners of the District allow their champion to be re-tired from the Council, they deserve everything in the way of enormous increases in property taxes that will come. Otherwise, how do you think that those projects will be funded?

Sincerely,Lem Londos Railsback

CONTiNuED ON PAgE 14 44


news

Chris Notzon (far right), Ford parts and service regional manager, is pictured with Candelario Bayarena, Ford Credit central market area manager, and Roch Legault, communications manager for Ford Motor Company.

at the Sames Motor company centennial gala

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To increase awareness about breast cancer and to raise funds for breast cancer patients and survivors, Yolanda Salinas, on

the occasion of her 60th birthday, is host-ing the first ever Pink Charity Ball, A Celebration of Life.

The event, which includes an auction and a live orchestra, will take place Oc-tober 1 at the Laredo Civic Center. Cock-tails will be served at 7 p.m., followed by a seated dinner.

The non-profit organizations that will benefit from proceeds from the ball are WINGS, Pink to Do, and Mercy Ministries cancer assistance program -- all local organizations that help breast cancer patients with expenses related to their treatment.

Salinas, the wife of Mayor Raul Sali-nas, will be accompanied by 59 damas who are themselves breast cancer survi-

vors or who have a family member who has battled the disease.

To ensure an evening of delectable offerings Salinas has enlisted the exper-tise of bakeries Pasteleria Rodriguez, Nellie’s Distinctive Cakes, Caffé Dolce, and Cakes by Gracie as well as Chef Cesar Madrigal. Among the businesses that have donated time and effort to the success of the event are Di France Brid-al Couture, Rebozos Tenacingo, Mag Art Fine Jewelery, Dabar Hair studio, Griselda Reyes Nails For You, Mario’s Photography, Myreiada’s, Jade’s Limou-sine Service, and Narvaez Flower Shop.

Music will be provided by the Jazz Connection Orchestra. Among the spe-cial guests will be Miss Texas, Laredoan Ana Rodriguez.

Tickets are $100 per person. Table sponsorships are available by calling 337-3932 or 763-9241. u

First ever Pink Charity Ball set for October 1; proceeds

to benefit breast cancer patients


Movie review

By CORDELiA BARRERA

Based on the fake trailer of the same name origi-nally released with the Quentin Tarantino/Richard Rodriguez production, Grindhouse (2007), Rodriguez’s newest “Mexploitation”

flick, Machete follows the lurid exploits of an ex-Mexican Federale turned illegal immigrant. Our “hero,” Machete (played by a deadpan Danny Trejo) is aptly named, as he has a serious propensity for brandishing cleavers, knives, hatchets, and generally any sharp implement (not exclud-ing garden tools and weed whackers) that can be used to hew, chop, cut, hack, split, sever…you get the picture…his enemies. And Machete has got a stack of enemies.

But some people need to be (violently) exterminated, no? Machete is a righteous Mexican with a vendetta. More

importantly, though, he’s a 21st century myth. Myths are full of gods and supernatural beings that help us estab-lish model behaviors, and that’s what the man, Machete, is about. Sure, the film blatantly exploits violence, women, and our hypocritical “war on drugs.” But it also exploits hatred, greed, political corruption, racism, and social injustice.

After a Mexican drug bust goes bad, Machete helpless-ly watches as his wife and child are butchered by the evil Drug Lord, “Torrez,” played by a pot-bellied Steven Seagal with a hilarious Mexican accent. Marked for Death (pardon the pun) by Torrez and his cronies, Machete vows revenge, and hightails it to Texas in search of work. He prowls the day labor sites and is picked up by local businessman Mi-

chael Booth (Jeff Fahey). Booth, obviously impressed by the beefy Mexican’s imposing physical presence, offers Machete $150,000 to kill sleazy, racist Senator McLaughlin (played by a deliciously smarmy Robert DeNiro with a hick Texas drawl). Unbeknownst to Machete, Booth is McLaughlin’s rapacious henchman whose aim is to double-cross Machete. The assassination attempt is a ruse. Booth’s plan is to gain public support for McLaughlin’s extreme anti-immigration laws, and make it appear that an illegal Mexican immigrant has attempted to assassinate the senator.

I won’t tell you how Booth’s plan goes. The illegal Mexi-can immigrant is, after all, Machete, and this is, after all, a Robert Rodriguez/Troublemaker Studios production. Ma-chete is absolutely over-the-top, terrifically gory, ultraviolent, and audaciously cheesy. Like other Grindhouse features, Ma-chete is an aggressive male fantasy in which all the women are scantily clad babes/hotties/hoochies. In one scene, several hoochies (I apologize, but I don’t know what else to call them) sporting tight white nurse outfits and big guns emerge from nowhere to help decorate the fiery finale with mounds of bullets.

Machete is so silly and sexist that chuckles easily become howls of laughter. This is a world where Cheech Marin de-livers the word of God with an AK 47 in one hand and a crucifix in the other, and Lindsay Lohan, as Booth’s skanky daughter April, plays a blond parody of herself: her teenage pranks include drunken and disorderly conduct and ap-pearing all over the Internet in nudie shots.

There is substance here, though. Early in the film Ma-

chete befriends Luz (aka Shé), who operates a taco truck and an underground network for illegal immigrants of all nations. Luz, played by a buff Michelle Rodriguez, is pre-paring for a Revolution, a massive uprising of the poor, the undocumented, and powerless. Luz speaks of social justice and pitches obvious blows at intolerance and de-humaniz-ing anti-immigration forces.

Much of the plot though, is incidental. The point of the film is (the appearance of) low-budget action and gore, and highlighting all manner of nifty implements that can be used to behead, disembowel, and dismember villains. In Machete’s mighty arms, greedy businessmen and murder-ous Minutemen-wannabes like Von Jackson (played by Don Johnson) don’t have a chance. This and the fact that this real-ly is a fantasy -- I mean, come on, immigration officers never wear $300 spikes and look like Jessica Alba -- molds Machete into a seriously silly hero myth about a Herculean Mexican who just might start a revolution of the dispossessed and rise up against racist bigots, money-grubbing egoists, and haters in general. And that’s why I appreciated the film.

As an imitation B-movie, Machete works, although be warned: this film is NOT FOR EVERYONE. Machete is terrifically tasteless and chock-full of tiresome stereo-types. A satiric and crazed tribute to the grimy glory days of 1970s exploitation films, Machete ultimately dis-turbs the senses not so much for its over-the-top violence and campy schlock-footage, but because of its eerily well-aimed look at the current state of affairs on the Texas-Mexico border. u

election 2010

Machete: Why be a real person if you can be a myth?

Incumbent District I Council member Mike Garza seeks reelection

“It’s clean up time and belt tighten-ing everywhere,” said City Council District I incumbent Mike Garza of the tough economic climate in

which the city finds itself operating. “We could fall off the cliff if we run out of money, and to that end we are asking more of City employ-ees, department heads, and administrators.”

Garza said that though payroll is the City’s greatest expense, it would be “the last place we would look to make cuts.”

Garza’s first term saw the infusion of $100 million into his district, largely TxDOT money and federal dollars for the construction of the $88 million, seven-mile long Cuatro Vientos Road. “This is a really important connector road that takes the pressure off Hwy. 83. It runs from Loop 20 south as a four-lane road to Cielito Lindo and from there continues as a two-lane to Magana Hein Road.” He said the road project had been on TxDOT’s drawing board for 15 years. “We gave testimony be-fore the TxDOT commission to make our case for how vital this road was for Laredoans, as much for transit as for economic development. We were very fortunate,” he said.

Garza said that when all the connector roads to Cuatro Vientos are in place that eco-

nomic corridors will develop along them.“Another District I project that I know has

had great impact on quality of life is the con-struction of El Eden Recreation Center, a 24,000 square foot facility that has health and wellness as its priority function and is staffed with a fulltime nurse. We have 4,000 registered mem-bers, more than any other rec center across the City. I think that speaks to how great a need has been filled in South Laredo,” Garza said. He elaborated proudly on the amenities of the center -- among them an elevated indoor track, a gymnasium with wooden floors, a dance studio, and two computer labs to work with school districts for dropout recovery.

The Council member said that the construc-tion of a two-million gallon storage tank in Sierra Vista has increased water capacity and water pressure in that sector of South Laredo.

“What I promised, I have done,” Garza said. “Road construction has made mobil-ity thorough the south more fluid. El Eden rec center is a huge asset to quality of life, as are the improvements we’ve made for water delivery. All of these make a difference in people’s lives, all of these make Laredo a bet-ter city, and all of these make South Laredo a more attractive place to live or to establish a

business,” he continued.“We are catching up in South Laredo,” he

said, characterizing the southern sector of the city as a community that offers good schools and affordable homes. “Much of South Laredo is middle class, but we do see the extremes of some wealth and dire poverty. There is a lot of substandard housing that contrasts with some of the beautiful homes of the area. We’d like to help those who need to bring their homes into compliance. We will be focusing on the flooding that is such a problem in some parts of South Laredo,” he said.

“As a council, we will be looking at eco-nomic development as a priority for all of us. It isn’t enough to offer abatements to get new businesses and employers to locate to Laredo. They want a pool of educated, trained people from whom to choose. We need to find those companies that want to come to this part of the state, and we need to partner with local school districts and LCC to develop training,” he said, adding, “We need to be more demanding of the Laredo Development Foundation. We need a greater return for our support for them. Hard times call for hard questions.”

Garza gives credit to city staff for the

measure of effort they put into making council decisions a reality. He also credited his colleagues on the City Council. “We may have our personal and political differences, but we have found a way to work together,” he said.

Garza, who began his first term in 2006, is the executive director of UISD support ser-vices. He and his wife Araceli Cardenas Gar-za, are the parents of Christopher Michael, 8, and Maya Anali, 6.

(To see Mike Garza's entire platform, go to www.mikegarza.net) u

Mike Garza


santa María Journal

Las muñecas: there is nothing like their kisses,their leaps into my arms, their burrows into my heart

By María EugEnia guErra

By MARiA EugENiA guERRA

Little people talk to me, and I lis-ten.

What grandparent doesn’t think the utterances of their

grandchildren are jewels to be held close-ly, oft repeated, and then stashed away?

It comes with the territory, as it comes, too, with the weighted reality of know-ing that most of my life is behind me and all of theirs lies ahead of them. What I’d give to know I’d see them graduate from college and launch lives of purpose and meaning.

This is what I do know. I love these two muñequitas, Emily, 6, and Joyce Amanda, 3, and they love me, and there is nothing like their kisses, their falls and leaps into my arms, their burrows into my heart. The very sight of them is a jolt of joy, for they are pretty, and a bit of everyone I love is in their faces.

You can see in physical similarities that they are sisters – their beautiful skin, their nut-brown hair, their long eyelashes -- but they are also quite different from each other. Emily can spend quiet time filling the pages of her journal with pic-ture stories she’s made with pencil col-ors, while Amandita goes about the in-dustry of putting to sleep every doll and every stuffed animal in the house, face down, on the couch. When she’s run out of room, she piles them on me in a near-by chair, admonishing me not to speak with a single finger to her little mouth. Later, she issues a regañada to me and to her charges, the same little finger jabbing into the air with, “Don’t enojada me!”

I have an oversized armchair and ot-toman that I bought many years ago, be-lieving then that it was the perfect read-ing chair. As it turns out, it is the perfect Nana chair, its oversized arms where Amandita and Emily end up when we are reading a story or when the tension in the movie we’re watching ratchets up a notch.

They help me prepare our meals, fetch-ing items from the refrigerator; measur-ing out milk, flour, and fresh blueberries for pancakes; assembling our salad; set-ting the table. But that they could know how dear to me are these simple acts.

“He’s a nice horsey,” Amandita said of Bucky, the old buckskin that comes to the

porch to drink from the rain barrel and maybe catch a snack of carrots offered by the children. Emily, with a three-year edge on her sister, instructs her in the art of giving Bucky carrots. “Asi, Amandita,” she wields a carrot with authority.

The two of them are a handful – feisty, independent, and sometimes territorial. The arguments, often heated, can rise to shrieking and staking out boundaries.

Emily has begun to figure out how life works, that some of us get older and may disappear from the scene. She told me last year, “It’s the cycle of life,” which is what she’d been taught at Mary Help of Christians School. “You’re sad, and then you start to forget about it, and then you remember how to be happy.”

I’ve told her that after I’m gone she should think of me when it rains. She said, “Nana, I know, but could you make it snow sometime?” u


Casa de Misericordia recently held its Blast from the Past fundraiser at the Laredo Country Club. Pictured are Sr. Maria Luisa Vera, CEO of Mercy Ministries of Laredo; Sr. Rosemary Welsh, executive director of Casa de Misericordia; Sr. Olivia Obregon who volunteers at Mercy Clinic; and Priya Vaswani and Thelma Cuellar, co-chairs of the event.

James Joel Newland, an El Metro bus driver, is running for mayor on the simple platform of doing the right thing. He’s been seen, especially down-town, visibly taking his message to the streets.

Blast from the Past

Newland’s straight-shooting message

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We’ve moved next door!Same building: 3527 Loop 20, Laredo

New office: Suite #104 (previously #103)

• Laboratory• X-ray• Physical Therapy• Speech Therapy

Bigger. More room. More comfortable for you!

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

www.IchooseDoctorsHospital.comSOUTH LAREDO DIAGNOSTIC CENTER


Yolanda Salinas, wife of Mayor Raul Salinas, was recently joined by members of Pink to Do, WINGS Laredo, and the Mercy Cancer Assistance Program/Mercy Ministries of Laredo to announce the Pink Charity Ball: A Celebration of Life. Salinas is holding the ball Friday, October 1, in honor of her 60th birthday as well as to honor the memory of those who have survived breast cancer and those who have passed away. For more information call 763-9241.

Planning the Pink charity Ball

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Laredo baby boomers’ dreams are aglow with the Labor Day debut of Classic Hits 99.3 FM’s Silver Fox Classic Oldies show, which

features classic oldies from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. The show not only targets baby boomers, but also the parents, kids, relatives, and friends of the baby boomer generation.

“It’s aired live, and listeners will be pleasantly surprised by the likes of the Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad, and the James Gang,” said station manager Carlos Villarreal.

The show has been five years in the mak-ing and will take listeners down memory lane. It promises to be not only entertain-ing, but also informative with footnotes of oldies history in music and for events that took place in Laredo at the time.

The show is hosted by the “Silver Fox,” who actually experienced the 60s, 70s, and 80’s music and even played in the rock group White Crow during the 70s. Requests will be taken, and the “Sil-ver Fox” promises that some of the music will bring a “tear to your eye and a smile to your face” once listeners hear their fa-vorite songs.

“Our listeners asked for the music, and we’re glad to bring in the “Silver Fox” to fill the listeners requests,” said Villarreal. “This show is like no other here in Laredo and one that music lovers shouldn’t miss.” The show airs Sundays from 3 to 6 p.m.

If you remember the Tumble Inn and Wizard Wick’s Pizza It’s a baby boomers dream come true this Labor Day week-end as Classic Hits 99.3 debuts the Silver Fox Classic Oldies show this Sunday, Sep-

tember 5 at 3 p.m. The show will feature classic oldies from the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s and promises to satisfy the likes of all music lovers. The show not only tar-gets baby boomers, but also the parents, kids, relatives, and friends of the baby boomer generation.

“The show will be aired live and lis-teners will be pleasantly surprised when they tune in,” said Classic Hits station manager Carlos Villarreal. “The show will feature groups like the Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad, the James Gang and promises to deliver on listener re-quests.”

The show has been five years in the making and will take listeners back mem-ory lane and promises to be not just enter-taining, but will also give tidbits of oldies history not just in music but also events that took place in Laredo at that time.

The show will be hosted by the “Silver Fox” who actually lived the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s music and even played in the rock group White Crow during the 70’s. Re-quests will be taken and the “Silver Fox” promises that some of the music will bring a “tear to your eye and a smile on your face” once listeners hear their favorite songs.

“Our listeners asked for the music, and we’re glad to bring in the “Silver Fox” to fill the listeners requests,” said Villarreal. “This is show like no other here in Laredo and one that music lovers shouldn’t miss.” The show will continue every Sunday from 3-6 p.m.

If you remember the Tumble Inn and Wizard Wick’s Pizza, you’ll want to tune in to Classic Oldies with the Silver Fox. For additional information contact the Silver Fox at 722-8696. u

news

Here comes the sun: Silver Foxplays to the boomers on 99.3


Work is underway to complete the Laredo Convention & Visitors Bureau’s 2011 edition of the Laredo Visitors Guide,

which is in production by Graphitiks Adver-tising Design, Inc.

The 76-page Visitors Guide serves as the most comprehensive piece of information available on both Laredo and Nuevo Laredo and has a print run of 130,000.

The full-color high gloss magazine is dis-tributed throughout the United States, Cana-da, and Mexico. Recently targeted areas have included Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monter-rey, Torreon, and Saltillo.

Advertisers will enjoy the benefits of the 2011 edition having a wide reach in the U.S. and Mexico, as it is distributed in hotels and travel centers and is also mailed to more than 40,000 visitors inquiring about Laredo. The Visitors Guide is also distributed to various tourism and convention expos held through-out Texas, Canada and Mexico.

“For less than three-cents per unit, a full-color advertisement in the Visitors Guide is the most cost-effective way to spread the message about your company,” said guide publisher José A. García of Graphitiks, who added, “We are still taking space reserva-tions for advertising.”

You can reach Graphitiks Advertising De-sign, Inc. at (956) 723-4389. u

2011 CVB Visitors Guide in production


Aaah-oooooo…. Did you hear that? If you’ve ever perceived a strange, soft whisper in the night;

walked through a sudden cold spot; or seen a floating patch of fog mov-ing in the dark, you might be famil-iar with some of the stories and leg-ends presented for the first time in the just-released book, Haunted Heritage – Myths and Legends of Laredo. The recent release of the book is part of the Webb County Heritage Foundation’s “Haunted Heritage” exhibit on dis-play throughout the month of October at the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum at 810 Zaragoza St.

The exhibit will include informa-tion on Laredo’s haunted sites and the myths and ghost stories familiar to most of us. Come see La Llorona, the chupacabra, and learn about the UFO crash near Laredo. Also featured this year will be live demonstrations on creating special effects, and presenta-tions on the results of various para-normal investigations in Laredo.

On Friday, October 8 at 6 p.m., Saturday, October 16, and Saturday, October 23 at 1 p.m., Mike Castro of Morbid Mansion will discuss and demonstrate his work as a special ef-fects artist.

On Friday, Oct. 22 and Friday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m., the Laredo Paranormal Research Society will share with the public for the first time their tech-niques for paranormal research, as well as their findings. Visitors can see how paranormal investigations are conducted and question the research-ers on their methodology and experi-ences.

Admission is $5, and the museum will have special hours for the month of October -- Tuesday through Satur-day from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free on Tuesdays.

Those interested in buying the book ahead of time are encouraged to contact the WCHF at (956) 727-0977 or [email protected]. This col-lection of ghost stories and strange myths documents many of the region’s most popular and notorious tales of spooky occurrences and unexplained phenomena.

news

The Webb County Heritage introduces new exhibit for October --Haunted Heritage: the Myths and Legends of Laredo

By MONiCA MCgETTRiCK

When the Webb County Her-itage Foundation called Laredo special effects artist Mike Castro in late

July to ask if he would be willing to help with their Haunted Heritage exhibit, the young artist jumped at the opportunity. Castro has been quickly but quietly mak-ing a name for himself, opening his own studio and working with local filmmak-ers, despite being a full-time communica-tions student at Texas A&M International University. The 2007 Martin High School graduate credits his love of horror movies and special effects artists like Tom Savini with inspiring his work.

Castro created his Morbid Mansion Studios in 2007 as a club for people who love horror films, although he changed directions as he did more as a special effects artist. He’s worked in theatre, film, and with Asylum, the now-defunct haunted house, as an assistant special effects artist. Charged with getting the monsters in order, staying on the job for touch ups, and making sure the actors were okay, Castro learned to work quick-ly. He credits the experience with teach-ing him how to work efficiently as well, as he only had 15 minutes to do makeup for each character.

Castro has also worked in student films at TAMIU, doing makeup, creating prostheses, props, and masks.

“I love horror films. They stay with you. I’m a director junkie. I love the Evil Dead series, and my idol is Tom Savini,” said Castro, also crediting Dick Smith’s make-up for The Exorcist as an inspira-tion. Once he discovered who they were, he bought their books. “Their techniques are tried and true. They’ve withstood the test of time,” he added.

He searched for the materials needed and experimented on himself, trying

different techniques, until he worked his way up to creating his own prosthe-ses and masks. His procedure includes sculpting an original, creating a stone mold, and then forming a latex copy.

He works with Diana Grace, his girl-friend and apprentice who he describes as having “remarkable management skills. She helps keep me hired,” he said.

Halloween is, understandably, their busiest season. Their main focus cur-rently, though, is on the Haunted Heri-tage exhibit, and he’s been working hard to create the alien figures for the UFO exhibit, designing the backgrounds, and creating his presentation. Members of the public who view his exhibit will have the chance to turn into a zombie under his expect hand.

Castro is a consummate professional, and he said he has two goals for his work with Morbid Mansion. First, he wants to make the competition fair. He said, “If you go online, you might end up with a prop that costs over $100, and it’s not al-ways good quality. My props are good quality and usually cost, at most $30. My most popular prop is usually the corpse,” he said.

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Special effects artist Mike Castro to display his work at WCHF’s

Haunted Heritage Exhibit

artist Mike castro

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He also wants people to know that his work isn’t just for Halloween. “I can do work for commercials and demonstrations. This isn’t just a seasonal job. I’m following the dreams of my idol. South Texas has so much potential. Everyone says you have to go to Austin or Hollywood, but I want to start here. Eventually, I hope to open a studio and a school where people can come and learn.”

It’s clear that he’s passionate about his work, and he bristles under the idea that artists like him can’t succeed in Laredo. “This is my calling and my passion. This is fun for me,” he said.

For the Halloween season, Castro has been working hard on several special ef-fect packages for people to buy. He’s made five different molds with fading edges, which creates a more real effect, and he can accommodate any skin tone. All you need to add is blood.

There is a cuts and gore set, a nightmare set, a zombie set, a horns set, and a $30 packet that includes enough prostheses for 15 peo-ple. “It’s also good for creating trauma acci-dents for training purposes,” he said.

For more information on Morbid Man-sion or to order materials, visit Castro’s website at morbidmansion.webs.com. You can also see his work on display at the Haunted Heritage exhibit on Friday, Octo-ber 8 at 6 p.m., Saturday, October 16, and Saturday, October 23 at 1 p.m. at the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Muse-um at 810 Zaragoza St.

members offered to come out into the open with their work, reveal-ing their findings and sharing with the public their methods of investigation.

“We don’t look for media atten-tion. It’s all about the research,” said Cuellar, adding, “A lot of evidence has been debunked. We aren’t ghostbusters, but there are some events we encounter that are paranormal.”

According to their mission statement, the group’s objective is to dispel myths, establish reported activity as either paranormal in origin or scientifically explainable by documenting all their proce-dures thoroughly, to control con-ditions using scientific methodol-ogy, to use equipment that is read-ily available to any person when conducting their investigations in order to create a non-elitist in-vestigative association, to give the highest priority to their clients’ privacy and use all known and available resources to assist them, and to provide historical research in order to empower them to deci-pher possible causes for activity.

Feature

Laredo Paranormal Research Society to present their findings for the first time


Things that go bump in the night. Doors opening and closing of their own voli-tion. Shadows seen from

the corner of your eye. These are the things the Laredo Paranormal Research Society quietly and unob-trusively investigate. Working un-der the radar, these nine men and women work to give peace of mind to homeowners who often find them-selves with a bit more company than desired.

Ishmael Cuellar works in law en-forcement and his fellow investigator Javier Benavides is a history student at Texas A&M International Univer-sity. Both are men you have probably walked past, never suspecting that they are called to investigate instanc-es of paranormal activity. Invited to participate in the Webb County Her-

itage Foundation’s Haunted Heritage exhibit, they and their fellow group

LPRS investigators cuellar and Benavides


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Proving their noble intentions is that because they refused to transport drugs they were all killed, with the exception, (and I would say, miracle) of the young man from Ecuador that only God could have intervened to keep him alive to tell the story. This is heart wrenching and we, as citizens, can do three things: pray for them, act on humane legislation to avoid these cases from happening, and stop using drugs because they are laced with the blood of innocent people.

I respectfully ask our Mr. Cuellar to oppose any legislation depriving chil-dren born of illegal immigrants of their right to American citizenship. Let’s put ourselves in their shoes and think: what have I done to be born in the U. S.? I am sure the answer will be “nothing.” Why then should we claim the right to deny the innocent of their citizenship?

It is not the children’s fault that their parents are illegal and we must stop this nonsense!

Very truly yours,Marcia O. Jovel

CONTiNuED fROM PAgE 4

Attorney Emilio Martinez, who is running for City Council Dis-trict VI, wants to cut taxes and control wasteful spending.

The native Laredoan is a graduate of Martin High School, the University of Texas and the University of Houston Law School. He is married to María Luisa G. Martinez, and they have two daughters, Christina G. and Claudia A. Martinez.

“We are going backwards,” he said of the decisions of the current City Council. “It’s the same behavior, the same attitude, which is ‘We know what’s good for you. We are public lords, not public servants.’ They are very out of touch with what we want and need.”

Martinez said that his first three initia-tives as a public servant would be to reduce taxes by 10 percent, reduce water rates, and reduce wasteful spending. He said that “our budgets are out of control and our taxes are out of control” and that the city and the appraisal board play “three card

monte” with taxpayers. He added that they use “el petate del muerto to spread the blame” for how Laredoans are taxed un-justly. “We have a higher tax rate than San Antonio,” he said.

According to Martinez, “As a city we are sometimes not paying wholesale for what we need. We are sometimes paying a middleman, as was the case for $90,000 worth of trees the city purchased.”

Martinez said that some members of the City Council “see the people they are sworn to serve as a resource to be exploit-ed.” He added, “That is certainly not my view.”

He recalled the late Mayor Aldo Tatan-gelo as “a game changer” and one who believed in looking to the future. “The past is full of cautionary tales about cor-ruption, bad economic policies, and bad political philosophy. Despite this, Laredo has grown,” he said.

Martinez said, “We don’t owe any fa-vors to the out-of-towners like the wind

farm project that benefits the people of San Antonio and Corpus Christi. When the city said yes to the Ventura Sports Group, they said no to a Laredo business. You see the city rush to do business with the out-of-towners -- things get done quickly. Everyone should get the same fair shake. An outsider with a new idea stands a much better chance than a Laredoan with a good idea. The special deals for special interests have to stop.”

What people want most, Martinez said, is “lower taxes and a lower cost of living.” He said that the City of Laredo itself wastes vasts amount of water from leaks in decrepit infrastructure. “A reduction in water rates and taxes would have a huge effect on the quality of life in Laredo,” he said.

“I love this community, and I will stand up and fight for it. I’m open to new ideas. I have experience. I am willing to work to better all our lives. I’m here to discuss any issue at any time,” Martinez said.

Of politicians, he said, “All the bad be-

haviors are not an aberration. It is endem-ic. There is a lot of corruption. This is our challenge,” he concluded. u

election 2010

Attorney Emilio Martinez makes a run for District VI;wants to lower taxes and water rates

Emilio Martinez


Ford Motor recognizes century-old dealership

Hank Sames receives congrat-ulations and a lot of goodwill from Ford Motor Company in recognition of the family owned dealership that has withstood the Great Depression, peso devaluations, and downturns in the local and national econ-omies. He is pictured with Ken Czubay, Ford vice-president of sales, marketing, and service; Brad Brunnel, Ford’s central market area manager, and Todd Vagi, Ford’s parts and service operations manager.

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A life-long Laredoan and member of a politically-minded family, Rosie Cuellar-Castillo graduat-ed from Nixon High School with

honors in 1983. She received her associate’s degree at Laredo Junior College, graduated cum laude with her BBA from Laredo State University, and graduated from the Thur\good Marshall School of Law in 1993.

“I love Laredo, and I found it really hard to leave,” she said.

Six months after she graduated from law school, Cuellar-Castillo, who was six months pregnant with her youngest child, passed her bar exam. She is married to at-torney Mario Castillo Jr., and they have three children -- Brianna, 17, who is a se-nior at Alexander High School; Lazaro, 18, who is a freshman at Texas A&M Interna-tional University; and Mario, 19, who is at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

Cuellar-Castillo is the Law Librarian for

Webb County, a position she’s held for the last nine years. While she has wanted to run for office in the past, Cuellar-Castillo claims that the timing is now right for her.

“My children are older, and I’ve been volunteering for over 25 years. I am asking the public to support me. I’m old enough to have experience and young enough to be energetic and action-oriented. Our parents instilled in us this desire to serve, and I would like to do my part.”

A volunteer with Headstart for the last six years, she was named volunteer of the year for 2010.

“I’ve been extremely involved as a PTC mom, I’ve been a law professor at TAMIU, and I’ve been director of the law library,” she said. “I’ve updated all the books in the library, I teach people how to use the on-line guide, and I have also worked to in-form the public that the law library is for them as well. I’m there to help,” she said.

The crux of her campaign is to improve customer service at Municipal Court.

“Customer service is important. Techno-logically, we can look to others to improve. We can use technology to evaluate out-standing fines, including sending notices of certain amounts that are owed. Also, the public needs to be treated with respect.”

Cuellar-Castillo also hopes to implement a Teen Court for Municipal Court. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for teenagers to learn respect and about the law,” she said.

She maintains that if elected the job will command all her attention. She promises not to have a private practice or outside em-ployment while serving as municipal court judge. “I believe I have a judicial responsi-bility to give back. I’d like to donate part of my salary for scholarships, and raise more funds for Teens in the Driver’s seat, which teaches kids safer driving practices.”

Cuellar-Castillo sees her experience as a mother and attorney, as well as her humble beginnings and experience at the law li-brary as enabling her for the job. “We grew up humble and we worked hard and we

look closely at who we are,” she said, add-ing, “It’s within me and my siblings to help the community. I’m grateful to my parents for teaching me to respect others.”

Cuellar-Castillo faces candidates Mad-eline Lopez-Escoto, Juan Caballero, and Charles Wise in the upcoming Nov. 2, 2010 election. u

election 2010

Attorney Rosie Cuellar-Castillo promises dedication and change for Municipal Court

Rosie cuellar-castillo


By CORTEZ NEETH-WEEPiNgTREE

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars,

but in the deeds that men do!” - William Shakespeare

This adage is far truer now than it was in the years of the bard. With the Nov. 2 elec-tions just ahead, Laredoans come once again to the crossroads of politics -- to vote in hopes of change and more responsible government or not to vote because the last vote we cast didn’t seem to make a difference, or worse yet, it took us backwards.

Do we dare, we ask ourselves, elect the can-didate under the pretense of “bueno por conocer” or “bueno por conocido?” Of the incumbents we more or less know what to expect. It is the new candidates that are a perplexing, unknown lot so full of promises, which is different from be-ing full of promise.

All too often the promises that political men and women make are forgotten once elected. Amnesia sets in just after being sworn into office. Politicos promise the sun and the moon when seeking office, but when it comes time to produce real leadership or results that would better our community, all too often they point fingers and fault others for their inability to keep their promises. They don’t realize that when they point to others, they have three fingers pointing back at them!

The political form in Laredo merits analysis so that we may come up with the reasons the politicos can’t make good on their promises. Here are a few:

Greed by the few who make the difference on the council;

Influence by rich and powerful outsiders on those who wield power in City Council;

A divided council, each working for his/her miniature kingdom, instead of working for the good of the community as a whole;

Fear that doing the right thing will inspire the wrath of individuals who wield power within and outside city government;

Fear of the City Manager, all powerful and in control of the council! Poor Aldo Tantan-gelo, the beloved former Mayor of Laredo, who may just be turning in his grave saying, “This is not what I wanted,” and the Mayor before him, J. C. Martin may be admonishing us, “I told you so.”

Tatangelo never meant for the form of gov-ernment he established to de-evolve to what it is now. The form of government he supported, “council-city manager” has been converted to

“city manager-council.” The patrón system is alive and well in city government, and the city manager is at the helm.

If you have not noticed the flow of action in city council meetings, tune in. It is not the City Council and Mayor who run the business of the city; it is the city manager who controls the city and city policy (which is a function of the council), and makes recommendations with a palpable “my way or the highway” demeanor. The direction and the future of Laredo is in the hands of one man, the city manager! We didn’t elect a city manager; we elected a mayor and council to do our bidding. Do we leave the city in the hands of an employee, or in the hands of the officials we elected?

The City’s future is unknown, and it’s a good bet the political hacks on City Council don’t know where they are going either. Re-cent history allows us the safe guess that we -- without leadership and with Council mem-bers who have no spine -- may find ourselves in the self same spiral into the abyss that edu-cation, locally and nationally -- hurls toward.

In recent history, we have allowed for the construction of a stadium/arena that has not produced the income that it was meant to produce for Laredo. Instead, we are having to not only finance it, but also maintain it, sup-port it, subsidize it, and pay taxes on it -- while the people running the arena make money for their investors!

Now appears on the horizon a new baseball stadium that will surely go the way of the arena in terms of the city financing it, maintaining it, supporting it, subsidizing it, and paying taxes on it. Some will say that these ventures are not moneymakers, but they bring people into the community, and this is where the community makes the money. If this is true, why do some investors invest money into these ventures if they are not going to make money? No la brincan sin huarache! And how much and who makes the money in the community? Hotels? They claim sluggish occupancy rates. Gas sta-tions, maybe? For certain, those who make money are the people who perform at the arena and take it with them!

And we have Webb County looking into a new golf course based on the same senseless, debt inducing model of financing, maintain-ing, supporting, subsidizing, and paying taxes on it.

Oh, let’s not leave the school districts out of the mix as they increase our taxes to meet their thirst for more money to do their favorite tricks in “the name of the children” of Laredo. The

opinion

Bueno por conocer or bueno por conocido:Laredoans decide to vote or not to vote

most honest and worthwhile expense they can undertake is to increase the salary of teachers and cap salary increases for administrators in hundreds of duplicate positions.

When an administrator creates some kind of legal problem, he or she gets demoted to a lesser position at the same pay grade, and we taxpayers get the lawyer’s tab.

When a teacher gets into legal problems, he/she is dismissed without recourse for com-pensation. Administrators will get from $1,500 to $3,000 increase in salary, many of them not doing one iota more than before.

The wants, desires, plans, and projects the city, county, and school district have in mind are feasible and affordable if the city had a base of 500,000 taxpayers. But as it is, there are not enough taxpayers to fund the wish lists of these entities, especially when several good pieces of land that may cost millions of dollars in sale, are considered ‘ranch’ lands and pay less tax. The small number of Laredo taxpay-ers is paying for the luxuries local government dreams up. When is it going to end?

Not only do we need for the city, county, and school districts to change how they con-duct business, but the appraisal district needs to do its part as well. The government entities needs to stop blaming the appraisal district, and the appraisal district needs to stop blam-ing the state for its flawed formula for how much money governmental entities are to end up with. Is it necessary for the appraisal district to tag the maximum percentage value on the property?

Is it necessary for government entities to squeeze all the money they can from taxpay-ers? Why can’t the government entities man-age their money better? Regular taxpayers have to manage and make do with their mon-ey. Government justifies this or that new proj-ect as “what the taxpayers want,” when truly many taxpayers disagree with how their hard earned money is spent.

The future of Laredo does not lie in the stars, but in the deeds that men and women do. It lies in our ability to make an informed choice when we vote on Nov. 2. u



Retired educator and former rail-road employee Armando Cis-neros recently announced his intention to run for the soon to

be vacated City Council seat for District II. A 1974 graduate of Martin High School, Cisneros hopes that if he elected he can reestablish a more respectful connection between the public and their council. He worked with Union Pacific for 25 years as a crew dispatcher as well as a problem reso-lution manager, a skill he hopes to bring to council, members of which he believes too often come to the table having already decided on certain issues.

Having been posted to UP headquar-ters in Omaha, Nebraska for several years, he returned to Laredo in 2005. When they decided to move him again, he elected to retire from Union Pacific in order to com-plete his education, eventually obtaining his bachelor’s degree. He taught elemen-tary school in Laredo for five years before retiring.

Although Cisneros said he had always been interested in politics, the idea of run-ning for office only recently occurred to him. He started attending City Council meetings over the last year, and he noted what he felt was the high-handedness of council towards members of the public who wished to speak before certain meet-ings.

“Council members have been con-sumed by their own agenda,” Cisneros said, adding, “Some didn’t even look up when people spoke.”

Cisneros, who lives in the Eastwoods subdivision off of Clark and Lyon, went before council in an attempt to learn why the streetlight off Newport and Clark had yet to be activated. Built over a year and a half ago, the light remains covered, even as traffic often backs up on Newport dur-ing the busiest times of day.

“They’re working on international agreements, but they can’t work with the state on this issue,” he said, referring to Council member Garcia’s claim that the light is under the purview of the State. He describes Garcia’s response as dismissive. “He said his hands were tied,” said Cisne-ros.

He also appeared before council to speak out against the decision to award control of the new baseball stadium to Ventura Sports Group. He said, “There was a referendum passed for an $8 million stadium that voters thought was going to the Broncos. Later they said it wasn’t writ-ten down, and now taxpayers are going to be paying much more.”

Deciding it was time to take real action, he went to file his paperwork to run for City Council, however, he was told it was too late. Researching his prospects, he dis-covered that he could still file as a write-in candidate.

“City Secretary Gustavo Guevara was nice, but I had to push to show that I was in the right to file as a write-in candidate. Guevara told me that no write-in candi-date has won in over 30 years,” said Cisne-ros, adding, “But these are unprecedented times. Right now incumbents are being de-feated across the country. If I send a good

election 2010

Write-in candidate Armando Cisneros enters race for City Council District II

message and people agree with me, then I have a chance.”

Cisneros hopes to ensure that anyone who wishes to address council has the right to. “There have been times when the meet-ing was moved from 5:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the last minute, and they kept moving the public forum around. Council needs to hold the public forum at the beginning to make sure the public has the chance to speak their mind.”

He also believes there is a problem with the discretionary funding. “Once they become officials, they become isolated. Council members eventually start refer-ring to it as ‘my’ money, as if it’s no longer taxpayer money. There should be a mini-mum level of amenities for every district to ensure that each has a fair amount. It’s about building a sense of community. It’s an equalizer,” he said.

Another important part of his platform is safety for his district. “People cut through from Lyon to get to Clark. What do we en-counter every day? Traffic. It shouldn’t take so long to travel so few miles. We need to work on traffic, sidewalks, speed bumps, and making the district friendly for pedestrians and automobiles,” he said, adding, “Being on the border, safety is im-portant. We need to make sure our streets are safe, even if through a neighborhood

crime watch or making sure the streets are properly lit.”

A sense of community is what he hopes to foster, although that has been made somewhat difficult by a particular problem in his neighborhood -- the Noise Abate-ment Program. Eastwoods lies directly un-der the airport flight path. At any hour of the day, planes can be seen and heard over-head. When residents complained, the city bought many of the properties, converting them to rental homes and thus lowering the value of neighboring homes. Cisneros noted that City trucks can often be seen coming in to clean the houses whenever a family moves out.

“We need to be creative in making the most of it. We need to work with hom-eowners so that there aren’t families mov-ing in and out constantly. If everyone rents, kids are pulled out of schools and become transient. This affects the community as a whole. We need to foster that sense of com-munity that comes from staying in one place for longer than a few months.”

Having worked with problem resolu-tion for the railroad, he understands that sometimes “you have to remove yourself from the problem and find the most obvi-ous solution.”

Finally, Cisneros views the current council as catering to out of town busi-nesses. He voted against the arena, and he voted against the stadium. He participated in a brainstorming session for Keep Lare-do Beautiful, and noted that the City, thus taxpayers, “paid $300,000 for a session and no one bothered to write the ideas down. Then there’s the new tourist campaign slo-gan about Rediscovering our Flavor. It’s exclusive. It implies they’re only marketing towards people who have been to Laredo before, instead of inviting people to visit for the first time.”

He continued, “We need to use our uniqueness to make our town better. We’re always looking somewhere else for proj-ects or ideas or consulting. We should keep it in Laredo.”

He sees himself as representing a posi-tive difference. “I might not win, but if another candidate adopts my ideas, then maybe that’s enough,” he said.

Cisneros faces Esteban Rangel, Barney García, and Victor M. García in the Nov. 2 election. u

armando cisneros


news

Pink to Do prepares for annual awareness and fundraising walk for Laredo breast cancer patients; Oct. 2, LCC South

P ink to Do, the local non-profit organization that assists Laredo women with breast can-cer related expenses, is preparing for its an-nual fundraising walk Saturday, Oct. 2, at

8 a.m. at the South Laredo campus of Laredo Com-munity College.

There is a $20 registration fee for all participants. According to Elizabeth Kurczyn, co-founder of Pink

to Do, “With the monies that we raise at our signature once-a-year fundraiser, we pay for mammograms and sonograms, doctors’ bills, medical tests, office visits, medications, transportation for medical appointments in Laredo, San An-tonio, and Houston and lodging, medical insurance, groceries, utility bills, com-pression sleeves and gloves, special linge-rie, scarves, and more.”

She added, “Because breast cancer does not make a distinction between women who have insurance and women who do not, women who are employed or un-employed, or women who have a support system and those who have none, we help women from all walks of life.”

Martha Narvaez, who with Kurczyn established the

organization eight years ago, said, “All of the funds raised by the Pink To Do organization is for survi-vors in Laredo. We are volunteers, and we use our personal resources for ad-ministrative expenses. A small

group of us, using our own money, began promoting awareness of breast cancer and helping breast cancer survivors in Laredo. In response to those who sought our assistance, we bought wigs and groceries.”

She recalled the early fundraising efforts; “We washed cars for 12 hours on a typical summer Sat-urday in Laredo, and were able to pay medical bills for a survivor whose doctors in San Antonio had made lenient arrangements for payment. After that, we purchased a sewing machine and supplies for her so that she could make small pillows and sell them to continue her payments.”

Kurczyn continued, “As the demand for assis-tance and the diversity of need grew, we organized our annual breast cancer awareness walk on the

first Saturday of October. Experience has taught us that participation from across the community is vital

to our effort, and so we are asking everyone to save the morning of Saturday, Oct. 2 to help Laredo women in need.”

For further information on participating in the walk, for helping to provide refreshments or goodie bag items, or to donate to Pink to Do, call Kurczyn at 319-0384 or Narvaez at 791-1446. u


The Laredo Center for the Arts recently hosted a reception and book signing in honor of author Delia Trujillo’s book A New Beginning. According to the author, the book illustrates how it is possible allow more peace, fulfillment, and abundance into our life. Although it is a work of fiction, the stories are autobiographical and depict different stages in the author’s life.

author visits Laredo center for the arts

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Undaunted by sporadic downpours, Louis Romano and Evelyn Summers enjoyed visiting with friends and family who were invited to the party that marked the Sames family’s hundred year commitment to service and com-munity investment.

weather did not dampen Sames celebration

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Sames gala photos at www.laredosnews.com


newselection 2010

Arechiga in District VICity Council race


Local businessman Manuel Arechiga has announced his candidacy for City Council member for District VI. Born in Laredo, he has lived

all but eight years here. A 1977 graduate of United High School, he has been a resident of Dist. VI for over 36 years. He earned his BBA in business management from the Uni-versity of Texas at Austin in 1984.

Arechiga opened his first gas station on Lafayette St. in 1982. A small businessman, he understands the needs and trials small business owners are currently facing, and his campaign revolves around the idea that the council has not properly represented these men and women.

Over the years he has operated six gas sta-tions, was a wholesale distributor of Chev-ron from 1991 to 1999. He has international experience, having become a distributor in Monterrey, Mexico in 1994. He’s worked with Chevron, Shell, Valero, Phillips 66, and Pemex, among others. He has had stores in San Antonio, Laredo, and Zapata. He is also an independent agent with the Woodlands Financial Group.

Arechiga has been married to his wife Cori, a teacher at Lamar Middle School, for 27 years. They have two daughters, Ashley who recently graduated from the University of Texas and is an animator for Buddy Sys-tems in CA, and Alexa, a sophomore at the University of Texas School of Art.

“We’ve lacked representation for small businesses community for many years. I wish we had more inclusivity,” said Arechi-ga when asked why he’s running for office.

“I’ve managed to stick it out as a small business owner since 1982, when the first peso devaluation hit, despite being naïve. When Laredo built Mall del Norte, Laredo was the destination for the Mexican shop-per. Now it has become more of a truck stop. We used to have lines of trucks backed up all along the highway, and while they fixed the trucking problem, the City ignored re-tail problem,” he added. “The Valley saw the problem and jumped at the opportunity.”

An example of this is the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge, which Arechiga has ve-hemently opposed from day one. His main complaint is that it bypasses the city entirely. He said, “Our ally is Nuevo Laredo, not Nue-vo Leon.”

If elected, Arechiga hopes work towards a more transparent government. “As a citizen,

taxpayer, and businessman, all I see is the city and county fighting. There’s no fulfill-ment of their promises, like with the El Por-tal project. We need collaboration,” he said.

He believes that Laredo is losing its sta-tus as the gateway to Mexico to San Antonio. “Pretty soon we’ll be completely bypassed,” he said, adding, “The focus needs to be back on retail. We need incentives to attract the outlet malls. We have always been an inter-national trade and retail community.”

Aiming to bring a fresh set of ideas to the table, Arechiga insists he’s not a politician hoping to use City Council as a step up the political ladder. He said, “I want to work for what will benefit the community as a whole, not just special interest groups.” He considers himself a prudent and fiscal conservative. To him, the City should save money in the good times to help it get through the harder times. “Others claim that if commerce and busi-nesses are brought in it will help lower resi-dential taxes, but this is untrue, and people need to know it,” he said.

Arechiga is known for the sign that sits at the corner of his gas station on Lafayette and Santa Ursula. He asserts his right as a citizen and business owner to express his opinion openly, although it has led to quite a few problems for his personally.

“I started with the sign many years ago, and I gain nothing from it. I’ve had my prop-erty destroyed, received threats, and have had bricks thrown though the windows of my house. But every sign I’ve posted I can substantiate with facts. It’s opinion based on facts.”

He added, “I have nothing to hide.” u

candidate Manuel arechiga

The National Association for Chi-cana and Chicano Studies-Tejas (NACCS) has opened nomina-tions and submissions for its

2010 NACCS-Tejas Fiction Award. The 2009 NACCS Tejas Award for Fic-

tion Committee will consider any novel or collection of short stories published in 2009 in Texas or elsewhere.

The organization will recognize an outstanding work of fiction that best addresses a significant subject in the field related to Texas’ Mexican com-munity. The award will be presented at the NACCS-Tejas annual conference to be held at the South Texas College in McAllen in spring 2011. There are no restrictions on the number of nomina-tions per press. Authors may also self-nominate. Poetry, personal narrative, autobiography, reprints, re-editions of previously published works, trans-lations, or books previously nomi-nated for the award, are not eligible. Nominations will be reviewed by a committee of NACCS-Tejas members, who include former Laredoan Dr. Nor-ma E. Cantú of the University of Texas at San Antonio; Dr. Lorenzo García of the University of North Texas; Emmy Pérez of the University of Texas-Pan American; and Christina Gutierrez. Publishers or authors wishing to sub-mit books for consideration should send four copies of the book, one to each of

the four committee members at the ad-dresses below by the deadline of No-vember 20, 2010. Nominations should include a submission letter, including the name of the author, the title of the book, and the date of publication. A ru-bric decided upon by the committee will be used to evaluate the submission.

All nominations must be received (not postmarked) by November 20, 2010. For additional information, contact com-mittee chair, Norma E. Cantú at [email protected]. u

Nominations and submissions open

for NACCS-Tejas Fiction Award

Committee Members and addresses

Dr. Norma E. Cantú University of Texas at San Antonio

One UTSA CircleSan Antonio, TX 78249

Dr. Lorenzo García, MemberUniversity of North Texas

Department of Dance & Theatre1155 Union circle #310607

Denton, TX 76203-5017

Christina Gutiérrez 152 Terrell Road Apt. 4San Antonio, TX 78209

Emmy Pérez, Member1201 W. University DriveDepartment of English

University of Texas-Pan AmericanEdinburg, TX 78539


They credit an Albert Einstein quote as their inspiration -- “The most beauti-ful thing we can experience is the mys-terious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

The group is comprised of law en-forcement officers, a teacher, and a stu-dent. Cuellar has been teaching kids astronomy for 15 years. He is an ama-teur astronomer who holds star par-ties, taking kids out to local ranchers to teach them how to discover certain stars and constellations. He has been a paranormal researcher for close to 10 years. Benavides has been work-ing with Cuellar and LPRS for a short while.

They approach each investigation scientifically and methodically. They first obtain the facts and contain and isolate the area. They gather their tools, which includes cameras, night vision apparatuses, and a recorder. They per-form what Cuellar calls a “tabletop in-vestigation,” which means doing a sight

visit and talking to the owner. They then meet as a group to decide whether or not they’ll do a full-scale investiga-tion.

If they accept the job, they assemble evidence and evaluate it. As a group they review the information they collect, and they run their findings though a skepti-cal group and a more open minded one in order to come to a consensus as to whether or not what they have recorded is, in fact, paranormal activity.

“I can’t say if it’s a spirit or if the voices we hear are an echo of the past or if it’s an intelligent haunting,” said Cuellar. They begin and end each inves-tigation with an opening prayer for the more religious in the group as a way of calming nerves. “Everyone’s excited to do this work,” he added.

And according to him, there is quite the demand for their work in Laredo. Operating as a non-profit organization, they have investigated over 40 cases in the last nine years, although there have been instances in which they did not discover anything. Of those, Cuel-lar said there have a few instances of what can be referred to as a non-human spirit, or negative energy. This, he said,

takes the investigation to another level, to the realm of demonology. In certain cases, the group works with a priest who blesses a house, which Cuellar said often reassures the homeowner.

Their reputation has spread mainly due to word of mouth, as the group does not speak to the media or advertise. “We have a lot of talent in our group, but they don’t want to be in the limelight,” said Cuellar. “We’d rather work in the back-ground. It’s an adventure. Some of what we discover is amazing.”

He continued, “When you capture these things with your own camera, it makes you less of a skeptic.”

An open mind is part of the job de-scription, but much of their success is due in part to their equipment. They will present their tools at the Haunted Heritage exhibit and educate visitors on how the equipment is used.

Cuellar insists that despite what might be see on television, there is no optimum time for paranormal investi-gating. There is no real “witching hour,” but he does admit that it depends on the haunting. “We prefer working at night, though,” he said.

The group has currently been work-

ing on gathering evidence at the Repub-lic of the Rio Grande Museum, which will then be presented at the exhibit. They have so far recorded 36 hours of audio and video. They have captured nine or 10 events, some of which have a paranormal basis.

All the examples of paranormal activ-ity included in their presentation are of events they discovered here in Laredo.

Recently the group has added anoth-er type of investigation to their caseload -- UFO sightings.

“It takes 10 minutes to report a UFO through the Mutual UFO Network’s website. It also has an archive of re-ports from 1910 to the present. Report-ing has been increasing in the last five years. There has been a huge increase in events,” said Cuellar.

Those interested in the work of the Laredo Paranormal Research So-ciety can view their presentation on Friday, Oct. 22 and Friday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. at the Villa Antigua Border Heri-tage Museum at 810 Zaragoza St. A question and answer session will fol-low. For more information contact the WCHF at (956) 727-0977 or [email protected]. u



Former two-term City Council member Juan Ramirez shared some of his insights about City government in an interview

regarding his bid to run for Mayor of Laredo in a field of five candidates that include incumbent Raul Salinas, Council members Gene Belmares and José Valdez Jr., and El Metro driver James Joel New-land.

Ramirez, who served from 2000 to 2008, said that one of the “best, most proactive, most pro-Laredo City Councils” was the one on which he served with Joe Guerra, John Galo, and Louis Bruni. “After 2004 you saw a shift to the election of candidates who represented special interests, and you saw a big rift develop between the city and the county over the fifth international bridge. That rift is much bigger now,” he elaborated.

“Our priorities back then were water, infrastructure, more street lights and side-

walks, street paving, and more fire fight-ers and more police officers across the city. As you know a secondary water source has never materialized, and that is a huge priority -- no water, no growth,” Ramirez said.

“One of the things I worked for was to have more Laredo police officers at the in-ternational bridges. Every car stolen here ends up in Nuevo Laredo -- that was my concern. Now the concerns at the bridges are much more grave,” he said.

Ramirez said that leadership and bring-ing tourism and jobs to Laredo are high priorities for him, along with police and fire protection. “Good ideas for how to move forward have always been there, but we have no leadership, we have no one who is brave enough to set goals that we work toward,” he said.

“We are by chance and good luck in such a great geographical location. We need tourism, but the tourist I am think-

ing of sees Laredo, not Mexico, as a desti-nation. If we could keep Mexican tourists here for one day before they go farther north, we could help the hotels out, which in the long run helps us all,” Ramirez con-tinued, adding, “If we could hold onto the paisanos who come through here for more than a taco and a fill-up, if we could ac-knowledge their time in our city and offer them family oriented amenities and attrac-tions, we would benefit.”

Downtown, Ramirez said, is one of the city’s biggest assets. “We’ve known for a long time what we need to do to revital-ize downtown, but it’s never gotten done. Spending a half-million for study is a luxury for better times. We know we need to control traffic, provide more parking, repair sidewalks, and install more lights,” he said. “Of what use is a study if you are not going to plan well for how you will use the information? We often ignore the very thing studies tell us we must do,” he

continued, adding that studies do not al-ways provide good direction, citing the expensive study for the river vega plan which calls for the widening of the river by removing the land where Dos Laredos park sits.

election 2010

Veteran public servant Juan Ramirezenters Nov. 2 mayoral race

Juan Ramirez



news

TSU’s Mass Comm week opens doorsfor Laredo high school graduates

By EMiLiE BOENig

For high school students looking for college options after gradua-tion, Mass Communication Week at Texas State University in San

Marcos is opening its doors. Each fall, students from three Laredo

high schools spend a day on the Texas State campus, touring the grounds, lis-tening to leaders in the field of mass com-munication, and interacting with college students.

Vidal M. Trevino School of Communication and Fine Arts (VMT) was the first school invited to Texas State Mass Comm Week six years ago, in part because of a grant from the D.D. Hachar Charita-ble Trust Fund in Laredo.

“They wanted a university to provide some type of services to the students in Webb County so we came up with the idea to invite them up during Mass Comm Week,” Journalism Instructor and Mass Comm Week Organizer Kym Fox said. “They get to see the university and they get to meet college students. Plus they get to hear from mass communication profes-sionals, which could help inform their ca-reer choice.”

Mark Webber, print journalism and online media instructor at VMT, said stu-dents are eager to visit Texas State every year, despite the nearly four-hour bus trip that begins at 5 a.m.

“Students see what they’re doing in class is also being done on a college level,” Webber said. “It’s great for kids to go back the next year because they have a body of knowledge. It makes a big impression and they bring that information back to the classroom.”

During Mass Comm Week, both the Laredo high school and Texas State stu-dents gather to learn from professionals in journalism, radio and television, pub-lic relations, advertising, and other facets

of mass communication. Guest speakers and pan-elists discuss relevant topics like social media, sustainability, and per-sonal branding.

Fox said visiting Texas State even for one day can help a Laredo high school student realize new pos-

sibilities. “For most of them, this will be their

only chance to go to a university outside of Laredo,” she said. “Every year at least a few kids from Laredo come and so now we’re probably up to a couple dozen Texas State students who are from Laredo spe-cifically because of that program.”

Texas State sociology major Alyssa Gar-za is one of those students. She attended Mass Comm Week as a sophomore at VMT. She will receive her bachelor’s degree this year.

“I hadn’t given a lot of thought to col-lege then, but the speakers at Mass Comm Week seemed really interested in giving

Former VMT students and Magnet Tribune editors Ricky Soliz, Monica García, and Sandra Ramon discussed university life during a presentation at last year’s Mass Communication Week at Texas State University.

Mass communication week

our group information and telling us about the university,” Garza said. “I got the feel-ing that they were genuinely interested in me and my peers.”

Ricardo Soliz Jr. also attended Mass Comm Week as a sophomore at VMT and is now pursuing a degree in photography at Texas State.

“I was really excited to go because I knew Texas State was my mom’s alma mat-er, but when she attended it was Southwest Texas,” he said. “I think that even if mass comm isn’t in your interest as a major, it’s a great experience to see how good the pro-

gram is. It would lead others to expect the same from the other programs the univer-sity has to offer.”

In addition to VMT, select students from the South United Academy of Global Business and Advanced Technology and LBJ High School attend Mass Comm Week each year.

This year’s Mass Comm Week begins Oct. 25 and will focus on elements of sus-tainability.

(Emilie Boenig is a senior completing a de-gree in journalism at Texas State University. You can reach her at [email protected].) u


B. Javier Mendoza said he is run-ning for the City Council seat for District VI with an eye on the City’s dwindling bonding capac-

ity, inordinately large expenditures for recreational centers without the approval of the voting public, the flawed 2006 wa-ter rate study, and the council’s inability to prioritize the real issues that face the city -- wasteful spending, water, and increased law enforcement.

“The City’s recreation centers operate at a loss. The new centers are beautiful, but they will operate at an extreme loss. The money would have been better spent on parks and open spaces, which require far less funding to maintain,” Mendoza said, noting, however, that “North Central Park, which has cost the taxpayers millions has no restrooms, has no railings, and has no posted rules about picking up after your dog. Six years after the groundbreaking ceremonies, it is still not finished, and there is dog feces everywhere.”

Mendoza said that if elected he would propose a bond ordinance that would re-quire expenditures of over $1 million to go a referendum for taxpayer approval. “The people of Laredo know better what they want and need than the elected officials.”

He called the southside’s Slaughter Park “a debacle” on par with North Cen-tral Park.

The City’s wasteful spending, he said, “is out of control” and many of the high dollar projects “don’t reflect the wishes and needs of the taxpayers.”

Mendoza said that the Council’s annual pay increase for City Manager Carlos Vil-larreal is disrespectful of City employees who do not get a raise. “This Council has given the City Manager all the power. He’s a smart man, but he serves himself, and he has amassed a great deal of power. Most of the City Council members have other jobs, and many do not have the aptitude to research projects, so they defer to what the City Manager tells them. That is prob-ably how we got the 2006 water study that provided inaccurate information on the costs of infrastructure and that infrastruc-ture could be funded by the collection of fees. That was really off,” Mendoza said, adding, “We should have relied on con-sultants who would have told us the truth about repairs and improvements. Instead,

we’ve wasted years because the informa-tion wasn’t any good, and it was a waste of money that the study cost the City. The study set no real goals, and it lacked per-formance indicators.”

He said the City’s ousting of the Bron-cos baseball team and the decision to go with the Ventura Sports Group “exempli-fies the kind of leadership we have. We had our team, we had our stadium size in mind when the decision for a new stadium went to a referendum, but what we didn’t have was a plan that would spell out how things would work. Once more you have a City Council telling us one thing, but doing an-other because they know better than we do what we want.”

Mendoza said Hidalgo County built an arena half the size and half the cost of Lare-do’s Laredo Energy Arena. “Attendance in Hidalgo pays operating and maintenance expenses. That’s a reflection of sound de-cision-making and good leadership. When the LEA was being sold to the people of Laredo back then, we were told ‘bigger is better’ and that more acts would come to a bigger arena. Hidalgo’s half-size arena has booked more than triple what the LEA has,” he said.

election 2010

Mendoza: end wasteful spending,establish priorities, and bring

taxpayers into decision making

B. Javier Mendoza



“The City Council is applying the same bigger/better justification for a baseball sta-dium they first told us would cost $6-$8 mil-lion, but are now looking at an $18 million facility. We should learn from our LEA mis-takes,” Mendoza said.

The candidate said he would like to see the establishment of a health care clinic for city employees and members of their family. He said a good model of such a clinic is the one the city of Mesquite staffs with a fam-ily practitioner, a nurse practitioner, and a pharmacy. “The clinic doesn’t replace medi-cal insurance, but it makes quick care more available and would obviate larger deduc-tions from employee paychecks for health care premiums,” he said.

Mendoza said that a Crime Control Prevention District funded by sales tax could help carry the cost of increased law enforcement in the city. “There are many progressive models for how cities do busi-ness efficiently and how that reflects the needs of a community. We can change how we do business as a city, but first we need a sharp focus on priorities, how to cut waste-

ful spending, and how to manage the city’s absurdly large debt service,” he said, add-ing, “Bring the taxpayers into defining priorities and how they want their money spent. They are very aware of what elected officials are doing. Let the taxpayers de-cide if they need a 30,000 square foot rec center they can’t afford to build, staff, or maintain.”

Mendoza, who is a native Laredoan and the co-owner of a commercial cleaning com-pany that has expanded from Laredo to central and north Texas, said, “I bring com-mon sense to the table. I have no fear of not being reelected. For some members of this City Council reelection is a priority and that concern often eclipses doing what is best for the people of Laredo. If you take politics out of city business and take your lead from the people you represent, city business will work differently.”

To read Javier Mendoza’s campaign ex-penditure reports or for more information on his goals, go to www.bmendoza2010.com.

The field for the Nov. 2, 2010 race for Dis-trict VI includes Manuel Arechiga, Emilio Martinez, Orlando Navarro, Charlie San Miguel, and Fred Santos. u


Alzheimer’s Support Group Meeting

call 723-1707

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 7 p.m.Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, Meeting Room 2

Parkinson’s Support Group MeetingMonday, October 4, 2010 at 7 p.m.

Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, first floor, Community Center

call 723-8470 or 285-3126.


By MARiA EugENiA guERRA

Who among us would not want to be remembered as my cousin Joe A. Guerra is remembered – a kind, unpretentious man who

lived by the Golden Rule and who with his wife Josie and their eight children led an enviable life of love, grace, and purpose, a life committed to God, family, and community.

In all aspects of his life – son, brother, hus-band, father, business owner, and public servant – he dedicated himself to the best possible out-come. Much has been said of his 20-year tenure as a four-term City Council member – there is ample testimony to his years of public service everywhere visible across the cityscape, from the outer reaches of Loop 20 to the heart of the City. That he was no part of back door deals or an outstretched hand asking for a cut of the politi-cal pie, for that he is so well respected.

He began his first term representing District IV in 1971 under the administration of Mayor Joseph Martin and served a subsequent term under Mayor Aldo Tatangelo. He later repre-sented District VI under Mayor Saul Ramirez and served an additional term under Mayor Elizabeth Flores, ending his years in public service in 2002. Though he was a diehard Re-publican, he won election and re-election bids in the Democratic arena of Laredo and Webb County politics.

An intensely private and hard-working man, Joe was an exemplary father, educating all his children in Catholic schools, and teach-ing them by example a work ethic that reaped the rewards of gains well deserved, jobs well done, self-reliance and self- confidence. He wanted for each of them the education he’d been afforded. Joe attended St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s schools and was a 1953 graduate of Martin High School and a 1957 graduate of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chem-istry with a minor in business.

Each of his children has memories of their character-building roles at the Exxon station Joe owned and operated for 30 years at IH-35 and Del Mar Blvd. – stacking tires, cleaning the premises, pumping gas, cleaning wind-shields, changing flats, and changing oil.

They have memories, too, of a father who woke them lovingly with whispers and the pet name he had for each of them, as they have memories of the charitable man who wanted no attention called to his good deeds. They re-member his determination a dominar with diet and exercise a diagnosis of diabetes, which he

did successfully and without medication. Joe’s children were at times enlisted to ac-tion as a de facto auxiliary of the City’s Public Works Department if a resident of District VI called to complain that a pile of branches had not been picked up by the City or that a dead dog reported earlier was still in the street.

When Joe returned to Laredo after college, he became part of the family enterprises, the Laredo Motor Mart and Laredo Auto Parts, and thereafter extended the family’s history in auto parts and repair by another three de-cades when he struck out on his own, estab-lishing in 1976 the full service Del Mar station in a part of the city that had yet to experience the growth it would over the next several de-cades. The family legacy in all things automo-tive continues in his son Alfonso’s repair busi-ness off the Mines Road.

As we talked recently to prepare Joe’s obit-uary, Josie told me that our mutual cousin, a 10-year-old Carlos Daniel Guerra, introduced her to Joe in the spring of 1961, and before the end of the year the two were married in a small, family-only ceremony. I didn’t know that Carlos, an incurable romantic who would become one of my dearest friends at UT, the man who drove me to my own wedding, had been their Cupid. That story evoked sweet memories and made me chuckle as did the news that Joe was retired for only two months before going on to his next endeavor.

He is remembered in so many ways for the good deeds of his private and public life.

Quoting Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Joe’s neigh-bor Hector Farias said, “’He was a man. Take it all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.’ I was privileged to have known him and to have been his friend.” He added, “Joe Guerra was the epitome of what a public servant should be – dedicated, caring and honest.”

“When I would see him at the station, he would reach for the red shop rag hanging from his pocket, wipe his hands clean, say, ‘Ahora si, amigo,’ and then shake my hand,” recalled former City Council member Juan Ramirez, adding, “Joe Guerra had greatness about him. He was a true mentor. I counted on his experience and his point of view. He wanted to improve Laredo. He didn’t trade votes or work in cliques. He was always with me when I needed him. There was a big shift in City Council priorities when he left. When we traveled out of town on council business, he always took the stairs in the hotels, usually beating the rest of us who took the elevator.”

Environmentalist Dr. Jim Earhart, co-founder of the Río Grande International Study

in Memoriam

Joe A. Guerra lived a life of love, grace and purpose—a life committed to God, family, and community


By MiKA SuSANA AKiKuNi

Mr. Joe Guerra Sr. was a great man who respected fellow humans, no matter what their background. That’s

how I will forever remember him.During the summer of 1998, Mr.

Guerra was busy preparing himself for the upcoming Laredo City Council elec-tions in which he was running for re-election to the District 6 Council seat. Knowing that I was relatively new to Laredo with no family here, he invited me to a campaign party at his Exxon gas station on Del Mar Ave. I gladly accept-ed his kind invitation.

When a friend and I arrived that night, Mr. Guerra’s gas station had al-ready transformed itself into the center of a huge block party! His son, Joe Guer-

ra Jr., an accomplished jazz artist, was already performing with his band. There was lots of food and Mr. Guerra’s family and friends kept pouring in. Everyone was enjoying the relaxed atmosphere characteristic of a cool, South Texas sum-mer evening. Then, suddenly, out of no-where, walked in a homeless man, with a long beard and dirty clothes, smelling badly. I gave a quick glance at the man and was certain Mr. Guerra was going to ask him to leave. To my surprise, Mr. Guerra did not say anything. In fact, the visitor felt so welcome that he lingered on, ate and drank, and even approached Joe Jr.’s band about playing a number with them. The band said yes, and to my amazement, what the crowd heard soon

after that was a jaw-dropping, stunning performance of a blues song by a dirty, shabby-looking man who probably some time in the past could have been a pro-fessional musician himself!

A few days later, on a scorching hot day, I visited Mr. Guerra’s gas station again. As usual, Mr. Guerra was sitting at the cashier booth, listening atten-tively to one of his constituents tell him about a damaged road in his district that needed to be fixed. After their conversa-tion, I took the chance to ask him what he’d thought of that homeless man we saw the other night.

“Mr. Guerra, wasn’t that homeless guy something else?” I asked.

Then, Mr. Guerra answered, appear-ing as puzzled.

“Well, Mika, God works in mysteri-ous ways,” he said, “I had never seen

that man before.”Our conversation that day was short,

but it changed something within me. What I realized then was that despite being a successful politician and busi-nessman, a well-regarded public servant and a man so loved by his family,

Mr. Guerra was a humble and unpre-tentious man. He knew that we are all, in some way or another, a reflection of God’s work. Therefore, Mr. Guerra re-spected everyone regardless of where they came from. Even if they just walked in from the street. This, in turn, taught me that I must also strive to be the same way.

Que Dios lo tenga en su Gloria, Mr. Joe Guerra Sr.


Center, said, “I was saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and former city council member. Joe was a very warm and approach-able person who cared about his community. He supported RGISC in the organization’s efforts to protect water quality and quantity in the Rio Grande. For years we have missed Joe’s warm greeting at the Exxon Station. We will remember him and the good that he did for his community.”

District VI City Council member Gene Belmares said Joe had been a great friend and a mentor, one who “opened the door for me to enter into a life of public service.” Bel-mares added, “He shot it straight every time, and he always ended a phone call by telling me, ‘I know you’ll do the right thing.’”

My sister Melissa and I know firsthand of Joe’s kindness. He was very good to our father, the other Joe Guerra, and to us. I will miss this mannered, soft-spoken man who had so much to say and so much humanity to share. We talked of politicians and their foibles and about government that doesn’t seem to serve those who carry the burden of paying for it. And sometimes we spoke of our family and our children and grandchil-dren, and sometimes if we went too deeply into the matter, one or another of us looked away with little tears in our eyes, exposing ourselves for the softies we really are.

On the day before his death, Joe and Josie celebrated Grandparents Day at St. Augus-tine School with their granddaughters An-drea and Analise Zuniga. Only hours before his sudden death, they commemorated the same event once again at St. Augustine El-ementary with their granddaughter Abigail and visited their daughter, Becky G. Doyle, a first grade teacher at the school.

CONTiNuED ON NExT PAgE 44


The Matias De Llano Charitable Trust, administered by International Bank of Commerce, recently donated over $290,000 to local non-profit organizations. IBC Bank Trust Committee representatives presented the checks to the representatives from each of the benefited organizations at a reception held at the Girl Scouts Club House.

charitable donations

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Becky recalls of her father that morn-ing that he was happy, inordinately ex-pansive, and seemed to beam with grace.

An hour later Joe was en route to my office to work on an ad and a flyer for the station he and his son Carlos operated on Guadalupe Street. Joe died quickly and quietly in his car outside my office before we could see each other. I walked out onto a scenario that, despite the sirens and the activity that marked the moment, was curiously serene. Detective Garza, a handful of LPD officers, and Dr. Corrine Stern worked expeditiously at the labor of noting the passing of a man whose earth-

ly tenure had enriched the lives of many. I felt the loss at the heart of me, tak-

ing notice on this warm morning in the middle of September that it was early in the day to so quickly lose my bearings.

Bishop James Tamayo blessed Joe and everyone nearby. Another contingent of police officers stood near the driveway of the parking lot adjacent to Robert Sep-ulveda’s firm, as though they were an honor guard over the place Joe Guerra had commended his life to God.

In many lives Joe’s passing leaves an immeasurable void, but he leaves, too, an exemplary legacy of all the good things men can be when their hearts are filled with love and best intentions. u


Webb County Commissioner Jerry Garza and members of the Commissioners Court recognized Laredo Broncos members Dan Firova and José Melendez for their contribution to baseball in Laredo. Firova has been named 2010 United League Baseball Field Manager of the Year and Melendez has been named ULB’s 2010 General Manager of the Year. They are pictured with Commissioners Frank Sciaraffa, Rosaura Tijerina, Jerry Garza, and Sergio Martinez, and Judge Danny Valdez.

Bronco’s Firova and Melendez recognized

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By BELiNDA RAMON

As if attending the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Softball League’s showdown series in Round Rock wasn’t thrill enough for 12-year-old Ga-briela Rebeca Sentíes, she was also chosen Bat

Girl for the Florida Pride team for being the most improved player in the NPF clinic’s field of 150 participants.

The United Day School student, an accomplished ath-lete herself, had the opportunity to see Olympic softball greats Jennie Finch and Catherine (Cat) Osterman pitch against each other in a four-day, five-game series adver-tised as the “Showdown Jennie vs. Cat.”

The series at Dell Diamond featured two-time world champion and Olympic gold and silver medalist Finch of the Chicago Bandits; Florida Pride pitcher Catherine (Cat) Osterman, also an Olympic gold and silver medalist and 2009’s MVP; and a star studded roster of Olympic softball greats.

Californian Finch, a legendary sports figure, is retiring as the most recognized softball player in the world.

The annual NPF clinic allows young athletes like Sen-ties the opportunity to experience a unique sporting competition while providing family entertainment that

showcases the top talent found in the softball arena today. It also provides young athletes with positive role models who display their dedication and love for softball.

“I’m so lucky to have been chosen,” Senties said of her role as Bat Girl for Osterman’s Florida Pride. She added, “It was a great experience being in the dugout with the other great players, especially Cat Osterman. My friends and I follow her and Jennie Finch.” Finch autographed a Jenny Finch bat for Senties who brought back autographed soft-balls for friends who were not able to attend the clinic.

Senties is the daughter of Juan Manuel and Abelina Sentíes and the granddaughter of Laredo artist, poet, and playwright Raquel Valle Sentíes. Active in softball and volleyball at her school, Senties is developing writing and acting skills, appearing recently in school plays and in her grandmother’s play Nothing to Declare.

She has a brown belt in karate, her passion, and she has placed second at state level. Family members initially con-cerned for Gabriela’s safety in her athletic endeavors have come to accept Gabriela’s love of sports.

“She’s able to defend herself and me in a dangerous sit-uation,” said her mother Abelina of Senties’ karate skills.

Asked what her advice would be for other hopeful young athletes, Gabriela Senties said, “You should learn to play several positions. This helps you become more valu-able to your team. Practice as much as you can, and always keep trying. But what’s most important is to have fun!” u

batter up

Batter up! Laredoan Gabriela Senties attendsNational Pro Fastpitch showdown and softball clinic

The dugout at the Jennie vs. Cat showdown at Dell Diamond

Gabriela with olympic great Jennie Finch


RGISC prepares

for October Día del Río activities

Río Grande International Study Center (RGISC) project coordinator for upcom-ing Día del Río activities from Colorado and New Mexico to the estuaries of the

Gulf of Mexico, Tricia Cortez, is pictured with Richard Gonzalez of the Gulf of Mexico Founda-tion, Ing. David Negrete of CILA, RGISC treasurer Victor Oiveros, and Danny Gunn, president of RGISC. The group is assembling water quality and water relay kits provided by the Gulf of Mexico Foundation so that the students of 52 schools on both sides of the Río Grande/Río Bravo del Norte watershed can participate in water testing and in the symbolic movement of fresh water to the Gulf. Local Día del Río activities include a water forum featuring author Keith Bowden Oct. 14 at the Gua-dalupe and Lilia Martinez Performing Arts Cen-ter, the annual day-long cleanup at Paso del Indio on the LCC campus, and kayak races.

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MONDAY, OCT. 4, 2010, 10:30 A.M. Opening reception for “Windows on the Rio,” an exhibit of river photography featuring the work of Cuate Santos, Keith Bowden, George Altgelt, and Steve Kaczor. Yeary Library at LCC. Exhibit runs through October 22.

Wednesday, Oct. 6 Launch of two basin-wide events: Rio Research Roundup – Student water testing project (52 teams in the U.S. and Mexico) Rio Relay – a 10-day Collection of Basin Water from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. Local participating school for the Roundup: St. Augustine High School (led by teacher Art Smith) MONDAY, OCT. 11, 2010, 9 A.M. Opening ceremonies for Día del Rio at the trail head of Paso del Indio Trail just outside the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center. Welcome by LCC President Dr. Juan Maldonado; comments by Laredo and Nuevo Laredo officials; Native American Indian sun offerings. Wednesday, Oct. 13, 10 A.M. Rio Relay Pulls into Laredo for stopover at International Bridge I

THURSDAY, OCT. 16, 2010 6-9 P.M. “Rave on the Rio” at LCC’s Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center. An evening of platicas about the river (river writer Keith Bowden, Elizabeth Verdecchia of IBWC’s Texas Clean Rivers, Victor Wong of the TCEQ Border Affairs Division); live music, art, and poetry. SATURDAY, OCT. 16, 8 A.M.-NOON 16th Annual Paso del Indio Trail clean-up. Bring your own tools and gloves. Everyone is welcome to pitch in. About 400 students, club members, Scouts and their adult sponsors report for a morning of lopping, raking, shoveling, and hauling by wheelbarrow. Lunch will be served. Kayak races in three heats: 8 a.m. “Civil Service Challenge” offers Customs, Border Patrol, Fire Department, and Police to race head-to-head in a two-mile race that begins and ends at the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center. 9:30 a.m. “Hospitality Challenge” for hotel and restaurant employees over the same route. 11 a.m., the “Laredo Open,” allows adults, teens and kids to compete. 5 p.m. “Scholastic Scramble,” for teams representing schools to race to the Río Grande Plaza for the awards ceremony, music, and a poolside barbeque.

DíA Del RíO SCHeDUle Of eveNTS


By ERiC ELLMAN

On a Friday night in Laredo, the largest inland port in the hemisphere, 39-year old Carlos Mata, an affable, red-

haired, bearish VP of Operations for a trucking firm, is salivating over his com-puter screen.

“Look at that,” he says. “You can see right through her skin.”

Indeed. The object of his passion -- a 17’ Souris River Queticao canoe -- has no gel coat over its translucent Kevlar shell. Made from the same material as a Border Patrol officer’s bulletproof vest, it’s strong and gossamer light. At 44 pounds the canoe is half the weight of any of his other ca-noes. With just one click and $1,700 it joins his flotilla.

Mata, his growing collection of canoes, and slightly larger collection of canoe-mad friends, might be the nerve center of Southwest Texas canoeing. Getting to-gether for weekend outings at least once a month, there is no other group of people in the Laredo area so dedicated to long-distance and overnight paddling.

What’s startling is that their fascination with the sport, and the expertise that has them leading multi-day wilderness trips on some of the state’s most remote wa-terways, are things they never imagined doing before last year’s Laredos RioFest, a 33-mile binational canoe and kayak race that kindled a hunger for river sports in a town where it had been strikingly absent.

And while the second Riofest is post-poned until 2011, the impact of that race still ripples across Laredo. Community kayak races -- featuring heats for different sectors of the local workforce -- are part of the 17th annual October 16 Día del Río activities. (See sidebar for details.) The City Council is con-sidering an application to Texas Parks and Wildlife to designate the first ever TPWD Paddling Trail on the Río Grande.

Carlos and his canoeing buddy Alex Villarreal reflected on why it all took so long.

“You know,” Carlos said, “I always loved going to Garner State Park. I love going to the Frio. I visited Santa Elena Canyon with my parents in 1994, and I thought, ‘I’d like to get into this.’”

Alex, too, grew up in a household steeped in nature. But it wasn’t until this past year that they began immersing their

Feature

Kayak races on the Río Grande --a year after the first big splash, ripples are still spreading

Día Del Río Community Kayak RacesCommunity Kayak Races on Día del Río, October 16th, offer Laredoans a fun

and invigorating opportunity to paddle the Río Grande and raise money for their favorite cause.

The program is divided into three heats: At 8:00 a.m. the “Civil Service Challenge” offers Border Patrol, Fire Department,

and Police to race head-to-head in a two-mile race that begins and ends at the Lare-do Community College’s Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center.

At 9:30 a.m. hotel, restaurant, and bar employees will paddle for prize money and bragging rights over the same route in the “Hospitality Challenge.”

At 11:00 a.m., the “Laredo Open,” allows adults, teens and kids to compete.The day ends with a 5:00 p.m. “Scholastic Scramble,” for teams representing

schools to race to the Río Grande Plaza for the awards ceremony, music, and a pool-side barbeque. All teams will be invited to return and defend their trophies at the next quarterly Community Kayak Race in January during the George Washington’s Birthday Celebration.

friends in local rivers, channeling their hunting and camping experience into long distance paddle trips. They loved the soli-tude and the challenge of rivers like the Pecos and the Dirty Devils, places that require days of paddling because once you start there’s no other way out. Where weather can be severe, water can be in short supply, and aid is a long way away.

Only one river intimidated them -- the

one closest one to where they all lived, the one that had re-ignited all their collective interest in paddling. For even these die-hards, the stigma of the Río Grande over-whelmed their direct experience. It would take the latest ripple on the Laredo pad-dling scene to get them back out there.

Big River Outfitters is Laredo’s first ever river kayaking outfitter. Offering tours on the Río Grande and nearby Lake Casa

Blanca, they opened their doors for busi-ness at the worst of all possible times, the second week of July when Hurricane Alex had brought catastrophic flooding to the region.

But as soon as flood waters dropped, Carlos and crew were enlisting Big River Outfitters for their biggest assignment to date, turning 13 of their friends onto pad-dling the same way they had rediscovered it, right here in their backyard, paddling 11 miles from Santa Isabel Creek on Mines Road back to the City.

Though they’re the new guys on the block (operation owners Eric Ellman and Steve Kaczor relocated from McAllen and Chiriqui, Panama, respectively) Villarreal tips his hat to them.

“We always figured, you go down there, something’s going to happen. But they turned us onto the river. It can happen. You can have a good time. Mix a bunch of friends or a whole community that’s starved for something new and different and healthy to do, mix in water, and you get something good. In the words of the 2010 Laredo Visitors Guide, kayaking con-tinues to be ‘the latest thing to hit the Río Grande and cast a spell on the citizens of two countries.’” u

Mario Aguero and Tom Leyendecker enjoy the awesome beauty of Santa Isabelita Creek, a tributary of the Río Grande. It may take a wave of kayakers to make developers (and the City Council members who serve them) understand (and learn to preserve) the natural beauty of Santa Isabelita, Manadas, Chacon, and Zacate creeks as well as the Río Grande.

Kayaking waterways

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Cindy Macias from KGNS receives a plaque from Cynthia Haynes Ramirez of the Latin American International Sports Hall of Fame and Francisco Ochoa, owner of Palenque Grill, at a recent media appreciation lunch hosted by the Hall of Fame.

Media appreciation

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Charles Wise, candidate for Municipal Court Judge, is pictured with his parents Gilberto and Concepción Wise at a recent Lucha Libre event at Veteran’s Field. Wise, an attorney with the public defender’s office, treated all children in attendance to ice cream.

Meet and greet at Lucha Libre

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“We don’t need to widen the river,” Ramirez emphasized, adding, “We need to create employment opportunities that will generate income and circulate money in the local economy. It has never been more important to create jobs.” He added that recent census figures show more Lare-doans living below the poverty level than in the War on Poverty days of the late 60s. “Of course we want jobs that pay well, but all jobs are good jobs, even those that pay minimum wage,” he said, adding, “Every year there is a workforce of high school graduates ready to take their first jobs. Let’s train them and get them working and turn them away from unemployment, drugs, and gangs.”

Infrastructure for traffic, water, and bridges is important, Ramirez said, “but it is jobs that improve people’s lives. Yes, infra-structure helps you move across town more quickly, but jobs change people’s lives.”

Of current City Council dynamics, Ramir-ez said, “The novice mayor didn’t know how the city works, and one of the best examples of his poor judgment is his appointment of the director of El Metro, an inexperienced man put there to return a political favor. This is not a secret and neither is the price we are paying now and that longtime El Metro em-

ployees are paying. The system has lacked preventive maintenance.”

He observed that some Council mem-bers stick together and support each other’s projects. “The lone Council member with a good idea is not going to get his project done. We need good candidates, and we need strong willed Council members,” he said, adding, “Citizens don’t attend town hall meetings because they believe Coun-cil members have decided ahead of time what is best for Laredoans. They believe their opinion does not count. They believe that the Council ‘no hacen nada.’”

Council members, he noted, “have full time jobs and they really don’t research is-sues and projects the way you should when you are spending millions and millions of taxpayer dollars.”

He said the City “needs to change course” and to re-think how it will work in a tough economic climate. “The City needs to tight-en its belt as we all have done at home, and make sure we are taking care of the basics -- stimulate employment, provide enough police officers and firefighters, and create family oriented, income-generating ameni-ties for visitors to Laredo and for Laredoans themselves,” he continued. “This adminis-tration lacks the will to do the right thing. It lacks leadership, and its priorities are not what this City needs in the current climate

of a bad economy and the very real challenge of keeping international business on course in the chaos of a drug war,” he said, adding, “We can change the direction of City gov-ernment. We can make it responsive to the citizens who pay for it.”

“It’s the arena all over again,” Ramirez said of the $18 million baseball stadium debacle that ousted the Broncos home-town team. “The Council said one thing and did another. They said they would use the bond surplus from the arena to build a smaller baseball stadium, but now they’ve changed their story. The Ventura Group will give the City a million dollars, and in return the City will spend $18 million. Where’s the good sense in that? The City pays over a million a year to operate the hockey arena and yet no one has asked for financial reports to track expenses. We are headed for the same mess with the baseball stadium, catering to out of town business-men whose first motive is profitability,” he said.

Ramirez said the lack of security at City recreation centers has turned some of them into gang havens and not the wholesome family facilities that the City planned and paid for. “The splash parks have turned out to be expensive because, like so many of the parks, they are so often vandalized. We can’t just keep repairing, replacing,

and painting the destructive work of the vandals. Let’s do something about it,” he said.

Ramirez, a lifelong resident of Laredo, has been a community activist since the 1960s. He became head of his household at age 14 upon the sudden death of his father, an experience he said formed his ability to make sound decisions and act responsibly on the behalf of others. It also formed his political life, he said. “My whole family -- my mother, my brothers, and my sister -- marched back then to abolish the poll tax and to establish a city minimum wage. We had a voice, and we used it, and it pre-vailed even when city business was in the grip of the patrón system.”

A professional photographer for 18 years, Ramirez has a vast collection of photographs that document Laredo in the 60s and his tenure as president of El Cuatro Neighborhood Council. He has served as the Democratic Chair of District IV and the chair of Precinct 30. He has been president of the PTOs of both Martin High School and Farias Elementary.

Ramirez and his wife Yolanda are the parents of four children -- Juan Jr., Zulma, Linda, and Manuel.

Juan Ramirez was first elected to the Laredo City Council in 2000, serving until 2008. He can be reached at (956) 286-1952. u



By HECTOR fARiAS JR., PHD

The life of Santos Benavides is analogous with the early history of Laredo. He was the undisput-ed protector of South Texas dur-

ing the 19th century. As a great grandson of the founder of Laredo, Don Tomás Sán-chez, Santos Benavides epitomized what the Associate Viceroy for the Province of Nuevo Santander, José Escandon, envi-sioned of the original settlers. Escandon knew that the survival of the settlement depended on individuals who could de-fend the province against attacks by Na-tive Americans.

Santos was the son of José de Jesus Be-navides and Margarita Ramon. His grand-father José María Baez Benavides came to Laredo from his native Revilla (later known as Guerrero) where his father Cris-tobal Baez Benavides was the alcalde. His grandmother Petra Sánchez was the grand-daughter of Captain Tomás Sánchez.

During his lifetime, Santos Benavides safeguarded the frontier with impunity, allowing his fellow citizens to live in rela-tive safety from dangers posed by outlaws, bandits, renegades, and thieves who jeop-ardized the security of the borderlands.

When Santos Benavides was born in Laredo on November 1, 1823, Laredo had only been in existence 68 years. When he died, the Laredo Daily Times reported “he died in this city at 7:00 a.m. on November 9, 1891, consequently his age was 68 years and 8 days.” The synchronistic time period of 68 years was noted by historian Dale O. Turner, who reflected on the coincidence.

It was during the Federalist-Centralist wars (1838-1840) that Benavides evolved as a political and military man influenced greatly by his uncle Bacilio who shaped his career. Bacilio was one of the most power-ful political figures in South Texas, having served as Mayor of Laredo, County Judge, and a member of the Texas House of Rep-resentatives.

It was through Bacilio that Benavides met the revolutionary warrior Antonio Za-pata who inspired Santos to fight for inde-pendence from the Mexican government by creating the Republic of the Río Grande along with northern states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila. Benavides was well known as a guerilla fighter and was convinced that Mexico could not offer sta-bility.

Because of his well-known and respect-ed military prowess, Benavides formed

lasting relations with citizens on both sides of the border. This allowed access as well to U.S. and Mexican political lead-ers in relationships that augmented his stature.

Throughout the 1850s, South Texas became more turbulent, and there was general disor-der with plundering, mur-dering, and pillaging of citizens by renegades and criminals. Benavides was able to bring stability to the area, and by 1856 had become Mayor of Laredo and a leading financial and political figure in South Texas. Along with his brother Refugio, who had also served as Mayor of Laredo, and his brother Cristobal, he favored secession from the Union.

Five years after Bena-vides became Mayor, South-ern armies began the bom-bardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina on April 12, 1861, which led to the War between the States.

On January 28, 1861, a movement to secede began, and delegates in Austin voted to pull Texas out of the Union. The Benavides family largely influenced the vote in South Texas.

Benavides conscripted 60 men, and along with his brothers Refugio and Cris-tobal formed the Benavides regiment that was officially sworn into the Confederate Army with the primary responsibility of protecting Union attempts to restrict the exchange of cotton and other goods.

The cotton trade was crucial to the Confederacy because it provided valuable supplies. Historians have concurred that Santos Benavides kept the border open to trade during the Civil War. This was essen-tial so that the commodity could be traded for guns, clothing, and the ammunition vitally needed since the Confederacy did not have manufacturing facilities, as did the North. Therefore, the Benavides regi-ment provided indispensable security for the exportation of cotton, which prolonged the outcome of the war.

Union General Nathaniel T. Banks re-ceived orders on November 2, 1863, to occupy Texas with the objective to abol-ish the cotton trade. After his arrival in

Brownsville, the Federals secured their area under Col. Edmund Davis. However, the preparations to push upriver were dif-ficult because of a serious drought and low water levels that impeded steamboats and scarce grazing conditions for horses.

On March 19, 1864, County Judge Cay-etano De La Garza and his scouts detected Federal troops crossing from Mexico into Carrizo (now Zapata) heading upriver to-wards Laredo. Most of the Benavides regi-ment was posted 25 miles north of Laredo, but they were soon located and Benavides with 42 men prepared to face the enemy.

After four years of cavalry engagements in the field and with little rest defending the border area against the Union army, Santos returned home in early March to recuperate from illness and physical ex-haustion.

It was later learned that Union spies who had been operating out of Nuevo Laredo reported to Union generals that Santos Benavides was not in good health, lacked men and supplies, and that there

were 5,000 bales of cotton at San Agustín Plaza. After being notified by his scouts of the approaching Union troops, Benavides left his home leading his troops to the out-

skirts of South Laredo near Zacate Creek and instructed Sergeant Dario Gonza-

lez to sound the bugle.The Union soldiers approached in

columns of 40 men, and the Battle of Laredo began at 3 p.m. on the afternoon of April 19, 1864.

After three unsuccessful charges by the Federal troops, the Benavides regiment pre-vailed and took the conflict without any casualties after three hours. The victory by Be-navides kept them on the alert because they were uncertain that the Union force would re-turn.

Later the next morning, Santos sent his brother Captain

Refugio Benavides to scout the movements of the Federals. Refu-

gio discovered an abandoned camp with bloody trails and five horses.

The Benavides regiment celebrated the victory, having driven off the en-

emy without cotton and without success with a small force that had been outnum-bered 10 to one.

The war came to an end on April 19, 1865 with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. However, in Texas the fighting continued until May 13, 1865, with a Union victory at Palmito Ranch. Benavides and his men terminated their service to the Confederacy and pledged their allegiance to the government in Washington.

During the Civil War, Santos Bena-vides was commissioned a full Colonel, thus becoming the highest ranking officer of any Mexican American in the Confed-erate States of America. His troops were consistently given superior rankings for discipline, low absenteeism, and minimal loss of armament, including rifles and am-munition.

Following the period of Reconstruction, Benavides returned to his political and business interests. It was only during his later years of life that South Texans lived out of harm’s way and realized the first ac-tual peace since Don Tomás Sánchez had founded Laredo.

Throughout the course of his life, Bena-vides made life so miserable for law break-ers that he and his brothers Refugio and

Feature

Col. Santos Benavides: unparalleled cavalry warrior


Cristobal were invited to Wash-ington to testify before Con-gress about their successful peacekeeping operations.

In 1875, the Texas Leg-islature asked Santos and his brother Refugio to ap-pear before State Officials who also wanted to learn how Laredo was kept in the best comparable con-dition of any border com-munity.

Before his death in 1891, Santos could look back on a lengthy list of achievements including having been a Texas Ranger, a founder of the Republic of the Río Grande, Legislator, Mayor of Laredo, County Chief Justice, and City Alderman.

Santos Benavides went to Austin in 1879 to serve in the State Legislature and was reelected for two terms and served until 1885 as a member of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Texas State Legislatures. Because of his exceptional service in Austin, he was elected by the Legislature to represent Tex-as at the World’s Cotton Exposition in New Orleans in 1884.

He and his brother Cristobal amassed considerable fortunes in mercantile and dry goods ventures, raising stock and a

line slack enterprise related to international trade by cross-

ing commodities to Mexico utilizing ferries pulled by mules.

An anecdote of inter-est concerns the land where the first interna-tional bridge in Laredo is located, which was donated by Santos Be-navides to the nuns at

San Agustin Church to establish a convent. Thus

the street by the bridge is named Convent Avenue. Af-

ter they sold the property to the U.S. Deptartment of the Treasury the

sisters moved the convent to the 900 block of Zaragoza Street across from San Agustín Church.

No single treatise can do full justice to the life of Santos Benavides, who rose to leadership among his peers and dominated 19th century South Texas without equal.

(Hector Farias, Jr. is a U.S. Customs bro-ker. He obtained his PhD from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and is a for-mer faculty member at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine at Chapel Hill, N. C. He is well read in the Spanish colonial historical period of South Texas.) u


Tropical Storm Hermine was the third tropical system to have an impact on deep South Texas this hurricane season. Hermine

caused heavy rains and flooding, al-though due to its path, spared Laredo a potential second round of river flooding.

In late June, Hurricane Alex made landfall in far northeastern Mexico, about 100 miles south of Brownsville. A week later, Tropical Depression Two made landfall at South Padre Island. Be-tween the two systems, parts of the Río Grande basin, areas in Nuevo Leon, Coa-huila, and Texas received between 10 to 30 inches of rainfall. The result was major flooding along the Río Grande, forcing many to be evacuated as waters flooded homes and businesses on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The flooding also cut off Nuevo Laredo from the rest of Mexico for several days as waters from the Río Salado overflowed over Mexico’s Highway 85.

Earlier in Sept., Tropical Storm Her-mine came ashore around the same area as Alex did. Fortunately for Laredo, the core of the storm stayed well east of Laredo and the Río Grande basin areas of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. The core of the storm, initially forecast to move near Laredo and bring two to four inches of rain to the city, went farther to the east. As a result, the Gateway City received anywhere from a quarter to half an inch of rain. Areas east of US 77 received the heaviest rains. The areas that were actu-ally hardest hit by TS Hermine were well inland from where landfall occurred.

The Río Grande Valley, closest to the point of landfall, received some near hurricane-strength winds, heavy rains, flooding, and damage but nothing ma-jor overall. At the height of the storm, 80 percent of Willacy County and 25,000 people in Brownsville were without power. The core of Hermine then passed over San Antonio and the Hill Country, hitting these areas much harder. Between 10 to 15 inches of rain fell along the I-35 corridor from Austin to Dallas, resulting in flash flooding along creeks and hundreds of high water rescues. Tropical storm force winds were ob-served in San Antonio and parts of the Hill Country, plus numerous highways

were closed due to high water, including I-35 in San Antonio and sections of US 183 and FM 2222 in Austin.

In North Texas, the remnants of Her-mine spawned five tornadoes in the Dal-las-Fort Worth Metroplex, including an EF-2 tornado that damaged some build-ings and other structures near down-town Dallas.

While heavy rains, inland flooding, and tornado activity are not unusual for tropical systems, what sets Hermine apart from Hurricane Alex and Tropical Depression Two was the source of the disturbance from which Hermine de-veloped. According to information from the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi and the National Hurricane Cen-ter in Miami, TS Hermine developed as

a result of the remnants of Tropical De-pression 11 in the Pacific Ocean.

TD 11 made landfall near Salina Cruz in the Mexican state of Oaxaca on the eve-ning of Sept. 3. Based on satellite and ra-dar observations, the depression was near tropical storm strength. The depression quickly dissipated over the mountains of southern Mexico. The remnants moved north-northwest over southern Mexico and re-emerged back out into the open wa-ters of the Bay of Campeche on Sept. 5, and by that evening developed into a depres-sion. The system quickly developed into a 60 mph tropical storm over 15 hours. TS Hermine would likely have become a hur-ricane if it had more time over water, as the storm’s central pressure was dropping up to point of landfall.

Keeping a Weather eye

Hurricanes and tropical stormsBy Juanalanis

Alanis, former of Laredo, is currently a meteorology student at Mississippi State University.

He is a member of the American Meteorology Society (AMS) and

Webb County Coordinator for the CoCoRaHS/National Weather Service rainfall observer program

Webb County rainfall report

STATiON LOCATiON JULy AUGUSTWB-2 Heights—GarfieldSt 7.99” 0.47”WB-3 SanIsidro—LosAgaves 6.94” NRWB-4 LasTiendasRanch 7.58” 0.26”WB-5 CallaghanRanch 8.60” 0.00”WB-6 McPherson/Chacon 7.24” 0.87”WB-7 EspejoRanch NR 0.00”WB-9 ManganaHeinRd9E NR 0.09”WB-12 DelMarC 8.78” 0.43”WB-13 DelMarnorth/PrestonLn NR 0.00”WB-14 Laredo18.4NE 7.45” 0.00”WB-17 Riverhill 6.23” 1.92”WB-18 Hillside/Springfield NR 0.61”WB-21 Shiloh/Woodridge NR 0.00”WB-22 Laredo23.7ENE 8.47” 0.00”WB-23 Freer29.5WSW 8.15” 0.00”WB-24 TrautmannMSarea 5.48” 0.33”WB-25 UnitedSouthMSarea 6.90” 0.87”WB-26 ZaragozaStreetdowntown 7.22” 0.92”WB-27 JacamanRoad/Saldana NR 0.35”WB-28 GutierrezElemarea 6.44” 0.95”WB-29 Heights-E.LaneSt 5.55” 0.07”WB-31 Plantation 6.79” 0.12”Laredo KGNS-TV 4.65” 0.49”Laredo Airport 4.61” 0.06”Source: CoCoRaHS/National Weather Service-Corpus Christi

TrOPiCal sTOrM HErMinE rain Totals

LOCATiON TOTAL (iNCHES)Georgetown,TX 15.62”Frisco,TX 14.82”Austin,TX(AndersonMill) 13.19”Austin,TX(Jollyville) 13.14”CedarPark,TX 12.99”Killeen,TX 11.66”Leander,TX 11.62”Eufaula,OK 10.35”RoundRock,TX 10.05”Jarrell,TX 9.67”NewBraunfels,TX(3.1WSW) 7.16”SanAntonio,TX(Airport) 6.01”Victoria,TX 4.89”PortIsabel,TX 3.86”Alice,TX 3.06”Brownsville,TX 2.96”Cotulla,TX 0.98”FalconDam,TX 0.32”Hebbonville,TX 0.29”LaredoAirport 0.17”Source: National Weather Service reports

TrOPiCal sTOrM HErMinE Highest Wind gusts

LOCATiON WiND GUST (MPH)Harlingen 73Brownsville 69San Antonio Airport 63Kingsville 63Port Aransas 63South Padre island 62San Antonio-NEiSD Bus Complex 60San Antonio-Randolph AFB 55Corpus Christi 55New Braunfels 50Fredericksburg 47Kerrville 37Austin-Bergstrom Airport 36Hebbronville 24Cotulla 21Laredo Airport 15


Mercy Ministries

Since tropical systems need water to survive, it is rare for them to survive a trek over land, especially mountainous terrain, and then have enough energy to rede-velop. There have been several instances, however, in which a storm or its remnants survive over land and then redevelop in another body of water.

In 1989, Pacific Hurricane Cosme made landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, and crossed over the mountainous terrain of Mexico, surviving as a tropical depression all the way to near Brownsville. Its rem-nants then re-emerged over the Gulf of Mexico and helped in the development of Tropical Storm Allison.

In 1996 Hurricane Cesar crossed Cen-tral America and was renamed Douglas in the Pacific, where it became a major hur-ricane. In 1988, Atlantic Hurricane Joan made landfall in Central America, weak-ened into a tropical storm, and re-emerged in the Pacific, where it was renamed Mir-iam. In each case, once it crossed into the other ocean basin, the system received a new name, even though it was actually the same storm.

As mentioned, although it is rare for storms to survive a trek across land, it has happened. As a result in 2000, the National Hurricane Center changed the “naming

rules” in the event of such a situation. The rule now specifies that if a storm from the Atlantic crosses over land and into the Pa-cific, and is still identifiable as a tropical depression at minimum, then the cyclone would keep its name. This is the same if a Pacific System crosses into the Atlantic. However, this situation has not occurred since the rule change.

If a storm makes landfall and loses its identity (and therefore official NHC advi-sories would cease) prior to re-emerging into the other ocean basin, it would receive a new name, as it would be considered a new separate storm system.

One interesting system of note that crossed land and reformed was Hurricane Ivan in Sept. 2004. Ivan was one of the strongest hurricanes to form in the Atlantic basin at the time. The system made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama and continued inland into the Appalachian Mountain re-gion of the eastern United States. Despite spending three days traveling over land and some mountainous terrain, Ivan still had a very distinct remnant low-level sur-face circulation as it re-entered the Atlan-tic off the coast of Delaware. This low-level remnant tracked southward to Florida, crossed over Florida and back into the Gulf of Mexico where Ivan once again intensi-

By SiSTER MARiA LuiSA VERA

In October, we observe and create awareness for two very important threats to women’s health -- breast cancer and domestic violence.

Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. The American Cancer Society es-timates that more than 182,400 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer each year, while 40,480 women will lose their lives to this disease. Breast cancer will af-fect one of every eight American women in their lifetime.

However, breast cancer is very curable if caught in its early stages. At Mercy Clin-ic we work hard to educate and encourage women to come in for annual screenings. In fact, our patients must comply with an-nual screenings and educational compo-nents of our clinic so that they may retain Mercy as their medical home.

Currently, funds from the Cancer Pre-vention Research Institute of Texas and collaboration with the City of Laredo Health Department allow us to reach even more women and provide the nec-essary mammograms and pap smears for the members of our community most in need.

At times, our patients require biop-sies or further exams to test for cancer. It is then that we rely on the generos-ity of donors, physicians, hospitals, and lab technicians to assist with the cost. Since 99% of our patients are uninsured and 88% fall below the federal pover-ty guideline of $22,050 for a family of four, they rarely have funds to cover the cost of exams and treatments. Our case managers work with them to un-derstand what they can pay so that we may proceed with treatment.

This month two organizations will host events in an effort to bring aware-ness and funding to this dreaded dis-

ease. Our mayor’s wife, Yolanda Sali-nas, will celebrate her 60th birthday on October 1 by asking for donations to support cancer assistance programs for Mercy Ministries of Laredo, Pink To Do, and WINGS. We appreciate her commit-ment to our community and her sharing of her special day with the special wom-en who suffer with cancer. The Brush Country Trail Riders will host the Fifth Annual Ride on October 16 with reg-istration at 7 a.m. The ride is from Las Lomas to LIFE Downs, where the riders and their families gather to honor and celebrate family members and friends who have had breast cancer.

Domestic violence is also considered a very serious health issue for women. In 2008, 189,401 family violence inci-dents were reported. Of those, 11,776 adults sought shelter from their abu-sive relationships and 136 women were killed by their partners. Finally, 15,591 children received shelter along with

their mothers. In a 2002 survey con-ducted by The Texas Council on Fam-ily Violence, 74% of all Texans reported that either they, a family member, and/or friend have experienced some form of domestic violence.

Mercy Ministries brings awareness to this issue by working with the Domestic Violence Coalition and co-hosting the Do-mestic Violence Conference on October 7 at Texas A&M International University. Former victims often participate by shar-ing their stories of violence at the hands of a loved one, and how they had to gain confidence and learn skills to empower them to flee the perpetrator.

(Sister Maria Luisa Vera, RSM is the CEO of Mercy Ministries of Laredo, which supports three ministries -- Mercy Clin-ic, Casa de Misericordia, and the Lamar Bruni Vergara Education Center. To learn more about Mercy Ministries, call Sister Maria Luisa or Rosanne Palacios at (956) 721-7408.) u

October creates awareness for breast cancer and domestic violence

fied into a tropical storm. While Ivan remained in the same ocean

basin (Atlantic), there is still debate today as to whether the rebirth of Ivan should have been given a separate name. It is typi-cally the policy of the National Hurricane Center to keep the same name if a storm weakens, but maintains some identifiable

storms clusters and re-intensifies. Ivan, however, had no tropical characteristics (convective thunderstorms near the center of the cyclone) for nearly five days, before redeveloping. For this reason, some feel “the second” Ivan should have had been considered a separate cyclone from the original. u


Maverick ranch notes

Emma Terry enriched our livesBy BEBE & sissy fEnsTErMakEr

Emma Terry was one of our family friends who existed before time’s recall and inhab-ited our world until sadly parting from it in 1988. She had a couple of memorable pecu-liarities -- the most visible was her love of the color pink. Her particular color was a rich warm pink. Everything in her home was that color. She only wore pink and even her solution for insomnia involved it. She pictured herself as a ballerina dressed in a gossamer pink gown dancing on her toes. She swore that vision had her asleep in min-utes.

Her husband Jimmy was not much taller than she, but he was quite dapper. He had a gray mustache and usually wore a medium gray suit that complemented Emma’s pink dresses. He had a good sense of humor and smoked endless cigars. That fragrance was associated with him as strongly as the color pink was with Emma.

Emma always referred to him as “Jimmy

Terry.” She handled everything at home, and that arrangement seemed to suit them. Jimmy worked for Corn Products, and every Christmas we eagerly awaited his gift of big carton books of lifesavers that sometimes would last a full holiday season. As a child, I thought Jimmy did three things at home -- cut the grass, smoke cigars, and read the newspaper.

Emma’s other compulsion was thrifti-ness almost to the point of being a skinflint. She spotted bargains first and got there before anyone else. Her friends humbly acknowledged this ability. Her finds were legendary. Since no one could beat her, ev-erybody sought her advice on purchases, large or small. She read the newspaper, not so much for news as for upcoming sales and classified ads. If she knew a friend was look-ing for a particular dress, shoe, or washing machine, she would send out an alert when she found it on sale. Mama depended on her

knack for finding our school clothes.Emma often sent us as far away as New

Braunfels to Jacob Schmidt’s clothing store. Sometimes her saving bone was a little skewed, like the time my aunt Mary, Emma, another friend, and I drove to Nuevo Lare-do for a day’s shopping and Emma brought along a beautiful broken hand-blown Vene-tian wine glass (pink) carefully wrapped in a box. She was sure she would find someone who could match it, repair it, or make an-other. That time she didn’t succeed.

Emma often brought her friends nice gifts. After a long boat trip to Europe her gift to Mama was a pair of Italian driving gloves. Mama used them for years. Thirty years later the gloves were the only surviv-ing objects found in our car after a flood-ing Leon Creek swept it downstream. The car looked like an exploded aquarium, but Mama’s gloves serenely waited for us in the glove compartment.

Every year after she turned 80 my grand-mother had a big birthday party. Emma al-ways made the birthday cake, and it was al-ways an angel food cake made from scratch. The icing was deep pink with tons of mashed strawberries, powdered sugar, and butter. We could smell that icing across a room. The cake was enormous, and its texture and lightness defied physics by somehow man-aging to hold up all that icing. The big pink beauty was the center of attention on the re-freshments table. No one left without a slice to take away for the less fortunate.

We looked forward to Grandma’s birth-day party every year. We got to miss school and drive in from West Texas. One year Emma and Jimmy held the reception in their home, another year it was in our cousin Rena’s home. But the 80th birthday party, the biggest, was at the River House downtown on the river. All of Grandma’s surviving siblings and their families came from other states along with her many friends from San Antonio and around Texas. The huge room was packed. We little girls wore our new squaw dresses of red, blue, and turquoise with bright ric-rac. All the rage out west, in San Antonio we came across more like Wild West. A black and white photograph exists of Rena and the three of us at the refresh-ment table. She was serving punch dressed in a shimmering white beaded gown. We were eyeing Emma’s pink cake, squaw dresses standing out dark against the light

room. That birthday cake was just about as sharp in contrast, too.

BEBE FENSTERMAkER

A visit to the Marfa Book Store a couple of months ago ended with the purchase of The Captured, A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier, by Scott Zesch. Reading the favorable comments on the cover stirred my interest. Many years ago I had read Herman Lehmann’s account of being captured by the Apache, and some years later read of another abduction, that of the Smith brothers. The Captured turned out to be a fascinating account of some of the Texas Hill Country’s white Indians. Zesch became interested in the subject when he chanced upon the almost obscure grave site of Adolph Korn, “…a stepbrother of the au-thor’s grandmother’s grandmother.”

Trying to find information about his great, great, great, great uncle and not hav-ing much success, Zesch decided to research other Hill Country captives that had been taken around the time of his relative’s kid-napping: Rudolph Fischer, Banc and Dot Babb, Minnie Caudle, Temple Friend, Her-man Lehmann, and Clinton and Jeff Smith.

His story sheds light on the living con-ditions of white settlers in the Hill Country at the time and the constant fear of Indian raids. The particular kidnappings docu-mented in the book took place from mid 1865 into early 1871. The author looks at more than just the kidnappings. He takes into account the constant white immigrant movement into Indian Territory and the re-sulting clashes.

Zesch’s research led him to Oklahoma to learn more about the history of the tribes involved in the raids and the stories passed down to today’s tribal members by their ancestors. This was a gripping account of the interaction of cultures in the Texas Hill Country.

September 25 through October 2 is the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week. The September 2010 issue of AARP Bulletin lists some of the books banned by American schools and libraries over the centuries. The reasons listed for banning include: too political, too much sex, irreligious, and socially of-fensive. I consider book banning offensive and dangerous.

SISSY FENSTERMAkER


By ANiTA L. guERRA

La Cindy del Barrio is a delightful, whimsical creation by the multi-talented María Eugenia Lopez. The sweet, big-hearted bilingual musi-

cal, which opened on July 23, enjoyed a recent back-by-popular demand encore performance August 21 at the Laredo Little Theater.

Lopez re-imagined the classical fairy tale Cinderella with a bilingual twist as if it took place in modern day Laredo. She also added original light-hearted songs and even a cou-ple of rap performances. The production was created especially for Laredo.

The play’s action opened quickly with Paco, the Prince Charming (Hector Rios) of this modern-day fairy tale, running late to an important appointment, al estilo Laredo, getting lost en el barrio, and meeting Cindy (double cast, Adriana Sanchez and Adriana Sarabia) in front of her house. Paco promises his driver and confidante Nico (Jason Barre-ra) that he will return to try to find the lovely lady he met. The story moved to Cindy’s pre-dicament with an overbearing stepmother Doña Petronila (Edna A. García) , and the comic antics of her spoiled stepsisters, María Getrudes (Elle King) and Prudencia (Julieta Price). Since the extremely sweet-natured Cindy is not allowed to attend the evening gala the Laredo mayor is throwing for Paco

review

Whimsical La Cindy del Barrio enjoys encore performance at LLT

cast and crew La cindy del Barrio

Cou

rtesy

Pho

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seguro Que sí

Anti-business, taxaholic, omnipotent at home, impotent abroad

By HEnrikaHn

Contact Henri D. Kahn with your insur-

ance questions at (956) 725-3936,

or by fax at (956) 791-0627, or by email at hkahn@

kahnins.com

Now who can that be? Three guesses and the first two don’t count. He runs up taxpayer debt into the trillions, and estab-

lishes federal government control over home mortgages, investment banking, health care, auto industry, and energy. He refuses to per-mit banks to repay their bailout money.

The unemployment rate of 7.7 percent in January 2009 is currently at 9.6 percent.

He wants the rich to pay their fare share of taxes in spite of the fact that the top per-cent of Americans pay 40 percent of all fed-

eral income taxes, and the next nine percent pay another 30 percent. Thus, the top 10 percent pays 70 percent of the taxes, and the bottom 40 percent of taxpayers pays virtu-ally nothing.

He supports the establishment of a $100 million mosque incredibly near the site where Muslim terrorists brought down the World Trade Center.

Over 14 percent of Americans are poor, the highest in decades.

Death will become more expensive next year when federal estate taxes return. Small

business owners, IRA owners, retirees, and seniors are all being targeted for economic suffering. Beginning in 2011 only $1 million of personal assets will be exempt from fed-eral estate taxes, and the rate will increase to 55 percent. Double taxation on IRAs will be as high as 73 percent.

He spent his formative years -- the first 17 years of his life -- in Indonesia, Pakistan, and Hawaii with multiple sojourns to Africa. His father, an African tribesman, grew up in Ke-nya and was a polygamist with four wives.

The father studied at Harvard and nur-

tured his rabid socialist philosophy insist-ing that “theoretically there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100 percent of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensu-rate with their taxable income.”

It is absolutely imperative that we Americans do everything legally possible to rid ourselves from what has become the most polarizing and hurtful element in the history of our great country.

You’re right on your third guess -- it is Barack Hussein Obama. u

and his parents to thank them for bringing manufacturing jobs to the community, it is up to Cindy’s Madrina Luz (Fernanda Price) to come to the rescue.

Madrina Luz, a sewing virtuoso, turns the living room curtains into a beautiful eve-ning gown in a brief but crowd-pleasing, vi-sually arresting comic scene in which she sits with her back to the audience amid a flurry of colorful fabrics that fly through the air as she concocts a dress fit for a future princess.

Madrina Luz brings with her the rappers del barrio, formerly wayward youth from the neighborhood who are doing good under

her tutelage -- singing, rapping, and dancing their way through the musical as they help Cindy make her way to the mayor’s party.

In the fourth scene the audience is intro-duced to Paco’s parents who are portrayed by Angel Zamora and Celina Alvarado. The role of the mayor is portrayed by Joe Cano.

In the end, Cindy gets back her shoe, Paco finds his girl, the step-sisters receive their well-deserved come-uppance, and the audience gets to bask in afterglow of a one-of-a-kind, specially tailored musical full of funny characterizations, sweet songs, spirit-ed dancing, and the obligatory happily ever

after ending.The Rappers Del Barrio were choreo-

graphed by Tessa Lee Martinez. The group was composed of Edward King, Rolando Sanchez, Tessa Lee Martinez, Natalie Ibarra, Alejandra Valdez, Renata Martinez, Debbie Salazar, Emily Barrera, and Triana Ramirez.

The bilingual musical adaptation of Cinderella was written and directed by Lopez and so were the original mu-sic and lyrics. The production’s assis-tant directors were Alberto Guajardo and Guillermo Lopez. The Women’s City Club underwrote the production. u


the Mystery Customer

Mamita’s Café downtown: good food, good service;HEB Café Ole’s French Roast:

change the name to French Post

ByTHE

MysTEryCusTOMEr

(The Mystery Customer column is written by several roving Mystery Customers.)

Mamita’s Café in the heart of downtown at 515 San Agus-tin (facing the Laredo Cen-ter for the Arts) is a wonder-

ful surprise if you find yourself working in the beautiful old business district. The MC found delicious chiles rellenos not float-ing in a sea of oil, arroz well prepared, and fresh lemonade.

If Lowe’s wants you to note the size of the hex head tornillos you are bringing to the cash register, they need to provide pens back at hex head central.

Basket and Pottery Alley had a full house over the Labor Day weekend. Great crowds of local and out of town shoppers filled the place up and jammed the aisles. For anyone who misses the Nuevo Lare-do Mercado of olden times, BPA offers a vast selection of Mexican products and a huge dose of nostalgia for bygone days.

All too often the MC gets home a bag short of groceries paid for at HEB. All that chat between checker and bagger and no end-of-transaction check to see if every-thing ended up in your cart – bad busi-ness.

And speaking of HEB, the MC needed a bag of coffee and to save time stopped in at HEB North Creek for a bag of HEB brand Café Olé French Roast. Let’s change the name to French Post for this sack of bitter sawdust. Yuck, pitooey! What a difference from that house brand coffee and the grocer’s other house brand, Central Market.

The MC was disappointed, and a little heartbroken, by a recent experience at Tar-get, her favorite store. The MC arrived at approximately 9 p.m. and headed straight for the photo center. She needed to print and enlarge some photos, and Target has express kiosks that allow the customer to print their photos immediately for a nomi-nally higher price. However, after she had made all her selections, tediously making changes for each photo, she was informed that the machine could not print. The em-ployee told her that if she selected one-hour service instead, he could have the photos

ready in five minutes and that they would be cheaper. Once she did everything again, the employee said that it would be 20 min-utes instead.

Now required to kill time, the MC headed over to the electronics section, where she spotted a digital camera on sale. The woman behind the counter was less than enthusiastic, especially when the MC asked if she could check the other store’s inventory -- by phone. After holding for a few minutes, and complaining numerous times that she hated being on hold, the woman hung up and said, “I give up.” She then walked away.

Disappointed and annoyed, the MC re-turned to get her photos, only to discover the employee at the photo center was gone. When he eventually returned, the MC paid for her photos (which actually cost a $1 more than promised) and left completely dissatisfied.

Danny’s on McPherson (where MDG used to be) might be ideally located, but the service is bizarre. On a recent trip, the MC had to ask four times for limes, and only received them after the MC’s friend asked two more times. The chips tasted awful, and the food order was clearly rushed. The MC’s friend’s enchiladas were riddled with cold spots, and the rice tasted as though it had been fried in the remains of a car’s oil change.

Starbucks on Del Mar seems to finally be getting its act together. The MC hasn’t had to return a drink in over two months, and the employees are finally cracking smiles. She hopes this continues.

The MC doesn’t eat fried chicken very often, but when she does, she’s learned to avoid the Popeyes on Del Mar (near Mar-ble Slab) in favor of the store on San Ber-nardo (next to the Calton exit on I-35). The MC had to repeat her order several times to the woman at the Del Mar drive through, and she still got it wrong. When the MC asked for an extra barbeque sauce for her chicken strips (after they handed her one tiny packet for five strips), the woman said she had to charge an extra 32 cents. The MC nearly had a fit, especially when she insisted that no other store in Laredo only

assigned one packet for such a large order. The manager came up and only forked one over when the MC said she’d rather return the food.

A MC reader wrote in regarding a recent story in the Laredo Morning Times about a fe-male parent who was approached by UISD police in a local school parking lot for driv-ing “aggressively.” According to the news-paper report, the woman responded to the officer’s approach by driving towards him. The police officer was able to escape injury by jumping on his vehicle. The woman was subsequently arrested and charged. The reader wrote, “The surprising element of this piece of news is that the young woman is not the only driver in town who is out of control. I arrived at another local elementary local school on the first week of school about 30 minutes early to pick up my child. The temperature was about 102 degrees, and the pickup line was already

nearly backed up to the entrance -- double lines. And the intervening weeks have not gotten much better with respect to outside temperature or tortuous lines -- or weak AC provided by my car. Maybe the overflow of cars is due to the heat index limiting the number of children who can walk home. “As in the reported case, some female driv-ers are responding to the impasse by get-ting out of hand. They sit in line and blow their horns at UISD police who are trying to deal with a gridlock. Several large SUV’s drove over the raised pedestrian crossing (used by parents and children who walk home) in order to pass the stalled vehicles in front of them. I noticed some ‘real’ police patrolling the area lately. We have come to a sad day when parents will not take into consideration the safety of their children when responding to stressful situations and additional police need to stand by to enforce campus security.” u

www.laredosnews.com


This summer when I discovered that during the late 1800s Walt Whitman lived less than 200 miles from where I now live in

Bloomsburg, PA, his life and former home somehow seemed more significant. I’d al-ways admired his poetry but hadn’t read Leaves of Grass in several years, and when I did, one particular line in “Song of My-self” appeared to be directed at me: “If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.” And with that -- as clear a sign as I could hope for -- I headed south on an August afternoon.

I drove through Philadelphia and took the Ben Franklin Bridge across the Delaware River to Camden, New Jersey. Here the streets were wider, the potholes deeper, and the sky closer to the pave-ment than in the City of Brotherly Love. I went south on Broadway, then right onto Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and past ABC Bail Bonds and three white SUVs parked in front of the Camden County Jail. Whitman’s house had to be nearby, so at 3rd Street, I stopped. The lanes behind me were empty all the way to Broadway, and ahead of me a few blocks to the west the pavement bent down to the river and the cityscape yawned open. I looked over my left shoulder and saw three buildings huddled together. In the shade of a small tree stood a street light post with a purple banner attached that said “Walt Whitman House.” I made a U-turn, pulled to the curb, and got out.

A white-haired Anglo man opened the front door. Wearing tan slacks, a pale yel-low short-sleeved shirt, a brown belt cor-ralling his wide middle, and soft-soled shoes, he stood on the top step and looked at the four black men sitting on the steps below him, their backs to the door. He said something, not loud enough for me to hear, and slowly they stood and sauntered west but didn’t leave the shade of the houses.

As I got out, the white-haired man

asked, “You here for the tour?”I nodded and locked the Jeep.Before I reached the steps, he said not

too loudly, “Any valuables visible in your car?”

I hesitated. The green backpack on the floor contained mostly books -- Kaplan’s biography of Whitman, a copy of Leaves of Grass, and my notebook. I held my cell phone in one hand and the camera in the other. “No, it’s okay,” I said to the man, and he turned to the door.

From the shade of the last house, the four men watched me climb the steps and walk inside. The white-haired man closed the door and clicked the lock behind us. His name was Dick Dyer, a former high school history teacher who had retired in the late 1990s and now gave occasional tours of Whitman’s house. He sat in a wooden chair against the wall, where for the next 30 min-utes he explained Whitman’s connection to Camden; the history of the house; the conflict over renaming Mickle Street; the declining demand for shipbuilding on the waterfront since World War II; the flight of the black and white middle class out of Camden during the 1960s; and the peaks and valleys in Camden’s economic for-tunes and -- he tipped his head toward the door -- “those of our brothers out front.”

Then, as he led me through the house, he narrated Walt’s last years, explaining that in 1884 he got most of the money to buy his two-story home from recent sales of Leaves of Grass. With a historian’s love of detail, Dick chronicled the lives and out-lined the significance of nearly every item in the parlor, and in the kitchen he point-ed out that both the birdcage and faint-ing couch belonged to Whitman’s live-in housekeeper Mary Davis. He explained that hot water was pumped, not carried, to the bathtub upstairs and hypothesized that Walt’s insistence on regular bathing -- even when he couldn’t get to the tub -- may have contributed to his long life.

We went from the kitchen to the back room on the first floor where a thousand mourners and disciples had passed his casket. With barely a smile, Dick asked if I’d seen the movie Young Frankenstein and then explained that Whitman had given doctors from the American An-thropometric Society permission, upon his death, to remove his brain for study. On March 27, 1892, the day after he died, they did. However, before it could be measured or studied, a lab assistant, like Marty Feldman’s Igor in the movie, dropped it on the floor.

Upstairs in Walt’s bedroom, Dick said that the newly installed gas streetlights along Mickle Street had kept Walt awake, so he had shades installed. He pointed to Walt’s last pair of boots setting in front of the rocker by the window, recited the last words he spoke -- “Warry, shift” -- so his nurse Warren Fritzinger would turn him, and held up the handwritten death no-tice, which had been nailed to the front door but was now in a frame and behind glass. He pointed to a photograph of the room from 1891 or 1892 and explained why the bed we stood next to -- in which Whitman died -- was different from the one in the picture. Then, he led me into the hall and descended the stairs to the main floor.

Before going down, I looked into the small room where the metal bathtub was set in a wooden framework. Then, I turned to the steps -- dark grain and knots run-ning through the yellow lumber, shiny and rounded from years of wear.

Dick stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Hold onto the railing. I don’t want you to fall, of course. But, you know, Whitman’s DNA is almost certainly there, and some of it might rub off on you.” He looked up at me. “Who knows what might happen then.”

As I slowly moved down the steps, I slid my right hand down the cool wooden ban-ister, half expecting a tingle, like the body electric, or a vision of Walt in a mist com-ing from the front room, past the stairs, and down the hall to see what Mary has on the stove. But there was nothing.

We walked through the kitchen, out the back door, and into the green, sunbathed yard, a world apart from the gray, barren concrete out front. Though taking photos

wasn’t allowed inside the house, I could take as many as I wanted here.

Eventually, I followed Dick between two of the houses, down a cool, shaded space no more than a yard wide, and out the gate that opened onto the sidewalk. Two of the men from the steps still stood near the corner of the house.

I pulled the keys from my pocket. “His grave is nearby, isn’t it?” I asked as Dick latched the gate.

“Harleigh Cemetery,” he said. “Go back up MLK the way you came, cross Broad-way, and take a right on Haddon.” He mentioned several landmarks to watch for -- a train overpass, the street splitting three ways, a hospital on the left. “Then go slow. The entrance to the cemetery is just after Lourdes Hospital, but it’s hard to see.”

I nodded. “Thanks a lot,” I said. Dick gripped the railing and pulled

himself up the steps. He waved without turning and went inside.

The cemetery wasn’t far, and inside, a narrow paved road wound around hills bristling with monuments white in the sun, past a green pond threaded with a string of Canada geese, and through the dark shadows of birch and weeping wil-low. Whitman’s granite burial house, built into a wooded hillside, stood alone in one corner. A few yards away, next to the path leading to the door of the tomb, was a small marker, the polished face engraved with an image of the white-haired Whitman. Chis-eled in the gray angled surface on top were lines from “Song of Myself”:

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,

If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

Which is what I’d been doing -- looking for signs of Walt, for the poet. Even though I knew I wouldn’t actually find him, the idea appealed. But when I saw those lines again on the marker, I suddenly real-ized that maybe, all this time, I’d misread them. Maybe instead of looking for him, I should have looked for him since he and all the stony company around his tomb -- much like the people racing blindly, deafly through the streets of Philly, Camden, even Bloomsburg -- are unable to look for themselves. And in Walt’s absence, some-one needs to. For him. For me. And maybe -- even especially -- for you. u

serving sentences

Look for meBy randy

kOCHRandy Koch earned

his MFA at the University of Wyoming

and teaches writing at Bloomsburg Univer-

sity of Pennsylvania.


The last time I saw Mr. Guerra was only a few months ago. My four-year-old son and I were in a hurry to attend church on Sunday and had walked into a gas station on Guadalupe St. to buy juice before the services. When it came time for us to pay at the cashier, there was Mr. Guerra, standing by the door!

“Mr. Guerra, it’s so nice to see you, “ I said, surprised to see him working. “By the way, what are you doing here? You had re-tired some years back.”

He then answered, “Well, they are let-ting me work here now. I had to stay busy, you know?”

“That’s nice you found a part-time job to keep yourself busy,” I replied.

It was wonderful seeing Mr. Guerra that

day. My son and I said a quick good-bye and rushed off to church. Only until this Thurs-day, Sept. 16 did I ever find out in a Laredo Morning Times article that that very gas sta-tion we had visited that Sunday morning on Guadalupe St. belonged to none other than Mr. Guerra himself. He was not just working there. He was the owner of the gas station.

Once again, I was reminded of this great

man’s humility.We will all miss Mr. Guerra. Our world

will not be the same without him. How-ever, in due time, I am sure that we will be reunited with him again. Until then, many of us will continue to carry Mr. Guerra’s legacy for a better tomorrow.

Que Dios lo tenga en su gloria, Mr. Guerra. Mil gracias por su gran trabajo y cariño y nos vemos muy pronto! u

reflections of a new texan

Lisa Chappa: friend of curious children and lonesome adults

By dEnisE fErgusOn

Denise Ferguson is newly arrived in Laredo.

A Rhode Islander by birth, she and her husband

retired to Laredo to be near their family. She can

be reached by email at [email protected].

Since Lisa Chappa arrived in Laredo, she has become a champion of learn-ing for children and an initiator of friendships for people new to the

City of Laredo.She became a resident of Texas after mar-

rying Eduardo Chappa in Seattle. He had accepted a position as a professor at Texas A&M University in College Station. “I was ‘at home’ after my marriage,” said Chappa, adding, “I was president of the volunteer group at the Toy Library in College Station. Children were allowed to borrow toys from a giant storage room for 25¢ each, for a cou-ple of weeks. It worked out well for families with space problems who did not have room for large toys for long periods.”

Chappa has a degree in mathematics and economics from Western Washington University and worked at the university’s af-filiated hospital and at Stamford, California Children’s hospital.

After her husband transferred to TAMIU, Chappa joined Newcomers and Friends of Laredo. “I searched for information on the Internet before I got here. We arrived in Au-gust, and by January 2005 I was a member of the Newcomers’ board,” she said.

She went on to become vice president of the family group and luncheon vice presi-dent and has been serving as president since January 2010. Her children Andres, who is six years old, and Ruby, three, have reaped the rewards of being part of the Newcomers’ family group.

Chappa described the organization as “a lifesaver to people who need it. It helps them stay in Laredo, helps maintain marriages, and keeps families together.” She continued, “It helped me to find a place to live, find a job, and find babysitters.”

According to Chappa, Newcomers also gives back to the community by providing assistance to the Red Cross, Helping Hands, Rainbow Room, Bethany House, and to chil-

dren who need school supplies. And it helps new residents connect to local volunteer groups.

In 2008 Chappa joined the staff of the Imaginarium of South Texas as part time program director. One important aspect of her job is travel. “We try to bring big things to Laredo,” said Chappa. “I went to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia last March for a SCIGIRLS affiliate training sponsored by Twin Cities Public Television. The spon-sor picked 11 museums in the country to participate, including Laredo. I also attended a Texas girls collaborative meeting in 2008 on the same subject and have been to a va-riety of conferences with speakers on this topic, which is grabbing national attention. The fact that we represent a large Hispanic population is a big draw,” she said, adding, “The purpose of these meetings is to encour-age girls to maintain their interest in science. Girls lose interest in their tween years.”

A planned trip to Washington, D.C. in October for the Collaboration Conference, which is about keeping girls in science and is sponsored by the National Girls Collabora-tive, will provide an opportunity for Imagi-narium’s executive director, Melissa Cigar-roa and Chappa to participate in a national panel.

“We are at the table with people from the Smithsonian, the Philadelphia Franklin Mu-seum, and the Spectrum Museum in Mon-tana,” said Chappa. Cigarroa and Chappa have also attended conferences in San Fran-cisco and Ft. Worth that focused on exhibits and programs.

Imaginarium staff takes their work on the road as well, offering school style science ac-tivities to community centers outside Laredo. Said Chappa, “The willingness of our staff to travel offers valuable connections. We re-cently took them to the Children’s Museum in Houston. The Imaginarium provides an informal, ‘hands on’ education. We are work-

ing with school districts, making national connections, and bringing the information back to Laredo.”

She continued, “The teachers complain of constant interruptions within the school system. There is no time for ‘hands on’ be-cause they are always getting ready for tests. Science needs to be ‘hands on’ in the case of learning concepts such as erosion.”

As is the case with most agencies during the economic recession, large-scale plans for the future have been delayed. “The Imagi-narium has incurred budget cuts from the city and county. Big companies commonly provide support to children’s learning,” said Chappa, “But there are no large businesses within the community to provide financial support at the present, and we really need volunteer grant writers.”

Nevertheless, Chappa and Cigarroa and their staff have been resourceful in using the resources, volunteers, and local businesses that are available. There was considerable

public support for the Fourth of July indoor parade made possible under the auspices of Mall de Norte and volunteers provided by Target, HEB, and other agencies.

“The Imaginarium is constantly chang-ing,” said Chappa. “One of our plans for the future is a Children’s Science Center. The toddler area will stay as it is.”

Thanks to a grant from the United Way Venture Fund, the Imaginarium started a Robotics Academy on Saturdays. “I believe that we are the only location in Laredo offer-ing robotics to the younger crowd,” she said. “This is a new venture for us and we are very excited about bringing the engaging, prob-lem solving fun to younger kids.”

In October the Imaginarium will provide its annual Halloween “grossology” celebra-tion.

The Imaginarium facility is also available for birthday celebrations. The staff is happy to work with groups like Boy and Girl Scouts, schools, churches, and home schooled chil-dren to meet their informal science educa-tion needs. They also have a volunteer pro-gram for high school kids.

Chappa lends her gifts as a Sunday school teacher at Christ Church Episcopal. Her phi-losophy is to “Leave every place I live a little better than I found it. I guess I got the spirit of service from my father who was a Boy Scout executive and volunteering from my mom who constantly volunteered at school, Scouts, church, etc. I hope to share the same with my children, and I include them in my work whenever possible.”

The Imaginarium is closed Monday and Tuesday. They are open Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 pm.; Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

For information on Newcomers and Friends of Laredo visit www.laredonew-comers.com or email [email protected]. u



Feature

Andrew Weil: medical marijuana’s tremendous potential for curing ailments

By ANDREW WEiL

(This story first appeared on September 15 on alternet.org.)

If an American doctor of the late 19th century stepped into a time warp and emerged in 2010, he would be shocked by the multitude of pharma-

ceuticals that today’s physicians use. But as he pondered this array (and wondered, as I do, whether most are really necessary), he would soon notice an equally surprising omission, and exclaim, “Where’s my Can-nabis indica?”

No wonder -- the poor fellow would feel nearly helpless without it. In his day, labor pains, asthma, nervous disorders, and even colicky babies were treated with a flu-id extract of Cannabis indica, also known as “Indian hemp.” (Cannabis is generally seen as having three species -- sativa, in-dica, and ruderalis -- but crossbreeding is common, especially between sativa and indica.) At least 100 scientific papers pub-lished in the 19th century backed up such uses.

Then the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 made possession or transfer of Cannabis il-legal in the U.S. except for certain medical and industrial uses, which were heavily taxed. The legislation began a long process of making Cannabis use illegal altogether. Many historians have examined this sorry chapter in American legislative history,

and the dubious evidence for Cannabis addiction and violent behavior used to secure the bill’s passage. “Under the Influ-ence: The Disinformation Guide to Drugs” by Preston Peet makes a persuasive case that the Act’s real purpose was to quash the hemp industry, making synthetic fi-bers more valuable for industrialists who owned the patents.

Meanwhile, as a medical doctor and botanist, my aim has always been to filter out the cultural noise surrounding the ge-nus Cannabis and see it dispassionately: as a plant with bioactivity in human beings that may have therapeutic value. From this perspective, what can it offer us?

As it turns out, a great deal. Research into possible medical uses of Cannabis is enjoy-ing a renaissance. In recent years, studies have shown potential for treating nausea, vomiting, premenstrual syndrome, insom-nia, migraines, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, alcohol abuse, collagen-induced arthritis, asthma, atherosclerosis, bipolar disorder, depression, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, sickle-cell disease, sleep apnea, Alzheimer’s disease, and anorexia nervosa.

But perhaps most exciting, cannabinoids (chemical constituents of Cannabis, the best known being tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) may have a primary role in cancer treatment and prevention. A number of studies have shown that these compounds can inhibit

tumor growth in laboratory animal models. In part, this is achieved by inhibiting angio-genesis, the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need in order to grow. What’s more, cannabinoids seem to kill tumor cells without affecting surrounding normal cells. If these findings hold true as research pro-gresses, cannabinoids would demonstrate a huge advantage over conventional chemo-therapy agents, which too often destroy nor-mal cells as well as cancer cells.

As long ago as 1975, researchers reported that cannabinoids inhibited the growth of a certain type of lung cancer cell in test tubes and in mice. Since then, laboratory studies have shown that cannabinoids have effects against tumor cells from glioblastoma (a deadly type of brain cancer) as well as those from thyroid cancer leukemia/lymphoma, and skin, uterus, breast, stomach, colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers.

So far, the only human test of cannabi-noids against cancer was performed in Spain, and was designed to determine if treatment was safe, not whether it was effec-tive. (In studies on humans, such “phase one trials,” are focused on establishing the safety of a new drug, as well as the right dosage.) In the Spanish study, reported in 2006, the dose was administered intracranially, directly into the tumors of patients with recurrent brain cancer. The investigation established the safety of the dose and showed that the compound used decreased cell proliferation

in at least two of nine patients studied.It is not clear that smoking marijuana

achieves blood levels high enough to have these anticancer effects. We need more hu-man research, including well-designed stud-ies to find the best mode of administration.

If you want to learn more about this sub-ject, I recommend an excellent documentary film, What If Cannabis Cured Cancer, by Len Richmond, which summarizes the remark-able research findings of recent years. Most medical doctors are not aware of this infor-mation and its implications for cancer pre-vention and treatment. The film presents compelling evidence that our current policy on Cannabis is counterproductive.

Another reliable source of information is the chapter on cannabinoids and cancer in Integrative Oncology (Oxford University Press, 2009), a textbook I edited with integra-tive oncologist Donald I. Abrams, M.D.

After more than 70 years of misinforma-tion about this botanical remedy, I am de-lighted that we are finally gaining a mature understanding of its immense therapeutic potential.

(Andrew Weil, M.D., invites you to join the conversation. Become a fan on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, and check out his Daily Health Tips Blog. Dr. Weil is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and the editorial director of www.DrWeil.com. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/sto-ry/148157/) u


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south texas Food bank

Agencies, pantries keys in food distributionBy salO

OTErOSalo Otero is the

director of development for the South Texas

Food Bank. He can be reached at sotero@

southexasfoodbank.org or by calling 956-726-3120.

The South Texas Food Bank (STFB) is on the front line of hunger in Laredo and covers eight coun-ties along the Río Grande from

Del Río to Río Grande City. Needy clients are plentiful, especially right in our own backyard. Just check out the statistics ac-cording to the United States census: 30.4 percent of Webb County residents live below the poverty line -- almost double the state average of 16.3 percent and triple the national average; 41.5 percent of Webb County’s children live below the poverty line -- this equals to 37,473 children, which is enough the fill the Laredo Energy Arena almost five times; senior citizens served by the STFB have an average monthly income of $869 per household.

Elia Solis, STFB agency coordinator, reported that 85 member agencies and 48 pantries are at the ready to serve the eight-county area. She noted that close to 23,000 families are served monthly, including 36,508 adults, 19,000 children, and 66,963 meals. More than 14,000 families per month are served in Laredo-Webb County.

A pantry is a distribution site and a member agency is a distribution and feed-ing site.

Solis said, “The food bank is in need of additional pantries in each of the service area counties. The unemployment rate in these areas has not improved this year. The demand for food continues to increase and the existing pantries cannot meet the demand.

“Many of the pantries have been af-fected by the negative economic conditions and are not able to increase their funding to reach more people. To better serve the needy families, additional distribution sites are needed, especially in the areas south of the city.”

To become a member agency of the STFB, the applicant must be a non-profit, public charity with a 501 (c 3) certification. Call Solis at the food bank (956) 726-3120 for information and referrals for those who need assistance.

Agencies in Laredo are located north of Calton Road in central Laredo, south of Guadalupe Street, west of Santa Maria, the downtown area, and the southside com-munities of El Cenizo and Río Bravo. The outlying counties have seven agencies in Starr (Río Grande City-Roma-San Isidro-La

Grulla) four agencies each in Zapata, Mav-erick (Eagle Pass), Val Verde (Del Río), and one each in Dimmitt (Carrizo Springs), Jim Hogg (Hebbronville), and Kinney (Brack-ettville).

The agencies in Laredo with the high-est number of families served are Christ Church Episcopal at 550 and Salvation Army at 450 families per month. The larg-est outlying counties’ agencies are Dim-mitt County EMS in Carrizo Springs at 700 per month, First Baptist Church in Del Río serves 647, and SHC Precinct No. 3 in Starr County (Río Grande City) serves 624.

The newest agency in Laredo is at St. Peter the Apostle Church in downtown Laredo, started by pastor Rev. Father Toby Guerrero. Father Toby, a native of Crystal City, became pastor at St. Peter’s in Novem-ber of 2009 after being director of vocations for the Diocese of Laredo. Father Toby saw the need for a food pantry. “People were coming to the door (of the rectory) asking for food,” he said. “Some were homeless and some were families.”

With the help of parishioner Joe Marti-nez, a counselor at Alexander High School, the pantry was opened, distributing food once per month to between 50 and 100 families mostly from El Cuatro (neighbor-hood), as well as the elderly. Father Toby raises funds for the pantry from a second collection monthly. “It has been a tremen-dous success and very gratifying to see people getting the food they need,” Father Toby said. “I’m very excited about it.”

Thirty-three agencies in Laredo are faith-based. St. Peter is one of three Dio-cese of Laredo parishes that distribute food in cooperation with the food bank. The other two are Christ the King and Holy Redeemer.

The STFB was established in 1989 with help from H-E-B. It distributed 9.2 million pounds of product in 2009 and is on course to hit the 10 million pound mark in 2010.

The elderly Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) served 7,078 indi-viduals in August. The program provides a monthly bag of supplemental food to qualified seniors ages 60 and over. There are 458 on a waiting list. Claudia Ramirez is the CSFP coordinator.

The Kids Café program offers after school meals at 12 Laredo sites. More than 10,000 meals are served per month. Gua-

dalupe (Ellie) Reyes is the Kids Café coor-dinator. Kids Cafés served 15,030 meals in August to 1,060 children. They have served 112,785 meals so far this year.

Assistance is provided to families in signing up for the Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps), CHIP, Medicaid, and other state assistance programs. Alma Blanco is the food bank coordinator for these programs. Close to 500 SNAP ap-plications were filled out in August, rep-resenting 700 adults and 712 children. For the year, 3,370 applications involving 4,559 adults and 4,407 children have been filled.

Adopt-a-family is a community-spon-sored program that provides a 40-50-pound bag of groceries monthly to needy families. Sponsorships cost $120 per year. Cindy Liendo Espinoza is the coordinator. A total of 811 families are in the Adopt-a-Family program with 437 on a waiting list as of

August.Additionally, more than 100 armed ser-

vices veterans and their widows receive a monthly bag of food.

At a recent board meeting, executive director Alfredo Castillo reported that 739,544 pounds of product was distributed during August. It brings the year’s total to 6,736,746 (6.7 million) pounds -- one mil-lion pounds over the 2009 figure.

Through July 147,638 families have been served by the South Texas Food Bank, among them 124,896 children and 235,263 adults accounting for 374,356 meals.

The food bank is located at 1907 Freight at Riverside in west Laredo. The mailing ad-dress is PO Box 2007, Laredo, TX, 78044. The phone number is (956) 726-3120 and website is www.southtexasfoodbank.org. The food bank is also on Facebook and Twitter. The food bank is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. u


By dr. nEO guTiErrEz

Dr. 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

A few weeks back, Nick Mayo, son of ex-Laredoan Bill Mayo of New Braunfels and grand-son of Laredoan Suzy Neel

Mayo, made it all the way from the Broad-way stage to national television in a special PBS telecast of South Pacific. The telecast came from Lincoln Center, the most presti-gious showcase in New York City. The tele-cast also marked the end of the musical’s two-and-a-half year run at Lincoln Center.

Nick is a Juilliard graduate. His first Broadway show was The Ritz with Rosie Perez. He has been with South Pacific, his second show since previews in 2008, in the role of Richard West. Proud father Bill, owner of his own brokerage company, tells us that Nick began his stage career at five on the deck of the Mayo family river house in New Braunfels, where he set up his karaoke machine and sang for tourists floating down the river. Later, he expanded

to selling snacks and performing what he called dinner shows.

“Imagine my pride, his being in the cast today of a Broadway classic that opened in 1949 and back then earned 10 Tony Awards, including best musical.”

But back to Los Angeles, where anoth-er ex-Laredoan, Dyana Ortelli, known in Laredo as Dyana Elizondo, received recog-nition as a nominee at the annual Imagen Awards presented by the Imagen Founda-tion, which dedicates itself to portraying Latinos in a positive manner in the enter-tainment industry. Helen Hernandez and Norman Lear started the annual awards show 25 years ago.

This year the awards were held in the ballroom of the luxurious Beverly Hilton Hotel. And Dyana could not have been happier to attend as one of the nominees for an award that recognizes and elevates the image and status of all Latinos. Back

Nick Mayo on Broadway and PBS telecast;Dyana Ortelli at Imagen Awards

in 1983, Norman Lear was acutely aware of the absence of positive portrayals of Lati-nos in the entertainment industry. He, of course, understood the importance of posi-tive images on stage, television, and film. Lear, with the help of many entertainment companies and community leaders, gave birth to the Imagen Awards competition. To date, among past winners are names like George Lopez, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lo-pez, and even Dora the Explorer.

As usual, the excitement at the event started on the red carpet. Laredo’s “La Ortelli” arrived in a black strapless gown accessorized with a colorful, one-of-a-kind long rosary necklace, Mexican crosses, and numerous vintage Mexican bracelets. She was joined by the three beautiful and talented co-hosts of her nominated groundbreaking internet talk show, “Let’s Talk,” Bel Hernandez, Mar-bina Jaimes, and Kikey Castillo. The four granted interview after interview to the media on the topic of best internet pro-gram, the first, the original, and the only talk show with the Latina point of view. Dyana explained that they cover a broad range of topics, from hate crimes against Latinos to immigration, health, fashion, and fitness. It’s like the Latino happy hour, where they serve hot topics with a twist of flavor, and a big shot of rele-vance. The show can be seen at any time on the web at www.letstalkshow.tv or at www.LatinHeat.com. Other luminar-ies on the red carpet included America Ferrera, Edward James Olmos, and Lupe Ontiveros. Also in attendance were the U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and

United Farm Workers icon and leader Dolores Huerta.

The audience consisted of 500 partici-pants, representing the entertainment in-dustry and the Latino community. Upon receiving the silver anniversary celebra-tion special award, Lear said, “Honoring the contributions of Latinos at the cultur-al trough we all drink from could not be more important at this time.” Lear, affec-tionately called the “Padrino” of the Ima-gen Awards, also recognized Peter Bratt, whose movie La Mision received top hon-ors. Winners were selected in 18 catego-ries from film, television, and the internet, judged by an independent panel of enter-tainment industry executives and Latino community leaders.

Though Dyana’s internet program did not receive an award, she said, “How can you not be a winner when you are in the company of Norman Lear, Hilda Solis, and Dolores Huerta? I feel like part of the fam-ily!”

To close, congratulations to Julia Vera’s son, PJ Andrews, who won his third Emmy award for editing on 24. And ex-Laredoan Lucy Rincon’s ex-kinder student in Bryan, Rico Rodriguez, returns to the new season of Modern Family, which won the Emmy for best comedy. Watch for the new season of Dancing With the Stars, in which Mark Ballas partners with Bristol Palin. Mark is the grandson of Maria Luisa Marulanda, now of Houston, who had a terrific dance school in Laredo around 1950, when I was a student at MHS.

And on that note, it’s time for -- as Nor-ma Adamo puts it -- TAN TAN! u


By STEVE TREViÑO JR. AND ROgER SANCHEZ JR.

Every facet of Laredo Community College, including its courses, degrees, and services, has again met the rigorous standards of

the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), which granted LCC full reaffirmation for accreditation for another 10-year period.

As a nationally accredited institution, LCC guarantees current and future students that in addition to its affordable tuition they can expect their courses to meet the same qual-ity standards as those offered by colleges and universities throughout the state and nation.

In a letter to LCC President Dr. Juan L. Maldonado, SACS accepted a series of re-ports prepared by the college as part of the reaffirmation process and informed him that LCC was fully reaffirmed for accredita-tion through the year 2020.

“Laredo Community College is extreme-ly proud and pleased to receive reaffirma-tion without any conditions from SACS,” Maldonado said. “This accomplishment is a testament to the excellence of our institu-tion, its students, and its personnel.”

LCC boasts a long and distinguished his-tory of being accredited by SACS since 1957. Member institutions must seek reaffirma-tion for accreditation every 10 years.

Maldonado explained that the reaffirma-tion process took about 18 months to com-plete. In addition to the reports submitted to SACS for review and approval, LCC received an official site visit by a review team as part of the process.

“The process was detailed, comprehen-sive, and intensive research focusing on what LCC is doing and how well it meets the standards for accreditation set by SACS, as well as how LCC meets its mission and goals as a community college,” Maldonado said.

He added that the achievement could have not have been realized without the full coop-eration of the campus body and community.

“The process to getting reaffirmed was really a special collaboration involving every single unit of LCC. We received valuable input and assistance from a great number of person-nel representing the entire spectrum of the college community, the board of trustees, and the community at large,” Maldonado noted.

Maldonado added that institutional ef-fectiveness is an area that needed to be ad-dressed by the college.

LCC is reaffirmed for national accreditationlaredo Community College

“LCC has developed the necessary strat-egy by adding personnel and funding to make sure that institutional effectiveness is being addressed at LCC,” Maldonado said.

LCC will submit one-year and five-year follow-up reports as part of the new reaffir-mation process set by SACS.

Accreditation is an integral component for any higher education institution because it provides college students with a smooth transition to other higher education institu-tions or professional practice.

“As institutions of higher education, it is imperative to preserve their accreditation sta-tus. Students who go to an accredited college or university can easily transfer their credits within the state or out of the state knowing that their transcripts reflect standards and quality that are met by that institution and its students,” Maldonado said.

Sweeney Todd musical comes to lifeon LCC stage Oct. 28-31

Following on the success of Disney’s High School Musical On Stage! last spring, Laredo Community College’s Opera Workshop will perform Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street during this year’s Halloween weekend.

Four performances are slated, includ-

ing a special gala reception for LCC Patron Package ticket holders on Thursday, Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Guadalupe and Lilia Mar-tinez Fine Arts Center Theater located on the Fort McIntosh Campus. The Patron Package is $25 and includes the reception and a ticket to the performance. Patron Packages can be purchased by calling the LCC Performing Arts Department at 721-5330.

General admission tickets for the pre-miere are $10. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit student scholarships and future productions.

The tale of Sweeney Todd is a dark comedy. Benjamin Barker, a.k.a. Sweeney Todd, returns to London after 15 years of false imprison-ment. Barker’s former landlady, Mrs. Lovett, tells Barker that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by the judge who wrongfully sen-tenced him. Barker vows revenge.

“It’s an interesting look at a man on a downward spiral in life,” said Dr. Joseph Crabtree, LCC Performing Arts Department chair and director of the LCC Opera Work-shop. Crabtree also will be playing the title role.

In 2007, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks released a feature film adaptation starring Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd.

“The movie did a lot of cinematography, but it short-changed the story in a number of places,” Crabtree said. “You never re-ally see Sweeney as a sympathetic character. The musical on the other hand is a much fuller-telling story than the movie. If you know only the movie, you don’t really know Sweeney Todd.”

The cast, which consists of about 45 LCC Opera Workshop students, comes from all walks of life.

“This is one of the strongest casts I have ever worked with,” Crabtree said. “We have a diverse range of performers, including high school students and professionals who are in their 20s and even through 70s. The cast is real-ly combining on this and will do really well.”

“It will be an unforgettable theater expe-rience for all,” Crabtree added.

The LCC Opera Workshop will perform additional shows on Friday, Oct. 29 and Sat-urday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m., as well as a mati-nee Halloween performance on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 3 p.m.

For more information on the musical or for ticket information, contact the LCC Performing Arts Department at 721-5330 or email Dr. Joseph Crabtree at [email protected]. u

Cast members from LCC’s Opera Workshop are gearing up for the upcoming performance of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Pictured, from left to right during a recent rehearsal, are Jessica Cardenas as Johanna and Roger Salazar as Anthony Hope.

Sweeney Todd: The demon Barber of Fleet Street

Cou

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A few weeks ago, a friend of mine in Laredo relayed a complaint on how difficult it was to train for a marathon while living in

the Gateway City. The complaint revolved around the general indifference, if not hos-tility, of many Laredoans toward anything that resembled physical activity.

Little did my friend know that there were many more obstacles that runners once faced in Laredo. And while the run-ning community is growing stronger ev-ery year, that was not always the case.

Laredo high school runners have long contributed to the lore of competition at the district, regional, and state level for de-cades. In fact, former United High School cross country and track coach, Humberto Adame, running for Martin High School, won the 1955 Texas state cross country title in 9:45. It was a state record at the time for the two-mile distance. Yet despite his well-deserved victory, Laredo was not exactly embracing the sport of distance running.

Humberto’s brother, Homero, a long-time coach at Martin and Nixon High Schools, later reminisced about the pau-city of support for runners during that time. “There were no road races in Lare-do,” Homero pointed out. “Instead, I had to race in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to get in shape for the long-distance events.”

Even though both Adame brothers later went on to compete at the University of Texas at Austin during the 1960s, Laredo as a whole remained disinterested in run-ning.

The 1970s began to change the mind-set for running. The jogging revolution, sparked by the success of American ath-letes in recent Olympic competition, fur-ther inspired Americans to take up running as an organized activity. In 1979, the late Santiago Sanchez, the owner of Hamilton Jewelry and Trophies, organized the first annual Guajolote 10K on a cold and blus-tery Thanksgiving morning. According to the Laredo Morning Times, 45 participants -- including Sanchez himself -- braved the elements to take part in a race that would ultimately become a Laredo fixture more than 30 years later.

One of the organizers for that inaugu-ral race, Ramiro Barrera, in many ways, led the running movement in Laredo during the next decade. Barrera, a coach at Laredo

the Mendoza line

Running clubs in LaredoBy alEx

MEndOzaNative Laredoan Dr. Alex

Mendoza received his PhD from Texas Tech University and has written books and articles

on various historical topics from war and memory to barrios and

distance running. He can be reached at [email protected].

Junior College (later, LCC) and the Laredo Morning Times’ Athlete of the Year in 1983, led a tight-knit group of runners who sup-ported and organized road races throughout the city during the 1980s. Runners like Elias Mendiola, Richard Hughes, and Joe Navarro served as the nexus for anyone considering running, competitive or otherwise. Yet for all their success, including marathon finishes and newspaper profiles, there was little or-ganization beyond a small group of runners who offered advice, support, and encourage-ment at local races.

Some of the challenges inherent to Laredo runners at that time were prac-tically overwhelming. Beyond the hot weather -- a perpetual concern -- there were other issues as well. For instance, the city’s population at the end of 1980s was just slightly over 100,000 and the related growing pains were clearly evident in the lack of infrastructure and the general lack of awareness that drivers displayed on the city streets. Yet runners continued to infor-mally organize themselves and offer each other support and encouragement.

This appeared to pay off. By the 1990s, Laredo had a full-blown running com-munity. While runners like Hughes ap-proached personal milestones like run-ning over 50 marathons across America (he would later run close to 80 such races and be included in the Times’ Century of

Athletes Honor Roll), others, like Browns-ville transplant, Rene Guillen, a teacher at United South Middle School, brought ad-ditional acclaim to the running commu-nity by qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Trials. Local runners continued to develop this spirit of collaboration by gathering at a local gym on McPherson every weekend for long runs. This type of camaraderie paid off as Laredoans became frequent participants in well-known races such as the Beach-to-Bay Marathon Relay and the Boston or New York City Marathons, as well as others. With increasing regular-ity, Salo Otero, the former Sports Editor at the Times, mentioned these runners in his Thursday column. Except this time, there were new names being added to the roll: Roby Freeman, Maribel Garcia, Benny Ro-driguez, and Bill Hrncir, to name a few.

By the turn of the 21st century, howev-er, the scope and outlook for the running community in Laredo had been completely transformed. For the first time, there were now organizations like the Laredo Roadrun-ners, whose membership reached high as 40 members at one point, provided a for-mal structure for runners interested in participating and learning about the sport in a recreational or competitive fashion. The Laredo Roadrunners, were, in fact, cred-ited by Christopher Kaloki, a Kenyan run-ner who won the 2008 Founding Father’s

5K Run, for encouraging him to run the lo-cal road race that was part of the broader George Washington Birthday Celebration festivities that year.

The end of the decade has seen addi-tional groups step into the mix of culti-vating and supporting Laredo’s running community. In the last couple of years, two additional clubs have been founded. Laredo Heat Running Club and RunStrong Laredo have each provided local runners an avenue for training and support. Laredo Heat, founded by Benny Rodriguez and a few friends in 2002, prides itself in helping runners to “develop speed and strength and increase their competitiveness” while keeping things “fun,” according to their website (laredoheatrunning.com). Coach-ing via the club has even been available for those interested.

RunStrong Laredo has also been a boon to the city’s runners. Organized earlier this year, the club has witnessed a thriving membership in its short lifespan. Accord-ing to Selena Chavez-Hance, the impetus for organizing a running club originated from training with her best friend, Bar-bara Rivera Mendez, for the “Rock and Roll” Marathon in San Antonio. “It was by chance,” Chavez-Hance noted, that RunStrong Laredo came into existence.

Guajolote 10K Run 2009

CONTiNuED ON NExT PAgE 44


In 1994, two key things happened that would impact the future of the 1,885-mile Río Grande, known as the Río Bravo in Mexico. 2010 is a key

year in the history of North America’s sec-ond largest river.

In 1994, a group of scientists and vision-aries founded the Río Grande International Study Center (RGISC) at Laredo Commu-nity College and el Centro Internacional de Estudios del Río Bravo (CIER) in Nuevo Laredo. This bi-national organization was formed to study and address the threats to the river.

Since then, the United States and Mex-ico formed the bi-national initiative called Border 2012 to determine and address the environmental issues along the US-Mexico border, of which 65% is the Río Grande. Under Border 2012, the two governments formed the Border Environment Coopera-tion Commission (BECC) to focus on im-

plementing programs that would enhance environmental cooperation and protection of the borderlands.

Another significant event in 1994 was the launch of Día del Río. A celebration of the river that unites eight states in two countries, it was created with the coop-eration of nonprofit organizations, govern-mental agencies, and institutions in New Mexico and Texas, as well as the Mexican states of Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.

Over the years RGISC-CIER faithfully kept Día del Río alive with river clean ups and restoration projects. During this same period, the Río Grande was ranked as the most endangered river in North America by American Rivers and the seventh most endangered river in the world by the World Wildlife Fund.

In 2009, RGISC~CIER redefined and refined their binational mission -- to pre-

inside the Checkpoints

Día del Río 2010 - a celebration of the Río Grande-Río Bravo

By Jay J. JOHnsOn-

CasTrO, sr.Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr. is a human rights activist and founder

of www.FreedomAm-bassadors.com.

Then, as word spread as to the benefits of running with a friend and partner became evident, others start-ed to join. “I started telling my hus-band, John, about how good it felt to run, and then things started rolling,” Chavez-Hance recalled. “Once we got to 17-18 runners training together, we decided to make something of it and RunStrong Laredo was born.”

Embracing the 21st century has come easy for RunStrong Laredo. So-cial media platforms like Facebook, the world wide web (runstronglaredo.com), and mass texts informing run-ners as to the latest training times are all part of the club’s appeal. Yet that is not the only factor that has led to more than 100 runners taking part of RunStrong Laredo. “It is the cama-raderie,” notes Chavez-Hance. “We welcome everybody, even people who can’t run one mile yet.” For those who might be new to the sport, in-formal advice from longtime runners is available, free of charge. “‘Run for the health of it’ is our motto,” Chavez-Hance stated.

More importantly, RunStrong Laredo

recognizes the history of the sport in the Gateway City and the dire need for tutelage and support. Chavez-Hance noted how some longtime Laredo marathon runners have joined the group, acknowledging that very fact. As such, the club has organized a re-lay race in October, “The Kick Asphalt Relay,” to give back to the community and the youth of Laredo and address longtime concerns such as obesity and diabetes. And if citizens from beyond Laredo begin to rethink their opin-ions about running in Laredo, so be it. RunStrong Laredo welcomes this no-tion.

Ultimately the landscape of run-ning in the Gateway City -- much like the city itself -- has grown dramatical-ly over the last several years. Gone are the lonely, somewhat disorganized moments that marked the earlier eras in the development of Laredo’s run-ning community. In its wake remains a stronger base, with the advent of new clubs and organizations that can offer anyone -- from the talented high school star to the person interested in intrinsic rewards -- an opportunity for guidance and support. And that is a great accomplishment. u


serve, protect, and foster respect for the river, its watershed, environment, and cultures through research, education, and binational stewardship and alliances with individuals, agencies, and organizations. RGISC-CIER began building a data base of over 500 organizations, agencies, and insti-tutes and began promoting the formation of such an alliance.

In 2009 RGISC-CIER submitted a grant application to the Environmental Protec-tion Agency’s Border Environment Coop-eration Commission to reintroduce and revive the Día del Río celebration up and down the watershed in 2010. The grant was approved earlier this year.

This year’s event will be held on Oc-tober 16, all the way from Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas to the estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico. This year’s celebration will include the par-ticipation of some of the Native American Pueblos as well.

We hope to attract educators, environ-mentalists, citizens, elected officials, agen-cies, organizations, and the media at local, state, national, and international levels. Never has a major watershed had its water tested on the same day, in the same hour, in so many locations.

On October 6, 50 schools, 35 on the US side and 15 on the Mexican side, will per-form such a historic feat. It is being called the Río Research Roundup. Students, un-der the guidance of their teachers, will use professional scientific water testing kits to measure some 10 parameters of their part of the watershed. They will record their testing and document their activities on video, which will be posted to YouTube.

In addition to the water testing, each school will be collecting samples of water and putting them in special containers, labeled with their school, state, and por-tion of the river. This snapshot testing will serve as a model for watersheds on every

continent.The Río Relay will also be held that day.

Starting at the headwaters in Colorado, it will work its way down to the mouth of the river on October 16 for a special ceremony.

The students will deliver their special containers to the Río Relay vehicle as it comes to their schools in their respective cities.

A vehicle representing the Mexico side will join the Relay in El Paso/Juárez and then both vehicles will travel the remaining miles, meeting at a series of international bridges over the international line above the river. Once the Río Relay reaches the mouth of the river at Boca Chica-Bagdad, the fresh waters collected will be poured in a ceremonial offering into the estuaries in the saltwater of the Gulf of Mexico.

Organizations supporting this event in-clude the International Boundary and Wa-ter Commission, La Comision Internacio-nal del Limites y el Agua, World Wildlife Fund, Gulf of Mexico Foundation, River Systems Institute, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Parks and Wildlife, National Wildlife Refuges, Los Caminos del Río, Río Grande Headwaters Land Trust, Río Grande Headwaters Resto-ration Project, Project WET, and Los Ala-mos National Laboratory, among others.

While RGISC~CIER has focused on the Río Research Roundup and the Río Relay, cities, parks, and organizations will be holding special events in their local and regional areas. This will include kayaking, tree planting, cleanup projects, as well as art and musical events.

For more information about Día del Río 2010, the participating schools, their test-ing results, and their video coverage, the Río Relay route, the numerous organiza-tions involved in this year’s celebration and the formation of the watershed alliance, go to www.diadelrio.com. For information about local events, call (956) 721-5392 or e-mail [email protected]. u


texas a&M international university

Dr. Humberto González, who recently retired as dean of Texas A&M International University’s College of Education after 14 years of dedicated service, has been named Professor Emeritus by

the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.“It’s a tremendous honor to receive this recognition,”

González said, “ I look forward to my continued service as Professor Emeritus and accomplishing what the University asks me to do in that position.”

TAMIU President Dr. Ray Keck said that the University’s College of Education experienced stability and growth dur-ing González’s deanship. “We thank Dr. González for his years of tireless work and dedicated service to the Universi-ty,” Dr. Keck said, “One of the most notable accomplishments of the College was the key role it played in the establishment of the Laredo Early College High School at TAMIU. Dr. González’s legacy will continue as hundreds of high school students take University courses on our campus as they get themselves prepared for college.”

González joined TAMIU in 1996. He received his doctoral degree in education from Texas A&M University in College Station. His bachelor’s degree in music and master’s degree in educational administration and master of music degree were received at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Prior to serving as dean of the College of Education, González served as interim provost and vice president of academic affairs. He also served as chair of the Department of Educational Administration and professor of educational administration.

Dr. González and his wife, Cynthia, also a retired teacher of 30 years, live in Hebbronville and have two daughters, Alissa, a first year medical student at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Melissa Salinas, wife of John Eric Salinas, principal of Cigarroa High School. They have two granddaughters, Madison August and Jenna Emily Salinas.

For more information, please contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing, and Information Services at 326-2180, e-mail [email protected], or visit offices located in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

TAMIU makes the list of

U.S. News & World Report’s college rankingsTAMIU made the short list of best regional universities

in the country as ranked by the 2011 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s highly anticipated and sometimes controver-sial college rankings.

“When students and prospective students see how TAMIU ranks, they can see that we rank equal and higher to other re-gional universities -- public and private. By coming to TAMIU, they get a better value for their money. Laredoans don’t have to leave home to get a quality education,” said Dr. Keck.

U.S New & World Report defines regional universities as “Like the national universities, regional universities (as de-fined by the Carnegie Foundation as universities-master’s) provide a full range of undergraduate programs and some

Dr. González named TAMIU ProfessorEmeritus after 14 years of service

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (center) and Sen. Judith Zaffirini recently joined TAMIU President Dr. Ray Keck to dedicate the University’s $25 million University Success Center. Pictured from left to right are Dr. Pablo Arenaz, TAMIU provost; Minita Ramirez, TAMIU vice president for Student Success; Sen. Zaffirini; Lt. Gov. Dewhurst; Texas A&M University System Chancellor Michael McKinney; Dr. Keck; and Representative Ryan Guillen.

University Success center dedication

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master’s level programs. They offer few, if any, doctoral pro-grams. The 572 regional universities are ranked within four geographic areas: North, South, Midwest, and West.”

Compared to other regional public universities in Texas, TAMIU tied with the University of Texas–Tyler and Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. It rated higher than West Texas A&M University in Canyon and the Univer-sity of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa.

For more information, please contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at [email protected], 326.2180, or visit offices at Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

TAMIU students, Laredo Public Libraryhost ‘Saturday Story Hour’

Introduce your child to the joy of reading with the “Saturday Story Hour” offered by the TAMIU Teachers’ Club at the Lare-do Public Library main library branch at 1120 East Calton Road from 2-3 p.m. The program will continue through Dec. 18.

This free program is aimed at children ages three through eight who must be accompanied by an adult. Through Story Hour, the Club plans to introduce children to the pleasure of stories, create excitement about books and reading, and encourage a lifelong love for books and literature while ex-ploring a different theme.

Through this program, the Club hopes to foster parent/adult-child interaction through their participation in the games and creative activities related to the reading,” ex-plained Dr. Sandra Garret, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction and faculty advisor.

“Dual Language Club readers will also be able to provide a story time experience that includes language support for children who speak English as a second language,” Dr. Gar-rett added.

Children’s librarians will help share their expertise and help select age appropriate books for Club members to read. Garret

provides support to the Club by providing training, supervis-ing, monitoring, and assisting with evaluating club activities.

For more information, please contact Garret at [email protected].

Paintings and sculptures on Displayat the TAMIU art gallery

Enjoy taking in some art at the exhibit currently on dis-play at the TAMIU Center for the Fine and Performing Arts (CFPA) Gallery. The exhibit, “Fields and Monuments: Paint-ings by Joey Fauerso and Sculptures by Riley Robinson,” marks the first time San Antonio artists Fauerso and Rob-inson exhibit their work together. Admission to the Gallery and reception is free and open to the public.

Fauerso is an assistant professor of art and design at Texas State University. Her recent paintings and videos have been exhibited at the Hogar Collection in Brooklyn, New York; i8 Gallery in Rekjavik, Iceland; Sala Diaz in San Antonio; and UTSA Satellite Space in San Antonio.

Robinson, studio director at Artpace in San Antonio, has seen his work exhibited at Sala Diaz in San Antonio; Testsite in Austin; the Corpus Christi Museum of Art in Corpus Christi; and in Stockholm, Sweden. He is currently working on two public art commissions for the city of San Antonio.

His “Monument to a Monument” references the arc of modernism, starting with Vladimir Tatlin’s “Monument to the Third International” and ending with Chris Burden’s “Medusa’s Head.”

The exhibit will be on display through Thursday, Oct. 14. Hours of operation are 12 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thurs-day and by appointment. To have an event reminder sent by e-mail or text or downloaded to your calendar, visit the Uni-versity’s online calendar at www.tamiu.edu/calendar.

For more information, contact Alma Haertlein, Gallery director and associate professor of art, at [email protected] or 326.3041. u

laredos september 2010

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