Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 84, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 23, 1981 Page: 1 of 8
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★ ★ ★ ★ /j/o GRANDE * * * *
E R A L
VOL XXXV
Shooting Results
In Death Friday
Charges of causing death of an individual
by gunshot have been lodged against Jose
M. Aguirre, 22, of I-a Puerta Ranch, in
connection with the shooting death of David
Javier Lopez, 24, of La Casita.
Lopez was declared dead on the scene by
Justice of the Peace Arturo Clarke Friday.
\guirre was arrested by Starr County
Sheriff's Deputies and bond was set at
$100,000.00 by Judge Clarke. An autopsy
was ordered by Judge Clarke.
Miguel Ortiz Solis, 21, of La Grulla, was
charged with criminal mischief in amounts
of over $200, but less than $10,000 (felony) by
Manuel Balli of Buena Vista Cafe. Soils
allegedly did extensive damage to the cafe
on Apr. 14. Bond of $5,000 was set by Clarke.
In another shooting incident, charges of
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
were placed against Alonzo Moreno Jr., 30.
It is alleged that several shots were fired
David C. Reyes and he was wounded several
times Apr. 7.
Moreno was arraigned by Judge Clarke
who set bond at $20,000.
Alaniz Pleads
Guilty In Tax
Fraud Case
BROWNSVILLE — In U.S. District Court
here Mar. 26, Refugio "Cuco" Alaniz, 38,
pleaded guilty to one charge of filing a false
and fraudulent income tax return for the
calendar year 1976.
In an indictment returned by a federal
grand jury on May 28, 1980, Alaniz, a
resident of Santa Elena, was charged with
willfully and knowingly attempting to evade
and defeat a large part of the income tax
due by filing a faise and fraudulent income
tax return for 1976. In the return, he
claimed income for 1976 as $7,085 and tax
owed as $1,741.
A self-employed trucker and rancher,
Alaniz, who is also a Starr County Con-
stable, actually earned $87,990 and owed
im.ni" 'ax of |?B,197 for the year 1376, A
warrant for his arrest was issued and Alaniz
was arrested by Federal Agents on May 30.
Federal Judge Filamon Vela who ac-
cepted the plea, ordered a pre-sentence
investigation prior to sentencing on May 1.
Alaniz could receive the maximum
sentence of $10,000 and or five years im-
prisonment plus the costs of prosecution, for
the charge.
La ( rulla UIL
W inners Named
La GRULLA — J.M. Longoria, principal
of Grulla Junior School, has announced
winners of the Border League UIL Meet
held at Canterbury Junior High School in
McAllen Mar. 17-18.
In the spelling contest, Irma Vela placed
first, Orlando Solis placed third, and
Florestela Villarreal placed fifth. Spelling
coaches are I<eonel Saenz and Josefine
Vera.
I .aura Olivarez finished second and Oscar
Villarreal placed third in the informative
speaking event.
Eliza Borrego placed third and Melissa
Trillayes placed fifth in impromptu
speaking.
Ana Guerra placed third, Rosa Rodriquez
placed fourth and Yolanda Garcia placed
fifth in persuasive speaking. Speaking
events coach is Nicandro Lopez.
Besides I-a Grulla, other participating
schools included Canterbury School,
Progreso, Valley View, Our I-ady of
Guadalupe, and La Villa.
La Grulla won a second place trophy at
the U.I.L. Meet.
No. 84
f.pril23,1981
FIFTEEN CENTS
Anl In
ony s 11 inner
Anthony's Store has announced that the
winner of last week's Easter drawing was
Elia Alderete of Falcon Heights. She took
home a package of toys, games and candy
worth approximately $85.00.
Little League Sets
Auxiliary Meeting
A meeting of the Little League Parents
Auxiliary is scheduled tonight at 7 p.m. at
the little league field.
league president Filemon Garza Jr.
urged parents of little leaguers, and all
other persons interested in volunteering
service to attend the meeting.
"As parents of the little leaguers combine
with their youngsters, league officials,
umpires, managers, coaches, auxiliary
members and team sponsors, we make a
cross-section of the community," Garza
said. He urged parents and other volunteers
to help the little league organization any
way possible.
ESAA Holds Meeting
The Advisory Committees of the ESAA
Bilingual and Title VII Bilingual Programs
of the Rio Grande City Consolidated In-
dependent School District will hold their
regular monthly meeting on Thursday, Apr.
30, at 2 p.m., at the Title VII Bilingual Of-
fice.
School officials urge all committee
members to attend and the public is invited.
'
Nepotism Suit Dismissal
Upheld By Appeals Court
Troopers At Fori Ringgold In Days'
124th CavalryTroop
Holding Reunion In RGC
By JIM MA PHIS possibility that the reunion could be located
If you see a cloud of dui' on the horizon, it here on a permanent basts. Many of the
could be the cavalry
After an absence of ; arly 40 years,
troopers of the 124th Cava'ry Association
"F" Troop will be returning 'o Rio Grande
City this week ior their 17th annual reunion.
troopers married local girls while stationed
at Fort Ringgold.
"F" Troop was mobilized in 1940, with
elements of the 124th Cavalry hein>-4
stationed along the boraer from 1 ;i Paso to
Fort Ringgold Motor Inn, considerably Brownsville. "F" Troop was stationed at
more comfortable than old Fort Ringgold, Rio Grande City, with other units at Laredo
where the troopers were stationed in the and Fort Brown. The 124th Cavalry relieved
1940's, will be the site of three days-worth of the 12th Cavalry at Fort Ringgold.
official activities for the Association Friday Later the "F" Troop cavalrymen and
through Sunday. their horses were sent to Fort Riley, Kan.,
Well over 100 troopers and their wives are where the horses were left when the men
expected to be on hand for the reunion. went overseas.
Local government and business leaders will "F" Troop went to Burma in 1944. The
welcome the "F" Troopers "home." troopers participated in MARS Task Force
At least one of the cavalry Association action.
members indicated the group has wished to Only one other of the Association's
hold its reunion in Rio Grande City for many reunions has been held in the Valley, that
years, but the lack of local facilities (hotels, one several years ago in McAllen. Local
meeting space) had prevented their officials are expected to give the group a
choosing Rio Grande City for the event. warm welcome.
With the new Fort Ringgold Motor Inn's Registration is scheduled from 9 a.m.
lacilities available, there appears a until noon Friday, but many of the troopers
had indicated they were planning on coming
early and staying after official activities.
The Fort Ringgold Inn is hasting a
cocktail party for Association members and
guests Friday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The
party will be held around the motel pool.
Cavalry Association members are
„ . , . . „ . .. scheduled to pose for group pictures for
Banquete, located near Corpus CTirisU, themselves local «edi£ £aturd at
dates back to 1831, when Irish colonists 5.30 Din
received land titles from the Mexican '^Association's banquet dinner is slated
government ........... . ... for 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Robert E. Lee
Mexico needed the Irish Cathohcs in this room A d wfth aem-s Dixieiand
part ot the country as a buffer against the ^ d . scheduled from 9 p.m. until 12 p.m.
American colonists settling further north in v r
Texas.
The name "Banquete" came from the
Spanish "El Banquette," place of the
banquet, because Mexican officials, as a
gesture of goodwill, staged a four-day
celebration at the settlement in 1832. The
new road from Matamoros, which later
became an important trade route, was of-
ficially opened for the grand occasion.
Already an important stock raising and
horse trading center by the time of the Civil
War, Banquete became a watering stop on
the "Cotton Road," the route used to haul
Confederate cotton to Matamoros for
shipment to Europe.
Known as Confederate "Money", the
cotton purchased arms, clothing and
medicine for 'Confederate troops.
Sunday morning, at 9 a.m., Association
Chaplain William McLemore will lead a
memorial service. Chaplain McLemore is
well remembered by many local residents.
Officers of the 124th Cavalry Association
"F" T: op are., pi -sidenfiNoble Stockstill,
of Mineral Wells 1st vice-president-Truman
Blantcn, of Temple; 2nd vice-president-
Babe Hudspeth, of Mineral Wells;
secretary-Huge B. Warren, of Mineral
Wells; and treasurer-Glenn Hines, of
Mineral Wells.
The Association also has a museum
located in Mineral Wells and some local
residents have indicated interest in ex-
ploring the possibility of relocating the
museum to the association's "home" of Rio
Grande City.
By JIM MA THIS
In a decision that may have far-reaching
impact on hundreds of Texas school
trustees, a state court of appeals has upheld
a district court's dismissal of a suit alleging
nepotism because the Rio Grande City
school district superintendent hired his
wife,
Rio Grande City school district attorney
Glenn Ramey received word Monday that
the dismissal of the suit brought by Eduardo
Pena, of Santa Cruz, had been upheld by the
Court of Civil Appeals, Eleventh Supreme
Judicial District in Eastla.id.
Texas Rural Legal Aid attorney Roger
Reed represented Pena 1:1 the suit against
th' district. The suit was filed in Stan-
County District Court in May of 1978. The
suit alleged violation of nepotism statutes
by the district because superintendent Dr.
Antonio Garcia hired his wife for a district
teaching position.
Ramey, on behalf of the school district,
filed an exception to the suit, asking that it
be dismissed because the school superin-
tendent was considered, "merely an em-
ployee of the district and not an officer,"
under the meaning of the law.
The district claimed that hiring the
superintendent's wife was not nepotism and
that statute would only be violated if
relatives of elected trustees were hired by
the district.
District court here sustained the school
district's exception and dismissed the suit.
Plaintiff Pena then chose to have TRLA's
attorney file an appeal in the San Antonio
Court of Civil Appeals. Because, of the
heavy case load in the Alamo City, the suit
was transferred to the Eastland Appeals
Court.
The Eastland Appeals Court affirmed
dismissal of the suit Apr. 16.
The court decision also apparently
overturned an opinion by Attorney General
Mark White, who had ruled in Sept. of 1979,
that hiring a superintendent's wife might be
nepotism in some cases.
"For purposes of the nepotism statute, we
believe that the superintendent is an of-
ficer," White had ruled in his opinion.
"There superintendent, therefore, may
not ordinarily hire his kindred," White said.
Both district and appeals court judges
disagree with the AG opinion.
"This was an extremely important
decision for many reasons and could have
literally affected hundreds of school boards
in Texas," Ramey said Tuesday.
"It had statewide significance because
there was the potential for several hundred
trustees to be removed," Ramey said. The
school district attorney said the Attorney
General's opinion had jeopardized hundreds
of districts in which superintendents' wives
have been hired.
Ramey pointed out that the State Com-
missioner of Education considers the
Attorney General to be his attorney and
goes by the AG opinions issued from that
office.
Reed agreed that the case had far-
reaching implications.
"It was an important decision involving
difficult issues of statutory interpretation,"
Reed said Tuesday. At that time, Reed gaid
he did not know if his client wished to pursue
the case through further appellate
processes.
Vietnam Vet
Recognition Day
Sunday
WASHINGTON — Congressman Kika de
la Garza is calling on all communities in
South Texas to honor Vietnam veterans
Sunday - the National Day of Recognition
for Veterans of the Vietnam Era.
De la Garza's call for support follows
passage of a House and Senate joint
resolution which he cosponsored creating
the day so Americans will acknowledge the
risks taken by Vietnam veterans in
upholding the national honor and will plan
activities to recognize the veterans' sacr-
crifies
"Some of the young men we sent to
Vietnam died, others still bear the mental
and physical scars of the horrors of battle,"
de la Garza said. "These young men in-
terrupted their lives to fight and risk death
in a distant land. No matter how people
may have felt about the war, who can deny
that these men made a great sacrifice for
our country and deserve our respect,
gratitude and attention to the problems they
now face?"
"Veterans' problems have always been a
great concern of mine since I am a veteran
myself," the Congressman said.
"These problems won't disappear in one
national recognition day. I pledge my
continuing support of veterans' programs
and hope the entire 97th Congress will focus
its attention on the specific difficulties these
men now are experiencing," de la Garza
said.
V alley Briefs
Town Served Texas
Since Early Days
By
Myra Hargrave McDvain
Texas Historical Commission
EDINBURG — Free blood pressure American University recently participated
checks and information on various health in a Workshop in OccupationaJ Skills for the
problems will be available at Pan American CETA Adult Education Program in Alamo.
University Wednesday. They are Eligio de la Cruz, utility systems
"Everybody's Health Fair" will feature engineer, and Jose Gerardo Gomez,
slides, films and talks on such subjects as building maintenance engineer. De la Cruz
dental health, hypertension, nutrition and gave a presentation on job classifications at
family planning. The fair has been PAU, job skills and training required for
arranged by Mrs. Dora Castillo, coordiantor various types of maintenance work, salaries
of PAU Student Health Services, and Debbie and wages. Gomez also spoke on general
Thomas of the University Center Program
Council.
EDINBURG — Two employees of the
Physical plant administration at Pan
maintenance operations at PAU and gave
an explanation of safety equipment.
AUSTIN — Small and minority businesses
interested in international trade are en-
Emergency Communication:
Drama Not Many People See
Inside
Today's Herald
Lifestyle P.2
Around Town P.3
Business P.6
Fur 111 & Kaneli P.7
"The silliest of all people are
those who 00 foolish things
to show off,"
Vauvenargues
WASHINGTON — Protecting the national
forests from fire Ls a familiar job of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Forest Ser-
vice.
Not so well known is the role the agency
sometimes plays in such emergencies as
threats of nuclear disaster or the need for
quick medical care in some distant region of
the world.
"Forest Service know-how has been used
to advantage in emergency situations
beyond the boundaries of the national
forests in recent years," said Steve Werner,
an electronics technician who works for the
USDA agency in Atlanta, Ga.
Because of the agency's long experience
in dealing with emergencies in remote and
often treacherous forest surroundings, said
Werner, the Forest Service people have
fine-tuned a special expertise in emergency
communication.
"Getting information from one point to
another often is difficult in remote areas
and how well it is done often means the
difference between success and failure in an
emergency," said Werner.
As word of what the agency's emer-
gency's communication experts can do has
spread, their skills have been solicited in
many types of emergencies. Among these
were a near-disaster at a nuclear power
plant and the need for medical care in
remote areas of hospitals in developing
countries.
"Our agency has become a leader in this
field," Werner said with pride.
Werner cited the trouble at the Three Mile
Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania
as one example of how the Forest Service electronics technician who works on the
has helped people solve emergency Inyo National Forest of California, says the
problems outside the forests. USDA agency also was asked to suggest
"Soon after it became apparent that the ways developing nations could use corn-
Three Mile Island plant had serious munication methods to get better medical
problems, the Nuclear Regulatory Com- services to their people.
mission realized there was no way to ef- Suggestions made by the specialists, said
fectively communicate with the control Levine, included methods of using solar-
room personnel from outside the plant," powered radios and other means of
said Werner. establishing communication lines between
"Nuclear Regulatory Commission of- medical facilities in remote areas to bigger,
ficials were familiar with our com- more modern hospitals in urban areas,
munication capabilities, so they explained "The fact that we have facilities for
their problem to us. Within hours, a Forest developing our own communication system
Service technician arrived on the scene, has permitted us to create the kinds of
along with a supply of radios and support systems we need to meet our specialized
equipment from Boise, Idaho," Werner
said.
The Forest Service team found that the
only communication link with the control
room was a single telephone line. The
plant's concrete walls-four and one half feet
thick-stopped radio signals from passing
through.
A Forest Service technician solved the
problem by improvising a cable to establish
radio contact between the control room and
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
command center. Next, they set up a net-
work for communicating with radiation
monitors within a 156-mile radius of the
facility.
In addition, the specialists established a
communication link for an evacuation
system, in case it should be needed, for
people living within 40 miles of the nuclear
plant.
Mike I/evine, another Forest Service
needs," said Levine.
"For instance," he said, "we played a key-
role in development of the first automated
weather station now operated by the Forest
Service on top of Mammoth Mountain in
California."
This station automatically broadcasts the
data it collects.
Specialists of the Forest Service now are
looking for better ways to harness natural
power in devices that send and receive
messages.
"What we're trying to do is develop radios
which use low amounts of energy and can
operate from solar or wind power to provide
communication in some of the most remote
areas known to man," said Levine.
Among those remote areas are mountain
slopes, where Forest Service radios
powered by the sun monitor avalanche
conditions. More uses always are under
study.
couraged to take advantage of a free listing
in an import and export directory being
compiled by the Texas Industrial Com-
mission (TIC).
TIC's computerized directory is designed
to help small and minority firms generate
sales leads for their products overseas.
Listings in the computerized directory are
limited to firms already exporting and
importing or to those considering in-
ternational trade.
For a free listing in the export import
directory or for more information, contact
Juan Vasquez at the Texas Industrial
Commission at P.O. Box 12728, Austin, TX
78711 or call 512-472-5059.
EDINBURG — The officers and advisory
committee of the Joint Council of Teachers
of English, Districts I and II held their
spring planning committee meeting in April
at Pan American University. Plans for the
1981 Districts I and II TCJCTE workshop to
be held Sept. 26, at Pan American
University were formulated,
Workshops will be offered on topics of
interest to English teachers of all levels in
both private and public schools.
Those in attendance were Marvis Brown,
Corpus Christi ISD: Donald Fritz, P.A.U.;
Wayne Moore, Texas Southmost College,
Brownsville; Billye Pratt, Kingsville I.S.D.;
Izora Skinner, P AU.: Margaret Baltis,
P.A.U.; RuthSabol. Texas A&I. Kingsville;
Everett Powell, Del Mar College, Corpus
Christi; and Ruth Morgan, Memorial High
School, McAllen.
PHARR — Efforts to promote tourism,
coupled with a vigorous highway
beautification program, earned the
Discover Texas Association's Special
Recognition Award for Pharr District
Engineer G.G. Garcia in Abilene today
The presentation was made last week at
the 26th Annual Texas Travel Counselors
Conference.
Cited in the presentation were Garcia's
efforts to improve highway facilities for the
benefit of the thousands of tourists who flock
to the Lower Rio Grande Valley each year
Included have been the installation of rest
areas and comfort stations, numerous
roadside beautificiation projects, and
landscaping of the Tourist Information
Bureaus at Harlingen and Laredo.
Garcia is the District Engineer of the
.State Department of Highways and Public
Transportation's ten-county District 21
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Mathis, James V. , Jr. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 84, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 23, 1981, newspaper, April 23, 1981; Edinburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194816/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.