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SCHITTERBAHN'S CO-OWNER BOOKED, FREE ON $50,000 BOND

April 4, 2018, 4:36 pm
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By Steve Vockrodt and Robert A. CronkletonThe Kansas City StarJeff Henry, Schlitterbahn's co-owner, left the Wyandotte County jail Wednesday morning having posted bond just hours after he arrived in Kansas following his arrest at South Padre Island and his extradition from Texas.
Henry is facing charges of second degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated child endangerment in the 2016 death of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab.

Henry, who has been held in custody since his arrest last week at his home in Cameron County, Texas, was booked into the Wyandotte County jail shortly before 2 a.m., according to jail logs.

Henry was not seen leaving the jail after making bond, which was set at $50,000.

Henry is due before Wyandotte County Judge a Robert Burns on Thursday afternoon.

Cornwell said the hearing would discuss whether Henry would require Global Positioning System tracking while out on bond. Cornwell said he would dispute the need for that, saying his client is not a flight risk.

Cornwell met Henry for the first time. He said Henry expressed compassion and concern.

"What they're trying to do with my client is say that he just didn't give a damn," Cornwell said. "That's really what this is about, that he didn't give a damn about anybody sliding down that water slide. That is the furthest thing from the truth."

Also charged is Henry & Sons Construction Co., a contractor controlled by Henry and the Schlitterbahn corporation in Kansas.
Jeff Henry John Schooley Tyler Miles Schlitterbahn
From the left, Jeff Henry, John Schooley and Tyler Miles
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article207891099.html
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SAN BENE ISD BOARD PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF SEXUAL GROPING, INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR DURING FEBRUARY MEXICAN-AMERICAN BOARDS CONFERENCE

April 4, 2018, 4:53 pm
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By Lydia Hernandez
Cartwright School District No. 83, 
Governing Board Member
Former Arizona State Representative
Hernandez
Dear San Benito Independent School District Board Members and Superintendent,


I am writing to inform you of an incident that took place in San Antonio, Texas, involving your board president Michael Vargas. Mr. Vargas (San Benito Board President, MASBA Board Secretary, TASB leader candidate), while intoxicated, physically assaulted my person by throwing a glass of liquor at me. The event was unwarranted and unsolicited, we had not exchanged words nor did I know him. The situation took place while attending a Mexican American School Board Association conference in San Antonio in late February.


On Saturday, February 24, 2018, I had witnessed Mr. Vargas (San Benito Board President, MASBA Board Secretary, TASB leader candidate) sexually assault a young board member while I was engaged in a conversation with the sexually assaulted victim.

 MASBA participants were invited to attend the President's reception on Saturday, February 24, 2018, when Mr. Vargas committed the assaults. Mr. Vargas (San Benito Board President, MASBA Board Secretary, TASB leadership candidate), sexually touched and groped a young man. He began poking his head, back and shoulders and then touched his front genitals and buttocks. 

 The sexual assault was also unsolicited and unwarranted. The assault took place in a public setting and in front of many elected school board members and MASBA board members. The young elected board member has since been interviewed by the MASBA Executive Director and is available to provide detailed information.

Mr. Michael Vargas (San Benito Board President, MASBA Board Secretary, TASB leadership candidate), not only broke the law but behaved in such an unprofessional manner that disgraces all governing board members across the nation. We are elected to represent our constituents, organizations and most importantly children. Mr. Vargas cannot be entrusted with our community's or children's public safety.

I have filed a letter of complaint with the MASBA board of Directors, (please see attached) and additionally, filed a police report with the San Antonio Police department while at the conference. (please see attached) Furthermore, I have requested the Texas Association of School Boards officers to discuss and take removal action of Mr. Vargas' leadership position.

I am respectfully asking the San Benito School Board to take action and remove Mr. Vargas, (San Benito Board President, MASBA Board Secretary, TASB leadership candidate) from his President's position and to furthermore request that Mr. Vargas' resign his San Benito School board position.

The assaults he committed while intoxicated are unacceptable and against the law. This is very unbecoming behavior, to say the least, and he should not be representing the San Benito School district, recognized for being such a fine institution.

Please let me know if I can provide any additional information or answer any questions.

(To read entire letter, police report, click open link below.)
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=643034ff4a&view=att&th=16292d797d4220e0&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&zw
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MASBA CEO CRITICIZES HERNANDEZ, CALLS HER "PUERILE"

April 4, 2018, 7:26 pm
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WILL JOE GET HIS $1.8 MILLION BOARD HELL OR HIGH WATER?

April 5, 2018, 9:40 am
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3. Recommend approval to authorize the administration to purchase a new digital LED Full Matrix Video scoreboard for Sams Stadium from VCRNOW in the amount of $1,400,000.00. Furthermore, to authorize the Superintendent to execute the contract for said scoreboard. Dec. 12, 2017 BISD board agenda

By Juan Montoya
Remember this item from the Dec. 12 meeting of the board of trustees of the Brownsville Independent School District?

At the time the item was brought up the first time more than a year ago, trustee Joe Rodriguez argued that the $600,000 quoted by the vendor – Jeff Henderson, of VCRNOW, of Red Oak, Texas – was a bargain. Then, when the item appeared on the Dec. 8 Facilities meeting and the vendor got up to explain the $800,000 increase in price, the board members were told the increase had come about because "they had been asked" for additional features on their system.

Well, guess what?

When the item appeared on the Dec. 12 meeting the following Tuesday, trustees complained that they had not been told of the additional features – a new stadium sound system with broadcast capabilities, new infrastructures, and an increase in size from 21 feet tall and 28 feet wide to 33 feet tall to 68 feet wide – even though the vendor had been in communications with the BISD administration for more than a year.

Now, as the administration continues to negotiate with the vendor, it seems like the price has increased a bit more to $1.8 million. On Dec. 12, a majority of the board said "nyet" to Rodriguez's advocacy of the "state-of-the-art" scoreboard for the aging Sams Stadium.

And just as trustee Minerva Peña objected to the purchase of the more expensive board when walkways in the schools were missing awnings and trustee Phil Cowen said music students at Faulk Middle School were crowed 60 to a classroom while the board considered the scoreboard purchase, other trustees objected to the costly expenditure and turned it down.

Rodriguez has attempted for over a year to get a majority of the board to make the outlay for the scoreboard, but the sudden hike in the price of the board from $600,000 to $1.4 million prompted Cowen to say that the project had not been properly vetted by the committee or the board.

Rodriguez had tried to get the school board to put out the $600,000 to update the scoreboard, but since the board voted to increase property taxes by 11.25 cents, it made $120 million more available to spend over the next five years, $15 million of which have been set aside for improvements for Sams Stadium and the scoreboard.

As trustee  Peña commented on the unexpected increase of the agenda item, Rodriguez taunted her by waving a sheet of paper as she spoke.

Even Cowen said that the $800,000 increase from the original price was a bit too much even for him to accept, telling Rodriguez the board could bring the item back in 2018. Board president Cesar Lopez, facing reelection, also favored further study.

And Cowen let it out of the bag that the vendor, Henderson, of VCR, who he did not identify at the time, had contacted him and they had spoken at length about perhaps combining the new board with a refurbishing of the old board to be placed in the field at Veterans Memorial High School.

"Well, this guy asked me, I don't remember his name, what it would take to (get the vote)," Cowen disclosed.

Image result for coach joe rodriguez(In a previous facilities committee meeting, Rodriguez told Peña that superintendent Dr. Esperanza Zendejas had already been in "negotiations" with the vendor of the scoreboards, insinuating that it was a done deal.)

Dr. Sylvia Atkinson made the motion to table and Peña seconded before Rodriguez or his fellows on the board could make a motion to approve.

"One point four million is a lot of money," Atkinson said. "I'll help you spend the $15 million Coach, but I'd rather spend the money on our pre-k program..."

When the vote to table the item was taken after discussion, only Rodriguez and Carlos Elizondo voted against it.

As Cowen pointed out, since VCR Now is a member of the the TASB (Texas Association of School Boards)  Buy Board, the administration could skip the bidding process and negotiate directly with the vendor.

However, since Lopez is a TASB representative, he could not get involved in discussing or voting for the purchase of the item.

Will "Coach" Joe and the Esperanza Zendejas administration continue the underground campaign to ram the $1.4 million scoreboard down the BISD taxpayer throats? Some administrators remember that the artificial turf vendor Paragon – which has done more than $6 million in business with the district – also is a Buy Board member who did not have to go through eh BISD procurement or bidding process.

Zendejas told a past purchasing director that she chose Paragon after she heard about them "over coffee" with other district superintendents. Rodriguez has been a constant proponent of the scoreboard purchase.

"Joe wants his payday, too," said a former BISD trustee. "And he won't quit."
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EARLY VOTING SUPPRESSION IN PORT, TSC ELECTIONS, TOO?

April 5, 2018, 1:01 pm
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By Juan Montoya  
Remember our former post where we pointed out the election day list of polling places required some voters in low-income and rural areas to vote miles away from their customary polling places and even though there were polling places open just blocks away?

At that time we wondered whether the polling place list was designed to cause confusion and inconvenience to where it could discourage low-income voters from voting and wondered whether the sitting elected officials on the the Brownsville Navigation District and the Texas Southmost College who voted to accept the voting plans were aware of what they were approving.

Those lists, critics said, were a quintessential example of voter suppression.

Cameron County Elections Administrator Remi Garza says he merely lumped the polling precincts the way the board of the two entities had approved them in past elections.

"We looked at past voting patterns and participation and the polling places were approved by the port and the college," he said.

TSC board president Adela Garza said that the board placed their confidence in Remi because "it's his job. We trust he wants people to vote."

Now some observers point out that not only is the election days list of polling places suspect, but that if one looks closely at early voting polling places, the same tendency to suppress votes during that time period (April 23 – May 1).

They point out, for example, that the  voting places do not include Christ the King Church, the Cameron Park Community Building, or the Main Office of the Brownsville Independent School District.

But they do include the Port's new administrative building, the Cameron County Courthouse, the two city libraries at Central Blvd. and Southmost, TSC,Port Isabel City Hall, and Los Fresnos Community Center.

The exclusion of these voting places in the heart of Brownsville barrios seems to some to be a decided disadvantage to challenger Cesar Lopez, the president o the BISD board challenging incumbent John Wood.  Also, they point out that Javier Vera, a CFO for the Gowen Roser Group, which does extensive business with the port is at an advantage over Esteban Guerra and Patrick Anderson by having a polling place near his offices.

There has been some talk that a petition for an injunction against the county elections administrator was in the works for putting together the election and early voting list of polling places. This led current TSC trustee Ruben Herrera to comment that if that happened, he would make a motion to open all the polling places to include every precinct in the clusters.

"Just open all the polling places," Herrera said. "The more the merrier."

Some of the more obvious closed election day polling places that could cause inconvenience are:

* Precinct 5 voters, accustomed to vote at Victoria Elementary at 280` E. 13th Street, will have to travel across town and cast their ballots at Gonzalez Elementary at 4350 Jaime Zapata Road (Coffeeport Road), three miles away as the urraca flies.

That despite the fact that Canales Elementary (Pct. 37)is also a polling place less than nine blocks away. And Cromack Elementary (Pct. 10), is also closer, less than a mile and one-quarter away. Why Gonzalez 3 miles away?

*Likewise, the voters of the neighborhoods around Perez Elementary (Pct. 96) will also have to go to Gonazalez (2 miles away as the urraca flies) when Martin Elementary is one-third the distance (one mile) and Stell Middle School is only one and one-quarter miles away. Why?

Gonzalez Elementary: 4350 Jaime Zapata Road (Coffeeport Road)

PRECINCT 5: Victoria Elementary, 2801 E. 13th St., Brownsville
PRECINCT 46: Gonzalez Elementary, 4350 Coffeeport Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 63: Oliveira Middle School, 444 Land O’ Lakes Dr., Brownsville
PRECINCT 96: Perez Elementary, 2514 Shidler Dr., Brownsville

*The same applies to the voters of Skinner Elementary (Pct. 11) who will have to travel across town from south-central Brownsville barrio to cast their vote at Russel, about a one and a quarter-miles away. Why not Putegnat Elementary downtown, less than half a mile away? The same goes for Pct. 13, the First Presbyterian Church just down the street from Sharp. Instead of going there, they will also have to go more than a quarter mile further to Russel.

Russel Elementary: 800 Lakeside Blvd., Brownsville

PRECINCT 11: Skinner Elementary, 411 W. St. Charles St., Brownsville
PRECINCT 12: Russell Elementary, 800 Lakeside, Brownsville
PRECINCT 13: First Presbyterian Church, 424 Palm Blvd., Brownsville

*Now, take a look at the list below. Notice the Perkins Middle School (Pct. 71) is closer to Gonzalez Elementary (3/4 of a mile) than it is to Rivera High School (Pct. 68 about 2 miles), yet that's where TSC and Port voters will have to go to vote on election Day. Why?

*Morningside Elementary is less than a mile away from Cromack and in the same barrio, but voters there will have to travel about 3 miles to vote in Rivera H.S. Why?
Rivera High School: 6955 FM 802, Brownsville

PRECINCT 14: Social Service Center, 9901 California Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 60: Morningside Elementary, 1025 Morningside Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 68: Rivera High School, 6955 FM 802, Brownsville
PRECINCT 71: Perkins Middle School, 4750 Austin Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 82: El Jardin Elementary, 6911 Boca Chica Blvd., Brownsville
PRECINCT 86: Juliet Garcia Middle School, 5701 FM 802, Brownsville
PRECINCT 102: Raquel Pena Elementary, 4975 Salida de la Luna, Brownsville
PRECINCT 108: Dora Romero Elementary

*The grouping below is even more egregious. If you vote in Pct. 17 in San Benito, you will have to drive all the way into Brownsville to cast you vote on election day. And if you live in Villa Nueva, you will also have to drive there to vote.


Yturria Elementary: 295 West Tandy Road, Brownsville

PRECINCT 16: Villa Nueva Elementary, 7455 Military Highway, Brownsville
PRECINCT 17 (part) : La Encantada Elementary, 35001 FM 1577, San Benito
PRECINCT 48: Yturria Elementary, 2955 Tandy Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 98: Benavidez Elementary, 3101 McAllen Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 107: (GET LOCATION)

*What about these? Precinct 61 (Hudson) is a lot closer to Gonzalez than it is to Stell, yet that's where they will have to go vote. Hanna (Pct. 76) is on the same side of town as Gonzalez, but they, too will have to go to traverse the expressway to the other side of town to vote at Stell. Confused yet?

Stell Middle School: 1105 Los Ebanos, Brownsville

PRECINCT 47: Stell Middle School, 1105 Los Ebanos St., Brownsville
PRECINCT 49: VICC Rec Center, 300 McFadden Road, Brownsville
PRECINCTS 61: Hudson Elementary, 2980 FM 802, Brownsville
PRECINCT 76: Hanna High School, 2615 Price Blvd., Brownsville

Burns Elementary: 1974 Alton Gloor, Brownsville

PRECINCT 54: Burns Elementary, 1974 Alton Gloor Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 73: Brownsville Country Club Golf Center, 1800 W. San Marcelo Blvd., Brownsville
PRECINCT 74: Cameron Park Community Center, 2100 Gregory Ave., Brownsville
PRECINCT 100: Olmito Elementary, 2500 Arroyo Blvd,. Brownsville

*Perkins Middle School is about 3/4 of a mile from Gonzalez Elementary, but they will have to go to Hudson more than 2 miles away to vote at Hudson. Why?

Hudson Elementary: 2980 FM 802, Brownsville

PRECINCT 71: Perkins Middle School, 4750 Austin Road, Brownsville
PRECINCT 100: Olmito Elementary, 2500 Arroyo Blvd,. Brownsville
PRECINCT 106: Hudson Elementary

It is obvious that it will be the rural and inner-city voters who will have to make the longest treks to cast their vote. Is this by design and carried by inertia? These are nonpartisan races, so the blame can't be cast at Republicans or Democrats. Is it a situation created by these entities to maintain the status quo (socio-economic class) instead?

We will leave the groupings here because it might take these voters a few days (or months) to realize that their election days polling places have been placed so distant from their homes. Is this why voter turnout on election day is so low?

And is this a deliberate way to suppress voting in these elections for these entities that are so important for the economic development of our area?
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CHAPPAQUIDDICK ELICITS LINGUISTIC MEMORIES OF MERCEDES

April 5, 2018, 6:02 pm
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By Juan Montoya
Call it Spanglish, bastardized English, or even South Texas patois, but the language spoken here is unique and particularly creative.

Sometimes it's funny. Other times it's downright crude. And sometimes it has nothing to do with the words spoken by other people. Consider, for example, when Ted Kennedy got into hot water (or was it cold) and a woman drowned in a creek.

Chappaquiddick. Remember? It is now being promoted as a new movie that will be featured in one of those cable channels.

In that one-car accident on Friday, July 18, 1969 Sen. Kennedy's reputation was forever tarnished and resulted in the death of his 28-year-old companion Mary Jo Kopechne. It was determined that Kennedy had been negligent and he pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of a crash causing personal injury. He later received a two-month suspended jail sentence.

Well, at about that time when the news was hitting the airwaves, we had a friend who was working at a Great Society social service agency in Mercedes who considered himself quite the galan. There wasn't a clerk or new employee at the agency who had not been targeted by the guy whose name was Marcos Chapa.

One day he invited a new hire for dinner and the girl – feeling somewhat obligated to Marcos for her job – accepted. After a nice dinner and drinks, Marcos drove out to one of the irrigation and flood control ditches by the levees in the area and after a while tried to put the make on her.

As the action got a bit too heavy for the girl, she stepped out of the car and yelled: "Chapa quit it. Chapa quit it."

And that's how Chappaquiddick came to be identified with the ditches in Mercedes.
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HASTE MAKES WASTE: D.A. COST COUNTY TAXPAYERS $75,000

April 6, 2018, 8:55 am
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By Juan Montoya
The item for approval of the daily check register for payments by Cameron County has been on their agenda for the better part of a month now.

But it wasn't until Tuesday that the commissioners approved the payment of an aggregate of $74,700 for two former Cameron County Tax Office employees who were charged with taking bribes, among other charges.

Tax investigator Pedro Garza Jr. and Lt. Jose Mireles were were arrested in January 2016 along with County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre Jr., in “Operation Dirty Deeds,” a joint county, local, state, and federal task force operating under the direction District Attorney Luis V. Saenz.

But it wasn't until August 2016 that the charges were dropped last week against Garza and Mireles. Yzaguirre was acquitted on all charges in a trial held in Nueces County.

Since then, Garza and Mireles men have been asking the court to reinstate them and pay them the salary and vacation time they had accumulated after almost a year of being deprived of their employment and pay. Both were terminated when their commissions were revoked after they were charged with the crimes.

This Tuesday, a reluctant county commission voted to approve the payment of $38,316 to Mireles and another $35,804 to Garza. (Click on graphic to enlarge)

Some of the remarks by the commissioners were pointed.

Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza asked Auditor Martha Galarza of the two checks listed on the register.

"Those are two two payments checks on settlements that were approved by the court...." Galarza answered.

"We had two individuals that were with the tax assessors office who were terminated because they didn't have the proper documents...requirements,,,for not being able to do the job that they were doing," Garza asked. "And now we're paying them their back pay after all the charges were dropped, right?"

"Yes, the charges against them were dropped and they made a legal claim on a number of grounds...," answered commissioners court legal counsel. "We were authorized to make our peace to make this issue go away..."

"Where does this money come from, the general fund?," Garza asked.
"yes, the general fund," Galarza answered.

"Don't you think  we need to ask the district attorney's office in paying these funds?," Garza persisted. "We lost two employees for almost a whole year and we have to go back and pay them, and you know we lost their services, I don't know it kind of leaves a sour taste, not for the employees, but for the taxpayers of Cameron County having to endure the process of having to go through this..."

"I'm sure it was a sour taste for the employees as well," Galarza replied."

"I'm sure it was, OK," Garza said.

"Going along with commissioner Garza's comments, the public has a right to know what transpired and what's occurring with taxpayers money," said Pct. 4 commissioner Gus Ruiz.

"I agree," Galarza replied. "I recommend for approval."

The motion was then made by Garza for approval and seconded by Ruiz. The court approved unanimously.

Numerous critics say that the joint task force of Operations Dirty Deeds was not in agreement with Saenz that Yzaguirre and the two men should be charged at the time.

They say the arrests were carried out immaturely because Saenz was in a tight race with Carlos Masso in the race for district attorney. Numerous political observers say Yzaguirre's arrest carried Saenz over the top, especially with voters in the northern part of the county.
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$1 MILLION FOR WIDOW OF INMATE WHO DIED IN CUSTODY

April 6, 2018, 11:15 am
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By Mark Reagan 
Brownsville Herald 
Staff Writer

Cameron County has agreed to pay the widow of a man who died in Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center $1 million.

Attorney Eddie Lucio, who represents the family of Fernando Longoria, who died in January 2015 while in solitary confinement, made the announcement Friday morning.

Court records indicate the settlement was reached Thursday afternoon.

“They really wanted to get it over with and move on with their lives,” Lucio said.

The case was scheduled for jury selection on Monday. Longoria died on Jan. 22, 2015, while serving a 10-day sentence for a DWI charge.

He was 29 at the time of his death and married with three children.

Three days into Longoria’s sentence, detainees began screaming for jailers because Longoria was having a violent seizure and sweating profusely, according to the lawsuit.

To read rest of story, click on link:

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OP 10.33 LISTS SOME COMMUNITY SOCIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

April 6, 2018, 11:22 am
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*We supply and assist 12 pantries with items that are not available at the food banks such as
cooking oil and detergent. The 12 pantries distribute food for about 5,000 families per
month.

*2 walk-in freezers for produce at San Felipe Church and Restauracion and Poder

*HEB Gift cards $5,000 of $25 gift cards

*School supplies giveaway with Carlotta museum and Housing Authority

*Back to school Bash at our school for community. (2,500 bags total)

*Sponsored Canales Elementary Conjunto

*Toys for Tots Police Department 2016 & 2017 (1,200 tacos)

*Giocosa Foster Kids Toy Giveaway 2016 & 2017

*Sponsored Baseball team for World Series of Sports

*Easter Egg Hunt at San Felipe Church (Cameron Park)

*Laptop Donations

*San Felipe Event (hotdogs and hamburgers) 400 people

Door prizes for Gallegos Elementary

*Carlotta Petrina assisted in gifts and food for kids.

*Los Viejitos Botanita Express
We delivered non-perishable items to the elderly who are on waiting list of Meals on Wheels
agency.

*Bridge Bag Giveaway
We delivered snack bags to kids which are US citizens but reside in Mexico and cross
International bridge on a daily basis.

*Ozanam Center we’ve assisted with food and coat drive.

*Assisted Down Syndrome kids with meals and events.

*Down by the Border Agency Breakfast with Mascots.

*Assisted in arranging 18 wheeler of produce and bread per week for pantries

*Paid and installed air condition at Good Neighbor Settlement House w/Mike.

*Foster care for kids whose mother died. Paid for funeral services and assisted housing.

*Organizing a dance for the traditional quinceñera (15 year old celebration) for 10 girls that
their families cannot afford.

Christmas Luncheon 2017
*Lincoln Park High School
*Gallegos Elementary
*Holy Family Church
*Ozanam Center
*Saint Eugene Catholic Church

Provided Christmas Luncheon 2016 to the following:
*Friendship of Women
*Aiken/Besteiro
*Down By the Border
*Lincoln High School
*Vela/Gallegos
*Ozanam Center

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SCHLITTERBAHN CO-OWNER'S SPOUSAL ABUSE, DRUG HISTORY

April 6, 2018, 2:10 pm
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Image result for jeff henry, schlitterbahn
(After Jeff Henry, Schlitterbahn co-owner, was arrested at South Padre Island and extradited to Kansas to face murder charges after a 10-year-old boy was killed in a water ride he designed,  stories began to appear in the media about his criminal past. Henry was placed on a $50,000 bond upon his arrival in Kansas. Below is the San Antonio Express story about his legal troubles.)

By Joshua Fechter, Zeke MacCormack and Patrick Danner
San Antonio Express News
"...Schlitterbahn Co-owner Jeff Henry has a history of drug arrests and domestic violence accusations.
Henry has had an atypical education for a water park executive and ride designer. A 2015 Texas Monthly article described him as a "self-taught savant of water park design." 

He has no formal training, having dropped out of high school to work for his father as a teenager, prosecutors say.Jeff Henry's estranged wife has described him in divorce proceedings as an abusive alcoholic with a bad drug habit.

Multiple arrests

He's been arrested at least twice on drug violations dating back to 1994 when he was charged in Guadalupe County with possessing between 4 ounces and 5 pounds of marijuana, public records indicate. Jeff and then-wife Mary Henry were caught with nearly 17 ounces of pot, a revolver, a derringer and more than $7,000 in cash, divorce court records state.

He pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony, was placed on three years deferred adjudication probation and fined $10,000, court records show. The state agreed to drop a companion charge against his wife.
The court terminated Jeff Henry's probation after only 16 months, records show, after his lawyer successfully argued it stigmatized his business dealings.

"His consultations with some of his potential customers in planning, designing and building various theme and water parks are restricted and impaired somewhat by the fact of his being, in effect, under 'the shadow' of his deferred adjudication," his attorney, Charles D. Butts, wrote at the time.

He was arrested on drug charges again in 2007 and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for possessing between 2 and 4 ounces of marijuana. He was fined $4,000, court files show.

'Horrific assaults'
Mary and Jeff Henry were divorced in early 1996, Comal County records state. Divorce proceedings are pending there between Henry and Louise Settree, who were married in June 2007, court records show.

The divorce case initiated by Jeff Henry in May 2013 has been consolidated with a lawsuit filed three months later by Settree against him and his businesses over alleged domestic abuse.

"On multiple occasions throughout their marriage ... Jeff Henry assaulted, battered, beat and tormented plaintiff," her suit claims, alleging many of the assaults were sexual in nature and occurred in the presence of her minor child.

The suit also claims Henry threatened to kill her, falsely imprisoned her, rammed his company vehicle into hers and threw a concrete pedestal through her bedroom door during an Aug. 29, 2013 incident that prompted a call to 911.

Settree said Jeff Henry's use of alcohol and drugs contributed to the "horrorific (sic) assaults," the suit claims he "has had in the past serious mental, psychological, psychiatric, anger management and emotional problems long standing in nature."

Settree's suit also claims Schlitterbahn was negligent in entrusting motor vehicles to Henry "who was a careless, incompetent, wreckless (sic), intoxicated and drug-impaired driver."

Stephen Orsinger, Jeff Henry's divorce lawyer, said those types of allegations "aren't unusual in divorces ... All of the allegations made by Ms Settree have all been denied."

The court issued a final decree of divorce last November after Jeff Henry failed to appear at the scheduled trial, but his attorney successfully petitioned the court to vacate that order in January and to reset the case for trial.

For entire article, click on link:

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JOE GETS HIS $1.4 MILLION BOARD DESPITE HELL, HIGH WATER

April 6, 2018, 3:01 pm
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Authorize the administration to purchase a new digital LED Full Matrix Scoreboard for SAms Stadium Recommend approval to authorize the administration to purchase a new digital LED Full Matrix Video scoreboard for Sams Stadium from VCRNOW $1,400,000.00. April 3, 2018

By Juan Montoya
Remember this item from the Dec. 12 meeting of the board of trustees of the Brownsville Independent School District?

At the time the item was brought up the first time more than a year ago, trustee Joe Rodriguez argued that the $600,000 quoted by the vendor – Jeff Henderson, of VCRNOW, of Red Oak, Texas – was a bargain.

Then, when the item appeared on the Dec. 8 Facilities meeting and the vendor got up to explain the $800,000 increase in price, the board members were told the increase had come about because "they had been asked" for additional features on their system.

Well, guess what?

When the item appeared on the Dec. 12 meeting the following Tuesday, trustees complained that they had not been told of the additional features – a new stadium sound system with broadcast capabilities, new infrastructures, and an increase in size from 21 feet tall and 28 feet wide to 33 feet tall to 68 feet wide – even though the vendor had been in communications with the BISD administration for more than a year.

Now, this April 3, a unanimous board voted to give Joe his "state of the art" board. What could have changed, yo ask? Could it have been that some horse trading went on behind the scenes?

In the past, trustee Minerva Peña objected to the purchase of the more expensive board when walkways in the schools were missing awnings and trustee Phil Cowen said music students at Faulk Middle School were crowed 60 to a classroom while the board considered the scoreboard purchase, other trustees objected to the costly expenditure and turned it down.

Rodriguez had attempted for over a year to get a majority of the board to make the outlay for the scoreboard, but the sudden hike in the price of the board from $600,000 to $1.4 million prompted Cowen to say that the project had not been properly vetted by the facilities committee or the board.

Rodriguez had tried to get the school board to put out the $600,000 to update the scoreboard, but since the board voted to increase property taxes by 11.25 cents, it made $120 million more available to spend over the next five years, $15 million of which have been set aside for improvements for Sams Stadium and the scoreboard.

As trustee  Peña commented on the unexpected increase of the agenda item in the Dec. 12 meeting,  Rodriguez taunted her by waving a sheet of paper as she spoke.

Even Cowen said that the $800,000 increase from the original price was a bit too much even for him to accept, telling Rodriguez the board could bring the item back in 2018.

And Cowen let it out of the bag that the vendor, Henderson, of VCR, who he did not identify at the time, had contacted him and they had spoken at length about perhaps combining the new board with a refurbishing of the old board to be placed in the field at Veterans Memorial High School.

"Well, this guy asked me, I don't remember his name, what it would take to (get the vote)," Cowen disclosed.

Image result for coach joe rodriguez(In a previous facilities committee meeting, Rodriguez told Peña that superintendent Dr. Esperanza Zendejas had already been in "negotiations" with the vendor of the scoreboards, insinuating that it was a done deal.)

"One point four million is a lot of money," Atkinson had contended when she opposed the purcahse.  "I'll help you spend the $15 million Coach, but I'd rather spend the money on our pre-k program..."

As Cowen pointed out, since VCR Now is a member of the the TASB (Texas Association of School Boards)  Buy Board, the administration could skip the bidding process and negotiate directly with the vendor.

Some administrators remember that the artificial turf vendor Paragon – which has done more than $6 million in business with the district – also is a Buy Board member who did not have to go through eh BISD procurement or bidding process.

Zendejas told a past purchasing director that she chose Paragon after she heard about them "over coffee" with other district superintendents. Rodriguez has been a constant proponent of the scoreboard purchase.

"Joe wanted his payday, too," said a former BISD trustee.
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WE'RE CLOSING OUT A BUSY WEEK AT EL RRUN-RRUN

April 6, 2018, 3:17 pm
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WE STAND BY OUR STORY: VOTER SUPPRESSION WITH PICTURES

April 7, 2018, 10:05 am
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By Juan Montoya  

Well, we have been taken to task.

After we posted that the way election day and early voting polling places were drawn in the Brownsville Navigation District and the Texas Southmost College elections smacked of voter suppression of barrio voters, we have been branded "drunks""paid hacks," and a number of choice sobriquets alluding to our moral character.

We're hurt. Really.

Since many of our thousands of readers may not have the time to peruse a long post of text, we'll make it easy for them without belaboring the point.

We'll do it with pictures so that they, and our eternal critics, can understand.

We pointed out, for example, that voters accustomed to cast their ballots in Precinct 60 (Morningside Elementary) will now have to go vote at Rivera High School. Morningside Elementary is less than 10 blocks away from Cromack and in the same barrio, but voters there will have to travel about 3 miles to vote in Rivera H.S. at 6955 FM 802. (See graphic)

























Since the polling place at Cromack is going to be open on election day, it's not going to add anything to the cost of running the election, is it? And some of our eternal critics say that the polling places that will be only "slightly inconvenienced" are low-voting precincts anyway. People there don't vote, they say.

That reasoning defies logic. It indicates intent to suppress. So, their thinking goes, since they don't vote very much when the polling place is near, let's make them travel three miles instead of nine blocks. In other words, let's make sure they don't vote.

Let's take another example of how these polling places have been drawn to discourage voting in the barrios.

* Precinct 5 voters, accustomed to vote at Victoria Elementary at 2801 E. 13th Street, will have to travel across town and cast their ballots at Gonzalez Elementary at 4350 Jaime Zapata Road (Coffeeport Road), three miles away as the urraca flies. (see graphic)


That despite the fact that Canales Elementary (Pct. 37) is also a polling place less than nine blocks away. And Cromack Elementary (Pct. 10), is also closer, less than a mile and one-quarter away. Why Gonzalez 3 miles away?

Those are but two examples of their reasoning. But they argue, we have always done things this way and no one has complained before.

Take the early voting polling places.
The voting places for the BND/TSC elections do not include Christ the King Church, the Cameron Park Community Building, or the Main Office of the Brownsville Independent School District.

But they do include the Port's new administrative building, the Cameron County Courthouse, the two city libraries at Central Blvd. and Southmost, TSC, Port Isabel City Hall, and Los Fresnos Community Center.

Christ the King Church, in the heart of Southmost, they say, was replaced by the Public Library "just a few blocks down the road." Well, whoever said that obviously knows very little about distance, since the Southmost Public Library is not "just a few blocks" away from Christ the King, but more like a mile as the chico flies. (See graphic)


The exclusion of these voting places in the heart of Brownsville barrios seems to some to be a decided disadvantage to challenger Cesar Lopez, the president o the BISD board challenging incumbent John Wood.  Also, they point out that Javier Vera, a CFO for the Gowen Roser Group, which does extensive business with the port is at an advantage over Esteban Guerra and Patrick Anderson by having a polling place near his offices.

Now, as far as being drunks, we own up to the fact that we like a cold one every once in a while. And as for getting paid to write this, well, we're used to people talking out of their ulcerative colons without providing any proof of the shit they say. They should take their numerous meds to maintain some sort of mental equilibrium.

One of those boasts that he has a degree in Soviet Studies. You remember the Soviet Union, don't you? It disappeared and all that is left is what is now Russia and her invaded countries. With the Soviet Union obsolete, does that make a degree in Soviet Studies equally useless?

As far as what is left of that empire, Russia is where Vladimir Putin keeps getting elected by outlandish margins. Come to think about it, these types of voting schemes may be a part of his campaign strategy to keep on winning, something like the "club" at the Port of Brownsville.

We get it now. It's so depressing we may just have to get a cold brewsky to get over it.
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READER: PERHAPS SOME LOCAL POLS COULD USE EXORCISM

April 8, 2018, 9:02 am
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By Tamar Lapin
New York Post

They need help battling your demons.

After seeing a three-fold increase in the demand for exorcisms, the Vatican announced last week it would hold a week-long conference to train priests in how to rid people of demonic possessions.

The April gathering in Rome aims “to offer a rich reflection and articulation on a topic that is sometimes unspoken and controversial,” exorcist Friar Benigno Palilla told Vatican Radio.
“We touch on the most burning issues,” he said. “From the sects linked to Satanism to their story of liberation [from] their possession.”

Palilla, who is one of the organizers of the event, said there are about 500,000 cases requiring exorcisms in Italy each year, USA Today reported.

He blames the uptick in demons on practices that “open the door to the devil and to possession” like seeking the advice of fortune tellers and Tarot card readers.

While many of the reported cases are actually related to psychological or spiritual problems, Palilla conceded, they must still be investigated.

But the church is concerned that many priests either haven’t learned or refuse to learn exorcism techniques.

“We priests, very often, do not know how to deal with the concrete cases presented to us. In the preparation of priesthood, we do not talk about these things,” Palilla said.

In France, the demand for exorcists has also soared, but independent contractors have taken up the jobs — charging $178 an hour — as the Catholic Church neglected training priests in the practice, The Economist reported.

Palilla warned against using an amateur exorcist because they “certainly make errors.”

Exorcism is recognized under the Catholic Church’s canon law and can only be performed with permission from within the church. The Vatican-backed International Association of Exorcists was founded in 1990 and has licensed some 200 members across the world.
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DESPITE APRIL BLUE NORTHERN, FIRST VINTAGE DAYS ROLLED

April 8, 2018, 9:27 am
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(Ed.'s Note: About 20 minutes before the scheduled opening of Brownsville's First Annual Vintage  Days Saturday, an unexpected blue northern blew in. The cold front was not expected until later that night, but after the first drizzle, it became apparent that the front was here to stay.

And it did.

But so did the crowds, who took refuge from the rain and cold wind in the refurbished Market Square and in nearby bars and lounges.

The event was promoted as "an admission-free family event set in a two-block area around the recently restored Historic Brownsville Market Square. The event will have a car show, fashion show, music, food, and vendors."

Organizer Gilbert Velasquez said the cold front was unexpected, but he said the crowds never lacked for enthusiasm for the event.

There were some glitches. The group had been applying to the Brownsville Fire Dept. for a "spillover" permit to allow people to take shelter in the roomy Half Moon Saloon in case of inclement weather for at least two months,  only to be told the day before the event that there would be no permit issued.

Instead, fire chief Jarred Sheldon promised that the firefighters would erect a large tent in the street for that purpose. That never materialized and the event went on without it.

Except for small problems like those, the vent lasted well past the 9 p.m. closing time with musicians playing from a stage and raffles for prizes were held in the courtyard between the open space between the Market Square and nearby businesses.

The event was sponsored by – among others – the City of Brownsville, Main Street, the Brownsville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Mike Hernandez's OP 10.33, and the Brownsville Historical Society.
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LEST WE FORGET: NOT-SO-GOOD MEMORIES OF TIMES GONE BY

April 8, 2018, 11:44 am
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By Al Garcia
Palm Valley, Texas

Editor:

As I sit beneath the shade of my backyard patio enjoying the breeze of a beautiful March morning, my mind begins to wonder, as the sounds of the awakening day begin the timeworn ritual of the force of life in every form and manner. I hear the chirping of a bird or two and the rustling of tree branches in the breeze.

I see the color of life in the grass that covers the ground and in the blooming flowers that immerse my yard with the fragrance of existence. And then I hear the joyful resonance of my wind chimes, completing the symphony of sight and smell and sound. It is the blossoming of the new day, and I am a part of the majesty and the magic that surrounds me.

At times like these, quiet and serene, my mind begins to wander to yesterdays and times gone by, when as a boy along the Rio Grande I ran barefoot on a country road or went on a childhood safari hunting for frogs, grasshoppers, lizards and other small creatures that thrived in the cornfields, cotton fields, orchards and waterways in the Valley along the Rio Grande.

Those were my days of carefree innocence and simplicity. Those were the days before I grew up and realized that everything revolved and evolved around color — the color of your skin. And I was only 6 when I stumbled upon this great epiphany, and suddenly I was no longer the skinny, black-haired, big-eared, brown-skinned, innocent kid anymore. I was a part of a minority. I was labeled.

I felt different. I felt diminished and minimized. I was a part of a community of second-class citizens. And I couldn’t understand why.

Childhood memories linger and endure through each stage of life, and help shape the man or woman you eventually become. As a child and young adult, I concealed my memories beneath tears and smiles and cavalier politeness and graciousness, as that was the way I was brought up back then. It was the unspoken adage of my time — endure and persevere. And so, I did.

My life’s lessons with regard to color began with my first year in school. I noticed immediately that Sally and Johnnie and Jimmy where being treated differently than Juan, Octavio and Maria. They dressed in store-bought clothes, lived in nicer homes and their parents drove nice cars and trucks, while we brown kids dressed in handmade clothes or hand-me-downs, and we lived in farmhouses and ranches owned by white owners, and our fathers drove old dilapidated trucks while our mothers stayed home, sewing, cleaning and baking.

This was the real world back then. A time when color ruled.
(The photo at right was sent to us by one of our readers. Notice the two kids in the front row at left who played for the 1955 Brownsville basketball champions barefoot.) 

One of my most lasting memories of childhood was one Easter, when a classmate’s parent announced that they would be having an Easter party at their home for the entire first grade. There was excitement and anticipation in the air.

The day came.
The entire class was driven to my classmate’s home in a school bus. We arrived to see a beautiful home and lawn, with tables full of cakes and fruit and sandwiches. But the one thing that caught my eye was the 6-foot-tall Easter basket wrapped in clear plastic.

Inside I could see a life-size Easter Bunny and candies wrapped in shiny paper — blues, pinks and greens. And here we were, the little brown kids with our handmade paper-bag Easter baskets, walking around in awe at the sight before us. All white mothers and dads, and not a single brown-skinned adult, other than the maids.

This memory remains with me to this day, and I can still feel the coldness and isolation that I felt.

And here I am today, enjoying a morning drink beneath my patio in my country club home. How the years have passed and how the times have changed.

My nephews and my nieces might never know or experience the indignity of being brown as I did as a child and young adult, and I am glad for that. But each time I hear the political rhetoric from the right or the left that fills our airways and the beltways of every city and every town across our land, my heart beings to ache at the thought that America is returning to a place and a time that belongs in our history, not in our future.

Just when I thought the only color I had to be concerned about was the color of my drapes or the color of the tile for my sunroom, I am confronted with memories that I would never wish upon my nephews or my nieces. For when they reach the time in their lives when they get to sit beneath their own outdoor patio, enjoying a beautiful March morning and recalling their days of innocence, I wish their memories to be of laughter and of joy, of times with family and with friends, and with the only reference and memories of color being the brilliance of the colors of our flag, flying high and flying free.

(This opinion piece first appeared in the April 1 edition of the Brownsville Herald.)
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COME IN SHE SAID I'LL GIVE YOU SHELTER FROM THE STORM

April 8, 2018, 12:05 pm
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(Ed.'s Note: Just as the cold front swept in to Brownsville, one of out thousands of readers said that he heard a flapping in the air and saw two ducks (on top of the tree above) looking for a place to weather the onslaught of rain and cold wind. They alighted on the palo blanco on the 12th Street side of the Masonic Temple catty (kitty?) corner from the Immaculate Conception Cathedral. Now, we have heard of wood ducks who are born and raised on tress (as in the Fulda, MN. Wood Ducks), but locally they usually live in the water and in the banks of resacas. The folks over in Minnesota even have a Fulda Wood Duck Festival each June.

Our reader took this photo and others and sent it in to prove it was true. Perhaps local ducks don't live in the trees, but an aberrant weather episode like the unexpected April cold front makes animals (and people) do strange things. Our thanks for the photo.)
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PORT AND OMNITRAX: PUBLIC BE DAMNED, KEEP IN THE DARK

April 8, 2018, 1:56 pm
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"Mr. Montoya – I have attached a copy of the Franchise Agreement between OmniTrax, Inc. and the District.We are requesting an Attorney General Opinion on the release of the progress report. I have also attached a copy of the letter to the Attorney General making this request.
I will keep you informed as we hear back from the Attorney General.
Deborah Lee Duke / Director of Administrative Services / Port of Brownsville (Click on graphic in text to enlarge.)

By Juan Montoya
On May 8, 2014, the Brownsville Navigation District and Denver, Colo.-based OmniTrax Inc. agreed on a 30-year franchise that would give the franchisee total control of the port's Brownsville Rio
Grande Railroad in exchange for a number of promises made by the company.

At the time of the agreement, and in previous years before that, the BRGR was a profit-making enterprise which had been financed annually by the taxpayers of the BND.

In fact, the port's railroad was a moneymaker.

One of our readers – Mario Villarreal, a local businessman and former port commissioner – questioned the franchise deal.

"Last year the railroad's revenues increased by $1,009,138, or 12 percent. In fact, revenues from its switching yard operations went up by $773,683, or 10.8 percent, so you can't say it's losing money.

And you want to sell its capital assets valued at $5,855,000 for $2.5 million, with OmniTrax paying $500,000 now and the other $2 million over the next five years. Why?

In contrast, OmniTrax doesn't have to produce the results of its promised $8.5 million investment, the Industrial Park, or Incubator until five years from now."
Under the terms of the franchise agreement, OmniTrax was to  "contribute and attract" not less than $8.5 million of direct capital investment in the common elements of the Industrial Park during the period of five years following the acceptance of a Master Plan to be produced by OmniTrax

– OmniTrax promises to produce the Master Plan one year after the acceptance date of the franchise agreement

– Pay the port $3,693 a month rent on 1,200 acres of land

– OmniTrax will pay the district $10,714 per month rent on the railroad's buildings and locomotive pit for seven years. Upon payment of 7 years rent ($900,000), OmniTrax will own free and clear, all rights and title to real estate listed, not including the land itself. This includes two steel warehouses, the administration building, back office additions, engineers' lunch rooms, an open warehouse for heavy equipment and diesel track, main office vehicle maintenance warehouse, and a diesel track warehouse built in 2011.

– 1. A fee for each loaded railcar (including an empty car delivered to a district lessee for the purpose of dismantling) originated or terminated on the BRG yard.

– $20 for each loaded railcar for the first $35,000 cars per year

– $25 for each loaded railcar above$35 cars per year, and

– Beginning on the sixth anniversary of the Commencement Date, OmniTrax shall pay 5 percent of the gross revenues from railroad operations above $10,500,000 per year.

– In no event shall the annual loaded railcar revenue paid by OmniTrax to district under #1 be less than $550,000.

– OminTrax shall not increase the rates in public tariffs issued by the franchisee which are charged to existing BRG customers, or their successors or assigns to an existing facility at the port...without the consent of the Board of Commissioners. Nothing in this section shall restrict the ability of OmniTrax to charge a special rate for additional services provided to a BRG customer, or to enter into future Transportation Service Agreements with existing or new customers."

– The agreement also calls for all BRG employees to be transferred to it and become its employees "subject to the results of drug testing, criminal background checks, and post-employment physical abilities testing."
Upon becoming OmniTrax employees, they will maintain their same level of seniority, level of service, and similar compensation and benefits."

– OmniTrax also is beholden to assume the Junior Lien Bonds Series 2003 issued by BRG for rail improvements. It assumes all payments on those bonds as they become due as of the effective date of the agreement not to exceed $2.228 million excluding late fees.

– The so-called incubator parcel consisting of 227 acres will be exclusively developed, used and operated by OmniTrax and it will develop, construct, market, and operate it at its sole expense. Upon receiving rental income from the first user, it will pay the district $500 per acre per year based on the actual acreage.

– OmniTrax will begin construction of the Incubator Site within 365 days of the commencement date of the agreement. Any portion of the incubator site not developed within five years after the agreement is signed shall be added to the Industrial Park.
Not later than six months, in November, OmniTrax assigned its liability under the franchise to the BRGR, effectively washing its hans of the responsibilities and assigning them to the BRGR. (See graphic at right.) 

There are a host of other promises that OmniTrax made to the port (and its taxpayers) in exchange for the railroad and the exclusive right to the industrial park and incubator included in the franchise agreement.

Has OmniTrax kept its promises? So far as we know, there is not one tenant in the so-called "incubator" industrial park. And the reactivation of the grain elevator for unloading sugar was never part of the original franchise agreement. We asked for an update on the progress and were told OmniTrax objected to releasing the information to the public. So, as correspondence from the port indicates, does the port.

Why are the port and OmniTrax hiding behind the so-called "proprietary" rights in their appeal to the Texas Attorney General? What is so "proprietary" about a railroad monopoly at the Port of Brownsville. No one else can compete with them since they hold exclusive rights to operate a railroad there.

If the port's board of commissioner gave up a multi-million profitable railroad and exclusive rights of port real estate to OmniTrax, doesn't the public who elected them and owns the port have a right to know if its tax-funded assets have been well managed? In fact, the port taxpayers have more "proprietary" rights then either the board or OmniTrax.

Will they come clean?
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WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT MIKE HERNANDEZ'S OP10.33

April 9, 2018, 8:28 am
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APB FOR ROBERT, A 14TH STREET FUGITIVE FROM MAD ANITA

April 9, 2018, 9:15 am
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By Juan Montoya
I knew something was up when Susan, the girlfriend of a local n'er do well beckoned me as I entered Willy's El Tenampa bar on 14th Street.

Sue, one of the few white girls who hung with the Mexes on skid row, was usually very discrete, almost demure. She had to be. In this neck of the monte all a girl had to do was get caught eyeing you and many borrachines took it as a come on. Especially a white girl. On 14th, that's almost a delicacy.

She had struck up with Roberto, a small timer and a street car washer, when she got to Browntown from Illinois where she had worked as a nursing assistant in a rest home. As time went on, she found out he was hooked on la piedra, as crack is called on the street. But by that time, it was too late. They were a couple.

I sidled up to her at the bar and leaned over.

"What's up, guera?," I asked. "Where's Robert."

She giggled in an almost conspiratorial way. She was in a good mood, which in her case was a bit disturbing.

"He's hiding," she said with a small laugh.

"From you?," I asked.

Sue and Robert were famous for their throw down, no-holds barred brawls. In fact, they had been ejected from just about every joint on the strip, and that's saying a lot because the occasional rumpus was just about expected in most every bar along the strip. It came with the territory. You never knew who was in a bad mood that day, or who you rubbed the wrong way, or who plain didn't like your looks, or just because they went to the bars to look for a fight.

That usually happened when he was high on crack and she had not taken her meds. I looked at her closely. The medication had taken effect nicely. She was safe to deal with.

"No," she giggled. "From Anita, the girl who's not all there who used to hang out at Johnny's 1, 2, 3 Lounge. You remember, she's kind of light skinned but she's a Mexican."

"Oh, her," I answered. "Yeah, she's a bit kooky. What about her? Did he rip her off for a rock, or what?"

"No, worse," Sue replied. "She gave him two blowjobs on credit cause he told her his check was coming at the first of the month. Thing is, he doesn't get a check. All he does is wash cars. Now she's going up and down the strip looking for him. I told her I hadn't seem him in two days."

"Oh, God, why can't I meet women like that?," I laughed. "All the ones I meet just want to borrow a couple of bucks and you know they'll never pay you back."

"Where's he hiding?," I asked her.
"I think he went downtown to the courthouse parking lot to wash lawyers' cars," she whispered. "He doesn't want anyone, especially Anita, to know."

"Well, she won't hear it from me," I assured her. "Good lord, blowjobs on credit. Que loco!"
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