Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 12, 1972 Page: 1 of 16

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Vol. XXXI No. 41 Thursday, October 12, 1072
Rio Cirande City, Texas
RIO GRANDE
i
f
a
yo
tell it
like it
is
RAUL TKEJO
HERALD MANAGING
EDITOR
County Judge Dr. Mario Ramirez gave nev.lv ap-
pointed Probation Officer Eliseo Mirelez what he said
was merely what he expected out of Mirelez and was
not trying to reprimand.
In our opinion it was the closest thing to one and
well deserved. Mirelez who got the appointment after
another young local boy had been considered and then
ditched has done little at the new position.
Mirelez was told by County Judge Ramirez that he
(the judge) was going to keep very close watch on Mi-
relez and the work produced by the office.
The whole affair surrounding Mirelez' appointment
to the post leaves alot to be desired as far as letting
other people apply for the position. But Mirelez left
his job with the school and landed his present position
only days after his resignation was accepted. Brings
back memories about the pharmacist who closed her
pharmacy an ! landed a 10 thoudand dollar job with OEO
the next Monday morning.
Judge Ramirez was a little disappointed that he was
not consulted about the appointment by the district
judge. Mirelez must also deal with persons placed on
probation by the county judge and he should have been
at least asked for his opinion on the appointment.
We have nothing against the man but we feel that
when such a position becomes available it should at
least be made public so that others may have an equal
opportunity to apply for the position.
* * *
Commissioner Amando Pena really has a lot to
learn about representing and keeping the good of the
people in mind.
At the meeting Tuesday morning the bridge manager
passed a recommendation that the court set a max-
imum weight limit on the bridge of 60 thousand pounds.
In his usual brilliance Pena wanted a 72 thousand
pound load limit.
When the bride was built back in 1928 or so the max-
imum limit was 60 thousand pounds. That does not
mean that the bride can still hold that much weight.
Bridge Manager Ernesto Trevino is worried be-
cause the bridge is weak and should the bridge col-
lapse the county would be out of the bread and butter
funds that it provides.
Trevino is also rightfully worried because trailers
coming across the bridge are crossing it with 80 and
90 thousand pound loads.
One of these days .... bang .... Pena may have
another way of providing the county with the funds to
transfer into the salary fund should the bridge go . . •
we don't know
*******
Jorge M. Villarreal, a local boy, has been appointed
as the Regional Ballot Security Officer for the GOP.
Actually Villarreal won't have much to worry about
we understand from a Houston source that some 25
U.S. Justice Department personnel will be in Starr
County to watch the election.
********
Longoria is running for the commissioner's post
from precinct three again. Longoria will be seeking the
position in a write-in effort.
Longoria was defeated by Grulla Mayor Hector Lo-
zano, but only after Longoria took the election to court
after being declared the loser by some 50 ballots.
*********
We have received plenty of help from many local
history bugs in our effort to publish a Happy Birthday
issue later in the month.
Some 52 pages will commemorate the 150th founding
of Rio Grande City.
*********
The Rattlers host Monterrey Nuevo Leon in what
See TELL, Page 2
Judge warns Probation Officer
Commissioners discuss
redisricting suit...
The Starr County Commis-
sioners Court meeting in their
regular monthly meeting dis-
cussed everything from short-
age of finances to a re-dis-
tricting suit pending in federal
court.
The County Judge Mario E.
Ramirez opened the meeting
with a report from the County
Auditor E.G. Gonzalez. Gonza-
lez told the court that present-
ly the county has a total finan-
cial status of $478,945.24.
The court then heard reports
from the county road superin-
tendent and from the bridge
manager. The bridge manager
pointed out that the bridge had
made a profit again this month.
He reported that the bridge
showed a profit of $1,838.13.
Bridge manager Ernesto Tre-
vino also asked the court to set
a load limit on the bridge be-
cause some of the commercial
users of the bridge were abus-
ing the bride. He said that the
bridge has a load limit of 60,000
pounds but that the majority of
the trailers come across with
over 70 and 80 thousand pounds.
Commissioner Amando Pena
argued that the load limit be
set at 72 thousand but Trevino
Redisricting
hearing
Monday 2 p.m.
Both sides of the suit will be
appearing before U.S. Federal
District Judge Reynaldo Garza
when he holds a hearing on a
suit filed against the Starr
County Commissioners Court
by Rafael Carrera of Rio Gran-
de City.
The hearing will be held at
2 p.m. on October 16 or next
Monday afternoon.
The suit was filed by Carrera
seeking Declaratory and Injuct-
ive Relief in redisricting the
county precincts into what Car-
rera contends will evenly di-
vide the voters evenly among
the four commissioners.
iill!3lli=]il01
This year Rio Grande
City will be 150 years old
. . . The Herald will pub-
lish a special issue com-
memorating the founding of
Rio Grande City in a forty
plus page issue on October
26.
We need old pictures of
historical interest to pub-
lish in this issue along with
stories from newspapers of
that era or general news
copy on Rio Grande City.
The material will be han-
dled with care and will be
returned to its proper own-
er within days after publi-
cation.
If you have such material
and would like to cooperate
in making this a great is-
sue of Rio Grande City's
oldest newspaper give us a
call at 487-2819 starting
today . . .
urged the court to approve
60,000 maximum because of the
danger of the bridge giving way
under the Pena proposed load
limit.
The court on a motion ty Com-
mission Reynaldo Alaniz voted
to accept the recommendation
by Trevino and set load limits
at 60,000.
The court was then informed
of a ruling placing the commis-
sioners in the wrong when they
chose Alex Gabert to represent
them in the federal suit involv-
ing redistricting of the county.
County Judge Ramirez told the
court that Johnny Pope III was
the legal representative for the
county and that his election as
county attorney bound the coun-
ty to be represented by the
County Attorney.
Commissioner J.M. Longoria
express concern whether Pope
was or would represent the
county properly. He contended
that the county should hire an-
other attorney.
County Judge Ramirez told
Longoria that Pope had under
his orders answered the suit
which is set for hearing Mon-
day October 16.
Alex Gabert, County-Attorney
Elect said that he would be glad
to work with Pope but would
also recommend the hiring of a
Mrs. Cisneros since she had
represented Willacy County in
a similar situation.
After much discussion Ram-
irez told the court to wait and
see what transpired next Mon-
day in Brownsville and go from
there.
The court agreed.
In other business the county
commissioner heard reports
from two representatives of the
South Texas Development
Counc'l. The two representa-
tives got court approval to seek
funds for planning new storm
drainage and funds for a new
jail in Starr County, (see story
on funds in this issue)
Before closing the meeting
County Judge Ramirez warned
the new 229th District Court
Probation Officer Eliseo Mir-
elez that he was going to ex-
pect work out of the new offi-
cer.
"This is not a reprimand but
I can assure you that I will be
expecting you to produce work
from you, that you will make a
report to me of everything you
have done for that week," Ram-
irez said.
"I have heard many com-
plaints that there is very little
work being done by your office
and that your work should keep
you out in the field most of the
time and that you should be con-
tacting those people on proba-
tion," Ramirez said.
'T realize your new at this
but we worked hard to acquire
this position and I am going
to make sure that you execute
your duties properly," Ram-
irez said.
After approving bills to be
paid the court adjourned.
Starr will receive
30,100 for jail
AUSTIN — Because of a low
tax base South Texas criminal
justice agencies often compete
with other local agencies and
with each other for available
local funds, says the South Tex-
as Development Council's up-
dated criminal justice plan.
The document, "Criminal
Justice Plan, 1973-1977," has
just been received by Governor
Preston Smith's Criminal Jus-
tice Council.
It proposes 31 law enforce-
ment improvement projects for
1973, with need for $847,432 in
federal and state assistance
from CJC.
The regional council itself
will be applicant for the project
of primary emphasis, to up-
grade the regional communica-
tions and information systems,
for which a need for $149,054
in CJC funds is seen.
Bulk of the projects and the
funding is planned for STDC.
Twelve projects are projected
for the area, with funding need
put at $455,889.
Eleven projects with expected
need of $282,843, in funding
assistance are planned for Webb
County and the City of Laredo,
Starr County three for $30,100,
Jim Hogg County two for
$23,600, 49th Judicial District
two for $48,000 and 229th Ju-
dicial District one for $7,000.
Projects chosen for major
emphasis besides the commun-
ications project, listed in or-
der, are:
STDC — law enforcement of-
ficer training, $13,000; part-
time law enforcement jobs for
law enforcement students,
$63,360; foot patrol unit,
$53,500
Webb County — architectural
plans for addition to county iail
$14,493.
Starr County — architectural
plans for addition to county jail
$2,600.
Jim Hogg County — architec-
tural and engineering plans for
addition to county jail, $2,600.
Webb County — construct
addition to county jail, $119,350
Starr County — construct im-
provements to county jail,
$21,000.
CJC expects to receive a block
action grant of $29,161,000 from
the Law Enforcement Assist-
ance Administration, U.S. De-
partment of Justice, for fiscal
1973.
In addition it will have avail-
able some three million dollars
from the state's criminal jus-
tice planning fund, which comes
from a court-cost levy in crim-
inal cases imposed by the 62nd
Legislature.
These funds must be appor-
tioned among local governments
in all the state's 24 planning re-
gions. The amount to be avail-
able for the region served by
STDC depends on the urgency
and validity of applications.