For Harlingen, Castaneda's Withdrawal From Chief's Post Leads To Speculation...Big Deal, Or No Big Deal?...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

HARLINGEN, Texas - He was said to be the frontrunner, the applicant for the vacant police chief's job best suited for shaping the local department's present and future. But Department of Public Safety Lt. Rolando Castaneda opted for a similar job in smaller Edinburg some 25 miles west of this town.

Some went ahead and applauded Castaneda's decision, while others lamented the loss.

It's par for the course in that world of bureaucrats and elected officials. We posed the question to our well-placed source at Harlingen City Hall and here's what we were told: "I'm sure he would have been an exceptional employee, but applicant fall out is part of what happens. We experienced withdrawals while considering applicants for the city manager position as well, and we were still able to land a very competent and professional city manager, in Carlos (Yerena)."

Yerena is the city manager here, having been hired from a similar post in Kingsville. He, too, has received criticism for not filling the job in a timely manner. Earlier this month, after former Chief Danny Castillo resigned amid perceived pressure from Yerena and some city commissioners in mid-February, Harlingen said it counted 22 applicants for the Top Cop job.

Someone will get the job, maybe even someone currently in the interim chief's post. But few are talking, at least not the ones who know something concrete. Reports surfaced in early March that Yerena was interested in keeping the interim chief as a cost-cutting measure. We doubt that is an over-riding reason, however. The city has a slew of veteran officers who likely can man the fort while the city ponders its pool of chief applicants.

In the meantime, yes, the force is left to wonder who its next leader will be. That is never a good thing in anything to do with military-style duties, but, as we said, it's par for the course.

A chief will be selected in due time.

Who knows? Castaneda, shown in photo above wearing a cowboy hat, might have been the answer to the department's P.R. problems. But, then again, maybe not. It's always a crapshoot when hiring in law enforcement. The bar is often too low, especially in the Rio Grande Valley. One thing is certain: Harlingen should look to hiring an educated officer, someone with a college degree and extensive experience, someone who knows the difference between merely holding the job and serving the community, someone who is a professional lawman...

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Ah, Taxes: They'll Break Your Wallet...How Much Do You Pay?...GE Pays Nothing...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The most popular sport here is not soccer. It's not baseball or football, either. No, not adultery or political games. Try taxes, or, really, the non-payment of taxes - for services rendered, we mean.

The capitalistic system we live under in this country says every citizen - including citizen corporations - shall pay a certain amount of their income to the national treasury. It varies, of course, yet we're all supposed to pay something or another to fund services from law enforcement to social programs. It's the law.

So, when you see a side-of-the-road mechanic doing gangbusters business along the frontage road here, there under a craggy mesquite where he's posted his badly-scribbled poster saying, perhaps: "Discount brake work!"...well, chances are that guy is taking your money for the work, but not charging taxes, which, if he did, he'd have to funnel to the state or federal tax offices. That's cheating, but it happens up and down the Rio Grande Valley every day. We're not telling you anything you don't know.

But when we raise Hell against these free enterprise dudes or outfits, we ignore the larger abuser.

Take General Electric, for example.

It remains the largest corporate income generator in the U.S., but it pays no taxes. Not one dime. Zip. Zilcho. Nada. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), GE reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion last year, and said $5.1 billion of those profits came from the U.S. So, how much did it have to pay Uncle Sam?

Nothing.

In fact, GE, which is co-owner of the NBC-TV network, claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 million! How is that possible, you ask? Well, GE has an army of lobbyists working in Washington D.C. to twist the arms of Congress in an effort to get legislation helping it avoid taxes. The company's budget for those lobbyists: $200 million, which translates into a truckload of free dinners and other perks for congressmen and their aides. How serious is GE about not wanting to pay taxes? It has a tremendous Tax Department employing 975 lawyers and accountants.

So, next time you're at the flea market and you pay $10 for a suit and you ask about taxes and the old woman giving you change from that twenty is laughing, well, you'll know why...

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Now This: Lawsuit To Be Filed Against Harlingen Blogger Tony Chapa...What Did He Say?...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

HARLINGEN, Texas - Word comes that a few residents of this mid-valley city not exactly thrilled with local Blogger Tony Chapa are planning to file a lawsuit against him an effort to shut him down. Meetings with lawyers and cryptic Emails sent to this website indicate it's an active effort.

Wrote one resident: "There is a lawyer in Harlingen who is preparing a slander lawsuit against Chapa. The victim has confirmed that he went to this lawyer. There is another person who wants to join the lawsuit. Even though Chapa may not have anything to be sued for, the lawyer is looking for deep pockets and he may have found them. If you torment Chapa on this issue, knowing his character - he will seek legal counsel but no one will help him."

The Tribune is involved in a competitive scrap with Chapa's blog, and there have been occasions when he has neared the libel line against this writer, but, for us, it's been about exposing him and not tormenting. We have no idea who the would-be plaintiffs are, and we wonder why they use the word "slander," and not libel. Slander goes to the spoken word that hurts, injures or damages; libel to the same only in written words.

We wonder a whole lot about Chapa's mental state. He is shown in photo above. Is he taking criticism aimed his way to an extreme? Is his anger boiling over and forcing to post stories and info no clear-thinking man would publish? Is he kicking his cats and other pets in a rage when he sees his Blog dying. Is he the type of loose personality capable of suicide? We hope not, but, really, we don't know.

All we can ever know comes from reading his so-called "stories." Yesterday, he posted one about the City of Harlingen patching a hole in his alley. That drew frowns, because it's not Journalism. But it, too, made us wonder whether he's losing it. Again, we hope not. A Journalism scrap is no reason to do something drastic, not that we feel any sort of sympathy for him, 'cause he knows full-well the extent of the crap he has aimed our way. Still, it's sad.

Chapa's blog once did good things for the community.

Now, it is just another ragged effort working toward its demise and not anything to improve life in Harlingen. I recall all the times we helped and tried to help him. We bought into his words that Harlingen's Old Guard was evil and needed to be exposed. The Old Guard, truth be told, is just the opposition to the New Guard. We believed him when he said City Commissioner Kori Marra was a bad politician. Marra is just that, however, a politician - as such always subject to subjective takedowns by anyone who may not like her, for any reason. We sorta believed him when he breathlessly went after former Police Chief Danny Castillo. The chief was just another bureaucrat who may or may not have been doing his job. Chiefs resign. It happens in towns and cities across this great nation.

So, we're left with the thought that it would be best for Chapa to kill his blog. It is no longer providing even the barest sliver of meaningful, useful news. Its reputation appears to be in the toilet and its sole raison d'etre appears to be a place for faceless, cowardly bloggers to launch attacks. There is no Journalism on MyHarlingenNews.com. It has pretty much become a cancer for the community, and that's putting it mildly. And we're not even going to mention much about the homo-erotic stuff one of his bloggers boldly posts about Chapa and his wife.

Is there an "out" for Chapa?

Of course. It's pretty clear. He knows what to do...

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Was It Amateur Hour?...Did Blogger Chapa Turn-In His Bloggers To Cops?...He Didn't Have To...Did He Know?...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

HARLINGEN, Texas - The note submitted as a comment to this web site was clear and concise: "Chapanenco, tell us who killed your son-in- law, tell us about the ip numbers you ran to give to the police, tells, about the comments the dawg made about you not sleeping, because you were afraid K/M was going to close your slime blog down, like she did the Harlingen Post. Tell us who your fake writers are."

The K/M being referred to in that blog is Harlingen City Commissioner Kori Marra. The "ip" refers to an Internet service provider, one of the assignations people who blog get to leave behind when they post comments, for example. It is supposed to be the so-called "paper trail," that allows authorities to find you, should they so desire. Chapaneco is the nickname blogger Tony Chapa, shown in photo above, has seemingly been assigned by those who post comments here and in other local blogs.

We were struck by why Chapa would comply with the police if it did happen as we hear it. Did they have a search warrant when they arrived at his front door? What judge signed it? What were the police looking for? From what I can conclude based on the comments posted about this incident at Chapa's house in Harlingen is that some politician complained to the police about what that politician thought were questionable postings and they, in turn, rousted Chapa, apparently forcing him to hand over the info from his computer's hard drive.

If that is correct, he made a monumental mistake.

In essence, he handed the police a way to track down those bloggers, putting all of them in harm's way.

Any first-year Journalism student would have told Chapa to tell the cops to go stick it. He would then have called his lawyer and told the cops his sources are protected, and then made his fight against releasing any info related to his blog before a judge in a court of law.

It's one of those rock-hard tenets of Journalism. You always protect your sources, even at the risk of going to jail, and you never hand over info that is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution - also known as the Free Speech amendment. Short of the cops telling a judge that the info will lead to a killer or a terrorist, the judge will likely tell authorities to take a hike. Criticizing politicians is fair game. It is up to the judge; that is true, however. If a Chapa blogger - and there are fewer and fewer of those, thanks to his odd style of practicing Journalism - was making threats against, say, the mayor, then the judge likely would have said Chapa had to turn it over. What is at risk here is that everybody's IP number would be availed so freely when you hand over the hard drive of a computer. All info contained therein would be seen by cops. If Chapa did that to protect his butt, then, yes, he blew it big time. But he's an amateur and not a trained Journalist, so perhaps ignorance in his case is his defense.

It would be interesting to see how Chapa did act under pressure by those cops who came to his home. Perhaps he should tell his readers a little something about that incident, because, if he doesn't know what protections he has, he'll do it again.

And everyone who blogs at MyHarlingenNews is liable to get caught in the oldest trick in a cop's book - buffaloing the naive and inexperienced...

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The Week In Review: News That Made Waves...From The Outlaws To The Scofflaws...A Hitman Calls...Pay The Light Bill...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

HARLINGEN, Texas - Most weeks in the Rio Grande Valley can be characterized as being just like the one before and the one ahead: murder, adultery, sexual abuse, secrets revealed, plots hatched, alcohol on the move, great tacos, scorching suns and melancholic moons. It's a life.

Here, then, we review what Spanish speakers refer to as last week's novedades.

1.) Cold Case - A reader of this blog exploded forth with details surrounding the murder of local would-be blogger Tony Chapa's son-in-law a few years back. Seems, our reader noted, Chapa declined to speak to the cops and is said to have left town rather than agree to a sit-down chit-chat with detectives investigating the cold-blooded murder. Chapa countered by saying his daughter was not involved, and that he didn't split the city. His daughter was ready to take a lie-detector test, he added, but she never did. He blamed the cops for not scheduling the polygraph. Left floating in the air was any word from Chapa, a high school-educated blogger fond of throwing trash at local elected officials, about what his daughter was doing with a man someone wanted assassinated. Maybe it'll be one of his "stories" one of these days.

2.) The Flying Attorney - Al Alvarez seems to take all the sensational cases. He defended former faux-blonde Hidalgo County Commissioner Sylvia Handy with the vigor of a carrotpicker. Handy did not get off a slew of charges filed against her that included taking money for staff members who never existed and employing undocumented workers to clean her crib. But Alvarez, said to be the Rio Grande Valley's Johnny Cochran, remains the defense attorney to beat. This week he not only crashed his 2011 Mercedes into a house in McAllen, but he announced he would be defending Starr County men accused of taking a young girl hostage in their alleged sex-for-hire enterprise. Alvarez told The McAllen Monitor the guys are not guilty because the under-age girl brought in by the men from Mexico knew what she was getting into. McAllen cops were not part of that mess, but they did go on record as saying Alvarez smelled of alcohol the night he plowed his jazzy car into that defenseless home.

3.) The Stealth Superintendent - Harlingen public schools honcho Dr. Steve Flores is no publcity hound. You hardly ever hear about - or from - him. He is paid more than $200,000 annually, a lot more than the superintendent of Leander up near Austin who just took a pay cut in an effort to avoid laying off teachers and not as much as Beaumont's superstar superintendent who makes a gaudy $348,000 a year. Flores has said little about how the state's massive budget cuts will affect Harlingen or Harlingen's classroom teachers. Those rumors that he may accept a paycut are not coming from his office. The nattily-attired Flores likes to fly under the radar. They say his favorite color is fog.

4.) Death In The Afternoon - The strange death of Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Arturo Jose Iniguez is like a scene in a hip Leonard Elmore crime novel. Who did it? And why? Is there a dame involved? What - you say animal sedatives may be involved! You say the young, 26-year-old lawyer took an overdose of those pills? As they say in the dusty barrio streets of Matamoros, Mexico, where Iniguez was found slumped-over in his SUV, "Quien sabe." No kidding. It's been a week and nothing. His boss, D.A. Armando Villalobos worked his Roger Ortiz trick to perfection, fending off the press at every turn: first he said no foul play, then he said suicide, then he said maybe murder, then he said nothing more. That woman reeling over in the corner is Iniguez's young wife. When Villalobos will let go with the rest of the facts surrounding the murder is anybody's guess. "Could be the man'ss waiting for the Zetas to claim they did it," said Momo Spaghetti, the Italian mobster in the story being spun by the cold-blooded D.A.

5.) The Bases Were Loaded, And So Was I - It won't be long before the ever-hopeful Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings take the field. Spring is for renewal, it is said from coast to coast. For the Wingsters, it's another long, hard drive for the league pennant, this one coming on the heels of last year's woeful performance in the championship series they lost. Baseball fans are forgiving on that front. What the Wings need to resolve is their lousy payment schedule on that utility bill they stick on the City of Harligen. The contract, one would think, stipulates that the team may play at storied Harlingen Field. It also states that the Wings will pay the light bill. They've been lax at paying, and that's not good P.R. for an outfit playing mediocre baseball. Residents pay the price of admission as fans. They shouldn't be forced to pay the team's light bill as taxpayers. Throw that hard one high & inside on team management.

And that's the way it was...

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For Unemployed, More Bad News Ahead...They Get $1,100 A Month In Benefits For Not Working...They Get It For 99 Weeks...Now A Drug Test...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

HARLINGEN, Texas - Human nature is such that a person will take something for nothing for as long as possible. Workers know this nature well. Unemployed workers know it much better. There is something to fear in not having a job to feed the family and pay the house bills. But, in today's America, too many are simply taking unemployment benefits and watching the world go by.

Now comes Republican State Rep. Ken Legler, of Pasadena, to offer a legislative bill seeking a little morality he wants attached to those benefits - a drug test.

Legler and other Republicans are siding by the idea that they do not want to help the unemployed get stoned. Passing their "drug test" would be required before applicants could receive the government-issued checks. Those failing the test would be denied benefits, according to the proposed bill. It is getting some traction from the business community, some appearing before the committee hashing-out this bill to say they worry about the long-term unemployed workforce coming back addicted to marijuana and harsher drugs.

It is the image of a do-nothing sitting on the couch and watching soap operas and game shows on television while waiting for their unemployment checks that bothers many in the state.

Opponents of the measure, however, see it as a clear violation of privacy rights, noting that such a law would also raise constitutional questions.

And officials with the Texas Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers argue that thousands of their members are being laid-off through no fault of their own. State budget cuts, they say, should not force teachers to undergo embarrassing drug testing when they apply for unemployment benefits.

The proposal is still on the clock and has yet to reach a vote...

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Faces In The Crowd: The Ugly Side Of Sex Trafficking In The Valley...A 13-Year-Old Girl Is Enslaved...Life As Meat...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Special to The Tribune

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas - They've always talked about this town on the western fringe of the Rio Grande Valley as the place to go hide, to go get lost, to go shoot snakes and cows and stuff. That's never changed, only now it is being talked about by law enforcement as the haven for trafficking of young girls brought-in from Mexico to work in sex-for-hire operations.

A 13-year-old girl from the Mexican bordertown of Guerrero is the latest victim.

They lured her here on a promise of a job. That job turned out to be turning sexual tricks for fat and hairy men who dropped a pair of twenty-dollar bills in the hands of a Mexican at the door. It was a low-rent apartment that served as her work station, say the cops who this week busted the illicit operation and dragged four men to jail.

It is a story that should shame the town and the region, but these things rarely do. Trafficking is king here, whether it is drugs, guns or sex. There's cash in narcotics, killing and taking to the sack, goes the line in bars, cafes and the unemployment office, where such things are discussed in whispers.

The oppressors in this tale are a doomsday foursome, three grown men and a 17-year-old misguided youth - all of them sporting the look of crime, perfect faces for the casting of outlaws in a Law & Order episode. Their lawyer, the ubiquitous Al Alvarez, already is arguing that the 13-year-old girl knew exactly why she was being brought here. Alvarez is not cheap. Perhaps the business of hiring-out women is that lucrative in poverty-stricken Starr County.

Their names are common names:

Juan Antonio Garcia, 31.

Juan Chavarria, 25.

Jorge Eustacio Martinez, 45.

Ricardo Torres, 17.

Their faces promise action. It may not be action of the sort we would deem to be those of accomplishment. Not by any stretch of the imagination. These are rough-hewn faces beaten into shape by scorching suns, dust and hereditary manual labor, more like masks that scare the Beejeezus out of women and children. Yes, they are presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law. That's the system they will welcome, the protection availed by the U.S. Constitution. Too bad the little girl didn't have it.

Garcia reportedly was asked by the little girl to be taken back to her hometown when she realized her new life would be that of being nothing more than a piece of meat. His response was chilling: "You know what you are here to do, so do it."

She's been returned to Mexico, ruined for the moment and scarred forever...

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When All The Laughter Turned To Sorrow: A Blogger Loses Credibility...Where Once He Harangued People, He Now Lies Beaten...A Sad Sight In Town...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor

HARLINGEN, Texas - When Tony Chapa went hard after City Commissioner Kori Marra, his was a ceaseless attack full of invective and rage. Chapa's blog could not post quick enough every little detail surrounding Ms. Marra's foibles. He smiled and then he laughed; it was wild time for him. Yes, she deserved some of it, but Chapa seemed bent on stomping her while portraying himself as the city's savior.

Then he went after Police Chief Danny Castillo with a similar full-court press, followed by morality attacks on former and current police officers. He struck at then-Assistant City Manager Gabe Gonzalez with the prejudice of a drug dealer seeking stolen drugs.

Chapa, however, had his own story to tell, one not anywhere near the word pretty. It concerns a cold-blooded murder and questionable activity - the same false steps he would quickly jump on if it happened to someone else and not his family. But he's been silent on that front. Until now.

The full story isn't out yet and may never be, but what the litttle info that has come out has done is further erode his base and taken any credibility he may have had to throw stones at others in his now-comatose blog, MyHarlingenNews.com. It's impossible to take others to task when you yourself are not forthcoming. In town, Chapa has been reduced to a whimpering whiner attacking this Blog and anyone who questions his legitimacy. As is said in sport, it is the rare loser who will exhibit grace.

Chapa has shown no grace.

Here's what came down this week:

Chapa's son in law was executed by a hit man for ripping off a drug dealer about 8 years a go. Chapa and his daughter were asked to cooperate with HPD in the investigation of the murder. Both Chapa and his daughter refused to come in to HPD to give a statement. Chapa and his daughter hired a lawyer to kill the on going investigation. The case was never solved. Chapa went into hiding at his ex-wife's house. Chapa is a weasel and he needs to be exposed!

So wrote a blogger who identified himself as Ye Ole Crazed Blue Knight. The blog drew a number of harsh blogs aimed at Chapa from other Tribune bloggers.

And it also delivered a bit of the Harlem Shuffle from Chapa, who replied with this: "Your blogger needs to get his facts straight, I was never investigated, and never asked to come to the police station. My Daughter was questioned twice for about two hours each time. She was never asked to come back again. They asked her to submit to a poligraph (sic) test. Our lawyer said he wanted to be present. They never set it up. My daughter has no knowledge about the incident. Two men were arrested and charged. The Cameron County District Attorney dropped the charges due to the lack of evidence. Two brothers who implicated the killers recanted thier confessions after getting jailed together with the killers. The Harlingen police department has a large number of unsolved murders. Jerry Deal wrote about this incident extensively at the time."

So, we asked Deal, editor of MyLeadernews.com,  about it and this is what he said: "If I wrote about it I sure do not remember. Eight years ago I owned the Leader newspaper based in Los Fresnos."

Chapa, of course, can publish the entire story related to the sordid episode on his blog and clear things ups. But he won't do it. He'll air others' dirty laundry, but never his. That's been his style, the one we've known for all these long, long months.

Somewhere out there is the real story of how his son-in-law came to be offed. We suspect he knows it from beginning to end. And it's likely a whopper of a border tale. Que lastima, indeed.

But this is now clear: He owes Harlingen an apology. He owes Commissioner Marra a few kind words. He owes former Chief Castillo words that speak to fairness. He owes Police Lt. Luciano Rubio words of regret.

Chapa owes himself more than that. He is now seen here as a lame and pathetic figure without an ounce of positive cache. His only act of grace would be to apologize to his readers and withdraw from the news fray. No Journalist of any note would be allowed to continue with the sort of baggage Chapa carries.

But, then, most of us who know the business know he has never been a true Journalist; he's just been playing loosely at one.

End of story...

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In Leander, A Decision To Cut Big Pay...Superintendent's Salary Axed By $20,000...He Still Makes Enough...Super Goes Along...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor

LEANDER, Texas - It's not that far down the pretty Hill Country roads from here to the bustling state capital, where the harried Legislature still battles the Texas budget, still wonders about public schools and still can't make up its mind where the slashings will begin and end.

Little Leander, a few winding miles northwest of Austin and carrying a population of a little more than 10,000, is doing something about it, and doing it fast.

Its school district serves a large surrounding area and enrolls more than three times the town's population, only this year it is some $29 million in the hole. First up is layoffs of 213 first-year teachers. Next, schoolboard members plan to change starting times of all schools to streamline the bus service. Cuts in the sports programs are also on the chopping block, including its golf and tennis programs. The Leander School District is the 3rd largest school district in the Central Texas.

It counts nearly two thousand teachers and more than four thousand employees. In noting the latest cuts, school officials said the district has already cut 250 positions, mostly from their central office, in order to save a little more than $11 million.

There are plans to increase class sizes, forget about opening two proposed new schools and eliminate district-issued cell phones. Free coffee in the faculty lounges is also on the way out.

But here's the kicker: Superintendent Bret Champion's salary is being cut by $20,000. Champion, shown in photo below, also will give up his cell phone and car allowance.

He'll still make $155,000, but the cut is dramatic if only because no other school district has taken such action against its schools leader. And even more stunning is the fact that Champion agreed to the paycut...

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[Editor's Note: The superintendent for Austin ISD is paid $278,000 annually, plus perks related to cell phones and auto expenses. No word yet on whether her salary will be cut, or whether she would accept such action. We should also note that we sent a Q&A to Harlingen schools Superintendent Dr. Steve Flores two weeks ago. He has not replied. His Email address is: steve.flores@hcisd.org...]

A Young Life Cut Short...Arturo Jose Iniguez's Promise Snuffed Out In God-Awful Matamoros, Mexico...Questions Abound...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor

HARLINGEN, Texas - Stress, it is said, can force a strong-willed man to his knees. America's hurry-up society applies its pressures from all angles, family and job included. It is not rare to see seemingly smart people do the unthinkable, like commit suicide.

That, for now, is what some believe brought an end to 26-year-old Arturo Jose Iniguez's life this past weekend. But who knows? His strange death in Matamoros has a wagonload of unanswered questions - enough to float a hundred episodes of Law & Order. The young assistant district attorney working misdeamenor cases for Cameron County D.A. Armando Villalobos had much to live for, his parents, his wife and his very young daughter. Yet, he is dead.

And Villalobos, the employer who likely knows more about what happened than he has let on, is being coy about the stunning death. Initially, he issued a vague statement about the death, not noting anything specific, but indicating that Iniguez had met his end across the Rio Grande from Brownsville. Then came word from his grieving mother that he had died in a car accident; that only to be followed by Villalobos releasing additional info related to the finding of animal sedatives at the scene of Iniguez's last day on Earth.

Autopsies are forthcoming and it won't be until then that a cause of death will be established.

It strikes me that a grown man interested in killing himself would likely go after other narcotics that would do the job. Animal sedatives? That has to be as rare as someone wanting to use a weapon to kill themselves to reach for a machine gun. Plus, animal sedatives are for animals, presumably much stronger than those used by Human Beings.

We won't go silly speculating, but this has the feel of a murder, the sedatives being there only after someone planted them in the car and conveniently tossed the container just outside Iniguez's vehicle. But, then, that would feed another line of thought - that the young lawyer met foul play, something Villalobos says is not part of his thinking. So, you grab the pills from the animal sedative bottle and push them into your mouth and then toss the bottle outside? Nah, that's not believable. Villalobos says the container's lid was found inside the car, so why not the container? If Iniguez was after suicice, he'd want to do it in silence. A tossed container would have made noise and likely brought attention he'd not want.

"We are not aware of any stress factors outside of the common expected factors of being employed in a high volume work environment, married life, raising children, and starting a career with enormous school debt," the district attorney said in his press release.

That last part is odd. There are millions of Americans who paid for college with student loans. Not many of then are killing themselves. Plus, we're sure Iniguez was being well-paid and had a future that would have allowed him to seek - and get - bank loans to pay-off his debt. You just don't off yourself at age 26 over a few bills. Hell, that's a good age to be, an age when you've set sail a career and fully believe things will only get better with every year of experience you get under your belt.

So, no, we do not believe Iniguez killed himself.

A plethora of other possibilities do surface, including the unthinkable that could come from errant relationships, with loose women or hard men. It happens too often along the Texas-Mexico border, to bad and good people. We only hope that D.A. Villalobos is faithful to the truth.

The press is not his concern, and shouldn't be, but the young lawyer's surviving family needs facts, not the obscene posturing of an aspiring politician...

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On Comparing Reactions To City Commissioner Kori Marra's Tax Woes & The Baseball Team's Trouble Catching Up To The Silly Light Bill...$40,000 A Season...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor

HARLINGEN, Texas - Kori Marra must be livid. The City Commissioner was excoriated when word got out that her real estate company had been lax in paying federal payroll taxes. The screaming grasshoppers came out in droves against her, noting, correctly, we'll admit, that falling behind on taxes was not cool for an elected official. But, wow, nothing approximating that has come following news that the local semi-pro baseball team has been, well, slow in paying its utility bills for use of city-owned Harlingen Field.

What's that about?

Is it simply a case of Ms. Marra, shown in photo at right, being the handy & official punching bag for the moment? Or is minor league baseball so big in town, even at this low level, that the citizenry and city officials will not exactly come down hard on the seemingly unsympathetic management of the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings?

The Tribune has repeatedly asked City Manager Carlos Yerena for details about the existing contract under which the Wingsters use the 60-year-old Harlingen Field, but, as yet, has been given nothing. Admittedly, Mr. Yerena has bigger problems to resolve and accomplishments to celebrate, what with the city still operating without a full-fledged Chief of Police and resting on the joy of pooh-poohing the groundbreaking of that sports retail store seen at City Hall as the answer to all economic problems for the next century. But, as we always like to say in journalism, it's the details in the little stories that often burn you more than the big stuff. So, who knows where Harlingen is in its effort to keep the Wingsters in payment line?

Our info is that the electricity bill runs into the $40,000 range for the season. Just how much the team is paying - or has paid - is anybody's guess. The info is public information and the city could be forced to offer it, but we gather than it simply isn't a priority. Harlingen, we can almost hear Mr. Yerena say under his breath, has the $40,000 to blow.

No biggie. It'll all shake out, perhaps before the first seventh-inning stretch.

We are, however, perplexed by the lack of fire on the part of local taxpayers. They file into the ballpark to root for the hustling Wingsters, buy concessions, root like crazy until the last out, and then go home, not knowing that taxpayers like themselves are paying for the electricity that brightens the lights for that close play at the plate. Yeah, we know, there is something about seeing a towering homerun clear the fence and the lights that ought to be worth the price of admission. The price of admission yes, but not the community's working back for watching a baseball game featuring a full cast of unknowns who likely will never play at a higher level, nevermind the major leagues.

Ms. Marra would have a right to point at the hypocrisy.

Except that, well, she is a city commissioner, and, as such, should be aware of what the city is owed by the ballteam and any other entity availing itself of city property. We feel for her, cause we know how much hate she has felt during the past year. Much of it was not cool, but that's politics. If you can't stand the heat, goes the line, get outta the kitchen.

As for the RGV WhiteWings, losers in last season's league championship series, it would be something similar: If you can't pay the light bill, get outta the damned dugout. Go play in some free pasture.

We will go on record as saying that although Commissioner Marra should have been aware that her company was not paying its employee payroll taxes that eventually totaled some $20,000, well, we believe the debt - or slow payment practices - of the WhiteWings is a worse crime: Ms. Marra's debt was a personal matter between her company and the federal government while the ballteam takes money from the citzenry under false pretenses; that is, that it agrees to pay its bills and then doesn't...

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For The Hometeam, It's Battling The Light Bill That Worries City Officials...Harlingen Supports, But Can't Finance...Batter Up!...

By RICARDO KLEMENT
and NICK RYAN
Special to The Tribune

HARLINGEN, Texas - It's the bottom of the ninth inning and the Rio Grande Valley Whitewings are trailing by three runs. Bases loaded, the team's slugger at the plate. A big, fat yellow moon hangs over the left field stanchions. Three-two count as the opposing pitcher goes into his wind-up.

Then....poof!

The lights go out and the field goes dark. Trouble with the over-heated bulbs up on the outfield poles? No. Someone pulled the master power lever? Nope. Punks firing pellet guns at he lights? Not that, either. So, then what?

No one paid the light bill.

It's been a well-hidden headache for Harlingen, but city officials haven't turned out the lights on the Wingsters. They could do it. Team officials have been slow in paying their bill, is what we're told.

"It's money from past electric bills, the rent's not too much compared to running the lights," said our well-placed source. "I think the cost runs about 40k a season."

Baseball is just around the corner. Fans are leaving basketball behind as the sounds of balls hitting a new glove and bats slapping grounders hits town. Again, there is the eternal hope for the Wings that this is the year they win it all. Serious practices are on the horizon, with young men strapping on their jock straps, running those funny socks up their pants and readying those crotch tuggings while taking batting practice. Sprints in the outfield grass, chew in their mouths, perspiration running down their backs. Every player is Mickey Mantle. Every manager is Casey Stengel.

It's a new season and everybody's undefeated. And who knows, maybe the league will bring some other pseudo-celebrity to hit a few. Last season, it was the steroid guy Jose Canseco swatting some at Harlingen Field for the Laredo squad. This year it could be doped-up Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds or maybe even Sammy Sosa. Whatever.

Just so the lights stay on. The city can't bankroll these guys. It can't blow-off delinquent light bills. It can't say it'll swallow the debt for the sake of supporting the minor-league Wings.

No, a town's fans expect their baseball club to field a good team, play hard, and pay its bills. That's winning baseball.

Now, exactly how much does the team owe in utility bills? That's the question its Honcho needs to answer before the Opening Day pitch is launched toward homeplate...

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[Editor's Note: We have asked Harlingen City Manager Carlos Yerena for an accounting of the RGV WhiteWings contract agreement, but have not received a reply. The team's dealings with the city are public record...]

The Suffering Blogger Who Loved Us...He Needs Us Badly, What With His Failing, Racist Blog Now On Fumes...Get Offa Me, Slimeball!...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor

HARLINGEN, Texas - This is the part of the story where the town nerd sidles up next to us in his own shy way, looking for acceptance, for credibility, for any scrap of something or another he can use to say he's a member of the band. If only.

We have left him wallow in his nothingness for weeks and weeks, but Tony Chapa, shown in photo at right, can't resist mentioning this blog at every turn, as if it brings him some positive shine or some sense of being good at something. He can't write, he can't spell, he can't stay up with us, or with any other area blog. If looked at in that way, all would say he is the poster child for Vato jealousy. But, then, we've also heard he pees sitting down, so what's a little I-Wanna-Be-Great for a man who can't be what he just freakin' can't be?

He claims we make up comments, and then he sees our commenters set him straight.

He claims we're not in town, when he full well knows we've never been there. We are where we want to be; he, in turn, must be imprisoned to that decaying house on Hickory street he calls home, there with his cats and the children he babysits while his poor wife heads for work. This is our competition? Hah!

He agonizes over the fact that I use a pseudonym, as if his agony could ever spur me to do what he'd want me to do. The physically-eccentric Chapa is delusional, clearly suffering from a world class case of Penis Envy, which is made even wilder by the fact that he allows a blogger on his site who has written about having Tony and his wife naked in the backseat of his car. Outrageous, but perhaps Chapa knows he cannot stand up to that other moron. Readers know that Chapa has been called out in public and has responded by putting his little hands in his little pockets and lowering his little head to the floor. Some competition. He's more like a guy applying to be my valet.

But he persists. He simply cannot stand to see The Tribune doing better than his press-release addicted blog. Boredom, anyone? Any Journalist will tell you that newspapers get hundreds of press releases a day. They get a looksee, yes, but the larger percentage of them get tossed into File 13 - the trash can. Still, Chapa breathlessly posts every press release he solicits, calls it a story and acts as if he wrote it. Who knows where this Homo Sapien was educated, but we suspect it wasn't in this country. Indeed, many have questioned whether he is a U.S. citizen, yet Chapa never responds, so we're left to conclude that, well, he isn't.

We thought about ignoring him, as have a tremendous number of people who used to visit his website. Now, everybody goes there to see if Chapa has libeled them. No other damned reason. His best days are gone and it sure would be cool to see Chapa install a counter on the front page of his MyHarlingenNews.com., cause we just know that if he gets 10 readers, well, that's probably about nine too many. He won't do it. It'll out him even more. Those other hundred "hits" he claims? It's him, logging-on over and over and over and over. His life is that of a bug in a jar, climbing walls and wondering about what else may be out there. Loser, yes. Big Time loser.

And we have asked ourselves: Is this guy sane? We wonder. His childish ways and constant rages against anyone who tells him he sucks is a clear indication that perhaps he may need help. Is he kicking the house cat? Abusing his hard-working wife? Someone should check. This could be a man in serious need of attention.

We laugh when we see him called a dwarf. But he's a short man, with stumpy hands and little pants some have said he buys in the children's department of Sears. Who knows? Maybe Jake can post a comment about what Tony looks like in the nude. Not that we care to see that, but it could explain his all-too-common efforts to get close to this blog. Needy people have great needs science has yet to account for, like a desire to be accepted when you know you're not good enough. That's Chapa right there - a mini-brain acting tough.

It's Sunday, and we have better things to do. We'll leave things there, mainly because we know our efforts to rid ourselves of this slimeball is never-ending. Pobre Tony, it is said in his barrio neighborhood, dejaron al chaparro sin cojones.

He'll keep throwing his little punches, fully thinking it is getting him somewhere.

The trouble is most readers know him as boring, as a whiner, a hater, a racist and a clown. For some damned reason, he also believes we need to be in his life. That's a pisser for us. We'd rather the bouncer keep this little ball of smegma off our backs. We're used to better company...

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Pain In Japan: As Earthquake Ravages The Land Of The Rising Sun, We Let Down One Of Our Trusted Allies...Aid Slow In Funneling Across The Pacific...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor

McALLEN, Texas - There was a story in the local newspaper here about the radiation leaking from the earthquake-damaged nuclear plants in Japan that told of little - if any- possibility that the Rio Grande Valley would be affected by the dangerous fallout. It was a silly story, really nothing more than a laughable effort to localize a big story. Smalltown newspapers do that from time to time. In this case, experts have said the Japan problem will have neglible effect on this country.

But there is another aspect of this tragedy that grabs us a little deeper this morning: Why have Americans not opened their wallets to help an economic and trusted ally?

Reports say U.S. contributions to relief efforts have been woeful, much, much less than went to, for example, Haiti when it was leveled by its own quake. American Red Cross Officials say they have been perplexed and saddened by the lack of response, some even noting that perhaps Americans believe Japan is a wealthy, developed country that can handle its own catastrophe.

That may be so, but there is something wrong here.

We need Japan to remain strong in that part of the world, what with the crazy North Koreans and the distrustful Chinese next door. America needs to show Japan that it cares. What we've seen is the same uncaring, slow response we exhibited during the Bush Administration's cold handling of the Hurricane Katrina mess that crippled New Orleans. America is better than this.

We know our history, however. And we know that many Americans still harbor anger from Japan's alliance to Nazi Germany and Italy during World War II. Many Americans died when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. That's fine. But time has passed and Japan now stands as one of America's most staunch allies. It sent soldiers to Iraq when we invaded Saddam Hussein's country and it often responds vigorously to disasters such as the one that has killed thousands of its citizens in this case. I remember seeing Japanese rescue teams in Mexico City, when I, writing for The Houston Post, covered that city's massive 1985 earthquake that killed an untold number of people.

There has been nothing from Japan to indicate that we should not be helpful, that we should not be benevolent during its time of need. There are many other countries we help - and have helped - for many, many years whose allegiance to us is questionable. Japan has been there.

I, for one, believe that every dollar we offer Japan as our way of telling them we feel their pain is a dollar better spent than, say, sending it to corrupt Mexico or ungrateful Israel or two-faced Pakistan.

It's in how we treat our friends that our reputation is made.

Japan is suffering, and we're simply looking away...

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In Brownsville, The Anglo Not Seeking Political Office...One Indian?...So-So Mexicans...City Sinks In 33 RPM...

By RICARDO KLEMENT
Special to The Tribune

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - It's been eons since the days of Mayor Ruben Edelstein, the last non-Hispanic to hold that office, and that was - what? - 30 years ago, back during the Urban Cowboy craze. Yep, it's been one sad going-nowhere corrido after another ever since then, this city sashaying from the days of Mayor Emilio Hernandez, the used car dealer who beat Edelstein out of the job, to current Mayor Pat Ahumada, the anti-Border Wall crowd's crusader and a man well-known to city cops.

Now comes the May election.

Drive into this falling bordertown with Los Tigres Del Norte blaring out of your car dash's radio, lower the electric window and get a whiff of boredom. Nothing is happening here. The noise you hear is the death rattle of a dusty town oblivious to good government, ideas of a bright future and something - anything! - to crow about. Harlingen, not that much better, is giddy this morning as some sort of celebration takes place ahead of the arrival of retail giant Bass Pro Shops. The store is famous for its wide selection of poles and hooks, so, yeah, you can feed a man for one day if you hand him a fish, but he can feed himself forever if he learns to fish. Ja ja ja. Guns also fit the geography. Guns and roses, baby. Gotta off my wife's lover or put down my movida's husband.

But Brownsville. Ah, Brownsville. It'll break your Chicano heart.

What the election promises is nobody's guess. Everybody knows it promises nothing. And, worse than that, there's a good chance that Mayor Ahumada will win again. The rest of the candidates may as well be that stereotypical pachuco, eh, meester cast of characters in a black & white Pancho Villa movie.

Here's the list:

1.) Candidates for Mayor: Michael A. Garza, Edward C. Camarillo, Evaristo Cardenas, Tony Martinez and incumbent Patricio "Pat" M. Ahumada Jr. (shown wearing vaquero hat in photo below)

2.) The candidates for the At-Large A seat: Leticia Simone Perez Garzoria, Robert L. Lopez, Martin Sarkis and Estela Chavez Vasquez.

3.) Candidates for the District 1 seat: Ricardo Longoria Jr. and Roman Perez.

4.) The candidates for the District 4 seat: Pankaj Patel, John L. Villarreal and Anthony N. Zavaleta.

Perhaps Brownsville, unlike McAllen to the west, does not get the influx of newcomers, professional newcomers, we mean - new residents who would bring new ideas and no "vatos del barrio" hangers-on. Maybe everybody across the nation knows Brownsville is the pits, the state's last-known outpost, the Rio Grande Valley's lower colon.

We try, but, dang it, we just don't ever see progress in this socio-ragged town, and we certainly do not see any of these candidate being up to the job...

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On A Kori Marra Resignation: No Ouster Movement In The Works At City Hall...But There Was That Contribution Last Fall...

"I have checked into those (allegations) and will respond to the Texas Ethics Commission. My paperwork and finance reports have been filed..." - Harlingen City Commissioner Kori Marra 

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor

HARLINGEN, Texas - There was an empty chair at City Hall last night. Again, as has happened more than a few times, City Commissioner Kori Marra failed to show for her elected duties. On a day when some in town called for her resignation following the lodging of ethics violations charges against her by the Cameron County District Attorney's Office, Ms. Marra opted to absent herself for the regularly scheduled meeting of the commission.

No one is venturing a guess as to why she did not arrive. Local political gadflies are nonetheless chomping at the bit, issuing wild info and pronouncements that suit their needs, but do little for availing the city even a semblance of meaningful information.

That surprising decision by the commissioner, short of it being related to a serious health problem, will not sit well with her stunned constituents in District 3, or with the community at large. Marra is not saying much, choosing to speak in short, crisp responses that offer no clue as to her mindset or her political plans. Will she resign, or will she merely lock-in and set sail a battle plan?

Nothing at City Hall indicates a movement by her fellow commissioners to ask her to bow out.

And even as she holes-up, Marra also wears the weight of a complaint filed against her related to problems with her campaign finance report filings. That one is being reviewed by the state agency overseeing compliance by elected officials seeking to retain their office and those who wish to unseat them.

Left for all to wonder is why Ms. Marra, co-owner of a local real estate outfit, remains silent in the face of an avalanche of problems, calls for information and a general desire by residents to hear her say anything meaningful about her public service or intentions. She is up for re-election next year, although no decision has come from her about plans to seek her office one more time or whether she will simply fold her cards and bid adieu

"I'm sure you read today's Valley Morning Star ethics issue with Kori not filing some 5 required campaign finance reports," said a well-placed source at City Hall. "Including this last report, where she took $600 from a McAllen based PAC headed up by another ReMax operator from the McAllen area - a person who just happened to be seeking money from the Harlingen EDC (Economic Development Corporation)."

And it really wasn't the contribution that led to her problems; it was, as was put to us: "...just the money she didn't report on her campaign report." Collectively, it all smells. Commissioner Marra's close-to-the-vest style of politics bodes badly for her constituents and for the city as a whole. What it does, said one wag, is put images of total mistrust on the minds of the voters.

But that, too, is politics. Some politicians hurry and release all pertinent data to do with a congtroversy, while others go ostrich and bury their heads in the sand, thinking that perhaps to not hear the noise is to not acknowledge it. Maybe that's what Marra is contemplating, although who knows?

Our insider would not venture a reply about the possibility of a Marra resignation, but what he said was this: "Regardless, she has been turned in for not reporting it with the Texas Ethics Commission, as was reported in today's paper..."

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[Editor's Note: In receiving the $600 contribution from TREPAC last fall, Marra was joined in the hand-out by Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell, who also got $600, and Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos who received $1,000 from the real estate PAC...]