Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 22, 1993 Page: 1 of 10
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Specials on
Page 9
IV
Published
S i re Herald
rande City, Texas every Thursday by The Rio Grande Publishing Co.
H-E-B
INSERTS
INSIDE
Vol. 81, No. 28, Thursday , July 22,1993
25 cents
r
HEB COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT EVIDENT - The Rio Grande City H.E.B. Store, in conjunction with the
Community Action Council of South Texas, conducted a very successful Health Clinic on Friday, July 16. H.E.B.
Store Director Mario De Leon, second from left, stated that a large number of people took advantage of the
opportunity. He is pictured with General Merchandise Manager Raul Ramirez, at far left, CACST Health Promotion
Coordinator Jaime Garza, secocnd from right, and H.E.B. Unit Director Joe Perales, at right.
Board hires new library director
By: BENGL.l.IM
Special To 'Hie Herald
With the former Starr County
Library director and some board
directors out of the way, library
officials arc hoping that it will
signal in a new beginning.
Former director Sylvia Manning
resigned in June amid controversy
with some board members and was
promptly replaced last week by
Wallace B. Ansell of Austin.
At the same time, three members oi
the Starr Ccrinty Library Bi rd
were replaced by new ones -- Celia
Saenz, Isela B. Gonzalez and
Carolyn Lope/
Ansell, 47, is expccted to start his
$25,000 a-year job beginning
August 1, said Board director Ncna
Garza. (Ansell was cut-of-town and
unavailable for an interview)
Boasting of past experience in
overseas, especially Saudi Arabia,
where he was a technician librarian
and repository supervisor, Ansell
also worked as an installation
librarian with ths U.S. Air Force,
assistant manager with the Houston
Public Library and cataloginfg
assistant at M.D. Anderson
Memorial Library, University of
Houston, said Garza.
Ansell holds a BA and MA History
from University of Houston, and
has a MLIS Library and
Information Scicnce from Austin.
With his wide expertize in library
technology, Garza srid the board
will need him if the Starr County
Library and its three branches are
to go into automation in order to
link each oLher up.
The branches are in Roma, La
Rosita and La Grulla.
"We'll let him advise us on which
way to go," said Garza.
Asked how much such a move
would cost the county, Garza said it
was too early to tell but that the
county could probably afford it.
Still, she said it was something
that the county commissioners will
have to decide.
"Yes — I think we could afford an
automated system," said Garza.
"But I think we have to be very
basic at the beginning."
Garza went on to say that Ansell
will be able to lead the libraries
down the automation pathway in
the least expensive and most
efficient way.
"He'll ->ssct" she said.
When asked whether the libraries
needed automation, Garza was quick
to say yes, because it is the
"realistic" approach to a growing
corp of libraries — from less than
three years when there was not a
single library in Starr County to
four now.
(See BOARD, Page 6)
Free lunch for all students
By: BENG L. L1M
Special to The Herald
Starting next school year, the
school district will provide lice
lunch to all students following last
week's approval by school trustees
to participate in an universal tree
lunch program.
Ninety-one percent of the students
currently arc in the free lunch
program, said Superintendent of
school Ruben Saenz. Six percent
are on a reduced price plan and three
precent are on the fully paid plan,
added Saenz.
Districts with over 80 percent of
student membership under the free
lunch program are eligible for
application under Provision 2 of the
Food Service Program.
After trusfecs approved the
recommendation Tuesday night at
their regular board meeting, Saenz
said the plan will benefit the district
and its student;.
"I feel it will be a benefit for the
district because it will provide free
lunch to all students," said Saenz.
He also noted that the program will
help to cut down bureaucratic paper
work generated by different lunch
programs currently in place in the
district.
But with the universal free lunch
program approved, parents will now
only have to apply every three years
instead of every year, said Saenz.
He went on to si:y that parents will
be informed by mail shortly on
how to apply for the program.
While free lunch will be served to
all students, others who wish to
pay for their meals will have an
a-la-carte menu to pick from at the
snackbar, Saenz added.
In other business, trustees
approved:
Hie renaming of Rattler Stadium to
Joe R. Sanchez Stadium, the former
Rattler football coach, teacher and
administrator in the school district.
Saenz said the move was
appropriate in view of his and his
family's many contributions in
academics and athletics to the
sch(x>l and district. Sanchez coached
in all sports during the 1950s and
'60-. at RCiC High School.
He retired from his assistant
principalship post June 1986. He
died in the late 1980s.
The District Improvement Plan for
1993-94;
The waiver request to Texas
Education Agency to use four
instructional days for staff
development;
Awarding a bid for bank depository
to First National Bank;
An architect's progress report on
Rogue Guerra Jr. Elementary
School. Saenz said 85 percent of
the school is completed, with
completion date set for August 24;
An architect's progress report on the
addition of 20 classrooms to Rio
Grande City High School.
Completion date is set for August
30;
And an architect's progress report
on the addition of nine classrooms
to Grulla Elementary School.
Under executive session business,
trustees approved hiring on board
Diana Pena as assistant
superintendent for Finance; Dr.
Richard Irizarry as assistant
principal for curriculum and
instruction; and Mike Villarrcal as
principal at Ringgold Middle
School.
New post master sworn in
Surrounded by family members,
friends and employees, Ricardo
Espinoza last week was sworn in as
the new post master for the local
office of the U.S. Postal Service
here.
Espinoza comes to town from the
Corpus Christi area, where he
worked out of the Hebbronvillc
office.
In a swearing in ceremony last
Friday, Espinoza was surrounded bv
members of his family, friends and
employees of the post office. Ray
Garcia, manager of Postal
Operations from San Antonio was
there to administer the oath to
Espinoza.
Those who attended the event, with
Arturo Vela of the local post office
as master of ceremonies, included
Tara A. Guzman, Espinoza's
mother; his daughter, Brillianta;
grandson, Anthony; his sisters,
Family moums loss of dad to
Africanized Honey Bees
By: BENG L.I.IM
Special to The Herald
Lino Lopez Jr. recalls his father as
a man who kept to himself — even
in his dying moment.
The elder Lopez died Friday at a
hospital after what authorities said
he was stung by a swarm of
Africanized honey bees, more
popularly called killer bees, while
working at his ranch about 30
miles north of here.
He was 82.
Reflecting on his father's death, the
younger Lopez recalls the former
rancher as a man who was as
graceful in death as when he was
alive.
"If he had a heart condition, we
didn't know it because he's always
working and never complaining
about it," said Lopez, quoting an
autopsy report that said the elder
Lopez suffered from emphysema, a
form of heart condition.
Lopez recalled the day before that
fateful Friday, his father had gotten
up early in the morning and told of
experiencing some leg cramps.
The son's reply was that he had
labored too long and too hard the
day before under the sun despite
repeated plead ngs for him not to
do so.
"I would get after him to retire
(from the house-moving business
and ranching)," said the younger
Lopez, a band director at Roma
High School. "He had no business
working."
But in one ear arid out the other, the
next day the elder Lopez,
accompanied by his wife and the
youngest son Raymond, in a family
of seven, headed for the family
ranch in a pick-up truck.
Once there, Lopez reportedly was
doing some work when he noticed
some bees swaiming around a hole
in the wall of an abandoned ranch
house.
The younger Lopez said his father
got a container, filled it with
gasoline and emptied its contents
on the bees. Never once did the
thought crossed his mind that the
bees were of the Africanized variety,
said the younger Lope/.
He went on to explain that some-
four or five years ago, his father had
seen some bee activity around the
same hole and had killed them or
thought he did.
"But they were European bees, '
recalled the younger Lopez. "He
thought they were the same type of
bees."
Lopez said some of the European
Honey Bees must have returned and
mixed with the Africanized bees,
resulting in a hybrid variety of the
killer bees.
But the sad thing of it all was that
the elder Lope/ was warned by his
wife and their son not to mess with
the bees, said the younger Lopez.
"They told him 'o leave the bees
alone," he said.
The younger Lopez said the bees
drove his father out of the house
and into a water trough, where he
immersed his head to rid the bees
from his face. He got the bees off
his face but the others on his back
stuck to hirn like a magnet, said the
younger Lopez.
While the elder Lopez was being
stung, no help came from his wife
or son Raymond because they too
were being stung by the bees,
explained the younger Lopez.
"He was fighting for his life," said
the younger Lopez of Raymond.
It was later learned that Raymond,
38, was stung four times on the
back of his neck and the mother
once on her head.
"1 felt dizzy," recalled Raymond, a
self-employed welder. Both mother
and son were treated and released
from a hospital.
After he resurfaced from the water
trough, the elder Lopez reportedly
walked to his truck and asked his
son to drive him home.
The younger Lopez recalled his
lather's last words that afternoon:
"Hurry up and let's get out of here."
As painful as it was, he said the
man never screamed.
'That was all he said," the younger
Lopez recalled.
In the truck, the elder Lopez got in
between his wife and son, and
wrapped himself in a blanket.
Efforts were made by his wife to
sustain him, including sticking her
finger in his mouth to see if he
would bite, but all to no avail.
(See BEES, Page 6)
I jxal woman named to Commission
Mrs. Lydia G. Saenz of Los Saenz
Roma, Texas has been appointed to
Texas Women's Commission by
Governor Ann Richards.
She will serve in the commission
along with 21 other women
I Lydia G. Saer>z
appointed throughout the State of
Texas.
Mrs. Saenz is a L.icensca
Professional Counselor employed
by Roma ISD.
She alos is a therapist in private
office setting SAENZ &
ASSOCIATES in Rio Grande City,
Texas. She has a Masters Degree
in Education with emphasis in
Guidance and Counseling acquired
[at U.T. Pan American in Edinburg,
Texas. At Pan AMerican, she was
initiated into Lambda Psi of Kappa
Delta Pi, a National Honor Society
in Education. She later organized a
chapter in Rio Grande/Roma area
entitled Starr County Alumni
Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, where
she served as counselor.
Throughout her career, Mrs. Saenz
assisted Southern Association for
the Accreditation of schools as a
visiting team member while
working in her MiJ-Madgemcnt
&Superintendcnt's certificates in
" 1979-80. She is currency the
president of Association cf Texas
Professional Educators Roma Local
Unit, and a member of Texas
Counseling Association.
Mrs. Saenz is an active member of
her community. She serves as a
director of Roma Chamber of
Commerce, board member of Roma
Housing Authority HUD, & board
member of Stan County Historical
Commission.
She organized Alpha Sigma Phi, of
Beta Sigma Phi, International in
Roma Texas a social, service &
cultural sorority of women and
presently is the vice-president of the
sorority.
She was actively involved in the
Texas Sequincentennial celebrations
and parades in Romi's historical
events as well.
Mrs. Saenz is a member of Holy
Family Catholic Church of Los
Saenz, Tx.
Her parenLs arc Mr. and Mrs. Julian
Gonzalez Jr. of Rio Grande City,
Tx. and her husband is Mr. Jose
Carlos Saenz former Mayor of the
City of 'Roma, Tx.
They have 3 sons , Omar Isaac,
Jose Miguel and Juan Carlos Saenz
and she is the proud grandmother of
Andrea Lizel Saenz, daughter of
Juan Carlos and Viviana Garcia
Saenz of Los Saenz, Roma, Texas.
nephews and nieces.
Others also there were Israel Mora,
Rockport post master; Mary
Martinez, Harlingen post master;
Ray Linares, Laredo post master;
Robert Pantoja, Mercedes post
master; David Saenz, Corpus
Christi station manager; Yolanda
Davis, Hebbronvillc clerk; Adalia
de Luna, Pcnitas post master; and
Jaime Moreno, Roma post master
New Postmaster
Richard Espinoza, at
far left, was sworn in
on July 16 at the Rio
Grande City Post
Office by Rev Garcia,
district manager,
shown introducing
Espinoza.
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Roberts, Kenneth. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 22, 1993, newspaper, July 22, 1993; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth195402/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.