By ELIOT ELCOMEDOR
Staff Writer
HARLINGEN, Texas - All was fine until that recent morning, when Jerry Deal posted something Tony Chapa interpreted as being an attack and, well, there went peace & quiet in a town already enjoying the maximum dosage of anti-depressants. And so in the days and weeks that have followed that Deal salvo and a to-be-expected Chapa nuclear response, what this community has seen is the birth of alternative news media mirroring exactly what's wrong with this country. Both have taken sides.
Lost, then, is the chance to band and gang up on city politics so in need of a spanking that the local hardware has placed an order for 74,000 paddles. Here, the town that God forgot, it is not uncommon to walk-up on someone just looking to be paddled. Faces come at you like needy people leaving the tail-end of the government's last free-cheese event. The fear has turned to hate.
Jerry Deal operates MyLeaderNews.com, a pro-business, pro-baseball, pro-Old Guard, pro-Valley Morning Star website. Mssr. Chapa's My HarlingenNews.com, generally takes the opposite approach on most things Mssr. Deal spews, except for the baseball. The two are huge fans of the hometown - and mediocre - Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings. That's where the unity ends, however.
Lately, both have been sniping at each other, setting aside the mission they had in mind when launching their Internet sites, namely, doing right by Harlingen, bringing wrongdoing to the fore, demanding accountability from city leaders. Mssr. Chapa has not strayed from that mindset. His longtime friend, however, silenced his guns as they apply to several members of the Harlingen City Commission, mainly ghost-like Mayor Chris Boswell and controversial Commissioner Kori Marra. In Deal's eyes, these two can do little wrong. For Chapa, Boswell and Marra are the very models of what keeps the city down. He lashes them daily and, by mid-afternoon, Mssr. Deal posts his counterpunch.
In the end, they help no one.
The lingering result is that Harlingen remains paralyzed, the one-string puppet of a handful of its elected officials. Recent statistical data to do with growth has not been kind to Harlingen. It is on a freefall out of the Rio Grande Valley's Top 10 cities, where once it claimed the Number 3 slot - behind McAllen out west and Brownsville downrange.
The coming week again brings an opportunity for claiming the city sledgehammer. A myriad of issues swirl over, through and around this community - any of which can further cripple the city's reputation. "We are beyond being the laughingstock of the Valley," said a resident getting a haircut at a downtown barbershop. "We are now the Fallujah of Texas, the Da Nang, the New Matamoros. Look at us. Everyone of us is wearing the look of despair. Will our politicians save us from ridicule? No. It'll take Batman to do that..."
At their smoking keyboards, Tony Chapa and Jerry Deal stay with the ceaseless personal bombings, each seemingly hellbent on destroying the other, both oblivious to the larger task at hand...
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7 comments:
Jerry Deal, is a Marra defender, he isn't man enough to admitted. He hides his support toward her with the so call journalistic ethics.
Jerry, why aren't you MAN enough to admitted. Real man stand their ground they don't hide behind women skirts.
MARIA LUISA:...My feelings is Jerry Deal is a fair Blogger. However, he sees holes in Tony Chapa's postings and so he replies. Tony is firmly believing that he is in the right. The sniping between them, however, detracts from the message... - Editor
From Jerry Deal
A few errors in the article. I certainly amnot pro-Old Guard and was critical of those considered OG long before Tony Chapa came upon the scene with his blog. I am talking about back to the 1990s.
In response to a recent question by this site, I said I considered Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell as a bad person.
I also am not pro-Valley Morning Star and believe it has become a very poor excuse for a daily newspaper -- and that goes for the Brownsville Herald too.
And, if telling it like it is means there are those who believe I am defending Kori Marra that is their problem.
Jerry Deal:...Your points are taken, sir. But we make our assessment solely on what we see posted on your Blog - MyLeaderNews.com. The Old guard in Town is the same Old Guard you knew at an earlier time. The Valley Morning Star is a newspaper you ballyhoo from time-to-time (the article on Bass Pro Shop). As for supporting Commissioner Kori Marra, that is unquestionably there. We back your Blog, as we back most RGV Blogs, but saying the problem lies with those who believe you "are defending Kori Marra," well, that won't fly. A media outlet stands and falls largely on perception by the public that it is - or isn't - fair. When you simply side by someone or some issue, you cross the line into Advocacy Journalism. Don't take this personally, but we're still waiting on your first word critical of Mayor Chris Boswell or Commissioner Marra. We believe that would go a long way toward silencing your critics... - Editor
Jerry Deal, is not going to write anything critical about his friends, he knows it, we know it and everyone who the blogs know it.
He is a Boswell and Marra supporter. She/He probably put him up to discreting Commish Jerry Prep.
They are old guard, they do stuff like this.
The only comments that appear on myleadernews are about Chapa's Blog. No one blogs on myleadernews, well execpt Jerry Deal.
Commissioner Marra, only speaks on Jerry Deals Blog, as the saying goes, birds of a feather stick together.
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