AMERIQUE:


A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: It is the unspoken statistic, but it is as real as anything to do with the lingering U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the military, 1,800 American servicemen have killed themselves since the initial invasion of Baghdad. That is in addition to the more than 4,000 who died in battle. This week, families of the soldiers who committed suicide asked President Barack Obama to change the government policy of not forwarding letters of appreciation to mothers and fathers of these servicemen. By week's end, the White House had reversed the policy and agreed that such letters are needed, as well... - Eduardo Paz-Martinez, Editor of The Tribune

Saturday, June 5, 2010

The Bathroom Chronicles: In Which Our Writer Pulls The Shades On Dirty Public Bathrooms...

By RICARDO KLEMENT
Staff Writer

EDINBURG, Texas - My friends at The Coffee Zone here know a thing or two about bathroom hygiene - they keep theirs as clean as clean can be. It's also a pleasant experience beyond the obvious. Nice, expensively framed art fills the four walls, all of them of women in sexy poses, one on a table of sorts wearing, well, her birthday suit, another of an attractive woman in a red negligee rifling through her male partner's pants pockets while he sleeps alongside. It is art, yes. What else could it be? It's a coffee shop!

But, sadly, The Coffee Zone's immaculate bathroom is a rare sight in the Rio Grande Valley. Public bathrooms inside cafes and movie theaters and dance halls and bars leave much to be desired. Perhaps the partying and scarfing mobs ovewhelm the cleaning crews. Who knows? All we say is that things could be cleaner all the way around.

And who knows...this may eventually become an issue for area politicians. It also may just go to the large number of illnesses parading from Rio Grande City to Brownsville. We are aware that excitable Action 4 News, the Harlingen-based CBS affiliate, occasionally offers restaurant reviews. But reporter Ryan Wolf focuses on the cleanliness of restaurant food and kitchens, and of course he should do that. Better video would come, however, if he only walked his camera into some of these pitiful bathrooms...

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5 comments:

Lupe Tortillas said...

Why is that all restaurants' restrooms stink like Gassy beans ??

Patrick Alcatraz said...

LUPE: Really? Is that a question you want us to take seriously? Really? Would you prefer - what? - digested chicken-fried steak as the aroma of choice?... - Editor

Lupita " La Tamalera " said...

Hacina mesmamente Patroncito !!!

Patrick Alcatraz said...

Lupita: We didn't see any profanity, so we posted this. But what is it you're trying to say? Plus, it doesn't read like something a woman would write... - Editor

Mary lou said...

Mr. Editor, you are right, some of this rest. are filthy, el taquito in harlingen, is kept kind of dirty, although I must admit the owner tries hard to keep it clean. It is the people fault, as for Brian Wolf, no one takes him serious.