The Pharr Press (Pharr, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 7, 1970 Page: 1 of 6
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pharr Memorial Li
130 E. Caffery
pnarr, lexas
The Weather
Mild and fair for next few
days with little prospect of rain.
Warmer in daytime.
ar;
PHARR PRESS
VOLUME XXXVII — NO. 19 PHARR, (HIDALGO COUNTY), TEXAS 78577 THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1970 5c PER COPY—$2.50 PER YEAR
ALL THE NEWS OF
PHARR
In Your Home Town
Newspaper
Demos Have Some
Hairline Races
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Hidalgo County voters went to
the polls last Saturday and nomi-
nated a new man for the import-
ant office of County Judge, Ed
Gomez of McAllen, over the in-
cumbent, Milton D. Richardson,
who has held the office for 20
years.
The margin of his victory was
even more surprising to the
political pros over the county, as
he won easily by a vote of 22,-
400 to 11,100, or two to one.
This was the first time Gomez
had ever run for political office.
His overwhelming victory was
attributed to his radio and
television image. Thousands of
voters never saw him in person
but felt they knew him from
his television and radio pro-
grams.
DUTIES OF CO. JUDGE
The office of County Judge
pays $16,200 a year salary. The
duties include presiding over the
county commissioners court, pro-
bation of wills, member of the
juvenile court, issurance of beer
licenses, supervision of the
county welfare program, respon-
sible for the preparation of the
budget in consultation with
others, and overseer of the park
and sanitation programs.
Gomez’ nomination on the De-
mocratic ticket is tantamount to
election, as the Republicans did
not offer a candidate in their
primary. The only other possi-
bility is a candidate on La Raza
United ticket, and this is not
expected in this race now.
One major surprise for many
political observers was the vote
far Ralph Yarbborough who re-
ceived 18,983 votes to 15,835 for
the county’s native son, Lloyd
Bentsen. Bentsen carried some
200 counties out of the 254
RAZOR CLOSE RACES
There were two very close
races, with neither being decided
until all the ballots had reported
in, including the absentee box,
which had 1,700 votes.
In the Repsesentative race,
FROM THE
EDITOR'S CHAIR
HOW MANY VOTED in the
recent Democratic primary? No
final figure has been released at
this writing, but it was some-
where between 35,000 and 36,000,
with an additional 400 voting in
the Republican primary, making
a total voter turn out of about
36,500. (Mas or menos — more or
less.)
Out of a total voter registra-
tion of 62,000, this means only
59% of the total qualified elec-
torate voted in either primary.
Another sad thing about this
primary and all primaries there
is a great deal of one, two, three
and four shot voting. That is,
the voter just voted in a few of
the races, and skipped the rest.
This is illustrated by checking
the total votes cast far U. S.
Senator, compared to the very
next race on the ballot, Attorney
General of Texas. In the Senate
race, some 34,500 votes were tab-
ulated, while in the Attorney
General’s race, where there were
two candidates, only 20,500 vot-
ed, a diff&rence of 14,000.
The County Judge’s race was
another where there was a great
deal of voting, whereas the other
races were skipped. In this race,
about 34 500 were cast, nearly
identical to the U. S. Senatorial
race.
Now how about the other coun-
ty races: For representative, Place
2, which was as close a race as
could ever be, the candidates
Rodriguez and McDonald had
27,500 between them, a difference
of 8,000 from the grand total that
was cast, or 23%. In the other
representative race between At-
wood and Ramirez, there was
less voting, with the two receiv-
ing only 25,750 votesi a whopping
2,000 difference than in the Place
2 race.
In the race for County Supt. of
Schools, which was down at the
bottom of the ballot, by the way,
Smith and Elizalde received
about 26,400 votes, or a difference
of nearly 9,000 from the total bal-
lots, or a flat 25% of the total
voters did not vote in this race.
(Continued on Page 6)
Place 2, Lindsey Rodriguez edged
out the incumbent Felix McDon-
ald by only 17 votes. The tally
was 1,779 to 13,762. (A re-check
of the voting machines will be
made in this race.)
SMITH WINS CO. SUPT.
Incumbent Co. School Supt. M.
R. (Jumbo) Smith narrowly
edged out A. B. Elizalde by only
285 votes. The count was 13,387
to 13,079. Smith was ahead 185
votes before the absentee box
was counted and he gained 100
more votes in this box to give
him the 308 margin.
In the race for Representative,
Place 3, A. C. (Bud) Atwood
easily defeated his single oppon-
ent, Santos Ramirez by a count
of 15.522 to 10,270.
There will be only one run-off
race for a county wide office and
that will be for County Treasurer,
where there were three candi-
dates. Mrs. Helen Singleton, the
incumbent led the ticket, but did
not secure a majority over her
two opponents. The vote was 11,-
992 for Mrs. Singleton, 9,534 for
Greg Montoya, and 6,433 for
Adan Cavazos.
Morris Atlas, McAllen, the
present county Demo (Jim., did
not have a close race with chal-
lenger Cruz Alanis of Alamo,
former mayor of that city. The
vote was 15,137 to 8 896.
There will be only one other
run-off race in the county and
that will be fore a Justice of
the Peace position in Mission.
Special Election Is Called For
June 9 to Vote on Sales Tax
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— AND NOW THE BIG ONE
The City of Pharr has called a
special election for the second
Tuesday in June, which is June
9th, for the purpose of voting
on the levying of a 1% sales tax
on local sales and use tax within
the city limits.
Pharr is virtually the only
city of any size in the Valley
which has not voted the 1%
sales tax, as authorized by the
Texas Legislature in the 1967
session.
Every city adjoining Pharr
now has the sales tax and it is
a major source of evenue for
the larger cities, like McAllen,
Harlingen and Brownsville.
The ordinance calling the
election was passed at a meeting
of the City Commission on
How Pharr Voted in Democratic Primary npmn.finp Partw
Here are the final and complete Cavazos 66, Montoya 106. i/vIIIU"Uvi I Ol 1J
Rodriguez Gets
Citation From
State Health Dept.
An official State Health De-
partment citation for work profi-
ciency has been awarded to Ono-
fre Rodriguez Jr., plant opera-
tions specialist for the Pharr wa-
ter department.
Signed by the State Health
Commissioner and authorities of
the Texas Water Utilities Asso-
ciation, the certificate of compe-
tency is awarded only to those
utility plant operators who have
successfully demonstrated their
skill and knowledge in modern
principles of plant management.
To qualify for certification, a
plant operator must have accu-
mulated a prescribed amount of
actual work experience. He must
also have attended both regional
and statewide short schools at
which the techniques of water
treatment and waste water dis-
posal are taught, and must have
passed an examination given by
State Health Department sani-
tary engineers.
State law requires that at least
one operator per shift be certified
for competency by health depart-
ment engineers, but many opera-
tors seek certification on their
own time and at their own ex-
pense to increase their efficiency
as key public servants to their
community and state.
The engineers said the attain-
ment is evidence of Rodriguez’
efforts to better prepare himself
for the duties of his profession.
returns from the Pharr voting
boxes in the Democratic primary
May 2nd. (Vote in contested races
only given).
PRECINCT 25
U. S. Senator — Yarborough
204. Bentsen 301.
Atty. General — Erown 83, Mar-
tin 291.
Land Office — Armstrong 236,
Williams 45; Sadler 120.
RR. Commissioner — Lawson
75, Ramsey 302.
Supreme Court — Davis 65,
Phillips 150, Denton 136.
Court of Criminal Appeals —
Roberts 158, Smith 175.
State Representative, Place 2 —
Rodriguez 174, McDonald 271.
State Representative, Place 3 —
Atwood 291, Ramireiz 132.
County Judge — Gomez 301,
Richardson 207.
County Treasurer — Mrs. Sin-
gleton 250. Cavazos 92, Montoya
106.
Supt. of Co. Schools — Smith
312, Elizalde 130.
County Chairman — Alaniz 123,
Atlas 305.
TOTAL BALLOTS — 519. Ab-
sentees 26.
PRECINCT 6
U. S. Senator — Yarborough
177, Bentsen 370.
Atty. General — Brown 104,
Martin 335.
Land Commissioner — Arm-
strong 243, Williams 73, Sadler
142.
RR. Commissioner — Lawson
76, Ramsey 346.
Supreme Court — Davis 56,
Phillips 170, Denton 172.
Court of Criminal Appeals —
Roberts 187, Smith 184.
State Representative, Place 2 —
Rodriguez 158 McDonald 334.
State Representative, Place 3 —
Atwood 342, Ramirez 135.
County Judge — Gomez 279,
Richardson 265.
Co. Treasurer — Singleton 313.
Co. Schol Supt.
Elizalde 102.
County Chairman -
Atlas 367.
TOTAL BALLOTS
sentees 31.
Smith 395,
Alaniz 105,
558. Ab-
SCHOOL TRUSTEES WILL
MEET MAY 11
The PSJA school trustees will
have their regular monthly meet-
ing next Monday, May 11, in the
board meeting room of the busi-
ness office, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Interested taxpayers and those
who have business before the
board are cordially invited, states
Pres. Justin Card.
PRECINCT 35
U. S. Senator — Yarborough
638, Bentsen 192.
Atty. General' — Brown 111,
Martin 258.
Land Commissioner — Arm-
strong 178, Williams 94, Sadler
112.,
RR. CommisLoner — Lawson
86 Ramsey 253. |
Supreme Court — Davis 85,
Phillips 138, Denton 90.
Court of Appeals — Roberts
115, Smith 179.
State Representative, Place 2 —
Rodriguez 461, McDonald 157.
State Representative, Place 3 —
Atwood 214, Ramltez 334.
Co. Judge v- ! nez 7oj7. Rich-
ardson 88. S u
Co. Treasurer -d Singleton 105,
Cavazos 177, Montoya 331.
Co. School Supt. — Smith .200,
Elizalde 372.
County Chairman — Alaniz
324. Atlas 204.
TOTAL BALLOTS — 894. Ab-
sentees 90.
PRECINCT 36
U. S. Senator — Yarborough
772, Bentsen 196.
Atty. General — Brown 133,
Martin 268.
Land Commissioner — Arm-
strong 234, Williams 62, Sadler
116.
RR. Commissioner — Lawson
84 Ramsay 256.
Supreme Court — Davis 83'
Phillips 118, Denton 105.
Court of Appeals — Roberts
107, Smith 174.
State Representative, Place 2 —
Rodriguez 537, McDonald 119.
State Representative, Place 3 —
Atwood 196 Ramirez 368.
Co. Judge — Gomez 950, Rich-
ardson 80.
Co. Treasurer — Singleton 89,
Cavazos 211, Montoya 352.
Co. School Supt. — Smith 178, j
Elizald 461.
County Chairman — Alaniz
342 Atlas 169.
TOTAL BALLOTS — 1101. Ab-
sentees 131.
Conventions Will
!e Sat., May 9
The county conventions for
the Democratic and Republican
parties will be held this Satur-
day, May 9th, starting at 2 p.m.
The Democratic convention will
be held in the new Pan Ameri-
can College auditorium. The Re-
publican convention will be in
the Courthouse auditorium.
Delegates and alternates elect-
ed at the precinct conventions
are entitled to vote in. the county
convention. Spectators are . wel-
come but they cannot vote, or
speak to the convention, unless
permitted to do so by the chair-
man.
Bank Deposits
Show increase
Of $8 Million
Bank deposits in the four Rio
Grande Valley counties increased
by nearly $8 million over a year
ago in the bank call of April
30th, 1970.
Hidalgo County banks had the
largest increase of this total,
about $6 million, while Cameron
County banks had $1.1 million.
Starr and Willacy banks together
had an increase of about $650,-
000.
The Security State Bank of
Pharr had total deposits of $9,-
641 000. an increase of about
$200 000 over a year ago.
The San Juan State Bank had
deposits of $5,205,000. an increase
of $100,000 while the First State
Bank of Alamo had $3,409,000, an
increase of $375,000.
April 30th.
$24,000—$28,000 Income
Mayor R. S. Bowe this week
estimated that the city would
realize $24,000 to $28,000 per
year income from this source,
based on the present sales in
Pharr. This is not a large sum,
but it will increase year to year
as the city grows, he said, and
we have many places that we
can use this money, like the
garbage dept., burying the trash
and garbage as required under
the pollution laws, and many
other areas.
This 1 per cent sales tax will
be to the benefit of the property
owners, as it will keep the pro-
perty tax lower.
Mayor Bowe declined to ear-
mark the sales tax money for
any one specific use of the city.
Utilities Pay $10,000
About $10,000 income is ex-
pected from the three utilities
in the city, lights gas and tele-
Pharr Has 60%
Voter Turn Out
How many voted in Pharr dur-
ing the Democratic primary May
2?
Here are the totals as reported
by the election judges:
Prct.. 6, SW Pharr — 558. Ab-
sentees 31. Total 589. Registered
voters — Q69
Prct. 25, SE Pharr •— 519. Ab-
sentees 26. Total 544. Registered
voters — 845.
Prct. 35, NW Pharr — 894. Ab-
sentees 90. Total 984. Registered
voters — 1,627.
Prct. 36, NE Pharr — 1,101. Ab-
sentees 131., Total; 1,232. Register-
ed voters — 2,179.
TOTAL VOTES CAST IN
PHARR — 3.349. Total registered
voters — 5,620. Percentage voting
60%.
phone, Mayor Bowe said. Under
the present 2 per cent gross re-
ceipts tax, these three utilities
pay the city about $20,000 per
year. Pharr is limited with the
number of large retail sales out-
lets that collect the sales tax:,
and it is estimated that an ad-
ditional $14,000 to $18,000 would
be paid by all the other business
outlets, under present sales.
Voting machines will be used.
There will be only one polling
place and this will be the City?
Hall Bldg, on West Park. Ken-
neth Walters has been named
the presiding judge with Jack
Christoffel the assistant.
Absentee voting will begin 20
days prior to the election.
SEEN ’ROUND
THE TOWN
the
the
Throw-Away Bottles, Cans Are Major
Problems in Street, Highway Clean On
In recent years the trend in
both the brewery and soft drink
industries has been to move
away from the deposit bottles
(glass) to the “throw-away” bot-
tle and can. This movement was
slow at first, but it has now
reached tremendous momentum.
It is unlikely that these indus-
tries had any idea of the prob-
lem that this change would
cause. The litter problem was al-
ready major, but not too much
of this litter was deposit bottles,
as they were readily redeemable
at retail outlets. But now hun-
dreds of thousands of these
throw-aways are tossed out car
windows on our highways and
roads, and on city streets and
lawns, scattered all over our
beaches and in our national parks
and amusement centers. This has
become a great part of our litter
problem, and the cost of clean-
ing up all this mess runs into
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS A
YEAR!
Mr. Taxpayer, this is your j
money. This is money that could j
be spent for education, for parks (
and for wildlife sanctuaries, as
well as for countless other much-
needed things.
The throw-aways must go!
Let’s all become aroused about
this ridiculous waste of money.
Write your congressmen, your
United States senators, and jmur j
State of Texas legislators. Ask
them all to enact legislation that
will make it mandatory to sell
beer and soft drinks only in de-
posit containers. Let’s flood our
legislative bodies with mail! Start
today, and let’s not quit until the
job is done.
REMEMBER! This does not re-
lieve anybody from his responsi-
bility not to throw any kind of
litter on our streets, highways
and private properties.
Pharr Beautification Committee
R. B. Berrie, Acting Chairman
WEATHEF VFPORT
High Low Rain
May 1 96 67
May 2 69 55 .98
May 3 .65 55 .06
May 4 ........79 49
May 5 ..........82 51
May 6 83 51
Mav 7 83 53
420 Vote in
GOP Primary
A total of 420 voted in
| Republican primary over
County in the primary last Sat-
urday.
George Bush, candidate for the
U. S. Senate, and Paul Eggers.
| candidate for Governor, won over
their opponents by by about 10
to 1.
These were the only contested
races on the GOP ballot.
Bush will oppose Lloyd Benten
for the U. S. Senate seat and
Eggers will .run against Preston
Smith in the general election
this November.
Billy Nash To Make
TV Debut Saturday
Pharr’s teen-age singing star
of eight and 10 years ago will ap-
pear on national television this
Saturday (May 9th) when he will
introduce his newest record.
He is none other than Billy
Nash, the youngest and the
smallest of the Nash Trio of
those years. He is now from Los
Angeles, Calif.
He will appear on the TV
show of “Get It Together” on
Saturday, 11 a.m., Valley time, on
Channel 3 (Cable TV). Mama
Cass Elliott is the host for this
show, which originates in Los
Angeles.
He will sing “First Day in My
Life Without You.”
He will have a new name for
this record and for the TV show
and it is Michael Brennan.
He has been booked to appear
regularly on the Merv Griffin
Show on NBC later this year.
Pharr Rainfall
Rainfall measured in Pharr
since last publication has been as
follows:
May 1 ..................05 inch
May 2 ..................40 inch
TOTAL............45 inch
LEO PALACIOS IS
RE-ELECTED COMMITTEEMAN
Leopoldo Palacios, Jr., was re-
elected Democratic committeeman
for Prct. 36 (Northeast Pharr) in
the primary election Saturday.
He received 454 votes to 154 for
his opponent, Francisco Guzman.
J. F. LANUM, the hard work-
ing director of the PSJA School
Dist. maintenance program, was
off the job recently for 25 days,
the first time in nine years that
he has missed work. He became
seriously ill while up at San Mar-
cos, spent two weeks in a hos-
iptal there and two weeks in bed.
at home. . . . J. O. JAMETON,
long time Pharr resident, now of
Houston, can still write those let-
ters as several of his buddies
here heard from him after a
lapse of a few months. . . . MRS.
DELIA BROWN of West Caffery
did it again. Last year, she was
the first to produce new peaches
from the spring bloom and this
week, she brought in a generous
supply from her large trees in
her back yard. They were not
only good , size but very delec-
table. . . . ’Edinburg seems fto be
having some “home town” poli-
tics going on. In the recent Demo,
primary, there were contested
races for four of the Prct. Com-
mitteeman races, nearly unheard:
of in Democratic circles. One of
the candidates was CHRIS QUIN-
TANILLA, an employee in the
Model Cities program. . . . With
the defeat of long time Co. Judge
MILTON RICHARDSON, La Raza
Unida party, that was making so
much noise, has lost most of its
reason for existence. They will
NOT put a candidate in the coun-
ty judge’s race now, and it is
doubtful if they will put anyone
on the ballot in the general elec-
tion. ... Do you remember the
“crying tree” down La Feria way
that attracted so much attention
a couple years ago? Well, ROY
WEIR says he has one in his
hack yard on Jackson St. In the
afternoon, with the sun shining,
you can see the fine mist drip-
ping from the leaves. . . . De-
feated Senatorial Candidate Yar-
borough made the classic cam-
paign utterance that has ever
been made, when he said in a
speech at Corpus Christi that his
opponent had as much chance
beating him afe a Santa Gertrudis
bull had of winning the Ken-
tucky Derby! ... A feature arti-
cle in this paper a couple weeks
ago written by the Editor and
quoting MORRIS JONES caused
a number of cotton grower
friends to question him about
the price of cotton. The article
should have said that Mr. Jones
was expecting the price of cot-
ton to go 50 to 100 POINTS above
the loan by harvest time. (The
article said 50c to $1 above the
loan). . . . Most businessmen
seem .to be pleased that MAYOR
BOWE and the City Commission
have called a special election on
the 1% city sales tax. Pharr is
- j kind of like a small island in an
HAVE YOU BEEN COUNTED? | ocean — the only town without
The official U. S. census is a city sales tax! . . . Many poli-
nearing completion. Have you ticos contend that ED GOMEZ
filled out the form and has it j made such a sweep of the judge’s
been picked up by a census ta-
ker? If you have been missed,
call the U. S. Census Bureau,
McAllen, immediately as workers
are trying to complete their tasks
this week.
FRESHMAN CHEERLEADERS at Austin Junior High School
are. left to right, Debbie Hinkle, Judy Hancock, Rose Ann
Smith, Norma Canche, Estelle Carney. (Photo from Bruin’s
Trail).
LIBRARY HOURS
The Pharr Memorial Library is
open six days a week, 9 a.m. to
5 p.m., Monday through Satur-
day.
A library card is necessary in
order to check out a book. Appli-
cation for a card may be made at
the library.
race because so many people
knew his voice from radio and
knew his voice and face from TV.
. . . Water Report: May 6 —
Pharr water — 1,500 PPM total
soluable salts, 511 PPM total
chlorides. McAllen — 600 PPM
total soluble salts, 114 PPM total
chlorides. One reader asks “What
are chlorides composed of?” In
this case, it is plain table salt.
Pharr water has nearly five times
as much table salt as McAllen
water. . . A Jacaranda tree is in
full bloom opposite entrance to
Pharr Memorial Library. . .
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Glover, Lloyd H. The Pharr Press (Pharr, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 7, 1970, newspaper, May 7, 1970; Pharr, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth715020/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Pharr Memorial Library.