Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 10, 1976 Page: 1 of 6
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TPA Award Winning Newspaper
RIO GRANDE
a
The Largest Paid
Circulation Going
In Starr County"
If*I YYYIU
W VI. AAAII
No. 34
Thursday, June 10, 1976
Ten Cents
Rio Grande City, Texas
Night Of May 31 Costly
Storm Damages Estimated
To Be Over $8 Million
f
RED CROSS WORKERS AT WORK - Joel Ramirez, case
worker, takes down application from Mrs. Lucio Fuentes, who,
along with hundreds of other property owners, suffered either flood
or wind damage at her home on Monday, May 31. Most of the
damage came from high winds, according to Reinette Cottingham,
Red Cross spokesperson.
Marinolejo Unseats
She riff In II id a Igo
Challenger Brig Marmolejo took the election away from
incumbent Claudio Castaneda, Sr. in their ciosely-foug .i.
and hotly-contested battle for Hidalgo County Sheriff.
In run-off elections held Saturday, Marmolejo beat
Castaneda by an unofficial vote count of 13,797 to 10,477, or
by about 3,320 votes.
Marmolejo will now go into the general elections unop-
posed - a shoo-in for sheriff in November.
Voter turnout was lighter than expected, with only about
24,000 county voters casting ballots. Estimates for voter
turnout had been anticipated by some to be as high as 30,000
because of the great interest shown in the May 1 primaries
by county voters. About 28,000 voters went to the polls in the
May Democratic Primary.
Marmolejo carried in every Edinburg precinct, totaling
an unofficial 3115 local votes to Castaneda's 730 votes.
Marmolejo carried about 60 per cent of the county's 69
precincts, including many lopsided victories, such as in
nearby McCook: 84-3; and Hargill: 103 to 15.
However, Castaneda supporters out-voted Marmolejo
supporters in Mercedes, Progreso, Pharr, San Juan,
Mission, Donna, Hidalgo, three of Weslaco's six precincts
and in four of 13 McALlen precincts. Some districts were
decided by only a handful of voters. In San Juan Pet. 59,
McAllen Pet. 49, and Mission Pet. 9, Castaneda won only by
a two-vote margin. In other areas, the sheriff took as much
as a three-to-one margin over Marmolejo - notably so in
Mercedes and Weslaco.
In the sheriff's hometown Mission, the total vote for
Castaneda was 1244 to Marmolejo's 956.
Castaneda completes his term in January - ending an
eight year career as county sheriff. His last term has been
clouded with controversy, which over the past two years
has included over 30 escapes from the Hidalgo County Jail,
a missing bond money scandal, grand jury investigations
into jail administration and several close conflicts with the
county commission.
Marmolejo is a former deputy sheriff, former Edinburg
assistant police chief, and most recently, a former state-
wide inspector with the Alcoholic Beverages Commission.
Starr County Men
Attend AA Convention
The Starr County office of the
Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service released
an estimated disaster
assessment on damages suf-
fered by farmers, ranchers and
businessmen in an area bet-
ween Rio Grande City and
Roma on Monday, May 31, the
night which brought high winds,
rain and hail.
The report was computed by
the USDA County Emergency
Board, chaired by A.H. Perez.
The report was completed in a
three day period.
The grand total on the losses
was estimated to be $8,180,100.
The total crop loss turned out
to be 11,200 acres with an
estimated value of $6,822,000.
The following lists the crop,
number of acres, yield loss and
dollar loss: Grain Sorghum,
3,200, 70 per cent, $370,000;
Watermelons, 300, 95 per cent,
$34,000; Melons, 6,000, 95 per
cent, $4,000,000; Bell Peppers,
1,000, 100 per cent, $2,000,000;
Hay, 700, 80 per cent, $112,000.
200 homes were damaged at a
dollar loss of $1,000,000 while 20
mobile homes were damaged.
Farm service buildings
damaged totaled 75 with a
dollar loss of $250,000. Farm
machinery and equipment such
as melon harvestors, gated
pipe, trucks, tractors, etc.
damaged totaled $70,000.
Businesses suffered $250,000
worth of damages The total
iarui buildings, c iuiurneiv, and
business loss was estimated to
be $1,350,000.
Livestock and poultry losses
were $8,100. Twenty head of
cattle were lost. Fifteen hogs
were also lost while $600 worth
of poultry were killed by the
storm.
Normal electrical power
returned to Rio Grande City and
the other area hit by the high
winds and hail last Monday
night.
F.L. Neiderjohn said 60
crewmembers from Harlingen,
Alamo, Mission, Weslaco and
Edinburg had assisted those
from Rio Grande City in
restoring all downed lines from
Arroyo Los Olmos to Roma. He
said poles and transformers
had been damaged and
replaced by Wednesday mor-
ning.
Four Starr County men at-
tended the regional convention
Final ESAA
Meeting Set
The ESAA Advisory Com-
mittee i Emergency School Aid
Act-Bilingual) will meet for its
final time for the 1975-76 School
Year. The meeting will be held
at the ESAA Program Office on
Monday, June 14, 1976, at 10:00
a.m.
The committee members
are: Simon Garza Jr., Mrs.
Gilberto Garcia, Charles
Christesson, Mrs. landa Ann
Biegajski, A. E. Garcia. Rene J.
Gonzalez, Sam Ramos, Joseph
Ellert, Silvestre E. Reyna Jr.,
Bobby Villarreal (Student),
Miss Cindy Dreumont
i student), Mrs. Mary Ann
Cumrnings, Mrs. Herbert
Brown, and Mrs. Ross
IxiGrange
The chairperson for the 1976-
77 school year will be Rene J.
Gonzalez, and the secretary
recorder w ill be Mrs Linda Ann
Biegajski.
"We are very grateful to the
people for cooperating with us
during that time. We had no one
complain and everyone was
very patient until we got power
to their homes. We are also very
grateful to the highway patrol,
the border patrol, the game
warden and the Starr County
Sheriff Department in offering
their assistance and for ac-
tually helping locate the trouble
spots," said Neiderjohn.
By Thursday, 127 families
had been registered to have
their homes' damage surveyed
and appraised by Red Cross
volunteer workers.
Rafael Trevino, director of
the Starr County Chapter of the
American Red Cross, said the
disaster survey organization
would be here until Tuesday
night. The multi-purpose center
would close Tuesday at noon.
Trevino also said those
needing assistance would be
issued dispersing orders. It
would be the same as a check
and would be honored by any
store wishing to do so. The
dispersing order would be for
an amount according to the
needs of the family. The needs
were to be determined ac-
cording to verification of
damages done to their homes
and to the number of members
in the family.
"It is enough to get them
needed food, clothing, fur-
nishing and cleaning supplies,"
said Trevino.
Red Cross spokesperson
Reinette Cottingham said 210
families had been involved with
some kind of damage: 7 in-
jured, 1 hospitalized, 18 homes
with major damage, 145 with
minor damage, 7 mobile homes
destroyed, 20 with major
damage, and approximately 22
small businesses with some
kind of damage.
Assisting the Red Cross
register families were the
Community Action Program
i CAP) of Rio Grande City and
the Human Resource Depart-
ment of Hidalgo County's
Associated City County
Economic Development
Council (ACCEDC).
Trevino added that the
American Red Cross was ac-
cepting contributions for the
people who had been affected.
Contributions may be taken to
512 Main in Rio Grande City.
f
CARDINALS ARE LITTLE LEAGUE CHAMPS - The Car-
dinals, sponsored by Twin Palms Food Center, were declared
Rio Grande City Little league Champions for 1976 with a
thirteen win-one loss record at the end of season play last week.
The team was coached by Pete Ybarra, Lisar.dro Garcia, and
James Peterson. Pictured are, left to right first row, Freddie
Lopez, bat boy; Omar Ybarra, Kent Peterson, William Warren,
A1 Lopez, Sammy Bazan, Bobby Lopez, anu Lee Vela; second
row, Roberto Navarro, Martin Canales, David Olivarez, Jesse
Ray Warren, Leo Garza, Francisco Gomez, Ovidio Pena, and
Ezequio Lopez Not pictured is Lupe Bazan, bat boy. (Phoco
courtesy Sammy Martinez)
School Trustees Decide
To Aircondition Schools
Four elementary schools in
the Rio Grande City school
system will be "recycled" and
air conditioning will be added, it
was decided Monday night at a
regular meeting of board of
trustees.
Stotler Construction of Pharr
entered into a contract with the
school district after it sub-
mitted the low bid of $783
thousand. Had the board
decided to go without air con-
ditioning it would have been
some $170 thousand less
In trying to decide whether to
go with the air conditioner, all
board members expressed their
views.
Charles LaGrange said he
had nothing against installing
air conditioning but that
maintenance of the units would
be very costly over the years.
He added that he was very-
much in favor of refurbishing
the schools. Dr. Bobby Margo,
trustee, voiced his opinion and
said he agreed with LaGrange
Trustee Javier Margo put the
feelings of the board and those
present into words when he said
"the basis of our education
system is in the elementary and
junior high grades because if
reading and writing aren't
taught in those grades then an
air conditioned high school
would be useless. We went to
the taxpayers two years ago
and told them that we would air
condition the schools and I feel
that it is time that we kept our
promise."
The final vote showed five
trustees wanting the air con-
ditioning and one, LaGrange,
voting against it.
Schools to be recycled are
North Grammar, West
Grammar, La Union, and La
Grulla.
Silvestre Gonzalez, soil
conservation officer for Starr
County brought the board up to
date on what is happening with
the school beautification
program which is to be a 75-25
agreement between the
agriculture department and the
school district.
The school requested
assistance in controlling
erosion on the school grounds of
North Grammar and Roque
Guerra Elementary. According
to Gonzalez, the Starr
County Soil Conservation
District will assist provided the
school district agrees to certain
provisions. Some of the
provisions are that the school
district provide water and labor
for approximately 1600 acres,
that the school district secure
all easements and provide for
local administration costs plus
take over operation and
maintenance. In addition the
school district must agree to
allow the government agency to
inspect the facilities at any time
I Area Students Learn At Symposium
1
of Alcoholics Anonymous in
Monterrey, Mexico last month.
The four men, Pilar G., of Rio
Grande City, Benito J., of
Delmita, Alvaro ()., of Ixis
Saenz, and Raul C., of Rancho
Nuevo, were in Monterrey on
May 29 and 30.
"They had some tremendous
speakers who spoke on some of
the pertinent issues concernine
the alcoholic," said Pilar.
Some of these were on how
much help a doctor can give an
alcoholic, what is and how the
alcoholic's relatives can
recuperate from the trauma of
having an alcoholic in the
family and the spiritual aspect
of the AA club.
The AA program in Starr
County is still meeting every
Friday night at the San Juan
Plaza civic center at 8 p.m.
Pilar G. said the group had
speakers for whatever club
desired them. Our intention is
to start a group in Cd Camargo,
Miguel Aleman, Falfurrias,
Hebronville, Roma, Zapata and
other communities," he added.
The Texas State Convention
will be held in San Antonio on
June 24-27.
AUSTIN, June 1—Over sixty
South Texas science students
and teachers are learning about
continuing fusion research at
the University of Texas at
Austin.
While attending the 16th
Annual Nuclear Science
Symposium, held June 1-4, the
participants are also learning
about the Texas Tokamak, a
fusion research project located
at the university. Those at-
tending from South Texas are
sponsored by Central Power
';r
and Light Company which,
joined with nine other investor-
owned electric companies in
Texas, form the Texas Atomic
Energy Research Foundation.
Dr. W. E. Drummond, a
leading nuclear physicist, said
here today that nuclear fusion,
which is the joining together of
light atoms to form heavier
ones, may someday be the
source of fuel for electric
generation Man's efforts to
control fusion, responsible for
the energy generation in the sun
and stars, is becoming a reality,
he said.
A Professor of Physics and
Director of the Fusion Research
Center, Drummond said
physicists at the university-
have built an experimental
device to control the ther-
monuclear fusion reaction.
Having held the atoms for
small parts of a second, the
Center's goal is to hold them in
a fused state for a full second.
$
during the first three years
The new landscapes will
include water fountains, trees,
shrubbery and an irrigation
system. The government will
pay for 75 per cent of the costs
while the school must agree to
pay for 25 per cent.
In other action, the board
examined a contract copy
which would
former Rio
schoolboy-all
John l^erma.
Iverma's
director
be offered to
Grande City
around athlete
Rio is seeking
services as athletic
following the
resignation of last year's AD,
Don Cumrnings.
Lerma is presently at Corpus
Christi Miller High School.
Com m ii nil y A ct ion
Council Grant
Governor Dolph Briscoe
announced approval of $57,612
in Community Services Ad-
ministration grants for Com-
munity Action Council of South
Texas in Rio Grande City.
The two grants involved
cover a four-month period
retroactive to March 1. 1976,
and are the first funding in a
new program year The grants
include $27,285 for ad-
ministration and $30,327 for
General Community
Programming. They are funded
under Title II of the Head Start,
Economic Opportunity, and
Community Partnership Act of
1974.
The Council is usint; the funds
to provide referral and
outreach for 2,000 families
annually: sewing classes for 300
women: youth and senior
citizen programs and
economic development projects
for 80 migrant families. The
economic development projects
include the continuation of the
revolving loan fund and Project
ANDALF.. These funds w ill also
lx.' used for administration of
programs operated in coor-
dination with Starr County
Migrant Health Program and
■Jim Hogg County Migrant
Health Program, South Texas
Family Planning Corporation,
the State Department of Public
Welfare transportation for 250
low-income persons i. and the
Title 111 Migrant Program
funded under the Com-
prehensive Employment and
Training Act for on-the-job
training.
Grant processing and
program liaison are through the
Economic Opportunity Division
of the Texas Department of
Communit\ Affairs.
TEXAS NUCLEAR SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM-Joe Valadez, center, of Central Power
and light Company discusses nuclear power for the production of electricity with David
Gonzales and teacher James Steele of Rio Grande City and Marieela Volpe and teacher
Lauro Munoz of Roma who attended the nuclear science symposium in Austin this week.
High heat energy is released
when light atoms are fused or
combined, and this energy can
hopefully become fuel for
operating a conventional steam
power plant," said Drummond.
"This is potentially more
productive than nuclear fission,
which derives energy from
splitting heavier atoms."
Important to the energy issue
is the fact that fusion would use
heavy hydrogen atoms, known
as deuterium, as a basic fuel
"Deuterium is a universal
component of water, is cheap
and virtually inexhaustible''
The 500 students and teachers
attending the annual con-
ference are assuming roles of
nuclear scientists for almost a
week. They are working on
complicated math and physics
problems, and will attend
lectures and participate in
basic nuclear research.
Two afternoons will be spent
touring University science
laboratories, including those
where research projects
sponsored by the foundation are
being conducted in ther-
monuclear fusion reactions
The symposium sessions not
only consist of lectures by
outstanding scientists from
throughout the nation, but also
provide the students with an
opportunity to obtain answers
to questions about scientific
careers and college curricula
The students attending the
conference were chosen b\
participating schools on the
basis of scholarship in science.
Action On (Custom
Service Hills
WASHINGTON DC. - Rep
Kika de la Garza said Wed-
nesday congressional action to
carry out recommendations of a
House Appropriations Com-
mittee for personnel increases
in the Immigration Service and
the Customs Service will enable
these government agencies to
do a more thorough job along
the U.S. Mexico borders.
"For Immigration the
committee approved an ad-
ditional 209 positions requested
in the President's budget,
restoration of 330 positions,
restoration of administratively
controlled overtime and the
addition of 400 more positions,"
Rep. de la Garza said For
Customs the committee
provided for 13,826 positions -
an increase of 622 over the total
for the current year
The South Texas
Congressman had appeared
before the subcommittee
having jurisdiction to urge
approval of th< increase for
both agencies.
"These two agencies are of
basic importance to our area,''
he said in commenting on the
committee action. They need
more inspectors and in-
vestigators to facilitate the
movement of commercial
traffic, bring about better
control of illicit drugs, and
insure enforcement of our
immigration laws."
Rep de la Garza said action
on the two appropriations bills
are expected on Monday, 14
June, and Friday, 18 June, in
the full House
SCHOLARSHIPS WINNER -
Juan Carlos Saenz, son of Mr
and Mrs Fliseo Saenz of
Garciasville, received two
scholarships, one of the Order
of the Faster Star and another
of the Woman's Club of Rio
Grande City The scholarships
were awarded to Saenz w ho was
the senior bo> w ith the highest
average and who was seeking a
technical or vocational career.
He is planning to attend TSTI in
Harlingen.
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Rodriguez, Rene. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 10, 1976, newspaper, June 10, 1976; Rio Grande City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194563/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.