Staff Writer
HARLINGEN, Texas - So, how far can you throw your voice in the middle of a brawl? Here, in this sleepy town of some 74,000 denizens suddenly starved for good news, that harsh voice you hear exploding into the streets is the voice of anger-on-a-rope. The anger won't die-down; the rope won't still itself. Now, who's listening?
Some say Bloggers Tony Chapa of MyHarlingenNews.com and Jerry Deal of MyLeaderNews.com merely live to post a fighting story and then live to fight another day. With few exceptions, they get little feedback from the targets of their ire, namely the indifferent mayor, the ambivalent police chief and a handful of other local celebrities. Questions of the day: Are the Bloggers making headway against the powers-that-be? Are they getting an ear at City Hall? Have they caused a few sleepless nights for the elected officials who run this town? Does the community care as much as the Bloggers?
From comments submitted to both sites, one would get the clear idea that, yes, Harlingen cares. Some Bloggers arrive to damn all public servants, while others to defend them. All of it is in the name of moving Harlingen into the future. And so Chapa moves through thick jungles of stubborn naysayers, cutting deadwood with machete-like precision as he navigates his Blog from one day to the next. Across town, Jerry Deal and his ranch hands do the same. There are days when these two "friends" lash at each other like Roman gladiators every chance they get. Competitive juices flow and what you get is more energy than you'd see in a half-dozen Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings ballgames.
But how do you gauge Blogging progress, or relevancy?
Is it by the number of site visitors? By the intelligence - or lack thereof - exhibited in the commentary? How do Tony Chapa and Jerry Deal know if what they are doing is worth the time & effort, the headaches, their friendship? It's a bitch of a DMZ they have fashioned for those moments when they get together and wonder about it all. Critics hound them. Politicians believing one or the other sides by them seek their aid when the need arises. Detractors whip them mercilessly. Supporters pull them up by their britches.
So, are they meaningful?
Yes, they are.
Whatever noise they are creating is good noise. Whatever criticism they aim at Police Chief Danny Castillo and Mayor Chris Boswell is good, if for no other reason that that Castillo and Boswell think they work for themselves and not all of Harlingen. Boswell's style is that of Casper The Ghost, a public servant rarely seen between meetings downtown. The police department head Castillo acts as if he answers only to one person - the City Manager who oversees his work - and not the citizenry that pays him. In its Era of Great Need, Boswell treats Harlingen with all the propriety of a coonhound. Castillo is said to ignore even his own shadow.
And so it goes for little Harlingen. Its once-lively community noise has not quite gone silent, for except when the local utility loses power, Bloggers Deal and Chapa take to the keyboard to play a little Heavy Metal symphony for the much-whipped town. Somewhere in the village, Boswell and Castillo pull their Nixon act out of some sense of feeling alive - slouching down hallways with their faces at their belt buckles, both knowing it won't be long before the avalanche swallows them whole...
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5 comments:
People want things to move in the city of Harlingen, we have been stagnant way too long.
I hear through the grapevine, there will be more letters to the editor, questioning the operations of the municipality.
One thing is for sure, the blogging won't stop.
MARIA LUISA:...And it shouldn't stop. Brownsville used to have the sort of Blogging Noise now seen in Harlingen. No more. Brownsville is now left to its own devices and it will keep sinking lower & lower. Harlingen's Bloggers are alive & kicking, unlike the last remaining saps in Brownsville... - Editor
What in the world is wrong with the police depts. here in the Valley??? The Brownsville police chief in problems, a Assit. police chief in San Benito, some cop in Pharr working with the Zetas, and now Jerry Deal Blog is saying some relative of a police officer in Harlingen might be getting of the hook, when a death was involved.
This people must thinkt they are above the law themselves.
Send them to the Psych. ward have them evaluated and then get rid of them.
These guys make good salaries compared to the market down here, and they still want more.
Where is the Moral outrage?? Just because they are cops that doesn't make them any better than ordinary citizens.
(unlike the last remaining saps in Brownsville... - Editor)
Damn, Pat. I have a stinking suspicion you accompanied Juan Jones on his trek to Las Prietas. And then both of you got your behinds kicked. Am I wrong? LOL!
ralphy
That's all we neede, Rey Burkingnans or whatever. There so many Gay - guys and Lesbians here in the Rancho Grande Valley, We are the second region in the U.S.A. with AIDS cases, The Key West in Florida is so Infested with all Those faggots and Now, for the last 13 years They had been coming and Moving to S.P.I. for their " New Heaven " for them; They all are Scapping their Cold weather regions from up North . The Gays can Not afford to get a Cold infection and catch Phenmonia. Many are even going across to Matamoros and to Reynosa , Tam. to get into Their
" Gay Clubs Orgies ".
> This Tex - Mex. is The New GOMORRHA and SOMORRHA... Sinners go Back !!!
So many B.I.S.D Kiddoes have a high incidence with A.I.D.S - Infection related cases, Kept out - in - Secret from the Media and Tv, News
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