"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death..." - Revelation, 6.8
By ELIOT ELCOMEDOR
Editor-In-Chief
HARLINGEN, Texas - The moment is burned in the minds of many residents here: two young men slumped-over in the front seats of a sporty Mustang, shot and killed in a downtown street. Another frame: The husband of a high-ranking Harlingen Police Department officer accused of molesting children at his karate club, and he's nowhere to be found.
And then came mental scenes involving the case of an HPD captain's niece accused of driving while intoxicated and allegedly running over the body of a young man. The portrait has yet to fill the imagery canvas, as the investigation presumably continues. The fourth frame centered its cloudy crosshairs on City Hall and its long, hot summer of discontent.
In cafes, bars, barbershops, clubs, sewing circles and public laundromats, all agree that it's been one Helluva ride for Harlingen - a Rio Grande Valley of Texas community caught in a killer vice, caught in a range coyote trap, caught in a headlock, caught and unable to get loose. Bad politics plays here like Little League baseball games play elsewhere - crowds behind the respective dugouts eager to get at the others' throats. It is no exaggeration to say this is very much the City-On-The-Spot, for what happens here from now until the end of the year will determine whether anyone inte region gives it a chance to succeed, or whether everyone elsewhere in the area will write-off Harlingen as the next Rio Hondo, a town seemingly unable to bridge from imagery of a falling town to something better.
Citizens here wonder why they get so little from their elected officials, why these public servants dash out on the campaign trail as if world-beaters and then shrink like violets on a scorcher of an afternoon. Issues have surfaced all summer, and, as yet, no elected official has charged out to face the music. No, it is as if Harlingen wants Brownsville or McAllen, its larger neighbors, to come take care of things. Pride, it seems to this observer, does not live in the heart of any member of the Harlingen City Commission. News flashes across the local geography and you're more likely to find the Bloggers after any and all information. The mayor serves as Casper The Ghost might serve. The five commissioners may as well be The Rolling Stones. They're gathering no moss, those five, doing nothing. They're elected officials, elected to do the people's will, yet they have largely melted under the summer sunball.
So, what becomes of Harlingen?
Who will answer the bell for the next few rounds? It'll take some bold commissioner, one willing to mix it up, to throw punches and take blows to the gut, to weather the leather-pusher onslaughts, to be standing when the final bell rings. Is anyone on the City Commisison even up such a task? Which one will show the courage? Which one will bleed for Harlingen in the hard, latter rounds, when the local economy launches its uppercuts, when local unemployment's jabs will feel as if telephone poles smashing into the faces their faces, when hooks to the kidneys drop them to their knees for a standing 8-count? Will it be Mayor Chris Boswell? Can Boswell take the three minutes of Hell Marvin Hagler handed Tommy "Hit Man" Hearns in boxing's craziest round of All-Time?
Will it be Commissioner Robert Leftwich? Can Leftwich land the shocker, or is he Ringo Bonavena, maybe Chuck Wepner, or Leon Spinks - a pretender?
Could it be Commissioner Kori Marra? Does she know the difference between a mouthpiece and a protector cup? Is she heady enough to offer worthy solutions to the city's many problems, or will she bob and weave in the first round, before taking a soft, marshmallow shot to the belly for that convenient dive. Is Commissioner Joey Trevino a player or a chump? What would he bring into the ring - anything? Same for easy-going Commissioner Jerry Prepejchal. When is the last time he got into a tussle of any sort? And Commissioner Gus Ruiz? Perhaps he's the dark-horse, the surprise late-entry into the fray, although we cannot remember the last time Ruiz said or did anything to bring attention to his public service.
Summer's about gone and an ugly mood still hangs over the city. Outside, dark & stormy clouds move in. Is it tears I see, or is it rain?...
- 30 -
2 comments:
Mr. Eliot Elcomelon.. You will make a great Leader for all these injustices. When i was a University student, Mr. Antonio Zavaleta in his last speech as a formal sociology class [ and him as a teacher] Said: " One as a Mexican - American, has to prove to the whole world that We are NOT INVISIBLES ... What we lack is True LEADERS, We have to pass THE RESISTANCE Torch to you, our New Leaders of this Millenium "....!!!
Good article Senor Eliot, very well said, you just have a way with words.
Your wordings slice through the hatred kept in Harlingen by anti-minorities, who think being white really matters.
It slices like a sharp knife on butter. And they hate to hear the truth.
Jerry Deal, is a has been, at the end of the day, he is going to support the status-quo.
As they say here in Santa Maria, Texas, (Pinche Viejo Mamom)
I know it is not very lady like, to say those words, but sometimes anger over takes my good senses.
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