By Juan Montoya
For months now, we have heard that an out-of-town blogger has been beating on a dead horse and ragging Associate District Judge Louis Sorola and his wife JP 2-3 Mary Esther about supposed delinquent property taxes on his homestead.
Post after post – we are told – this self-appointed paragon of righteousness and governmental fiscal integrity has carried this non-story and fake news proselytizing and berating public officials who don't shoulder their fair share of property taxes.
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Why he includes JP 2-3 Sorola in his screeds is not explained since it is obvious that the properties are under his name and were obtained by the District Judge in a prior marriage.
So we did something rather simple that any high school newspaper reporter would have done to ascertain a basic fact. We went to the Cameron County Appraisal District and asked to look through the file. We leafed through it and lo and behold, there was a receipt from Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre dated August 31, 2017 indicating that Sorola had paid his taxes in full.
That was a full month before he was appointed by a panel of district judges as an associate judge. It is now almost December and the amputee story (no legs) is still being carried as truth.
We also didn't see Mary Esther's name in the documents at all, indicating that she has nothing to do with the property accounts. Yet, that didn't stop people from commenting on her on an unrelated story.
"The people pay taxes, she says. But not her husband, Louis. LOL" on JP 2-3 MARY ESTHER SOROLA OFFERS FREE WEDDINGS
That newshound we were talking about earlier prides himself in being the arbiter of the journalism profession and the master of intellectual discourse. But it is obvious that facts such as the receipt we found at the CCAD files only get in the way of a good story where he can hammer away at the perceived tax deadbeat and inflict collateral damage on his wife from his safe perch in McAllen.
He has even gone so far as to try to reach District Judge Gloria Rincones to snitch on her associate judge and inform her "Sorola owes Taxes!" To her credit, she has ignored him.
We are told the Sorolas aren't the only ones who have been covered by this bird's droppings. Blogger Jim Barton, whose wife Nena is recovering from debilitating strokes has also come under the spyglass of this newshound. In the case of the Sorolas the point could be made that since they are both public officials their expectations of privacy are lessened. Fair enough.
But in the case of the Bartons, where the blogger ridicules the fact that they live in a trailer park and pokes fun at Nena's illness, it is plain mean and shows a streak of evil toward other people that can't be disguised by flowery language and ornate rhetoric. Not written, but between the lines, he insinuates from his cyber megaphone: "You are below me, you white trailer park trash."
If putting down other people is the only way that some people think they can place themselves above their brethren, it shows someone so consumed by narcissistic need to glorify himself at the expense of others that he doesn't care what hurt he inflicts on them or those close to them.
Sorola was sworn in in October, long after he had paid his taxes.
Yet, we are told that as recently as this weekend the fake story of him owing taxes has been propagated by the misanthrope in McAllen. Will he apologize for this obvious failure to touch the basic bases in publishing a lie as the truth? Or will there be some sleazy, smug way for him to to justify his basic reporting shortcomings and meanness exhibited toward these folks under the guise of journalistic excellence?
For months now, we have heard that an out-of-town blogger has been beating on a dead horse and ragging Associate District Judge Louis Sorola and his wife JP 2-3 Mary Esther about supposed delinquent property taxes on his homestead.
Post after post – we are told – this self-appointed paragon of righteousness and governmental fiscal integrity has carried this non-story and fake news proselytizing and berating public officials who don't shoulder their fair share of property taxes.
Why he includes JP 2-3 Sorola in his screeds is not explained since it is obvious that the properties are under his name and were obtained by the District Judge in a prior marriage.
So we did something rather simple that any high school newspaper reporter would have done to ascertain a basic fact. We went to the Cameron County Appraisal District and asked to look through the file. We leafed through it and lo and behold, there was a receipt from Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre dated August 31, 2017 indicating that Sorola had paid his taxes in full.
That was a full month before he was appointed by a panel of district judges as an associate judge. It is now almost December and the amputee story (no legs) is still being carried as truth.
We also didn't see Mary Esther's name in the documents at all, indicating that she has nothing to do with the property accounts. Yet, that didn't stop people from commenting on her on an unrelated story.
That newshound we were talking about earlier prides himself in being the arbiter of the journalism profession and the master of intellectual discourse. But it is obvious that facts such as the receipt we found at the CCAD files only get in the way of a good story where he can hammer away at the perceived tax deadbeat and inflict collateral damage on his wife from his safe perch in McAllen.
He has even gone so far as to try to reach District Judge Gloria Rincones to snitch on her associate judge and inform her "Sorola owes Taxes!" To her credit, she has ignored him.
We are told the Sorolas aren't the only ones who have been covered by this bird's droppings. Blogger Jim Barton, whose wife Nena is recovering from debilitating strokes has also come under the spyglass of this newshound. In the case of the Sorolas the point could be made that since they are both public officials their expectations of privacy are lessened. Fair enough.
But in the case of the Bartons, where the blogger ridicules the fact that they live in a trailer park and pokes fun at Nena's illness, it is plain mean and shows a streak of evil toward other people that can't be disguised by flowery language and ornate rhetoric. Not written, but between the lines, he insinuates from his cyber megaphone: "You are below me, you white trailer park trash."
If putting down other people is the only way that some people think they can place themselves above their brethren, it shows someone so consumed by narcissistic need to glorify himself at the expense of others that he doesn't care what hurt he inflicts on them or those close to them.
Sorola was sworn in in October, long after he had paid his taxes.
Yet, we are told that as recently as this weekend the fake story of him owing taxes has been propagated by the misanthrope in McAllen. Will he apologize for this obvious failure to touch the basic bases in publishing a lie as the truth? Or will there be some sleazy, smug way for him to to justify his basic reporting shortcomings and meanness exhibited toward these folks under the guise of journalistic excellence?