EL RRUN RRUN

By Jim Barton

The Brownsville Observer.blogspot

Judge Rodolfo "Rudy" Delgado was arrested at his home in Edinburg Friday by the F.B.I. with nothing revealed yet as to charges. (Actually, it was taking bribes for court decisions favorable to the briber or his clients.)

In 2010-11, Delgado, a crony of the ultra-slimy Gilberto Hinojosa, was selected as a substitute judge in the Ernie Hernandez-Ruben Pena voter fraud trial.

At the time, this blog reported two distinct incidents during the trial, both weakly handled by Delgado, allowing the status quo on the use of politiqueras and the mishandling of mail-in ballots to continue. Here is a snippet from our 2012 report:

"Four prominent Brownville politiqueras were identified and received trial subpoenas: Norma Hernandez(Ernie's wife), Herminia Becerra, Amadeo Rodriguez and Margarita Ozuna (not to be confused with political activist Maggie Ozuna). All four went into hiding! Three process servers and one detective could not locate the witnesses so critical to the trial.

Here are Ruben Pena's discouraging opening remarks at the trial:

'Herminia Becerra, Norma Hernandez, Amadeo Rodriguez and Margarita Ozuna. . . . we immediately issued out trial subpoenas for them, and through today we have not been able to find a single one of them They are not to be found. They, as I predicted, are hiding . . . . . . These individuals are very critical to this case. They are the individuals who, for the most part, obtained almost a majority of the mail-in ballots, along with the applications. Without their presence, without their testimony, our case is going to be very hampered and very limited.'

Of course, these four can be seen around town prominently at many political events. Certainly, Ernie Hernandez knew where his wife was. But, the four politiqueras had no interest in the truth or having their day in court and cowardly went into hiding. In a way, it made perfect sense. If you have absolutely no respect for the election process, why would you respect the judicial process?"

Not only did the four politiqueras, including Ernie Hernandez's wife Norma, make themselves scarce for the trial, witnesses willing to testify about the mishandling of their mail-in ballots were surreptitiously sent home early. Here is more from our 2012 report:

"Then, during a break in the trial, Ernie Hernandez sympathizer Sylvia Garza-Perez, it is alleged, sent home the critically needed voters waiting to testify about their stolen votes. Delgado stated in his ruling that, while he believed those who had testified, the sheer numbers were not enough to overturn the election. Of course! The needed witnesses had been sent home! A missed opportunity to right the Cameron County electoral ship!"

Epilogue: As we hear the actual charges against Judge Rudy Delgado today, we can recall the role he played in Brownsville and Cameron County in fostering a continued environment for voter fraud.

FWIW, we heard later that the four politiqueras, including Ernie's wife Norma, were holed up in a condo on S.P.I. during the trial.

http://brownsvilleobserver.blogspot.com/2018/02/how-arrested-edinburg-judge-fostered.html

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

(Mr. Montoya Only in San Benito does 1+1=5. Our city manager Manuel DeLa Rosa was recently evaluated by our Mayor and Four Commissioners. Under the city manager's contract in order of him to get a $5,000 raise he must obtain an ABOVE SATISFACTORY RATING. Under his contract, which runs through Jan. 31, 2020, commissioners are required to conduct six-month evaluations which could come with $5,000 pay increases upon “above-satisfactory” job performance ratings.

Now, De La Rosa’s salary stands at $110,000, city spokeswoman Martha McClain stated.The combined average score given to him was a 3.4.That is not an ABOVE SATISFACTORY SCORE. OUT OF THE 20 categories 10 seem to be bias in favor of the city manager. The city manager has not resolved issues with the EX-EDC Director that he fired and the Police Chief who has had SEVERAL COMPLAINTS FILED against him.

The City Manager always falls back on "CAN'T COMMENT IT'S A PERSONAL MATTER." The citizens of San Benito are being kept in the dark on many ISSUES. Thanks in advance from one of your 8 readers in San Benito.)

By John Young and Barbara Hill

The Port posted an announcement about the candidate filing deadline on a gated building at the Port on 12-07-2017, visible only to those visiting that building.

The building where the Port's Board Meetings are being held while the Port Administrative Building is being remodeled. The Port didn't post it on the Port website until 02-07-2018, after KVEO reporter Marlene Rodriguez called the Port to ask about the candidate filing deadline.

See "Voters Concerned with Lack of Notice of Upcoming Port Election," Marlane Rodriguez, 02-09-2018, KVEO Channel 23 RGV Proud,http://www.rgvproud.com/news/local-news/voters-concerned-with-lack-of-notice-of-upcoming-port-election/963688238

Did Port Communications Patty Gonzales really say that the Port's only obligation, according to Port protocol, was to post a public notice at the entrance of a gated building at the Port on 12-07-2017? In addition to being gated, the building's a temporary location for Board Meetings while the Port Administrative Building is being renovated.

Our Port's ranked among the top three US Foreign Trade Zones in terms of exports. And the Brownsville Navigation District includes portions of Brownsville, Los Fresnos, Ranch Viejo, and Olmito. If the notice was posted according to Port protocol, then the protocol is irresponsible and inappropriate.

The protocol should be based on the Brownsville Navigation District (BND) Board Policies. The Board Policies used to be posted on the Port's website but disappeared from the website when it was upgraded. The copy I downloaded 01-16-2016 is not user friendly. It's 120 pages long but not word searchable.

Looking at the Board Policy pages covering the eligibility, qualifications, and elections of Board Members, several things caught my attention:

A notice of the voting date and locations is to be published once a week for four weeks in a local newspaper. It appears that there's no similar requirement regarding the candidate filing deadline, that it need only be posted on a bulletin board where Board Meeting notices are regularly posted.

It appears (I could be wrong) that the filing deadline occurs before the election notices are to be published in a local paper. Shouldn't the general public be better informed about the candidate filing deadline in time to take advantage of it? Shouldn't the general public be better informed about the voting date and locations before reading about the election results?

There's a residency requirement for candidates, but the Port appeared to ignore questions about the residency of one of the 2016 candidates for Place 5 (Ed Rovera). As you well know.

There's information about write-in candidacies, but I have a dim memory from the 2016 Port Commissioner election that write-in votes ARE NOT ALLOWED under present law.

Whoever gets a plurality of the votes wins -- no runoff (except as an option in the case of tie votes).

And if a Commissioner resigns or is removed from office, the remaining Commissioners get to appoint a replacement – no BND vote required.

By Juan Montoya
Andres was watching a pool game at la Carta Brava Monday night.
Gaspar was slicing a new guy apart and had lost the first two games at $1 a piece bet on purpose, but just barely. Now they were playing for real money, $10 a table.

It was masterful the way Gaspar had played the newcomer, but also a bit boring because he had done it so many times before.

"Last pocket," Gaspar, the winner, had said before the game. "Cantaditas no guevas." (Call your shots, no slop.)

At about that time his barfly buddy El Chino sidled up to him at the bar. He ordered his usual Natural Light and asked Andres whether he had signed the petition.

"Cual petition?," he asked Chino.
"The one that asks pinche Trump to release El Memo. I signed it over at Brownsville Cafe on International. La tiene Javier tambien en El 1,2,3."

"Release cual memo, guey?"
"Memo Gonzalez, bro. El bato que vive en la Ringgold por la 4(21)."

Oh," I thought you were talking about the Democrats'," Andres said.
"Nombre, Memo no vota," said El Chino. "I don't think he's even registered to vote. Como que Democrats? Que no se de cuenta Trump porque se le cae el canton peor al pobre carnal."

"Te encerrado, Memo?," Andres asked. "I just saw him last week at La Movidita. Por que lo encerraron?

"Nobody knows, but the cops picked him up for P.I. and then the ICE guys nabbed him at the jail in the morning," El Chino said.
"ICE?,""Memo no gotte papers, o que onda?"

"Es mojarra and nobody knew," El Chino has answered. "I grew up at la 421 and went to school with him en la Faulk and I didn't even know que era de lotrano."

"Shit, one of his kids went to school with mine at Hanna," Andres had replied. "How long had Memo been here?"

"Since he was a kid, maybe five or six," said El Chino. "Sus jefes brought him from Mata when he was a kid. He went to Canales, then Faulk and Brownsville High School."

"So he's Dreamer, o que?," Andres asked.

"Dreamer my ass," El Chino said. "Se le durmio ell gallo. He never signed up. Pero te habla bien el ingles. De chavalones nos ivamos a Mata a agarrar la peda y nunca hubo pedo. Ahora con Trump 'ta pelón."

"Pinche Trump," Andres said under his breath as he took a sip of his tarro. "Next time I go to the Brownsville Cafe or to Javier's I'll make sure I sign it."
"Pinche Trump," El Chino agreed.

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

On December 12, 2017, the school board voted to adopt a District of Innovation plan.

They say that it is only for flexibility of the school calendar so that school can start before the last Monday in August. Supposedly, this will attract more students to come back to public school from charter schools.

Let’s be honest, parents are not moving their students to charter schools because they start earlier in the year. They are moving their children to charter schools because charter schools do not have to deal with the discipline problems, or special needs students. Public schools have to teach to all populations.

The fear about the District of Innovation is not only that our summer will be cut short, but that our rights will be taken away from us.

Under DOI, the school board can make new policies without informing the public.

Rights that are guaranteed to us by the state, such as 30 minutes duty free lunch, can be taken away from us. Student/teacher ratio, which is already increasing because the district is removing teachers from schools and making them “Support teachers”, will become even higher.

Another fear is that teachers become “at will” employees, which means that if the administration wants to fire a teacher, due process does not have to be followed. These things may not come into play for the 2018-2019 school year, but for the next four years, the district will have the right to make some of these changes. It is not just about the calendar.

At the board meeting, we got to see the true colors of the board members who were elected to their positions.

Let me go through and tell you about these people. First of all, there is Philip Cowen. Mr. Cowen had the audacity to call one of the teacher’s organizations, BEST (Brownsville Educators Stand Together) which is affiliated with AFT, “Brownsville Educators Stop Teaching”!

He attacked this group because they have been very active in trying to stop the District of Innovation.

They have been texting, calling, and emailing board members to let them know that if they vote for DOI, the organization will not vote for them in the next school board election. This organization has not been disrespectful, nor has it called anyone names. They have only made their feelings on the subject of DOI known.

Mr. Cowen has stated that we will not lose our rights, and he said that the student/teacher ratio of 22:1 will not increase. I have news for you, Mr. Cowan, the ratio has started increasing before DOI. What do you think will happen now?

Next we have Laura Perez-Reyes. This very young lady clearly does not know anything about education. She was comparing school districts and students to grocery stores and produce. She made the argument that if Wal-Mart opened its doors at 8:00 a.m. and HEB opened at 9:00, the store that opens earlier will be the one that gets the business.

Parents do not send their children to a particular school because it opens up earlier. We send our children to a particular school because of proximity to where we live and where we work. Come to think of it, it is like the grocery store comparison. We choose the store we shop at based on convenience.

However, a huge difference is that we also consider what the schools have to offer.

For example, I choose to send my kids to BISD because of the Fine Arts programs, and the CTE classes that charter schools don’t have. I did try a charter school for two years, but brought my kids back to BISD because I knew that BISD offered a more rounded education. Another thing that Ms. Perez-Reyes stated was that the teachers only complain, and don’t want to do anything like pay for insurance.

All I can say to that, Ms. Perez-Reyes, is become a teacher. When you have to make ends meet on the meager salary that we get, along with the disrespect from the government, the community, and the school board, then you can talk about teachers complaining.

Image result for BISD JOE RODRIGUEZ, PUPPETEER

Mr. Joe Rodriguez, Mr. Cesar Lopez, and Mr. Carlos Elizondo have no spine. The only thing that they could say was that they agreed with Mr. Cowen. At least Mr. Cowen said something, even if it was a direct attack on an organization. Those three men will do whatever our overpaid superintendent wants to do.

Finally, I will come to the positive points of the meeting. During the public audience portion of the meeting, a high school senior addressed the board with his concerns about how starting the school year earlier will affect the music programs in the district. Mr. Hammes spoke about how the teachers are afraid of the changes to come. The only two board members who addressed these concerns were Dr. Sylvia Atkinson and Ms. Minerva Pena.

Dr. Atkinson wanted to table the issue to see if there were other options. She wanted the district to take a survey to see how the teachers feel about DOI. Ms. Pena gave a very passionate speech about how this is not the way to address the problem of charter schools.
She listened to the speakers, and she has listened to parents. She made the comment that the “reason why parents are taking children out of BISD and putting them into charter schools is not because of the calendar, it is because of public service”.

Ms. Pena, you hit the nail on the head, and I cannot thank you enough for consistently supporting teachers and students.

School board elections will be coming up soon, and we need to remember who voted which way, and their comments. Based on what I heard last night, it is clear that the school board does not want to listen to the teacher, nor do they want to address their fears.

Personally, I feel like the school board has ulterior motives for getting the District of Innovation passed. It is not just about the calendar, and it’s not about the children.

By Juan Montoya
Despite its bid having been four places above the lowest bid, a majority of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District led by Cesar Lopez voted Tuesday to authorize superintendent Esperanza Zendejas to negotiate with Brownsville-based Ziwa Corporation to award a $4,045,000 contract to build the Porter Early College High School Band/Choir Building.

The item – which was voted on despite the fact that Zendejas had recommended be pulled from the agenda after some trustees objected to the district bypassing the other four vendors with lower bids – drew a threat from trustee Phil Cowen. Cowen said he had "grave doubts" about the procurement process followed in the bid and said he would call a press conference on Wednesday, the day after the meeting, to denounce the award.

The board had discussed Ziwa's bid during executive session although it was not listed among the items listed on the closed session agenda.
Earlier, the full board – minus Carlos Elizondo, who was absent – had approved another $429,845 as a partial payment to Ziwa for construction services work completed on the Pace ECHS Fine Arts Building.

Cowen did not make good on his threat, but it was obvious that he was troubled by the awarding of the contract to someone whose bid came in four places on top of the lowest bid. The board first opened discussion in open meeting, but voted to take the item into executive session when Cowen and Dr. Sylvia Atkinson had questions.

Kenneth Lieck, Facilities administrator, took umbrage at Cowen when the trustee told him in so many words, that he suspected someone had done something illegal to rig the bids and recommended Ziwa despite them not being close to the lowest. Cowen is said to have threatened to go to law enforcement on the issue.

After the board emerged from executive session, Lopez instructed board secretary Pat Perez to go back to the item. At the time, Perez noted for the record that trustee Atkinson had left the meeting. When the item first came up before the board went into executive session, trustee Joe Rodriguez had made the motion to approve and Cowen seconded it. As Lopez tried to rush the item, Cowen said he was recalling his second.

At that time, Lopez said he would second Rodriguez's motion to award the contract to Ziwa. At that time, Cowen asked Zendejas what her recommendation was.

"I made my recommendation in executive session," Zendejas responded. When Cowen pressed her to say what that recommendation was, Zendejas replied that she was recommending it get pulled from the agenda and considered at a later meeting.

"I made my recommendation to pull it so we can bring additional information to the board," she asserted.

Trustee Minerva Peña said she would vote against awarding the contract based on the recommendation of administration. Nonetheless, Lopez disregarded the objectors and said he was satisfied that Ziwa was a "fine company" and that they had done good work for the BISD in the past, a sentiment echoed by Rodriguez.

Rodriguez also said that despite Zendejas' recommendation to pull it, he was sure that it had not been her original recommendation and voted to award it.

At that point – as the vote was about to be taken over the objections of Cowen and Peña – Cowen stood and stormed out of the building and did not vote. The vote was three for and one against to award the contract to Ziwa with Laura Perez-Reyes joining Lopez and Rodriguez against Peña's lone "no" vote.

After the meeting, Atkinson was said to have told friends she had left the meeting because she was under the impression that the board would follow Zendejas' recommendation to pull the item. She later was reported to have told them the board had agreed to go along with Zendejas and pull the item in the open meeting, as the superintendent asserted after executive session.

"She though they weren't going to vote on it until Dr. Zendejas came back with more information at a later meeting," a source who is close to her said.

By CBS 4 News

Several Hidalgo County Justices of the Peace are celebrating Valentine's Day by offering free weddings.

JP Charlie Espinoza, JP Jaime "Jerry" Muñoz and JP Jason Peña will hold ceremonies free of charge on Wednesday, Feb. 14, for anyone who registers with their office, according to a news release from the county.

Couples who plan to take advantage of the service will need a valid marriage license to get married. Witnesses are not needed.

Marriage licenses can be obtained in person at the County Clerks office in Edinburg located at 100 North Closner Boulevard.

For more information, call the County Clerk's Office at 956-318-2100.

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

The die has been cast.
Cesar Lopez, president of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District, has filed for a position on the Brownsville Navigation District held by chairman John Wood.

Lopez was reported to have filed Tuesday. The deadline for filing is Friday, Feb. 16.

Also reported to have filed for the other seat that will be left vacant by the departure of Carlos Masso is Steve Guerra and Javier Vera. Masso is running for the 197th District Court. That seat was left open with the retirement of Judge Migdalia Lopez, who is retiring at the end of this term.

Lopez was first appointed to the BISD board when trustee Christina Saavedra resigned to take a teaching position in San Antonio. Before that, he was the purchasing agent for the Mercedes ISD. After serving Saavedra's unexpired term, he ran for the seat and was re-elected.

Wood was a City of Brownsville and Cameron County commissioner and ran for county judge, defeating current county judge Eddie treviño for the primary nomination against Carlos Cascos, where he lost after a heated countywide campaign.

(Ed.'s Note: If you walk around downtown Brownsville, you will come across scenes like the one above as businesses virtually burst into color with the approach of Charro Days. This year, the festivities begin February 18 and continue until the 25th. But for this small shopkeeper, business is on full steam. That's only four days from now. This small shop is on 12th Street, across the alley from the Immaculate Conception Cathedral. We thank our readers for sending the photo.)

By Juan Montoya
Even though the Brownsville Independent School District is now in state court trying recover close to $400,000 from a now-defunct company that sold it spoiled barbacoa meat and is seeking opinions from the Texas Attorney General's Office to stop the release of information to the public citing criminal investigations, it has now approved a $4.04 million contract for another company whose bid was four places above the lowest bidder.

At the same time, the trustees, under the advice of board general counsel Baltazar Salazar, continue awarding contracts for printing services to Grafik Spot, one of the companies said to be subject of a criminal investigation.

During the last meeting, Salazar said that he had "looked at the reports" repeatedly and had concluded that it wasn't Grafik Spot that had done anything wrong, but rather that it was a problem within BISD that had been criminal.

When pressed by a trustee for a copy of the report on Grafik Spot, Salazar said she could look at the "pertinent" parts of it since she was a trustee, but we now learn that the report on the company has not been made available to the trustees.

The question then becomes: If the BISD refuses to release any information of the company citing a criminal investigation, why does it continue to award it printing contracts? And if the company is not to blame for whatever criminal activities took place, will there be charges brought against individuals in the district?

Or will this be another instance where the linchpin of the alleged criminal activity – the late director of the BISD's Food and Nutrition Service Department Silverio Capistran – will be blamed and the subject conveniently buried along with him as happened at the Port of Brownsville with Raul Besteiro and the $21 million Bridge to Nowhere?

The BISD response to the request for information on internal reports on Valco and Grafik Spot has been to seek an opinion from the Texas Attorney General to support its stand and exempt the reports and the ledger of payments made to them by the district.

In the case of Valco, Salazar filed a lawsuit against them in state court last September. Valco was a member of the Region One Cooperative and the BISD says it wants to recover at least $396,000 of the more than $500,000 it paid the company for meat that was considered spoiled and detected on November 2016.

Valco Foods was approved to provide Region 1 member school districts with 20,000 pounds per month of shredded beef, barbacoa style, from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2017 with 1 two‐year extension option.

It is unknown how many pounds that Valco Foods delivered under the Region 1 contract were been bought by the BISD. If fulfilled, the company stood to make $3,019,200 over the 24 month period of deliveries to Region 1 member school districts.

And even though Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas said at the time that "the product was raised and purchased in the United States from a USDA approved vendor but was processed in Mexico according to USDA guidelines and under the supervision of a USDA inspector," the lawsuit hints otherwise.

"Defendants had knowledge that the meats did not meet the required state and federal mandate under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Buy American Provisions "as required under the contract. The BISD relied on the defendant's representations that the meat me the "Buy American Provisions" and paid off the meats in full."

In that case, BISD resisted the request to provide us with "a copy of the report put together by Walsh Gallegos on the BISD dealings with Valco, the provider of barbacoa until they went out of business."

And in the case of Grafik Spot, the BISD responded that: "As stated previously, the District's Police Force along with other State and Federal law enforcement agencies are investigating suspected criminal activity. The requested information is part of the criminal investigation. At this time, the investigation remains active by the BISD Police Department and the various law enforcement agencies. The information made the subject of this request is part of the investigation and we believe are privileged and excepted from disclosure under the section of the Act."

Even though we have been stymied in our attempts to get the payments BISD made for Grafik Spot through our information requests, we have been informed that the district paid them at least $1,399,515. Grafik Spot's vendor ID number is V016863.

And in the case of the ZIWA Contractors, one trustee – Phil Cowen – stormed out of the board's meeting room after board president Cesar Lopez disregarded the administration's recommendation that the item be pulled from the agenda for consideration at a later meeting after other trustees questioned the award.

El Rrun-Rrun is attempting to get a copy of the bids after three trustees – Lopez, Joe Rodriguez and Laura Perez-Reyes – voted Tuesday to authorize superintendent Zendejas to negotiate with Brownsville-based Ziwa Corporation for the $4,045,000 contract to build the Porter Early College High School Band/Choir Building.

Sources say Ziwa's bid was four places above the lowest bid, but – at the insistence of Lopez and Rodriguez – rammed forward the approval even though Zendejas had recommended pulling the item from the agenda. The item had been discussed in executive session and brought to open meeting where it was supposed to be pulled by Zendejas.

Trustees Carlos Elizondo was not present at the meeting and after executive session, trustee Dr. Sylvia Atkinson told friends she had left assuming the item would not be voted on based on the assurances of the superintendent.

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Hanna Early College High School; my glorious school; my Alma Mater is as broken, crooked, and corrupt as the school district itself.

And not just Hanna but many other schools as well.
There are many untold stories of corrupt individuals that lurk in the shadows of injustice. It is a problem widely known in the valley and yet it has not changed.

But I am here to speak out my voice problems with in my school and point out problems I myself have noticed and am concerned about. For example, our newest principal as well the previous one seem to be playing a game of hot potato passing her problems to the next and the next in charge and on down the line; issues she herself should be handling personally.

Hanna being so old requires much maintenance to keep up to date but how can we achieve this when our Maintenance Department is understaffed, under-educated, and lack the vital skills to comprehend and accomplish basic tasks? Now I understand that nothing is free, but you cannot tell me that there is no money.

If there wasn’t any, then why did the superintendent grant herself a $30,000 raise in the summer, as well as an artificial turf (costing $100,000s) for Hanna’s soccer team?

The school is physically falling apart in many locations. I am more afraid the roof will fall over my head than the food poisoning I would have gotten from the rotten and molded biscuit and barbacoa scandal. Let us not forget the $300,000 of cafeteria funds stolen from the student’s cafeteria food funds. How much lower can you get than stealing from kids?

I have attended Hanna for some time now and have noticed no change for the better. Our administration seems to be heading in the wrong direction. On September 17, 1787 our founding fathers signed and issued the constitution for the United States. Within it James Madison pushed toward a better sense of government by establishing the separation of powers and checks and balances.

But what is the point of democracy. It is NOT the rule of the people by the people? The Greeks did it, the Romans sort of did it, and England improved upon it with the Magna Carta. And our founding fathers established it because they believed that it is easier to corrupt an individual than to corrupt a group of individuals.

The valley on the other hand has proven them wrong. Our politician’s, our schools, our fire departments, our hospitals, our law enforcement, etc., all have traces of corruption. Many of us are afraid to speak out the truth and many of us are silenced by money and the false promises of power.

Others have involuntarily been dragged into this loop of corruption and are as well afraid to speak up in the fear of facing charges. But it will be much worse if you keep silent. We live in a country where we as a people can speak our voice and be heard. These moral values that we have between wrong and what is right should not be ignored.

If we do not speak out as a community, then nothing will ever change. But as a student of BISD I still dream of a greater future for my beautiful city. I dream of a place where I can trust my children to be safe in our schools and that doctors will do everything they can to make them sure my kids are better rather than milk me for money because they are so in debt in student loans.

There is a reason we are the poorest city in Texas. It is because the money that we do get disappears in someone else’s pockets.

February 14, 2018

Dear Campus Community:

As stated in my December 5, 2017 campus message, the SACSCOC Board confirmed that UTRGV successfully addressed all concerns cited in its probationary letter of January 11, 2017.

At its December 2017 annual meeting, the SACSCOC Board continued UTRGV on probation for Federal Requirement 4.7, a standard not originally cited in the January 11, 2017 letter.

Last week we received our official notification from SACSCOC, which requests that UTRGV provide externally verified evidence that all findings have been fully addressed. This work is well underway. The SACSCOC Board will review UTRGV’s resolution of any findings at the December 2018 annual meeting.

As a reminder, UTRGV remains accredited. As such, graduate and undergraduate degrees earned are awarded by an accredited university.

Just as we successfully addressed all of the concerns before, we are confident that this last issue will also be addressed successfully. Please visit our accreditation FAQs page for additional information.

Sincerely,
Guy Bailey
UTRGV President

By Juan Montoya
The backup for an agenda item dealing with the approval by the board of the Brownsville Independent School District for Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas to negotiate with a local contractor on a $4,045,000 construction project was missing only one thing – the actual dollar amounts of the nine qualified bids.

Instead, all the backup to the agenda item dealing with the board authorizing Zendejas to negotiate with Ziwa Corporation to build the Porter Early College High School Fine Arts Building contained was ranking criteria used by the district's evaluators.

Trustees were shown the dollar amounts provided by the Facilities Administrator Kenneth Lieck, Zendejas and CFO Lorenzo Sanchez when they were asked to approve the item, but the numbers were never released in the open meeting. In fact, the cash amounts of the bids were never released by the district. After questions arose over the firm selection, trustees voted to recess and go into executive session to discuss the issue. Upon emerging, Zendejas recommended the item be pulled for further study.

"The disparity was huge," said a board watcher. "Trustee (Philip) Cowen became unglued because they didn't get the hard numbers in the backup, but showed them to the board on the night of the meeting."

Included in the backup was a letter from McAllen-based NM Contracting president Noel Muñoz who withdrew from the bidding four days after the bids were opened by PBK Architects and BISD CFO Sanchez on January 18. Muñoz did not cite a reason for withdrawing his firm's bid.

The price category carried a maximum score of 60, construction experience 15, construction team and subcontractors 10, company's professionalism and subcontractors 10, construction performance 25, and financial strength 20 for a maximum possible score of 140.

As far as price category, "or best value," D. Wilson Construction scored the maximum 60, Wil-Con LLC followed with 59.66, E-Con Group scored 59.46 and Ziwa came in fourth with a 58.56.

Overall, Ziwa scored 133.96 of a possible 140, D.Wilson Construction 120.8, Wil-Con LLC 115.68, and E-Con Group 123.46.

Although Ziwa came in fourth in the price ranking, the final scores including the other five categories placed them over the others. Ziwa, for example, got a 14.8 of a possible 15 for company experience from the evaluators. The evaluators gave Ziwa, founded in 1996, a higher score than D. Wilson (13), which has been in business since 1957 and has offices in the Rio Grande Valley and in San Antonio and was named one of the top 100 construction companies in Texas.

That ranking alone placed it over D. Wilson, the lowest bidder.

The same applied to the other four categories aside from price. Ziwa nearly maxed on:

*construction team and subcontractors: 9.4 of a possible 10
*professionalism (?): 9.6 of a possible 10
*performance: 22.8 of a possible 25 and
*financial strength: 18.8 of a possible 20

In fact, BISD evaluators ranked Ziwa above the other lower-bidding firms on the five categories aside from the price categories, erasing its disadvantage on price. Among some of the criteria used by the evaluators in the categories were such subjective measures as quality of work, conflict resolution and performance, litigation history, subcontractors' reputation, and payment of bills, among others.

The financial strength category bears some scrutiny because Ziwa – which claims construction experience her and in Mexico – is said to be owned by Sergio Arguelles, the so-called Maquila King of northern Tamaulipas who has vast real estate holdings in Rancho Viejo.

During the meeting where the firm was chosen for the Porter project, board president Cesar Lopez disregarded the superintendent's recommendation that the item be pulled from the agenda and seconded trustee Joe Rodriguez' motion after trustee Philip Cowen withdrew his second after expressing "grave doubts" about the district's procurement process.

When Lopez pressed for the vote anyway, Cowen stormed from the board room and the vote was 3-1 in favor of Ziwa with both trustees joined by trustee Laura Perez-Reyes and trustee Minerva Peña voting against.

Cowen later apologized to Facilities Administrator Lieck for suggesting that bid rigging was taking place and threatening to call a press conference and going to the FBI.

Trustee Carlos Elizondo was absent from the meeting, and trustee Sylvia Atkinson left after closed session in the belief that the item would be pulled as recommended by Zendejas. With the three trustees not participating, three votes (a minority of the seven-member board) gave the superintendent – despite her recommendation that the item be pulled to get more information on the ranking – authority to negotiate the $4,045,000 contract with Ziwa.

"The district has to improve its procurement process," Cowen said later. "I agree that while we have to have the best value, we also have to have quality. It's the process that counts. We have to have transparency."

The BISD is allowed to have a 5 percent leeway in cost for projects for local vendors, but this was never mentioned by any of the trustees during the meeting. All Rodriguez and Lopez said was that they had full faith in Ziwa and that it was "a fine company."

(El Rrun-Rrun has made a public information request to the BISD to acquire the bid price for the nine qualifying firms, including NM Contracting, which rescinded its bid after bid opening.)

By WalletHub

According to a new survey, Brownsville, Texas has been named the unhealthiest city in the country.

WalletHub compared more than 170 of the most populated U.S. cities across 40 key indicators of good health. The data ranged from cost of doctor visit to fruit and vegetable consumption to fitness clubs per capita.

Many South Texas towns had low overall scores including San Antonio at 109, El Paso at 154, Corpus Christi at 166, Laredo at 173 and Brownsville at the bottom of the list with an overall score of 174. Austin had a high overall score of 17. (Click on graphic to enlarge.)

To see entire survey, click on link: https://wallethub.com/edu/healthiest-cities/31072/

By Juan Montoya
Police and operators of events centers whose facilities hosts birthdays, quinceañeras or other festive events are warning the public against a scammer who has stolen thousands of dollars from unsuspecting victims by promising catering services and pocketing the money, including the payment for the rental of the events centers and then delivering nothing.

Today Oscar Sierra, of Oscar's Catering, 2929 International Blvd., was arraigned on two counts of felony theft after he was arrested yesterday on a complaint filed with the Brownsville Police Department. Bond was set at $25,000 per count and he was sent to Rucker-Carrizales until he posts bail.

Apparently, Sierra has been at this scam for some time, convincing his previous victims that it was a civil matter and not theft, a criminal offense.

Among Sierra's victims is an 86-year-old woman who was to celebrate her birthday this weekend and paid Sierra 2,000 up front for catering that included the payment to the Amigoland Events Center.

Owner Mike Belleville said Sierra and his daughter Claribel prey on their victims by charging up front for their services and include the payments that they should make for the rental of the hall. In the case of the elderly woman, when she tried to reach him for an explanation, Sierra has not answered her calls, he said.

"It makes me feel bad for the victims because some of them have saved years for the quinceañeras for their daughters or for their weddings only to find out that there is no caterer there and that no one has paid for the rental of the reception hall," Belleville said. "In one case just last Saturday, there was a couple who was getting married and there was no catering available. We were fortunate to be able to get another caterer to fill in."

And this Saturday, a couple from San Antonio is scheduled to marry at the Amigoland Center, and found out that Sierra had not paid for the rental of the hall. Belleville said service providers like florists and other caterers have come together to provide the services and not disappoint the marrying party.

"I have been blessed by people who have come to m y assistance so that these people will not be disappointed," Belleville said. "They said, 'Mike, we'll help and you can count on us you until you get though this."

The caterer not only provides the meal for the event, he said. They also arrange to provide the linens, flower arrangements or other decorations or services for the clients.

Since Sierra also convinces the victims that they can pay the rental of the events center to him in advance, the owners often have to absorb the loss of the rent of the reception hall because they had not place to go, Belleville said.

"These are people who work had for their money and sometimes save for years for the event," Belleville said. "This guy has no heart."

Belleville said that law enforcement and the Cameron County District Attorney's Office said they were pushing for a high bond for Sierra to prevent him from preying on other people.

He said he has contacted all future clients of his hall procured by Sierra and his daughter and has discovered that many have already paid them in advance.

"We are talking about 5,000 to $7,000 that include the $1,700 to $4,000 cost associated with the events center," Belleville said. "We are putting out the word to people to be aware of what is happening and to keep them from giving him their money."

Belleville said that if there are other victims of the caterer that should contact the Brownsville Police Department.

By Juan Montoya

The last time that Texas House of Representatives District 37 incumbent reported his campaign contributions and expenditures, there were 69 contributors.

Of the 69 contributions, 49 were from Political Action Committees, 12 were from lobbyists, four were from lawyers (tax collections and political consultants), and only five were from Brownsville, including two from his law firm Roerig, Oliveira & Fisher, LLP, one from a firefighters' PAC and two from individuals (Ernesto de Leon Sr. and Dr. Asim Zamir, 7.2 percent).

Sixty one of the 69 contributions (88.4) came from either PACs (from Texas and out-of-state) or lobbyists. Only two individuals (De Leon and Zamir) live in Brownsville. (2.9 percent). It's intriguing to note that Oliveira got $30,000 ($5,000 first, later $25,000) from the TREPAC/TX Association of Realtors PAC, Austin.

This has paid off well for Oliveira whose campaign and finance report for the filing period from June 1 through December 31, 2017 lists contributions of 126,107.70 from the PACs and lobbyists who want to keep the state rep who has been in office for the last 34 years in Austin to do their bidding.

That report covered June 1 through December 31, 2017. http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2018/01/oliveira-again-shows-hes-pacs-lobbyists.html

The report due 30 days before the election covering January 1 through January 25, 2018 filed February 5 is not much different.

In that report, Oliveira lists $36,056.50 in contribution from the following:

1. ACT for Texas Classroom Teachers Assoc. (PAC), Austin, $1,000

2. Allen Boone Humphries Robinson LLP, Houston, $1,000

3. American Insurance Association PAC, Washington, D.C., $1,000

4. Association of Texas Professional Educators PAC, Austin, $1,000

5. Blackridge, Austin, $750

6. Campbell, Grover, Texas Ass. of School Boards, Director of Governmental Relations, $100

7. HOSPAC-State (Texas Hospitality Assoc.), Austin, $1,000

8. HomePAC of Texas (Texas Assoc. of Builders), Austin, $1,000

9. Jackson Walker LLP PAC, Dallas, $1,000

10. Kamm, Robert, Lobbyist, Austin, $250

11. Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, delinquent property tax collectors, Austin, $2,500

12. PAC of Independent Insurance Agents of Texas, Austin, $1,000

13. Plitt III , Walter, Brownsville, Plitt Crane & Rigging International service, $100

14. Roberts, Jack, Lobbyist, Austin, $1,000

15. Rodriguez, Marc, Lobbyist, Austin, $500

16. Romano, Dubravka, Tex. Ass. of School Boards, $250

17. Schmar, Peter, Juniper MLP, Investment Counselors, $250

18. TEXPAC Texas Medical Association PAC, Austin, $1,500

19. TEXPAC Texas Medical Association PAC, Austin, $2,500

20. TRUCKPAC PAC of Texas Trucking Industry, Austin, $500

21. Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC, Austin, $500

22. Texas American Federation of Teachers, Austin, $1,000

23. Texas Apartment Association, Austin, $2,000

24. Texas Automobile Dealers Association, Austin, $1,000

25. Texas Lobby Group, Austin, $1,000

26. Texas State Teachers Association PAC, Houston, $1,000

37. Undavia, Khyati, Pharmacist, $5,000

38. Union Pacific Corp. Fund for Effective Government, Washington, D.C., $500

39. Van De Putte, Henry & Leticia, San Antonio, Lobbyist, $500

So out of 39 contributors, only two were from individuals and only one is from District 37, in Brownsville. The rest were from PACs and lobbyists. Why would they put down their good money to keep Oliveira there for two more years to make it 36?

By Juan Montoya
A mass mailer sent to prospective voters in the race for Cameron County Justice of the Peace 2-2 race is raising eyebrows with some supporters of the incumbent defending the claims in it and his opponent's adherents vociferously countering its claims.

Incumbent Jonathan Gracia, who beat Yolanda Begum in the Democratic Party primary runoff in 2014, mass mailed the flier about a week ago where he makes his pitch for reelection and touts his performance as a full-time judge, making donations to worthy causes, and comparing his credentials to his "opponent" including one saying he is more"high energy" than him.

There are three challengers for the position including Cameron County Sheriff Department Captain Javier Reyna, former Pct. 2 Constable administrator Fred Martinez and Cameron County District Court Supervisor Diego Alonzo Hernandez.

Gracia is a practicing attorney and also justice of the peace drawing a $53,000 salary for the elected position. His offices, as are the offices of the other two Brownsville JPs (Linda Salazar and Mary Esther Sorola), are on the second floor of the Cameron County Levee Building housed in the refurbished Wells Fargo Bank building.

And while a graphic in his mailer shows all their names on a ballot (see graphic) another page of the mailer asks voters to not be fooled by his opponent (singular) and lists four characteristics which Gracia claims makes him a better candidate for JP 2-2 than his "opponent" Reyna.

"What does that mean?," asked a Martinez supporter. "Is he writing off Fred and Hernandez already and saying he is going to be in a runoff with Reyna?"

The comparison the flier does with Reyna are on judicial experience, being an attorney, a university graduate, donating to organizations in Brownsville, and being "high energy."

Supporters of the other three candidates say the flier is somewhat misleading because none of the five categories listed by Gracia against Reyna are required by law. They point out that the State of Texas only requires a candidate to be a U.S. citizen at least 18 years old, to have resided in Texas for a year and six months in the precinct, and be registered to vote, it also does not require one to be a practicing lawyer or judge.

But aside from the fact that Gracia's flier ignores the two other candidates and lists Reyna as his only opponent and lists him with having judicial experience, being an attorney, etc., it is the "high energy" category that irks his opponents' supporters to no end and has set the courthouse talking.

"Everyone knows that Reyna has been battling cancer for the past few years," said an angered Reyna supporter. "This is like the time that Cameron County Sheriff Republican candidate Victor Cortez touted his age as an advantage he had over Omar Lucio, who is in his 80s. A person's health or his age shouldn't be used against him."

The criticism doesn't stop there. Opponents also take issue with Graci's claim in the flier (twice) that he is the voters'"full-time" judge. They say they have gone to the county and found that he has been assigned cases by the courts since he took office in January 2015. They say they have records showing that he was appointed to 84 cases in 2015, 26 in 2016, and 35 in 2017.
Currently, he is listed as being the attorney or record in at least 60 cases in misdemeanor courts.

And they discredit his "$25,000 donated thus far t the Brownsville Community" claim saying that the county has paid $29,993 in 2015, $35,441 in 2016, and $35,639 in 2017 for his court appointments.

"He may be a fine attorney," said a Reyna supporter, "but he can't claim he is a full-time judge if the record shows he has been busy practicing his craft in the courts while he has held the office."

Will Gracia be correct in predicting he will be in a runoff with Reyna?

With early voting set to start this Tuesday, February 20, and the uniform election day set for May 5, it will be up to the voters to decide and who they believe.

By The U.S. Dept. of Justice

The Department of Justice announced that a grand jury in the District of Columbia today returned an indictment presented by the Special Counsel’s Office.

The indictment charges thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 Presidential election. The defendants allegedly conducted what they called “information warfare against the United States,” with the stated goal of “spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.”

“This indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always who they appear to be on the Internet,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.

“The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed. The Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and with the Congress, to defend our nation against similar current and future schemes. I want to thank the federal agents and prosecutors working on this case for their exceptional service.”

According to the allegations in the indictment, twelve of the individual defendants worked at various times for Internet Research Agency LLC, a Russian company based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The other individual defendant, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, funded the conspiracy through companies known as Concord Management and Consulting LLC, Concord Catering, and many subsidiaries and affiliates.

The conspiracy was part of a larger operation called “Project Lakhta.” Project Lakhta included multiple components, some involving domestic audiences within the Russian Federation and others targeting foreign audiences in multiple countries.

Internet Research Agency allegedly operated through Russian shell companies. It employed hundreds of persons for its online operations, ranging from creators of fictitious personas to technical and administrative support, with an annual budget of millions of dollars.

Internet Research Agency was a structured organization headed by a management group and arranged in departments, including graphics, search-engine optimization, information technology, and finance departments. In 2014, the agency established a “translator project” to focus on the U.S. population. In July 2016, more than 80 employees were assigned to the translator project.

Two of the defendants allegedly traveled to the United States in 2014 to collect intelligence for their American political influence operations.

To hide the Russian origin of their activities, the defendants allegedly purchased space on computer servers located within the United States in order to set up a virtual private network. The defendants allegedly used that infrastructure to establish hundreds of accounts on social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, making it appear that the accounts were controlled by persons within the United States.

Download Indictment

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
With Friday being the deadline to file for two seats on the Brownsville Navigation District and Texas Southmost College and for chairmanship of the Cameron County Democratic Party, no one was expecting any surprises.

But, this being Cameron County, there were.

At TSC, everyone thought that no one would run against Dr. Ruben Gallegos, who was finishing Ramon Champion Hinojosa's term on Place 7. Well, now we learn that Gallegos opted not to run for reelection and that two candidates, Eva Alejandro and Lead Internal Auditor for the Brownsville Independent School District Arvin Tucker Rios will vie for that empty seat.

Alejandro initiated the TSC Child Care and Development Program and then became tenured and taught at UTB before founding the Alternative-South Texas Educator Program 14 years ago. She is the sole owner of the firm.

And two candidates filed before the 6 p.m. Friday deadline for Place 6, the seat currently held by Dr. Reynaldo Garcia. They are Carlos Rios and J.J. De Leon. Rios is a first-time candidate for office and De Leon has been a clerical staffer at the BISD and has run unsuccessfully for the board before.

At the Port, as expected, BISD board president Cesar Lopez will challenge BND board chairman John Wood for Place 2. Lopez was head of the Mercedes ISD until he was tapped to fill the vacancy left when Christina Saavedra accepted an administrative position in San Antonio. He ran for reelection in 2014 and won.

Wood drew place one on the ballot for the May 5 election. He has been a City of Brownsville and Cameron County commissioner. He ran a narrow countywide race for Cameron County Judge against Carlos Cascos which was decided amidst intense controversy.

In Place 4, Javier Vera drew the first place on the ballot for the election followed by Steve Guerra and Patrick Anderson in third place. Vera is the CFO of the Cowen Group of custom brokerage and warehousing. The Cowens are related to Ralph Cowen, a commissioner at the port. Guerra is a businessman with international experience and has run for the BND once before. Anderson is a teacher at the Los Fresnos ISD and has been a strong environmental advocate opposed to bringing LNGs and what he considers other polluting industries.

Both the BND and TSC races are nonpartisan affairs. At the TSC race, there is the possibility of a runoff, unlike the port, where only a majority of the votes are needed to win.

On the other hand, it appears that Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa will remain firmly in control of the Cameron County Party with the sole candidate who field being Jared Hockema, currently the city manager of Port Isabel.

Current chair Amber Medina did not say that she would not seek reelection until the end of the filing period. Hockema was an assistant to Hinojosa when the latter was county judge. He will not have an opponent.

CAMERON POLITIQUERAS: CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST

FUDGING IT ON SAN BENE CITY MANAGER'S EVALUATION

IS PORT DISCOURAGING CANDIDATES FROM RUNNING

BARRIO OUTCRY TO PINCHE TRUMP: "RELEASE EL MEMO!"

BISD's BOARD PASSES DOI, AN EDUCATIONAL TROJAN HORSE

LIECK FILES GRIEVANCE VS. COWEN OVER $4.045 MILLION BID: ZIWA's BID WAS FOUR PLACES ABOVE LOWEST AND GOT JOB

HIDALGO JPS TAKE CUE FROM JP SOROLA: FREE WEDDNGS

IT'S OFFICIAL: CESAR LOPEZ FILES VS. WOOD FOR BND BOARD

EVERYONE IS WAITING FOR CHARROS ROUND THE CORNER

AT BISD: FIRST VALCO, THEN GRAPHIC SPOT, NOW ZIWA

FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES: AN ERODING MORALITY AT BISD

UTRGV PRESIDENT GUY BAILEY: TRUST ME ON THIS ONE

RELEASING NO $$ NUMBERS, BISD OKS $4.04 MILLION VOTE

HEY GOWEN, BROWNTOWN STILL NOT HEALTHY DESPITE YOUR SPENDING OF CITY'S MILLIONS ON HIKE-N-BIKE TRAILS

DOMINGUEZ HOLDS FREE FAMILY MEET-AND-GREET TONIGHT

EVENTS CENTERS WARNING: BEWARE OF CATERING SCAM

PACs AND LOBBYISTS KEEP FEEDING GARGANTUA OLIVEIRA

FIREWORKS OVER MAILER CLAIMS IN JP 2-2 PRIMARY RACE

READ THE D.O.J. INDICTMENT OF 13 RUSSIAN OPERATIVES; AIMED TO AID TRUMP, HURT HILLARY, DISRUPT DEMOCRACY

FINAL CANDIDATE LIST FOR PORT, TSC DISTRICT ELECTIONS; DEMO CHAIR MEDINA BOWS OUT, HOCKEMA RUNS UNOPPOSED