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OBAMA EMERGES AND SAYS: "VOTE FOR CAPT. BOB SANCHEZ"
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FINAL RESULTS OF CONTESTED RACES IN CAMERON COUNTY
LOCAL CONTESTED RACES
*INDICATES RUNOFF
*INDICATES RUNOFF
*State Rep., District 37: Total % Early Mail-in Election Day
Arturo Alonzo 966 15.2 561 50 355
Alex Dominguez 2,329 36.44 1,380 117 832
René O. Oliveira 3,096 48.44 1,705 284 1,107
SBOE (Democrat, State Finals total vote, %, other categories for county):
Michelle Arevalo Davila: 16,135 47.65 3,414 379 2,390
Ruben Cortez: 19,563 52.34 4,520 429 2,849
*197th District Court:
Adolfo Cordova 4,711 31.34 2 ,779 196 1,734
Gerardo "Garry" Linan 1,662 12.06 1,166 75 691
Carlos Masso 4,857 32.32 2,868 247 1,742
Sonia Herrera 3,800 25.28 1,901 306 1,593
Sonia Herrera 3,800 25.28 1,901 306 1,593
County Judge
Robert Sanchez 3,674 24.56 2,061 200 1,413
Eddie Treviño 11,287 75.44 6,413 645 4,199
County Court-at-Law #2
Laura Betancourt 10,659 72.55 6,076 616 3,967
Carol Lynn Sanchez 4,032 27.45 2,286 209 1,537
County Clerk Total % Early Mail-in Election Day
Lali Betancourt 6,500 43.43 3,808 301 2,391
Sylvia Garza-Perez 8,467 55.57 4,742 529 3,196
Commissioner, Pct. 2
Rigo Bocanegra 1,880 34.69 1,211 56 613
Joey Lopez 3,539 65.31 2,228 116 1,195
Joey Lopez 3,539 65.31 2,228 116 1,195
*JP 2-2
Javier Reyna 2,526 31.50 1,550 87 889 Diego Alonzo Hernandez 1,263 15.75 804 58 401
Fred Martinez 711 8.87 420 52 239
Jonathan Gracia 3,518 43.88 2,195 192 1,131
To see all the Democratic results, click on link: http://www.livevoterturnout.com/CameronTX/LiveResults/en/Index_1.html
TSBOE (Republican, State Finals total vote, other categories for county)
Charles "Tad" Hasse 14,878 66.99 821 248 63
Eric Garza 7,328 32.87 787 115 72
To see al Republican results, click on link: http://www.livevoterturnout.com/CameronTX/LiveResults/en/Index_2.html
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GOWEN TAPS UNKNOWN BIKER FOR B'TOWN POSTER CHILD
In this case it appears that his environmental concern is for the proliferation of aluminum cans that tend to end up in the local dumpsters on their way to fill limited space in the city's landfill. Granted that there are no "bike-friendly" lanes on McDavitt, but we're sure Gowen is working on that, too.
Clue: The last time the cyclist was seen was turning left on Roosevelt Street and then north on E. 14th Street, presumably on his way to the Wilkinson Steel and Metal Recycling center. There are unconfirmed rumors that he may have dilly-dallied on 14th and wandered into one of the beer joints there to offer organic brews of hops and yeast.
The bike has been identified as a classic air-dynamic, pedal-propelled, chain-action Western Flyer equipped with an open-air storage rack behind the rider's seat.
Gowen's reward? A ride, free of charge, on the numerous city-paid rental bikes that are rusting on the racks due to lack of interest in riding them.
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APRES LE DELUGE OF PRIMARY RESULTS, NOT MOI, MON AMI
After local pundits and Da Pendejita @ Macalitos plainly stated that District 37 State Rep Rebe Oliveira would wipe out his two challengers without a runoff given his "seniority" as the fifth longest-serving member of the House, we went back to their predictions to see how they fared.
Local pundit Jerry McHale and his phantom STJA predicted the outcome thusly:
Starr: "As was stated earlier, Oliveira is the man and you can't expect boys to do a man's job. Oliveira is a player while Dominguez would have to sit on the bench before the Democrats would even call his name to pinch hit. Alonso remains anonymous."
Well, not quite. In fact, the "anonymous" candidate turned out to garner more than 15 percent of the primary vote and threw the race into a runoff between Barnacle Oliveira and current Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Alex Dominguez.
The results were actually:
*State Rep., District 37: Total % Early Mail-in Election Day
Arturo Alonzo 966 15.2 561 50 355
Alex Dominguez 2,329 36.44 1,380 117 832
René O. Oliveira 3,096 48.44 1,705 284 1,107
Ditto for the cosmopolitan, media-savvy, and intrepid prognosticator of past events from Macalitos. He said with his affected, jaded "journalist" air that:
"The Republic projects Incumbent State Rep. Rene “The Plump Partridge” Oliveira will hold on to his District 37 legislative seat after today’s primary vote is counted. Left on the mat one more time will be his opponent, former Cameron County Commissioner Alex Dominguez.
Oliveira’s return to Austin for his latest 2-year term brings him closer to his goal of serving area residents for a full 40 years. A heavy, heavy turnout for early-voting bodes well for the veteran politician. Dominguez never was able to mount a credible, Upset City-like campaign against the well-heeled Oliveira, who outhustled him on the campaign contributions trail.
Dominguez bet the farm on voters perhaps being up to their necks in Oliveira’s fun-seeking social activities, those noted by Dominguez and his supporters being drinking and womanizing. Oliveira, however, is a bachelor from a part of the state that treasures a good shot of tequila at dawn, at lunch, at Siesta and at dinner.
No word on where the ever-ambitious Dominguez goes politically from here…"
How about to a runoff, Sherlock? It was easy enough to "predict" Joey Lopez beating Rigo Bocanegra since the firefighter was no match for the political insider Lopez. Or so some people thought.
Funny how many of our local candidates have taken to talk with a lisp. In this guy's case, he has developed a literary tic and has gotten into the unnerving habit of writing with an ellipse... Ellipsoid Disorder?
McHale also "predicted" the outcome for the 197th State District outcome. His ephemeral STJA prediction was:
Carlos Masso, 40%; Adolfo Cordoba, 23%; Sonia Herrera, 22%; Gerry Linan, 15%.
Ditto for the cosmopolitan, media-savvy, and intrepid prognosticator of past events from Macalitos. He said with his affected, jaded "journalist" air that:
"The Republic projects Incumbent State Rep. Rene “The Plump Partridge” Oliveira will hold on to his District 37 legislative seat after today’s primary vote is counted. Left on the mat one more time will be his opponent, former Cameron County Commissioner Alex Dominguez.
Oliveira’s return to Austin for his latest 2-year term brings him closer to his goal of serving area residents for a full 40 years. A heavy, heavy turnout for early-voting bodes well for the veteran politician. Dominguez never was able to mount a credible, Upset City-like campaign against the well-heeled Oliveira, who outhustled him on the campaign contributions trail.
Dominguez bet the farm on voters perhaps being up to their necks in Oliveira’s fun-seeking social activities, those noted by Dominguez and his supporters being drinking and womanizing. Oliveira, however, is a bachelor from a part of the state that treasures a good shot of tequila at dawn, at lunch, at Siesta and at dinner.
No word on where the ever-ambitious Dominguez goes politically from here…"
How about to a runoff, Sherlock? It was easy enough to "predict" Joey Lopez beating Rigo Bocanegra since the firefighter was no match for the political insider Lopez. Or so some people thought.
Funny how many of our local candidates have taken to talk with a lisp. In this guy's case, he has developed a literary tic and has gotten into the unnerving habit of writing with an ellipse... Ellipsoid Disorder?
McHale also "predicted" the outcome for the 197th State District outcome. His ephemeral STJA prediction was:
Carlos Masso, 40%; Adolfo Cordoba, 23%; Sonia Herrera, 22%; Gerry Linan, 15%.
Starr: "This is really about a race for second place and the runoff. Cordoba has campaigned harder, but there is a blind female vote that might prove the difference for Herrera. Though judges are important in their own minds, most voters don't recognize their names and vote ignorantly for idiosyncratic reasons."
Apparently, they do. In this one, there is no telling what the voters will do in the runoff. The actual results were:
*197th District Court: Total % Early Mail-in Election Day
Adolfo Cordova 4,711 31.34 2 ,779 196 1,734
Gerardo "Garry" Linan 1,662 12.06 1,166 75 691
Carlos Masso 4,857 32.32 2,868 247 1,742
Sonia Herrera 3,800 25.28 1,901 306 1,593
We went back to the other blogger in town, the so-called Brownsville Voice to copy and paste the prediction where he stated that Oliveira was a shoo-in for reelection to the District 37 state rep position, a foregone conclusion.
Lo and behold! That prediction had disappeared and it was nowhere to be found. Now La Babosa can claim that he had never predicted any result at all instead of owning up to his clouded crystal ball. Nifty, ain't it?
Sonia Herrera 3,800 25.28 1,901 306 1,593
We went back to the other blogger in town, the so-called Brownsville Voice to copy and paste the prediction where he stated that Oliveira was a shoo-in for reelection to the District 37 state rep position, a foregone conclusion.
Lo and behold! That prediction had disappeared and it was nowhere to be found. Now La Babosa can claim that he had never predicted any result at all instead of owning up to his clouded crystal ball. Nifty, ain't it?
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RENE DUMPTY HAD A WINDFALL, HUMPTY OLIVEIRA HAD A GREAT FALL, WILL HE ASK PACS AND LOBBYISTS TO FEATHER HIS FALL?
Rene Humpty Dumpty had a windfall,
And Humpty Oliveira had a great fall;
All the PAC's money and the lobbyists' cash
Couldn't protect Rene Dumpty from his great crash.
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ELIA VS. BISD: CANCELLED GRIEVANCE HEARING...AGAIN
By Juan Montoya
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Despite the fact that both sides were under a federal judge's order to comply with the administrative remedies of a grievance hearing, 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo Lopez and the board of the Brownsville Independence District could not agree on the parameters of the meet and ...cancelled Cornejo-Lopez's Level III grievance hearing...again.
The two sides were to have met after the first hearing Feb. 5 was rescheduled at Cornejo-Lopez's request. She has sued the BISD and its board in federal court alleging a whole array of alleged constitutional violations against at least nine BISD staff members ranging from the superintendent, principals, teachers and a golf coach she claims violated her's and her two children's rights.
After she cancelled the first hearing, her attorneys filed a motion in federal court trying to get federal Judge Andrew Hanen to allow her petition for a federal lawsuit to continue in federal court.
But when the two parties appeared before Hanen, they informed him that they had reached substantial agreement on the matter and would schedule a hearing. Hanan gave them until mid-March to have the hearing and to report to him. After Cornejo-Lopez cancelled the first meeting, she again recurred to the court to press the issue.
When the rescheduled meeting was held this Tuesday, the nine staff members that Cornejo-Lopez had named as the alleged perpetrators of the constitutional violations were in the audience to have their say, but there was a dispute between legal counsel about Hanen's directives and Cornejo-Lopez opted to reschedule the hearing yet again.
When the next hearing will be held is up in the air and many BISD administrators and board members wonder how long Hanen's patience will endure the delay. If the administrative remedies have obviously not been exhausted, they wonder why the case can be admitted to federal court.
BISD sources say that the 404th District Judge was going to ask the district administration at the cancelled hearing that it "remove" at least nine staff members involved in the grievances.
Among those nine staff members are teachers and principals and even a golf coach who she has charged in federal court of violating the constitutional rights of her two children.
Cornejo filed the case November 30, 2017, but the start of her troubles with the Brownsville Independent School District started way back in 2015.
No less than 13 complaints (including appeals) have been filed by Cornejo-Lopez against teachers and staff at the BISD. The list of complaints/appeals filed against teachers, principals and coaches has caused many of them to avoid having anything to do with the judge or her progeny at the BISD. The complaints are as diverse the curriculum offered at the BISD.
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Complaint 1 was filed Sept. 22-2015.
Another was filed and heard Oct, 12, 2015.
Another was filed Oct. 17, 2015.
Another was filed Dec. 12, 2015.
Complaint 5 was filed on Dec. 2, 2015 as an outcome of the Level 1 complaint filed Sept. 22, 2015.
Complaint 6 filed Jan. 19, 2016.
Complaint 7 filed on March 4, 2016.
Complaint 8 filed March 3, 2016.
Complaint 9 filed March 24, 2016.
Complaint 10 filed June 6, 2016.
Complaint 11 filed May 2, 2016.
Complaint 12 and 13 were combined and filed July 1, 2016.
In a nutshell, all the grievances complain of alleged unfair treatment of her progeny for a variety of reasons, including that a golf coach had been pressured by area administrators to remove her child from attending the Regional Golf Tournament, that an area administrator spoke with teachers at Sharp Elementary in a negative way about her to paint her in a negative light, that one of her children had tried out for the cheer team and dance team and did not make either squad.
She also questioned the validity of the score cards and claimed malfeasance by the BISD administration in order to keep her child off the team.
Further, she complained that the same teacher listed in Complaint 2 above had given another student the grade he received even though the assignment may have been turned in late.
Lastly, in her federal petition for a trial, she said her constitutional rights of free speech have been violated when she was not allowed to address the board to hear her grievances.
Despite the fact that both sides were under a federal judge's order to comply with the administrative remedies of a grievance hearing, 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo Lopez and the board of the Brownsville Independence District could not agree on the parameters of the meet and ...cancelled Cornejo-Lopez's Level III grievance hearing...again.The two sides were to have met after the first hearing Feb. 5 was rescheduled at Cornejo-Lopez's request. She has sued the BISD and its board in federal court alleging a whole array of alleged constitutional violations against at least nine BISD staff members ranging from the superintendent, principals, teachers and a golf coach she claims violated her's and her two children's rights.
After she cancelled the first hearing, her attorneys filed a motion in federal court trying to get federal Judge Andrew Hanen to allow her petition for a federal lawsuit to continue in federal court.
But when the two parties appeared before Hanen, they informed him that they had reached substantial agreement on the matter and would schedule a hearing. Hanan gave them until mid-March to have the hearing and to report to him. After Cornejo-Lopez cancelled the first meeting, she again recurred to the court to press the issue.
When the rescheduled meeting was held this Tuesday, the nine staff members that Cornejo-Lopez had named as the alleged perpetrators of the constitutional violations were in the audience to have their say, but there was a dispute between legal counsel about Hanen's directives and Cornejo-Lopez opted to reschedule the hearing yet again.
When the next hearing will be held is up in the air and many BISD administrators and board members wonder how long Hanen's patience will endure the delay. If the administrative remedies have obviously not been exhausted, they wonder why the case can be admitted to federal court.
BISD sources say that the 404th District Judge was going to ask the district administration at the cancelled hearing that it "remove" at least nine staff members involved in the grievances.
Among those nine staff members are teachers and principals and even a golf coach who she has charged in federal court of violating the constitutional rights of her two children.
Cornejo filed the case November 30, 2017, but the start of her troubles with the Brownsville Independent School District started way back in 2015.
No less than 13 complaints (including appeals) have been filed by Cornejo-Lopez against teachers and staff at the BISD. The list of complaints/appeals filed against teachers, principals and coaches has caused many of them to avoid having anything to do with the judge or her progeny at the BISD. The complaints are as diverse the curriculum offered at the BISD.
Complaint 1 was filed Sept. 22-2015.Another was filed and heard Oct, 12, 2015.
Another was filed Oct. 17, 2015.
Another was filed Dec. 12, 2015.
Complaint 5 was filed on Dec. 2, 2015 as an outcome of the Level 1 complaint filed Sept. 22, 2015.
Complaint 6 filed Jan. 19, 2016.
Complaint 7 filed on March 4, 2016.
Complaint 8 filed March 3, 2016.
Complaint 9 filed March 24, 2016.
Complaint 10 filed June 6, 2016.
Complaint 11 filed May 2, 2016.
Complaint 12 and 13 were combined and filed July 1, 2016.
In a nutshell, all the grievances complain of alleged unfair treatment of her progeny for a variety of reasons, including that a golf coach had been pressured by area administrators to remove her child from attending the Regional Golf Tournament, that an area administrator spoke with teachers at Sharp Elementary in a negative way about her to paint her in a negative light, that one of her children had tried out for the cheer team and dance team and did not make either squad.
She also questioned the validity of the score cards and claimed malfeasance by the BISD administration in order to keep her child off the team.
Further, she complained that the same teacher listed in Complaint 2 above had given another student the grade he received even though the assignment may have been turned in late.
Lastly, in her federal petition for a trial, she said her constitutional rights of free speech have been violated when she was not allowed to address the board to hear her grievances.
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URBAN MYTH: THE SUPERFLY II CAUGHT WITH 32 TONS OF PRIMO RED-BUD POT ON BOARD; FORTUNES ARE MADE
By Juan Montoya
Ask any longtime Brownsville resident who partook of the devil weed (in the past, of course) about the seizure of the Superfly coastal freighter picked up in the Gulf of Mexico by the Durable, the Coast Guard cutter that was stationed in the Port of Brownsville in August 1978 and you will get a smile of recognition.
"That was all red bud, buddy," recalled one recently. "It smelled a little like diesel, but the quality made you forget about it. We hadn't seem stuff like that around here in years."
I was a new reporter on the Brownsville Herald when we got a call from the Coast Guard station that the USCGS Durable was coming into port hauling in the Superfly II.
For those of us who still remember the 1970s movie, it was about a ghetto hero who turned the tables on the man from outside the hood and took over the street drug business.
"I'm you mama, I'm you daddy, I'm the n----r in the caddy...," went t![]()
he song by Curtis Mayfield.
When I and photographer (Ron Schade?) got to the docks, the sailors were unloading huge bales of the high-grade Colombian marijuana and doing field tests on its quality. One of them pulled apart a red bud and put it in the test tube. The reaction was immediate as the liquid turned color almost instantly.
"It's high-grade Red Bud Colombian." the sailor announced.
County dump trucks were used by the Coast Guard and sheriff's department to haul the 32 1/2 tons packed in bales to a large pit dug into a corner of the landfill at the port.
The cutter seized the 111-foot coastal freighter Superfly II when the boarding party located the "high-grade Columbian" marijuana on board.
Her 16-man crew was taken into custody and a government crew was placed on board. The cutter then escorted her prize back to Brownsville, arriving there on the morning of August 19.
That was good for the Durable and her crew. But the best was yet to come in regards to the Superfly and her kick ass load. After the pot was dumped in the trench and doused with diesel, a huge black plume rose over the hole. The Herald – being an afternoon paper – we carried the story to every corner of Brownsville by 1 p.m. A distant shot of the plume of smoke was on every front page.
Resident who saw the story merely had to look east to see the smoke emanating from the port.
Then came the storm. At perhaps 2:30 or 3 p.m., a heavy thunderstorm hit the area. By any measure, it was a good dousing. Every weed smoker in town thought the same thing: Not all of those 32 tons are going to burn.
Having written my story and turned in for the evening, I ran into my late brother Joe, then attending the local junior college.
"Thanks for the heads up, bro!" he said laughing, pointing at a copy of the paper.
I had no idea what he was talking about until I walked in to the travel trailer we shared on our parent's property.
The house stunk of weed and diesel.
"How did you...?" I started asking.
"They were taking weed out of the dump by the truckloads," he said. "I went with a few friends and there were guys riding shotgun with the entire beds of pickup tucks filled to the top with bales. It's all over town."
As the year wore on, it soon became apparent that several enterprising groups of several neighborhoods had struck gold. A couple of families (Los gorilas) near the port used the income from selling the weed to better their lot. Others came all the way from Las Prietas and La Muralla to pick up pounds and pounds of the weed.
Small fortunes were made running the weed to Houston and points further north. At the time, getting it past the Sarita checkpoint was not as difficult as it is in these days of Homeland Security.
"Ah, yes," recalled my friend. "People who were around back then remember the good old Superfly II."
Ask any longtime Brownsville resident who partook of the devil weed (in the past, of course) about the seizure of the Superfly coastal freighter picked up in the Gulf of Mexico by the Durable, the Coast Guard cutter that was stationed in the Port of Brownsville in August 1978 and you will get a smile of recognition.
"That was all red bud, buddy," recalled one recently. "It smelled a little like diesel, but the quality made you forget about it. We hadn't seem stuff like that around here in years."
I was a new reporter on the Brownsville Herald when we got a call from the Coast Guard station that the USCGS Durable was coming into port hauling in the Superfly II.
For those of us who still remember the 1970s movie, it was about a ghetto hero who turned the tables on the man from outside the hood and took over the street drug business.
"I'm you mama, I'm you daddy, I'm the n----r in the caddy...," went t
he song by Curtis Mayfield.When I and photographer (Ron Schade?) got to the docks, the sailors were unloading huge bales of the high-grade Colombian marijuana and doing field tests on its quality. One of them pulled apart a red bud and put it in the test tube. The reaction was immediate as the liquid turned color almost instantly.
"It's high-grade Red Bud Colombian." the sailor announced.
County dump trucks were used by the Coast Guard and sheriff's department to haul the 32 1/2 tons packed in bales to a large pit dug into a corner of the landfill at the port.
The cutter seized the 111-foot coastal freighter Superfly II when the boarding party located the "high-grade Columbian" marijuana on board.
Her 16-man crew was taken into custody and a government crew was placed on board. The cutter then escorted her prize back to Brownsville, arriving there on the morning of August 19.
That was good for the Durable and her crew. But the best was yet to come in regards to the Superfly and her kick ass load. After the pot was dumped in the trench and doused with diesel, a huge black plume rose over the hole. The Herald – being an afternoon paper – we carried the story to every corner of Brownsville by 1 p.m. A distant shot of the plume of smoke was on every front page.
Resident who saw the story merely had to look east to see the smoke emanating from the port.
Then came the storm. At perhaps 2:30 or 3 p.m., a heavy thunderstorm hit the area. By any measure, it was a good dousing. Every weed smoker in town thought the same thing: Not all of those 32 tons are going to burn.
Having written my story and turned in for the evening, I ran into my late brother Joe, then attending the local junior college.
"Thanks for the heads up, bro!" he said laughing, pointing at a copy of the paper.
I had no idea what he was talking about until I walked in to the travel trailer we shared on our parent's property.
The house stunk of weed and diesel.
"How did you...?" I started asking.
"They were taking weed out of the dump by the truckloads," he said. "I went with a few friends and there were guys riding shotgun with the entire beds of pickup tucks filled to the top with bales. It's all over town."
As the year wore on, it soon became apparent that several enterprising groups of several neighborhoods had struck gold. A couple of families (Los gorilas) near the port used the income from selling the weed to better their lot. Others came all the way from Las Prietas and La Muralla to pick up pounds and pounds of the weed.
Small fortunes were made running the weed to Houston and points further north. At the time, getting it past the Sarita checkpoint was not as difficult as it is in these days of Homeland Security.
"Ah, yes," recalled my friend. "People who were around back then remember the good old Superfly II."
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ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE
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NEED A LIFT, BIG BOY? CALL YOUR FRIENDLY HOOD COMMISH
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A PROMISE IS A PROMISE; HERE YOU GO BORRADO
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FROM CROATIA WITH LOVE: PALOMA NEGRA
(Ed.'s Note: We are constantly amazed at the rendition of Mexican compositions by people from other parts of the world. Some of them are quite good. We remember going out to the Narciso Martinez Cultural Center in San Bene where we listened to a Japanese group (Los Gatos Negros?) sing songs written and played by Tony de la Rosa. Although their enunciation was slightly different than the original, it was amazing how close they came to the conjunto sound.
And we are told that a Japanese female (Shirley Kwan?) artist also does a crack-up job with Cucurrucucu Paloma by composer Tomas Mendez.
A friend of ours turned us on the Viktorija Novosel from Croatia and her rendition of the Mexican classic Paloma Negra, also composed by Mendez during a singing contest. Numerous Mexican and Mexican-American singers have interpreted this song, most notably Lola Beltran. Give it a listen. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised.)
And we are told that a Japanese female (Shirley Kwan?) artist also does a crack-up job with Cucurrucucu Paloma by composer Tomas Mendez.
A friend of ours turned us on the Viktorija Novosel from Croatia and her rendition of the Mexican classic Paloma Negra, also composed by Mendez during a singing contest. Numerous Mexican and Mexican-American singers have interpreted this song, most notably Lola Beltran. Give it a listen. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised.)
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ON BEING MEXICAN IN U.S: AN ETHNICITY OF CONVENIENCE?
By Jose Sandoval
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Orgullosamente Mexicanx*
Orgullosamente mexicanx
Cuando te conviene mas,
Cuando tocan los mariachis
Y la bironga fría esta.
Cuando linda señoritas
Con sus trajes de color
Bailan por las avenidas
En brillante formación.
Pero cuando truena y llueve
La injustica y el dolor
De repente ser mexicanx
Algo pierdede de sabor.
¡Auxilio! Se oyen gritar
A madres de hijas quien
Solo en la memoria existen
Y la Ley trató con desden
¡Auxilio! Grita el migrante
Que, en busca de vida mejor,
Entro al desierto como tantos
Y un sepulcro encontró.
¡Auxilio! Grita la viuda
Que solita se quedo
Cuando en camino a Califas
Una tumba, a su marido, se tragó
¡Eres orgullosamente mexicanx!
Cuando te conviene mas
Y al terminarse tu fiesta
A otra gente volveras.
Bajo tu ancho sombrero, tu dolor esconderás,
Y entre tequila y zarapes,
Nadie te conocera
Entonces si,
El orgullo de tus gentes con tu voz proclamaras.
*Mexicanx- mexicano/mexicana
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THE ONGOING LNG DEBATE: IN WHOSE COURT IS IT, REALLY?
Those who have driven to South Padre Island recently can't help but notice the massive construction through the wetlands of the Brownsville Navigation District as the 48-inch pipeline snakes its way to the Gulf of Mexico.
This unprecedented use of public lands for this potentially environmentally dangerous project has been decried in many forums. These protests, in conjunction with the outcry against the construction of the LNG plants in the Port of Brownsville has set off a heated dispute between those who welcome the plants as a way to promote manufacturing and jobs and those who point to the potential for pollution and damage to the wetlands and hypersaline lagunas that serve as nurseries and refuge for many gamefish, endangered wildlife and shellfish like shrimp and other species.
That, in turn, has created a political chasm between those who see the protests as a movement by retirees and residents living in communities along the coastline (Laguna Vista, SPI, etc.) in conflict with people in the county who see the plants as a potential for employment and economic development.
And politicians are scurrying to define their stands on the issue, much as did others on the west side of Brownsville for the West Rail Road/Trail. Sides have been drawn, and many political figures have been identified with either side. And just as there have been recriminations at the voting booth, so it has been when it comes to the LNGs.
The first line of demarcation was when the Brownsville Navigation District commissioners approved the leasing of huge tracts of land for at least five LNG companies who plunked down their money to rent the land for their future plants. Their justification was that if the companies dotted all their "I"s and crossed all their "T"s with the proper environmental state and federal agencies, there was little legal justification they could use to keep them out.
Once the approval had been given, their contractual obligations to rent them the properties could not be withdrawn on pain of costly litigation that could potentially cost the port (and taxpayers) millions. In other words, the horse was out of the barn and could not be put back. That consideration is offset by environmental and other single-issue groups who will not back off from their opinion that anyone who as much as considers approving them plants or other economic incentives and tax abatements for the plants doesn't belong in public office.
Take the county commissioners' approval of $373,100,000. in tax abatements for Rio Grande LNG last October. The actual investment is actually $15.7 billion dollars that will essentially almost double the county’s current tax base. The four county commissioners who voted for the agreement between the company and the port, the state , and the county cited economic development, infrastructure improvements, and an estimated 5,000 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs created if the export terminal gets built at the Port of Brownsville.
Under the terms of the agreement, county officials say they have been guaranteed a minimum of 35 percent of construction and permanent jobs for local residents. If this does not happen, the company will be penalized with payments for missing the target on this benchmark. The company had first offered 20 percent of the those jobs to local residents, but relented and increased the percentage to 35 to acquire the commissioners' votes.
The commissioners who voted to approve the deal were Sofia Benavides, Alex Dominguez, Davbid Garza and Gus Ruiz. County Judge Eddie Treviño voted not to approve it.
Now, the judge knew that the four votes would be there in support of the agreement so his "no" vote would not matter. And the political benefit from denying the vote in the upcoming elections in November would potentially help him in the race against Republican county judge candidate Carlos Cascos.
Will it translate into the deciding edge Treviño needs to go win?
He has plenty of money, according to his campaign reports. But just as the West Trail advocates have found out, the deal between the city and the county for the abandoned railroad right-of-way also includes plans for a road, something that candidates who went before them – including Treviño – assured them they would not support. Once the realpolitik set in, however, all deals were off. It takes money to run for office and few candidates turn down money for their races.
If we are to deal with this issue with our eyes wide open, then we should also question why the judge accepts campaign contributions from the law firm representing one of the LNGs. According to reports, attorney Keith Uhles, of Royston Rayzor Vickery, lobbied his firm to give him at least $2,500 in 2017.
Does receiving money from a company doing business with the LNGs make Treviño suspect in the eyes of the anti-LNG groups? Or is there a buffer because it didn't come from the companies themselves? These questions have to be addressed before people demonize candidates in the upcoming elections. To be against one and justify the other would be intellectually dishonest.
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KEEP THE TRUCK RUNNING WHILE I PAY FOR THE GAS, BRO
By Juan Montoya
It was about half-past 2 on a hot summer afternoon when the two friends drove up to the gas pumps at the 7-11 at the corner of 13th and Roosevelt to fill up.
Andres was driving his father's Ford F-150 pickup and they had just dropped off two other workers who lived in the small rooms behind Javier Ruiz's 1,2,3 Lounge. The two other men had been helping Andres and Ramon, his passenger, to clear some land of cedar which covered the better part of a 20-acre field.
The land belonged to a local rancher from an old family who had been receiving payments under the set-aside program of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture for a few years. Now the federal government was threatening to stop the subsidies because the cedar trees – actually large bushes with thick trunks – were overrunning the field and it was impossible to the rancher to claim he was setting aside the land from crops and receive the payments.
So he had contacted Ramon – who also belonged to an old Brownsville family – to see if he could find a crew to remove the cedar. He had contacted Andres and they set about to hire two others to help them with what they thought would be an easy job.
It wasn't.
The cedar had a double root and had been allowed to grow into small trees. At first they thought they could simply pull them out, but only a few came out and the rest didn't budge. So they had to invest in two gasoline chainsaws to cut them at ground level. That didn't work so well because the sandy dirt would get into the chainsaw mechanism and clog it. Then the sand, acting as an abrasive, dulled the chain on the saw and they found that having them sharpened did not work very well. The fact that the heat climbed to near 100 degrees didn't help either.
It was after a long morning of dealing with all these problems that the two friends pulled up to the 7-11 to fuel up and Andres told Ramon to keep the truck running because he had just changed the original motor for a 351 Windsor off a 1980 Lincoln Versailles he owned. He had gotten rid of that car because some of his friends had hauled two onion-bags filled with iced shrimp in the trunk that had melted and the ensuing stink and flies drawn by it had been impossible to eradicate. The toxic smell literally gave Andres a headache.
The change in motor had a few glitches and sometimes after he turned it off, it was difficult to start. That and the fact that some of the gauges didn't work made Andres gas it up periodically because he couldn't tell how much gas was in the tank and he didn't want to get stranded somewhere out in the rural areas.
"Dejala prendida, bro, no la vayas a apagar, (Keep it running. Don't turn it off.)," Andre said as he alighted.
"Ta gueno," Ramon nodded.
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Andres got off and went int the store. There was a line in front of the single cash register and Andres waited while the cashier charged the people in front. There was a woman with several slips for Pick-3 lottery drawings that the machine had trouble registering.
Then, as he waited impatiently for his turn, Ramon came running into the store and told him: "Ta prendida la troca, bro."
"I know, I told you to keep it running, que no la fueras a apagar" Andres replied.
"No, no, esta prendida, bro!"
"I know...," Andres was saying when Ramon blurted out: "It's on fire, man. The truck's on fire."
Both friends ran out and saw smoke coming out from the hood of the truck.
Andres pulled up on the hood and saw a small flame near the carburetor. He had no water to throw on it, but a passing motorists stopped when he saw the fire and, by good fortune, had a small fire extinguisher with which he doused the fire.
"Te dije que estaba prendida," Ramon told Andres.
It was about half-past 2 on a hot summer afternoon when the two friends drove up to the gas pumps at the 7-11 at the corner of 13th and Roosevelt to fill up.
Andres was driving his father's Ford F-150 pickup and they had just dropped off two other workers who lived in the small rooms behind Javier Ruiz's 1,2,3 Lounge. The two other men had been helping Andres and Ramon, his passenger, to clear some land of cedar which covered the better part of a 20-acre field.
The land belonged to a local rancher from an old family who had been receiving payments under the set-aside program of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture for a few years. Now the federal government was threatening to stop the subsidies because the cedar trees – actually large bushes with thick trunks – were overrunning the field and it was impossible to the rancher to claim he was setting aside the land from crops and receive the payments.
So he had contacted Ramon – who also belonged to an old Brownsville family – to see if he could find a crew to remove the cedar. He had contacted Andres and they set about to hire two others to help them with what they thought would be an easy job.
It wasn't.
The cedar had a double root and had been allowed to grow into small trees. At first they thought they could simply pull them out, but only a few came out and the rest didn't budge. So they had to invest in two gasoline chainsaws to cut them at ground level. That didn't work so well because the sandy dirt would get into the chainsaw mechanism and clog it. Then the sand, acting as an abrasive, dulled the chain on the saw and they found that having them sharpened did not work very well. The fact that the heat climbed to near 100 degrees didn't help either.
It was after a long morning of dealing with all these problems that the two friends pulled up to the 7-11 to fuel up and Andres told Ramon to keep the truck running because he had just changed the original motor for a 351 Windsor off a 1980 Lincoln Versailles he owned. He had gotten rid of that car because some of his friends had hauled two onion-bags filled with iced shrimp in the trunk that had melted and the ensuing stink and flies drawn by it had been impossible to eradicate. The toxic smell literally gave Andres a headache.
The change in motor had a few glitches and sometimes after he turned it off, it was difficult to start. That and the fact that some of the gauges didn't work made Andres gas it up periodically because he couldn't tell how much gas was in the tank and he didn't want to get stranded somewhere out in the rural areas.
"Dejala prendida, bro, no la vayas a apagar, (Keep it running. Don't turn it off.)," Andre said as he alighted.
"Ta gueno," Ramon nodded.
Andres got off and went int the store. There was a line in front of the single cash register and Andres waited while the cashier charged the people in front. There was a woman with several slips for Pick-3 lottery drawings that the machine had trouble registering.Then, as he waited impatiently for his turn, Ramon came running into the store and told him: "Ta prendida la troca, bro."
"I know, I told you to keep it running, que no la fueras a apagar" Andres replied.
"No, no, esta prendida, bro!"
"I know...," Andres was saying when Ramon blurted out: "It's on fire, man. The truck's on fire."
Both friends ran out and saw smoke coming out from the hood of the truck.
Andres pulled up on the hood and saw a small flame near the carburetor. He had no water to throw on it, but a passing motorists stopped when he saw the fire and, by good fortune, had a small fire extinguisher with which he doused the fire.
"Te dije que estaba prendida," Ramon told Andres.
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YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE FOUND THEIR VOICE: SAY NAY TO NRA
Crazed gunmen and Don Trump waffling
Young people have found their voice
This summer we hear their chanting
We want action not more noise
Gotta get down to it
Armed crazies are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew them
And saw them killed in classrooms
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Armed fools are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew them
And saw them dead in their rooms
How can you run when you know?
NRA cash has Congress waffling
Young people have found their voice
This summer we hear their chanting
We want action not your noise
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IT'S TEXAS WEEK FOR SPRING BREAK ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND
(Ed.'s Note: If you haven't gone to South Padre Island this week, you are missing out on Texas Week with all its accompanying color and squalor. Virtually every room on the island is taken and the clubs are filled to capacity. We had friends who were there Wednesday and who were gracious enough to send us these pics of the action out there.
They report that there was excess, debauchery, and all that occurs when you pile in thousands of teenagers on a spit of sand and add in a large dose of alcohol and pot and spice it up with live music. The SPI cps and security at the clubs had their hands full with drunken revelers from places north of the RGV plus a smattering of locals who want to see how school kid behave when they're away from Mom and Dad. So far, no one has died this year falling off a hotel balcony or getting run over. Let's cross our fingers it stays that way.
As someone said, like going to college, you've got to do it at least once. Next week it will be kids from the Midwest schools who will take a turn at letting all hang out. If you don't mind spending a few hours battling traffic, Port Isabel cops and maybe JP 1 Benny Ochoa if you're hauled in, take a spin out to the Island to witness the annual event. We thank our readers for the photos.)
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FAMILY, 93-YEAR-OLD MOTHER, AWAIT JOE LOPEZ RELEASE
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
For 11 years, the family of Tejano star Joe Lopez – expected to walk out of a Huntsville prison today after more than 11 years behind bars – have waited for him to come home.
And, said his brother Raul, a local bail bondsman, none more so than Lopez's 93-year-old mother who has waited all those years to see her son again.
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"She's 93 and she has waited all this time to see Joe again." Lopez said. "It doesn't matter what other people think of him, it's her son."
In 2006, a Cameron County jury gave Lopez 32 years in prison for sexually assaulting his niece, Krystal Lopez, in 2004, when she was 13.
The family has said Lopez was convicted based on DNA and other evidence fabricated by then-Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, himself serving a seven-year sentence for bribery and corruption. They say the singer will eventually be exonerated.
He was sentenced to 20 years for one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, eight years for a second count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four years for indecency with a child, to run concurrently. As a result, he had to serve the longest 20 year sentence in prison.
Lopez will walk out of prison between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Raul Lopez said one of his brothers will be there to meet him an bring him home to Brownsville.
The singer – now 67 – was granted parole Jan. 26, but only after he served a nine-month sex offender treatment program. Upon his release, he will undergo “supervised parole” through Oct. 31, 2026. The parole board has ordered him not to contact Krystal Lopez nor enter Harris County, where she lives, without prior approval.
Relatives say that that while incarcerated Lopez has written hundreds of songs and that he intends to beak back slowly into his former career.
"For now we're just thanking the Lord for his release and want him to come home," said Raul Lopez. "Our mom has been waiting for a long time and we're happy that she will see him again."
For 11 years, the family of Tejano star Joe Lopez – expected to walk out of a Huntsville prison today after more than 11 years behind bars – have waited for him to come home.
And, said his brother Raul, a local bail bondsman, none more so than Lopez's 93-year-old mother who has waited all those years to see her son again.
"She's 93 and she has waited all this time to see Joe again." Lopez said. "It doesn't matter what other people think of him, it's her son."
In 2006, a Cameron County jury gave Lopez 32 years in prison for sexually assaulting his niece, Krystal Lopez, in 2004, when she was 13.
The family has said Lopez was convicted based on DNA and other evidence fabricated by then-Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, himself serving a seven-year sentence for bribery and corruption. They say the singer will eventually be exonerated.
He was sentenced to 20 years for one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, eight years for a second count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four years for indecency with a child, to run concurrently. As a result, he had to serve the longest 20 year sentence in prison.
Lopez will walk out of prison between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Raul Lopez said one of his brothers will be there to meet him an bring him home to Brownsville.
The singer – now 67 – was granted parole Jan. 26, but only after he served a nine-month sex offender treatment program. Upon his release, he will undergo “supervised parole” through Oct. 31, 2026. The parole board has ordered him not to contact Krystal Lopez nor enter Harris County, where she lives, without prior approval.
Relatives say that that while incarcerated Lopez has written hundreds of songs and that he intends to beak back slowly into his former career.
"For now we're just thanking the Lord for his release and want him to come home," said Raul Lopez. "Our mom has been waiting for a long time and we're happy that she will see him again."
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CITY: BUILDING INSPECTOR FIRED, CHARGED WITH BRIBERY
Antonio M. Zamorano joined the City of Brownsville in January 2016 as a Building & Construction Inspector. Antonio M. Zamorano has been terminated effective immediately.
“The City of Brownsville will not tolerate any actions that disrupt our mission to uphold the highest standards of integrity and ethics in the preservation of public service and trust,” said Interim City Manager Michael Lopez.
“The City of Brownsville will not tolerate any actions that disrupt our mission to uphold the highest standards of integrity and ethics in the preservation of public service and trust,” said Interim City Manager Michael Lopez.
“The City of Brownsville will continue to cooperate with law enforcement officials in the pursuit of justice. We will provide further commentary as details become available and when appropriate.”
The City of Brownsville encourages residents to report any illegal activity to Brownsville Crime Stoppers by calling (956)546-TIPS(8477) or (956)546-HELP(4357). Reports may also be submitted online at http://brownsvillecrimestoppers.com. All reports may be submitted anonymously.
Other reports say that Traffic Dept. Director Robert Esparza had also been on the chopping block, but those reports could not be independently confirmed today. We will try to get an update Friday.
The City of Brownsville encourages residents to report any illegal activity to Brownsville Crime Stoppers by calling (956)546-TIPS(8477) or (956)546-HELP(4357). Reports may also be submitted online at http://brownsvillecrimestoppers.com. All reports may be submitted anonymously.
Other reports say that Traffic Dept. Director Robert Esparza had also been on the chopping block, but those reports could not be independently confirmed today. We will try to get an update Friday.
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RENE TRIES TO WALK; WITH SPIRITS, SEES GHOSTS IN CORNERS
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
District 37 State Representative Rene Oliveira tried to take a stroll downtown. Through the haze of the shots he had throughout the day sweating the runoff with Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Alex Dominguez, his memories regarding Brownsville's historic heart and soul faltered and he grabbed at the corner of the San Fernando Building going back several generations to steady himself.
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The many spirits he had consumed made him imagine he saw a ghost at every corner.
"My grandfather was a longtime city cop and walking downtown was a part of his beat," said Oliveira as he passed in front of the bus terminal and admired the building's architecture as he observed the empty high-rise parking lot across the street. "Damn, for a moment I thought it was the guy in the security outfit sleeping on the bench.
"He used to run out the local Mexican shoe shine boys at their water holes like the pilot Bar and the Sportsman Lounge so the gringos could drink in peace. In those days, the Snowbirds used to make Brownsville los mecos for the entire Rio Grande Valley and Northern Mexico.
"My grandfather spoke fondly about the trust that existed among the citizenry in those days. You hear about residents who didn't lock their homes, but merchants were so confident about the safety of their establishments that they oftentimes forgot to lock the doors to their entrances. Nowadays you can't even invite your neighbor to visit you because he might try to steal your wife."
Through his slurs, Oliveira insists that downtown's time is now. After 34 years of jaunting between Austin's Sixth Street and the French Quarter in New Orleans, he fancies that they have nothing over Brownsville.
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"We don't have the same traffic problems in Brownsville," he says. "In fact, there is almost no traffic in downtown Brownsville at all. But living in a thriving downtown would certainly be an attraction to both young professionals and retirees. I would love to see the El Jardin refurbished into a condo with a restaurant and businesses on the first floor."
His drinking buddy didn't have the heart to tell him that the city commission had already approved plans for a developer to refurbish El Jardin exactly along the lines of his inebriated imagination.
As a hometown product, Oliveira doesn't profess to have the knowledge of the experts at the Brownsville Historical Association, but he recited the contents of Bean Ayala's Visitors and Convention Bureau brochure he had seen somewhere.
"The first two battles of the Mexican-American War and the last battle of the Civil War were fought in the Brownsville area," said Oliveira. "Before Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico, Juan Cortina and his followers took over Brownsville. With our wonderful weather and picturesque scenery, visitors would come in droves to experience Brownsville historically firsthand through our restored buildings. The birders are always amazed when they observe parrots living in palm trees on Washington Street. If they had the hangovers I have, they'd agree with Othal Brand and allow kids with 22s to shut them up. Gad, what a racket!"
"The momentum is here. I stopped for an early one at El Hueso de Fraile on the recommendation of my good friend State Senator Eddie Lucio, now that guy can sell an Eskimo a fridge, bro!, for a slight commission, of course.
"Brownsville is moving forward, not tottering, like I am. The movement downtown captures that spirit. And speaking of spirits, Jerry, let me buy you a couple of rounds to keep you happy and writing good stuff about me."
District 37 State Representative Rene Oliveira tried to take a stroll downtown. Through the haze of the shots he had throughout the day sweating the runoff with Cameron County Pct. 2 Commissioner Alex Dominguez, his memories regarding Brownsville's historic heart and soul faltered and he grabbed at the corner of the San Fernando Building going back several generations to steady himself.
The many spirits he had consumed made him imagine he saw a ghost at every corner."My grandfather was a longtime city cop and walking downtown was a part of his beat," said Oliveira as he passed in front of the bus terminal and admired the building's architecture as he observed the empty high-rise parking lot across the street. "Damn, for a moment I thought it was the guy in the security outfit sleeping on the bench.
"He used to run out the local Mexican shoe shine boys at their water holes like the pilot Bar and the Sportsman Lounge so the gringos could drink in peace. In those days, the Snowbirds used to make Brownsville los mecos for the entire Rio Grande Valley and Northern Mexico.
"My grandfather spoke fondly about the trust that existed among the citizenry in those days. You hear about residents who didn't lock their homes, but merchants were so confident about the safety of their establishments that they oftentimes forgot to lock the doors to their entrances. Nowadays you can't even invite your neighbor to visit you because he might try to steal your wife."
Through his slurs, Oliveira insists that downtown's time is now. After 34 years of jaunting between Austin's Sixth Street and the French Quarter in New Orleans, he fancies that they have nothing over Brownsville.
"We don't have the same traffic problems in Brownsville," he says. "In fact, there is almost no traffic in downtown Brownsville at all. But living in a thriving downtown would certainly be an attraction to both young professionals and retirees. I would love to see the El Jardin refurbished into a condo with a restaurant and businesses on the first floor."
His drinking buddy didn't have the heart to tell him that the city commission had already approved plans for a developer to refurbish El Jardin exactly along the lines of his inebriated imagination.
As a hometown product, Oliveira doesn't profess to have the knowledge of the experts at the Brownsville Historical Association, but he recited the contents of Bean Ayala's Visitors and Convention Bureau brochure he had seen somewhere.
"The first two battles of the Mexican-American War and the last battle of the Civil War were fought in the Brownsville area," said Oliveira. "Before Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico, Juan Cortina and his followers took over Brownsville. With our wonderful weather and picturesque scenery, visitors would come in droves to experience Brownsville historically firsthand through our restored buildings. The birders are always amazed when they observe parrots living in palm trees on Washington Street. If they had the hangovers I have, they'd agree with Othal Brand and allow kids with 22s to shut them up. Gad, what a racket!"
"The momentum is here. I stopped for an early one at El Hueso de Fraile on the recommendation of my good friend State Senator Eddie Lucio, now that guy can sell an Eskimo a fridge, bro!, for a slight commission, of course.
"Brownsville is moving forward, not tottering, like I am. The movement downtown captures that spirit. And speaking of spirits, Jerry, let me buy you a couple of rounds to keep you happy and writing good stuff about me."
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A BELATED SALUTE TO OUR FELLOW IRISH BROTHERS
(This post previously appeared in El Rrun-Rrun. We reprint it here in honor of St. Patrick's Day for our fellow citizens of Irish descent and other like-minded readers. We were reminded today that we had been remiss in commemorating St. Patrick's Day. Our regards.)
By Juan Montoya
The readers of this blog know by now that we have a soft spot for the Irish, that mad and joyful race from the Emerald Isle.But even though there are commonalities of religion and cultural persecution, we generally know only a superficial history of that suffered people. Everyone knows about the Potato Famine and the persecution by their English masters. Ireland, as was Scotland, was, in effect, a colony of white second-class citizens under the British.
And history buffs along the US-Mexico border know of the San Patricio Battalion that fought on the Mexican side during the Mexican-American War. There is even a monument to those soldiers (some who were hanged upon the fall of the Castle of Chapultepec) in the Mexican capital commemorating their valor on the battlefield. Those not hanged by Gen. Winfield Scott were branded with a "T" on their cheek to indicate they were considered traitors by the invading U.S. forces.
Yet, it isn't until you study this historical situation closer that you realize the true extent of that subjugation and its incredible human toll that both the famine and British imperialism took on these people.
I recently stumbled across a book written by Thomas Keneally, the same writer who wrote Schindler's List. The book is called The Great Shame and the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World.
Written by a master novelist, it depicts 19th Century Ireland and the privations and subjugation imposed upon Catholic Irish in their native land. Keneally's own ancestors (one Hugh Larkin) was "transported" to Australia for his role in protesting the land tenancy practices of Irish landlords that starved their
tenants and drove them to the brink of famine and death, and rebellion.As a result of these pressures on the Irish, in the 19th Century Ireland lost half of its population to famine, emigration to the United States and Canada, and the forced deportation of convicts to Australia.
Keneally documents the full story of the Irish diaspora through the eyes of political prisoners, many like his ancestor who left Ireland in chains and eventually found glory, in one form or another, in Australia and America.
Keneally traces the Irish struggle for liberation through the Emancipation when Irish natives were ostensibly granted the right to vote and hold office. Those rights had been taken from them since the defeat of deposed King Edward James II and his Catholic Irish allies at the battle of Boyne River in 1690.
The victors were the Protestant army of James's son-in-law King William of Orange, who had been handed the British throne by Parliament in 1688. After the battle, a series of penal laws were passed to prevent further Catholic uprising aimed at keeping the native Irish powerless, poor and stupid.
Some of those laws were not repealed until the Emancipation in 1829.
Keneally writes that "Under the Penal Code the Catholic Irish were barred from serving as officers in the army or navy, or from practicing as lawyers – a profession for which they would later prove to have an appetite. They could hold no civic post or office at all under the Crown.
At the death of a Catholic landowner his land was to be divided among all his sons unless the eldest became a Protestant, in which case he would inherit the whole.
A Catholic could not own a horse worth more than 3 (British) pounds, was prohibited from living within five miles of an incorporated town and from attending or keeping schools. Edmund Burke called these laws "a machine as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment and degradation of the people, and the debasement of human nature itself as ever proceeded from the perverted imagination of man."
Reading and writing, if any, was acquired by the peasantry by so-called hedge-schools that were carried out in the shade of tall windbreaks in the countryside. Mass was held on Mass stones instead of altars by finding a suitable flat rocks atop of which were placed the sacraments and other objects of Catholic worship.
In that era, the droit de seigneur – the right of the landlord to deflower the peasant bride before she was handed back to her husband – existed on many large estates. There was also the common requirement before marriage that permission be sought, cap-in-hand, at the big house. Although the Irish natives were forced by law to bear these indignities, they did enjoy some advantage over other European peasants of the day in that they did not face hunger as did many others on the continent.
This was the result of the introduction of the New World tuber into their diets.
The lowly potato, a native plant of Peru, not only provided the 3,800 calories per day, but also an extraordinary armoury of vitamins, twice the recommended daily intake of protein, calcium and iron, and a low fat content.
Potatoes were the only cheap crop which could support life when fed to a peasant as the sole item of a diet. They were also suited to the conditions of land tenure, under which the peasants could not afford to build barns or sheds in which to store the food.
This staple of the Irish diet also helped stave off the common scourges of hunger found elsewhere around the world – scurvy, pellagra and malnutrition blindness.
In face of this meager existence and the propensity of landlords to hike their tenants' rents on a whim, the Irish formed secret societies to help themselves.
Variously called Whiteboys, Rockites, and Ribbon societies, they came into existence to threaten both the landlords and the bailiff who evicted, as well as any tenant rash enough to take up an evictee's house and land.
The resulting laws against these types of uprising and membership in these societies included death, imprisonment and "transportation" to the penal colonies in South Africa and, most often preferred, Australia.
Larkin, Keneally's ancestor, was arrested and convicted of threatening his landlord with a group of Whiteboys protesting the eviction of a fellow peasant. He was sentenced to "transportation" for 12 years.
The beginning of the end came in September 1845.
As the Irish chafed under the British yoke, the air over Ireland as filling with the spores of a mold which would work a ferocious change. The first rumors had come from the fields of Britain and Belgium of a blight that turned the potato flower and stalk black and which cause the potato itself to putrefy.
By October, the potato crop everywhere in Ireland was rotting. When the Irish peasants went out to the garden, Keneally writes, "for potatoes for a meal. They stuck the spade in the pit, and the spade was swallowed. The potatoes turned mud inside. They shrieked and shrieked. The whole town came out."
Dubbed the "vampire" fungus, it would later be identified as Phytopthoma infestans, treatable by spraying with copper compounds, and reduced to an agricultural nuisance. But for the Irish then, it was a momentous force, a strange visitation.
As hunger stalked the land, Irish legislators pleaded with the Crown for the suspension of the export of Irish grain and provisions and a prohibition on distilling and brewing from grain. They also asked for the suspension of the so-called Corn Laws to open Irish ports to free import of rice and Indian corn from other British colonies.
Irish ports were not open and subject to the special provision of the laws designed to peg the price of the grain at the highest possible level and to keep out other, cheaper grain until the entire British crop had been sold at artificially pegged prices. There are reports of starving children lining the banks of the canals as boats loaded with food and grains sailed out for exportation from Ireland, their lips stained green from eating grass.
And so, though a combination of hunger, official recalcitrance to open markets, and imperial edicts, began the period in Ireland called an Gorta Mor – the Great Hunger, or simply, an droch-Shaol – the
Bad Life, the Bad Times.
By February 1846, in Lismay, a survey of the destitute populations in five townslands found that 211 persons were "absolutely starving," and correctly seen as the apex of a great pyramid of hunger where the victims were reduced in some cases to the skeletal conditions where the body feeds necrotically on its own substance.
Hand in hand with the extreme hunger came its companion, the Black Fever, typhus. Marching side by side with hunger, typhus darkened the swollen faces of the victims, and finished them. People collapsed from it in the fields, and in ditches along the road.
Lice infected with Rickettsia communicated the disease from sufferer to sufferer. The mere squashing of an infected louse on the skin permitted the invasion by the minute bacteria. The excrement of the louse contained Rickettsia also.
The extension of a helping hand to the ragged elbow of a sufferer's coat could release the invisible and fatal powder of dung. Hence, clergy, nuns and doctors who tended fevered patients, handled their tattered clothing, comforted them with a hand to wrist, shoulder or forehead, readily became victims.
Many witnesses mentioned the mousy stench of the disease, how it drove one backwards when the door of an infected house was opened. Simultaneously, a deadly relapsing fever emerged. It was sometimes called Yellow Fever, fiabrhas buidhe, because it produced a jaundiced appearance.
Relapsing fever was also transmitted by lice, but the bacterium was carried on the body and limbs of the louse, not the stomach. The fever raged for four or five days, but then passed. But perhaps after a week it hit again. There could be as many as four or five relapses, any of them fatal.
Their generic name was Famine Fever.
Along with the ravages of hunger and pestilence came the hardening attitude of the colonial government to famine-fed unrest.
Evictions became violent.
The poor lived along the roadsides and under trees. In one account, a bystander witnessed the evictions of more than 60 tenants – nearly 300 people – by the 49th Infantry at the request of one Mrs. Gerrard, for unpaid rent.
"It was the most appalling he had ever witnessed – women, young and old, running wildly to and fro with small portions of property."
That night the ejected families slept in the ruins of their houses; their neighbors were warned on pain of eviction against taking them in. Like the evicted throughout the country, they now had to live in scalps, burrows roofed over with boughs and turf, or in scalpeens, holes dug in the ruins of a "tumbled" house.
"There is a horrible silence;" reads a narrative of the day, "grass grows before the doors; we fear to look into nay door...for we fear to see yellow chapless skeletons grinning there; but our footfalls rouse two lean dogs that run from us with fearful howling, and we know by the felon-gleam in the wolfish eyes how they have lived after their masters died. We stop before the thresholds of our host of two years before, put our head, and say with shaking voice, 'God save all here!'– No answer. Ghastly silence and a mouldy stench, as from the mouth of burial vaults! They are dead!
"The strong man and the fair dark-eyed woman and the little ones, with their Gaelic accents that melted into the music two years ago; they shrank and withered together until their voices dwindled to a rueful gibbering, and they hardly knew one another's faces, but their horrid eyes scowled at each other with a cannibal glare."
By March 1847, nearly 3,000 were dying each week in Ireland's workhouses.
People huddled together by any turf fire, and lice and typhus traveled from one another. By day, the roads were full of desperate travelers who conveyed the infected lice from place to place.
Once or twice a a day – in a form of quarantine and not desertion – "relatives of sufferers would feed the ailing ones inside by tying a can of water and a bit of hot gruel to the end of a long pole. When there were no more tugs on the pole, the house would be pulled down on top of the corpse and burned, an unprecedented method of disposing of a body."
The result of these incredibly cruel and tragic conditions in Ireland drove the great migration to the Americas.
The British government never acquiesced to attend to the plight of the starving masses, preferring instead to protect its markets and impose its imperial will upon the Irish.
Out of that migration of the hungry "masses yearning to be free" and from other peoples throughout the globe the United States has emerged as the best "poor man's country in the world."
What would have happened to the Irish people if the doors to America had been closed to them then? We would all have been much the poorer for it because the Irish, despite their tragedy and their own prejudices toward their fellow Americans like Afro-Americans, women, and Latinos, have contributed an invaluable addition to the tapestry and culture of this great nation.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of the Emerald Isle!
By February 1846, in Lismay, a survey of the destitute populations in five townslands found that 211 persons were "absolutely starving," and correctly seen as the apex of a great pyramid of hunger where the victims were reduced in some cases to the skeletal conditions where the body feeds necrotically on its own substance.
Hand in hand with the extreme hunger came its companion, the Black Fever, typhus. Marching side by side with hunger, typhus darkened the swollen faces of the victims, and finished them. People collapsed from it in the fields, and in ditches along the road.
Lice infected with Rickettsia communicated the disease from sufferer to sufferer. The mere squashing of an infected louse on the skin permitted the invasion by the minute bacteria. The excrement of the louse contained Rickettsia also.
The extension of a helping hand to the ragged elbow of a sufferer's coat could release the invisible and fatal powder of dung. Hence, clergy, nuns and doctors who tended fevered patients, handled their tattered clothing, comforted them with a hand to wrist, shoulder or forehead, readily became victims.
Many witnesses mentioned the mousy stench of the disease, how it drove one backwards when the door of an infected house was opened. Simultaneously, a deadly relapsing fever emerged. It was sometimes called Yellow Fever, fiabrhas buidhe, because it produced a jaundiced appearance.
Relapsing fever was also transmitted by lice, but the bacterium was carried on the body and limbs of the louse, not the stomach. The fever raged for four or five days, but then passed. But perhaps after a week it hit again. There could be as many as four or five relapses, any of them fatal.
Their generic name was Famine Fever.
Along with the ravages of hunger and pestilence came the hardening attitude of the colonial government to famine-fed unrest.
Evictions became violent.
The poor lived along the roadsides and under trees. In one account, a bystander witnessed the evictions of more than 60 tenants – nearly 300 people – by the 49th Infantry at the request of one Mrs. Gerrard, for unpaid rent.
"It was the most appalling he had ever witnessed – women, young and old, running wildly to and fro with small portions of property."
That night the ejected families slept in the ruins of their houses; their neighbors were warned on pain of eviction against taking them in. Like the evicted throughout the country, they now had to live in scalps, burrows roofed over with boughs and turf, or in scalpeens, holes dug in the ruins of a "tumbled" house.
"There is a horrible silence;" reads a narrative of the day, "grass grows before the doors; we fear to look into nay door...for we fear to see yellow chapless skeletons grinning there; but our footfalls rouse two lean dogs that run from us with fearful howling, and we know by the felon-gleam in the wolfish eyes how they have lived after their masters died. We stop before the thresholds of our host of two years before, put our head, and say with shaking voice, 'God save all here!'– No answer. Ghastly silence and a mouldy stench, as from the mouth of burial vaults! They are dead!
"The strong man and the fair dark-eyed woman and the little ones, with their Gaelic accents that melted into the music two years ago; they shrank and withered together until their voices dwindled to a rueful gibbering, and they hardly knew one another's faces, but their horrid eyes scowled at each other with a cannibal glare."
By March 1847, nearly 3,000 were dying each week in Ireland's workhouses.
People huddled together by any turf fire, and lice and typhus traveled from one another. By day, the roads were full of desperate travelers who conveyed the infected lice from place to place.
Once or twice a a day – in a form of quarantine and not desertion – "relatives of sufferers would feed the ailing ones inside by tying a can of water and a bit of hot gruel to the end of a long pole. When there were no more tugs on the pole, the house would be pulled down on top of the corpse and burned, an unprecedented method of disposing of a body."
The result of these incredibly cruel and tragic conditions in Ireland drove the great migration to the Americas.
The British government never acquiesced to attend to the plight of the starving masses, preferring instead to protect its markets and impose its imperial will upon the Irish.
Out of that migration of the hungry "masses yearning to be free" and from other peoples throughout the globe the United States has emerged as the best "poor man's country in the world."
What would have happened to the Irish people if the doors to America had been closed to them then? We would all have been much the poorer for it because the Irish, despite their tragedy and their own prejudices toward their fellow Americans like Afro-Americans, women, and Latinos, have contributed an invaluable addition to the tapestry and culture of this great nation.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to the sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of the Emerald Isle!
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