Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 7, 1972 Page: 1 of 20
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RIP GRANDE
SERVING STARR COUNTY FOR SO TEARS
TPA AWARD WINNING NEWSPAPER
TEN CENTS
Vol. XXI No. 36 Thurnday,
September 7, 1972
Kio (irande City, Texas
' -v -
TRI-COUNTY STOCK YARD OPENS TOMORROW FRIDAY -MOVE'EM OUT
Board asks
to get
resignation from Barrera
If
lUo Grande City Independent
School District Board of Trust-
ees approved a 1971-1972 budget
of $3,874,789.13 and also ap-
proved a budget for $2,390,322.
CG for fiscal 1972-1973. The
board was told by district busi-
ness manager that because of
several extensive buildings
such as the new cafeteria and
the multi-purpose center to
mention only two the district
had over shot their budget by
some $510,322.GC last year.
Guerra showed the board
members where the different
funds would come from for the
new budget. The budget was ap-
proved with trustee Dr. Gilber-
to (Nene) gar/.a making the mo-
tion.
Those present at the meeting
were board president Arnoldo
Gonzalez, Dr. Garza, Haul
Guerrero, and Alicia Mcl.ellan.
The board then approved a re-
quest by Athlete Director Er-
nesto Vela to hire A. Lee San-
chez for $1,000 above state
minimum with the coaching
staff. Sanchez will be in charge
of the seventh grade 'football
program. Leo Olivarez was
hired for $G00.00 above state
standard and given the coach-
ing of tennis.
The board also agreed to
write an official letter to Coach
Ramiro Villegas assuring him
that he would get the $2-100.00
above state minimum promised
him during the summer. Ville-
gas had been issued a regular
contract which did not reflect
the raise.
Mrs. Esther P. Gonzalez,
was issued a contract for two
years with a raise to council-
ors pay. Also hired at the spe-
cial meeting was Tomas Lopez,
Maria N. Garcia, lloracio Ozu-
na and Irma S. Cruz.
The board also approved a
request by the local band boos-
ter organization to air condi-
tion the band hall with three
27,000 btu air conditioners.
The board was then asked
whether the air conditioners
placed on school property be-
longed to the district or wheth-
er they, belonged to the organi-
zation donating or placing die
item in district property. At-
torney Glen Ramey advised the
board that they require a letter
with each item given or loaned
to the district to establish own-
ership.
The board then went into ex-
ecutive session but opened the
session to the public.
Trustee Raul Guerrero sta-
ting that he had no personal
grudge with Trustee Heberto
Barrera asked the board for
die status of Mr. Barrera.
the status of Mr. Barrera.
Board president Arnoldo Gon-
zalez read a letter to the U.S.
District Attorney Anthony J.
P. Karris where the board re-
quest Farris to provide a pro-
cedure by which to remove
Barrera from the Board.
Barrera was convicted and all
his appeals turned down for vote
fraud during the 1970 primary.
Barrera and seven other Starr
County residents were convic-
ted and sentenced to various
probationary terms along with
jail terms and fines. Barrera is
vice-president of the board of
trustees, but federal laws pro-
hibit the serving on a board of
a convicted felon when his pos-
ition has delegated powers over
federal funds. The district han-
dles approximately $2 million
dollars in federal funds.
The federal attorney had pre-
viously asked the board to re-
move Barrera or endanger the
district of losing all federal
funds including the federal
lunch program.
The board after hearing Gon-
zalez read die letter on a motion
by Guerrero and passing the
motion unanimously gave Board
President Arnold Gonzalez au-
thority to seek and obtain a re-
signation from Barrera.
"I have nothing against llri
Barrera but he told the board
at the last meeting that if his
staying on the board would not
be health) to the district he
would voluntarily resign" Guer-
rero said, "I feel that all this '
publicity and all the attention
given ttiis matter by the public
is not healthy to the district
and we should actively seek the
resignation," Guerrero con-
cluded.
At first the board had passed
a motion to seek Barrera's in-
tentions but Trustee Dr. Garza
stated that he saw no value to
the information calling it "aca-
demic".
"What we need is a resigna-
tion or a completely refusal so
that we can act appropriately,"
Garza concluded.
The motion which was ap-
proved by all the trustees pre-
sent states that: "Board Pres-
ident Ai noldo Gonzalez be auth-
orized to contact Trustee He-
berto Barrera and seek his re-
signation from the board of
trustees because his continued
position on the board is not con-
ducive to the district".
Starr County opens
TRI-COUNTY
STOCK YARD
Tomorrow come
out and visit...
After 56 years CPL
asks for a little raise
A reqeust for the first gen-
eral rate increase in Central
Power and Light Company's "0-
year history was presented to
Rio Grande Valley news media
today by CPL District Manager
B.C. Kindel.
He said that the proposed in-
crease would affect all CPL re-
sidential, commercial and in-
dustrial customers. It will add
about a nickel per day to the bill
of th# company's average re-
sidential customer.
In explaining the new electric
rate schedule, the power com-
pany spokesman pointed out
that the new charges would not
go into effect until the January
billing.
"The spiraling cost of near-
ly everything we must buy to
produce electric service makes
a price increase essential,"
Kindel said.
The CPL District Manager
emphasized that the power firm
had been caught in a "cost
squeeze" as the result of in-
creasing costs of equipment,
services and labor, costs of
new power plants and lines,
and increased costs for en-
vironmental services.
While this is CPL's first
general rate increase, the pow-
er company manager noted that
CPL had voluntarily reduced
rates more than 20 times in
die past. The firm's last major
rate reduction was in 19G4.
"We're proud of our record
of supplying good electric ser-
vice at reasonable prices," he
said. Since 1901, the average
price paid by CPL's residen-
tial customers has dropped
from 3.88 cents per kilowatt
hour to 2.29 cents.
He noted that CPL's residen-
tial customers last year paid
less per kilowatt hour for
electric service than the aver-
age family nationally, and that
during the past 10 months, elec-
tric companies across the na-
tion received 110 rate increases.
The CPI. manager pointed out
that the use of electricity by
CPL customers has more than
doubled during the last loyears,
and that customer use is expect-
ed to double again by 198C. To
supply these future needs, the
company expects to spend more
Uian a billion dollars on new
facilities within the coming de-
cade.
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Trejo, Raul. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 36, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 7, 1972, newspaper, September 7, 1972; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194371/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.