Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 16, 1972 Page: 1 of 32

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RIO GRANDE
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Vol. XXXI No. 45 Thursday, November 16, 1972
Rio Grande City, Texas
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Cowan given 2
year contract
Commissioners will meet
on re-districting of county...
The Rio Grande City School
Board of Trustees awarded Su-
perintendent S. P. Cowan a sur-
prise two year contract despite
negative votes by two board
members.
The school board in
their regular monthly meeting
opened the meeting and then
went Into executive session.
The session lasted some two
hours.
After the board came back into
open session they approved the
tax rolls. Tax-Assessor O.A.
Garza gave the board the high-
lights of the tax-rolls. They
were that In 1971 there was a tax
valuation of $43,175.70, and 1972
the total valuation were $44,-
247.90. That is an increase of
$1,068.20. In tax money that's
$19,224.36. That means for the
maintenance tax there is $16,-
020.30. For the bond tax there
is $3,404.00.
The increase came from local
real estate with an Increase of
$668,440.00. The oil Increase
there was $399,580.00.
The total levied there
was a total Increase for
1972, of $796,447.62. Locals
there were $261,150.66 which
represents 32.7894 percent and
for the oil companies the in-
crease was $535,296.96 which
represents 67.2106 per cent.
The Rio Grande City Jaycees
were given the fencing along U.
S. Highway 83. The fence is
to be replaced with a new and
required hurricane fence.
The Jaycees will use the fenc-
ing for community projects.
The board members present
were Dr. Ramiro Narro. Dr.
Roberto Margo, Alex Gabert,
Dr. Nene Garza, Raul Guerrero
see COWAN page 12
Hospital meeting at
courtroom tonight..
The Starr County Hospital
Committee meeting In a special
meeting agreed to hold a joint
meeting with members of the
Starr County Water District
Board of Directors, Members
of the Starr County Commis-
sioners Court and members of
the Rio Grande City School
Board.
The meeting will be held to-
night (Thursday) at 8 p.m. in
the district courtroom at the
Starr County Courthouse.
The special meeting Satur-
day for the hospital committee
was attended by J.O. Moss, R.
T. Margo, Dr. Mario E. Ram-
irez, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond
Rochester, Mr. and Mrs. Fran-
Pre-Xmas
Sale starts
Today...
The Starr Plaza Shopping
Center Is having a great pre-
Chrlstmas sale this Thursday,
Friday and Saturday.
The pre-Christmas sale is
sponsored to provide the local
buyers with some extra special
specials for the Christmas Sea-
son.
Starr Plaza Shopping Center
merchants have gone out of their
way to bring to the area some
low, low prices.
Stores participating in the
pre- Christmas sale are Anth-
ony, Aaronson Brothers, Fam-
ily Shoe Store, Rattler's Den,
Starr Val-U-Mart, Plaza Fab-
rics, Winns Store, Ramirez
Gift Shop, Le Baron, Mam-
selle's and Boutique Juvenile.
cisco Garza, Richard Ceballos,
Mrs. Boone LaGrange, County
Commissioner Hector Lozano,
See HOSPITAL, Page 21
The Starr County Commis-
sioners Court agreed to hold a
re-dlstricting meeting, ap-
proved the canvassing of the
election, and approved some
$32,000.00 in past due bills in
their regular monthly session.
Present for the meeting were
Commissioners E.A, Duran, J.
M. Longorla and Reynaldo(Mo-
reno) Alaniz. Presiding In the
meeting was County Judge Ma-
rio E. Ramirez.
The court first heard a re-
port on the canvassing of the
election.
The court then heard a re-
port from the County Auditor E.
G. Gonzalez which showed that
the county has $64,196.00 plus
some $270,000.00 in taxes.
The court raised the election
clerk's pay from $1.25 per hour
to $1.60 per hour. Gonzalezre-
commended that a $2.00 per
hour be set. The two-dollars
an hour is the maximum al-
lowed by the Texas Election
Code.
The court approved some
$32,000.00 in past due accounts
prior to 1970. They also ap-
proved $75.00 in travel expense
for a nurse hired by the state
but for which the county has
agreed to share in her expen-
ses. The new nurse is Mrs.
Dorthy Nixon.
Commissioners also ap-
proved the purchase of cleri^
cal supply with the following
breakdown; County Treasure^
$203.00; District Clerk ,$487.
00; District Attorney $20.00,
County Clerk, $1,200.00; Sher-
iff ,$36.00* Precinct One $65,
000- County Attorney, $18.00;
Water Masters Office , $5.50*
NYC ,$29,00; County Agents,
$21.00; Welfare Gffice; $132.00;
for a total of cash purchases
of $2,273.00,
County Road Superintendent
Roberto Pena presented the
county commission with a re-
port on all the work done during
the last thirty days. They also
heard a report from the Starr
County Bridge Manager Arturo
Trevino. Trevino told the court
that the bridge had shown an in-
crease this past thirty days but
told the court to remember that
this is always a slow thirty
days. He also pointed out to the
court several needed repairs
around the bridge property.
Euladio Carrera spoke to the
court and introduced the new
airport manager, Weldon Roby
from Sweetwater. Roby will take
over the operation of the air-
port providing rental services,
spraying services and emer-
gency evacuations. (See separ-
ate story on Roby).
Roby will operate the airport
at no cost to the county. Roby
operates his own spraying ser-
vice.
County Fire Chief J.D. Vi-
Uarreal Sr. gave a report on the
need for an increase in salary
for the county employees that
stay at the fire station during
the night. Villarreal told the
court that the Increase was
needed because it was difficult
to find anyone to stay the night
for $5.00 a night.
The county commissioners
agreed to postpone the fire-
man's matter.
County Commissioner J. M.
Longoria introduced a resolu-
tion which asked the court to
approve an exception to the re-
districting plan. Longoria asked
that the Justice of the Peace
from Precinct Three not be re-
districted because the JP only
served people and did not re-
present them.
The motion was rejected af-
ter it was pointed out that noth-
ing can stand in the way of pre-
senting the U.S. Federal Court
a plan for re-districting of the
county's voting population. Dr.
Ramirez told Longoria that he
saw no reason for making any
exception since the U.S. Feder-
al District Judge was the one
that would make the decisions
on the re-districting.
While on the subject of re-
dlstricting the county commis-
sion heard a report from Alex
Gabert who pointed out that he
see COURT page 21
The County Doctor ...had a dream...
EDITOR'S NOTE-—For many
years there has been an effort
to change the image of Starr
County. Since this editor came
to this area we have seen many
men make honest efforts to
clean up this county and to
change the image that has been
associated withStarr County for
many years. We feel that al-
though we must print the good
and the bad that we must first
clean up or make an honest ef-
fort to clean up our image by
cleaning up our blemishes.
Starting with this article the
Herald hopes to present differ-
ent views from different people
that have contributed greatly
towards the "better image" in
the county. The presidents vis-
it, the new shopping center, the
new mulU-p'jtrposo center, and
the many, ntauy other projects
that have been undertaken have
given the county a iease on life
and a step towards a better im-
age. We must however, continue
to point out things that we feel
need correcting. This interview
is one that Is well deserved
and we feel is the first step to-
wards bringing out those people
that have contributed towards
the hetterment of this county.
The article Is to be published
In the Houston Chronicle who
are the authors. Editor Jack
Rickman of Texas magazine
have given us special permis-
sion to open our series with
this article. The article with
the accompanying photos will
be published in this next Sun-
day's newspaper. The article is
entitled . . . "The Country Doc-
tor ... . had a dream" ....
Ironically, the Chronicle, years
ago did a series which is well
remembered by local residents
and it was entitled "Sordid
Star—County in Chains". The
fact that they have come back
to write this article is clear in-
dication that the image is chan-
ging. raul trejo.
«
The doctor, dressed In surgi-
cal greens, the fatigue of a 15-
hour day etched in his eyes,
slumped on the floor of the
small cubicle adjoining his tiny
operating room and sipped at a
cup of hot coffee.
An orderly appeared In the
doorway. "There is a boy from
the junior high here for a phy-
sical, doctor. Shall I send him
away?"
The doctor shook his head.
"I will see him, after surgery."
The orderly looked at the
clock on the wall, which said it
was 10 p.m., and his tone was
apologetic. "There Is a wom-
an, too, doctor. She says her
foot hurts her."
The doctor nodded. "I will
see her, too," he said.
Dr. Mario Ramirez does not
turn away a patient, no matter
the hour. He Is a member of
a dwindling band of practition-
ers, the country doctor who
still makes house calls. In Ro-
ma, on the Rio Grande, where
Dr. Ramirez makes his home,
that may entail a dash through
the mesquite and cactus to the
shotgun shanty of a migrant
farm worker, or a 60-mile drive
to the home of an affluent ran-
cher.
"I do not make more than six
or seven a week these days,
however," said Dr. Ramirez.
* 'The hospital is very well known
among the people, now, and they
come here, if at all possible.
"That is best, for I can see
20 patients here in the time I
have used getting to one person
in the past. Still, I go if some-
one calls me."
The hospital is the Manuel
Ramirez Memorial Hospital on
Roma's dusty town square, a
personal effort that has him
$200,000 in debt, but also a fa-
cility that may earn Mario Ram-
irez a page in the history of
Texas medicine as the man who
brought the miracle of modern
medical science to one of the
most Impoverished areas in
Texas, Starr County.
The average family income of
70 per cent of Starr County's
17,000 population is $2400 an-
nually. The other 30 per cent
earns less, for they are the mi-
grants who wander the land, fol-
lowing the crops in season. But
they always return.
"Their roots are here," says
Dr. Ramirez. "So are mine. My
family has been here for over
200 years. A part of this hospi-
tal was once a store operated
by an uncle."
Mario Ramirez is the first
doctor In Roma's history. His
hospital is the only one between
Laredo and Mission, 146 miles
apart. The hospital is named
after Ramirez* grandfather, who
financed Ramirez* medical edu-
cation.
But the medical saga being
written in Starr County - and
involving other doctors besides
Ramirez - owes its existence
to the death of a younger broth-
er while Mario Ramirez was
still a child. The boy became
ill, worsened rapidly, and died
soon after reaching a hospital
in a distant town. The cause of
death was osteomyelitis and
septicemia, but the diagnosis
was post-mortem.
"He died because there was
no doctor to make a diagnosis
at the time he became ill, and
no medical facilities were a-
vailable for treatment," Dr.
Ramirez says.
There were others who died
for lack of proper medical at-
tention. "The people of this ar-
ea are peculiar, in some ways,"
says Dr. Ramirez.
"Most of them, whentheybe-
come ill, will not go to Laredo
or Mission. They either have no
funds or means to get there, or
the thought of leaving home is
too frightening."
The young people who left
Starr County for college or pro-
fessional training rarely re-
turned.
Mario Ramirez did. He at-
tended premedlcal school at
Texas University, took his me-
(See DOCTOR page 21)
See Santa Claus...Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Starr
Plaza Shopping Center