November 7, 2014 - Progress Times Issue

Friday, November 7, 2014

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VOTERS REJECT HEALTHY HIDALGO

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By Julie Silva

last-minute push to thwart a hospital district proved successful Tuesday night as the 8-cent tax rate was voted down by 52 percent of Hidalgo County residents who cast a ballot.

In recent weeks, Mission Mayor Norberto “Beto” Salinas launched a campaign against the move, after seeing the maximum cap for the tax listed on sample ballots was 75 cents. Not only did Salinas publish ads in the Progress Times, but he also helped pay for nearly $6,000 in commercial time for an ad opposing the hospital district.

State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, who had champi-

oned the cause, promised to file legislation in the coming session to lower the cap to 25 cents, but Salinas didn’t trust the ballot language.

“They had their chance to put it at 25 cents. They lost their chance,” Salinas said, emphasizing that more than 36,000 people voted against the tax.

Currently, Hidalgo County must set aside 8 percent of its own budget to send to the state. The county would have had veto power over the hospital district board and had the final say on the tax rate, which would have been subject to rollback guidelines.

Hospitals in the area contributed nearly $350,000 to the Healthy Hidalgo Committee to promote the bene-

fits of the tax rate over recent months. Donations came from Mission Regional Medical Center ($40,640), Doctors Hospital at Renaissance ($147,760), Knapp Medical Center ($44,480), and UHS of Delaware ($115,680).

Out of 71,110 ballots, 36,809 were cast against the hospital district tax. The 8-cent tax rate would have raised about $20 million annually, to be split between the proposed medical school and indigent healthcare, which currently is paid for by the county. Had the hospital district been approved, the members of the county commissioners court indicated at their last meeting, they’d be willing to cut the county tax rate by about 2

cents, eliminating about $6 million in revenue budgeted for indigent healthcare.

County Judge Ramon Garcia said the vote changes nothing for the county. It’s the community that will be affected, he said. The county will continue to send $6 million to the state each year for indigent healthcare, and it will keep its commitment to pay $1 million a year for the medical school. The most beneficial thing the hospital district would have provided, Garcia said, is additional federal funding through the 1115 waiver program.

“You give them a million and they give you 2.5 million back. Why do they do that?

I don’t know. But because of that method that they have,

we have to put together some dollars to then send to the government. That’s where we’re going to be lacking in our ability to access federal matching funds, but we live in a democracy, and those are the rules.”

Garcia said he believes the tax cap still will be lowered from 75 cents to 25 cents in the upcoming session. The hospital district can be placed back on the ballot in the future with another petition containing 50 voter signatures.

But Salinas said the measure shouldn’t be placed on the ballot for at least four years.

“It would be unfair to the people who voted against them,” he said.

Salinas was never for the new tax, but at one point he agreed to support the hospital district if the city of Mission was given a seat on the board and the cap was lowered to 25 cents. The compromise seemed likely until he saw the sample ballot.

The whole thing always was about the hospitals, not the medical school as advertised, Salinas said, adding that the city of Mission is willing to participate and help with the school. McAllen has committed $2 million and Edinburg and Hidalgo County has committed $1 million each to help fund the medical school, while the cities of Mission and Pharr

See HOSPITAL DISTRICT 11A

EAGLE PRIDE Helen Spalding during Desert Storm

Female veterans reflect on war service

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By Julie Silva

First MHS graduating class reunites 50 years later

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By Julie Silva loria Garza stopped mid-sentence as the intro to “Hand Jive” filled up Balli’s ballroom Saturday night.

“Sorry, but she’s been so excited about this,” Garza said, pointing to Ella Bautista Bone, who already was on the dance floor and bouncing in rhythm to the song.

The two were the first ones to get the party started, slapping their thighs, clapping and shimmying to the song. A handful more women had joined them by the time Chubby Checker started singing, “The Twist.”

It’s been 50 years since Garza, Bautista and about 150 others graduated from Mission High School, but they don’t appear to have missed a beat. The class of 1965 was the first graduating class to walk the halls of what was then the new Mission High School.

Now in their late 60s, they gathered Homecoming weekend to reminisce, compare grandbabies and do quite a bit of dancing. Friday

night before the game, they filled the banquet room at El Patio, joined by their former English teacher, 97-year-old Dorothy Suter.

“Oh, Mrs. Suter, you haven’t changed,” one student exclaimed. “You haven’t; we have.”

Suter, who taught 25 years at Mission High School, said each of her students were precious. And one-by-one as they came to greet her, she took their faces in her hands and told them how good it was to see them.

“They were all my kids,” said Suter, who moved to Concan nine months ago after living 70 years in Mission.

Saturday, former teachers Harlan Woods and Maria Lydia Rodriguez also joined their former students at the banquet at Balli’s Social Event Center.

“The best times of my life were at Mission High School,” said state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, a ’65 alum. “It was the innocence of life.”

See CLASS OF ’65 12A

TOP: Members of the Mission High School Class of 1965 walk the field at Tom Landry Stadium Oct. 31 as part of their 50th reunion. The Class of 1965 was the first class to graduate from the new Mission High School. BOTTOM: State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, a ’65 graduate, stands with retired teacher Dorothy Suter. Progress Times photos by Doug Young

“The Class of 1965 really paved the way in the way we treated each other with respect and dignity, but we also liked each other.”

--Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa

INSIDE

INDEX

hen Helen Spalding joined the Navy in the 1980s, the economy was in a recession and she was 26 with a master’s degree in divinity.

The Navy allowed her to join as an undesignated striker, so she didn’t have an assigned job.

“Which means for most folks, four years of chipping paint and swabbing, unless you have a good LPO, lead petty officer, who takes an interest in you,” said Spalding, now a La Joya resident.

Meanwhile, Mission resident Cindy Young said she joined the Army in the ’60s having been recruited while in nursing school. Young said she wanted adventure, and she didn’t want to get stuck in her hometown. At first, her father, an Army man himself and World War II veteran was against the idea of joining the service, until she told him she’d be an officer.

As Veterans Day nears on Tuesday, Nov. 11, both Spalding and Young said they’re rarely asked to talk about their time in the service.

Boot camp In boot camp, ensigns are asked to write down five choices of “what you would like to be when you grow up,” Spalding remembered.

She eventually was chosen

to train on her fourth choice, aerographer, or as Spalding puts it, “weather guesser.”

She came out on the top of her class and had her pick of the jobs, but Spalding had decided in the first few weeks of training that her pick was anything but weather guesser.

“That means I’m supposed to know something about clouds,” Spalding said.

She plowed back into the system, spending a year on a base in central Illinois, working at a service school command attached to an Air Force base. After turning down an assignment, it seemed unlikely she’d get another one, but Spalding said God blessed her and she was able to get a seat in Officer Candidate School after her commander wrote her a glowing evaluation. She moved five grades up the ranks in 18 months.

She plowed back again after Officer Candidate School, and ended up working as a company commander in Virginia before transferring to Key West, Florida, which she said was a right fit for her.

And when a friend on recruiting duty called and asked Spalding if she was interested in being a chaplain, she was on the fence.

She enjoyed Key West and

See VETERANS 5A

Bert Ogden to sell Maseratis

Chief leaves firefighter legacy

Butterfly enthusiasts spot rare specimen

Dealership expects to open on expressway in Mission in December.

Saldaña ends 33-year career in firefighting and retires from city of Mission.

The blue-studded skipper was photographed during a field trip west of La Joya.

See story page 3B

See story page 8A

See story page 3A

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entertainment

November 7, 2014 page 2A www.progresstimes.net NEWS | SPORTS | ENTERTAINMENT | PHOTOS

New season, new director for McAllen Symphonic Band

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he McAllen Symphonic Band (MSB) will open the new season with a new director. Under the direction of Rogelio Olivarez, the 2014-2015 concert season begins Tuesday, Nov. 11, with a patriotic tribute to “Heroes” at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Worship Center in McAllen.

A native of Rio Grande City, Olivarez is currently the director of Fine Arts for Rio Grande City CISD, a position he has held since May of 2010. He has been employed with the school district since 1980, when he started as a flute and saxophone instructor and teaching concert band at RGC High School. He be-

came head director in 1999 and his bands achieved numerous honors at both UIL competitions as well as music festivals in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. The band and mariachi programs at RGCCISD are known for their exemplary performance standards and both numerous awards and honors.

Olivarez auditioned on May 5 to direct the symphonic band and only had about five rehearsals to get the band ready for its 4th of July concert in his first debut.

He said, “I was very impressed with the commitment from the band. There was always a sense of ‘we can do

this’ attitude from the group.

I am very appreciative to the high school students from Sharyland and surrounding areas who attended rehearsals and filled in the sections. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

He says his impression of the Band so far is that they loved to be challenged.

“They have set a high musical standard for themselves and I’m very pleased with their work ethic and dedi-

Community invited to join in MHS holiday concert

EWBC celebrates birds T and art on Nov. 15

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he public is invited to come out and celebrate the fall seasons with the beauty of birds and works of art on Saturday, Nov. 15, during the Annual Migration Celebration /Art in the Park at the Edinburg World Birding Center. The free event will be held from 2 to 9 p.m.

Activities include guest speakers, guided nature walks, games, crafts, face painting and original artwork displayed throughout the grounds from 2 to 6 p.m.

There will be a special outdoor screening of the movie “Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'Hoole” at 7 p.m.

Bring lawn chairs, blankets, pillows, and insect repellent.

Lawn chairs will also be available for rent.

The Annual Art in the Park showcase features art work from students in five art categories: photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and mixed media. Submitted art will be displayed throughout the EWBC grounds for visitors to view. Winners will be announced at 3:30 p.m.

Snacks and beverages will

be available for purchase.

The EWBC is located at 714 Raul Longoria Rd., Edinburg. For more information, call 381-9922 or 381-5631.

Ambassadors seek male singers

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n open invitation is extended to local residents and Winter Texan male singers to sit in on any of the informal practices with the RGV Senior Ambassadors Chorus. This is not an audition, but rather an opportunity for individuals to see if the chorus is a personal fit for participation.

Practices are held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Fridays and begin today, Nov. 7, at West Bentsen Grove Park, 810 Bentsen Palm Dr. The group performs at about a dozen RGV Parks and public venues during the 2014-15 season at mobile parks or public concerts.

For more information, call Robert Burnam at 2874087.

cation. This makes my job easier. They also seem to get along with each other and we have lots of fun in rehearsals.”

He feels that the biggest challenge thus far is the fact they only rehearse once a week.

“I was used to rehearsing on a daily basis and knowing that most of the band would be present every day. The other challenge is that we usually do not have the same

he Mission High School (MHS) Eagle Choir will be hosting a special holiday concert on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mission High School Auditorium. What will make this a special event are the participants.

The MHS choir is inviting all choir alumni, Mission CISD employees, and interested community members to participate.

“Don’t worry if you haven’t sung in a while, or feel you can’t sing,” said Kat Callaway, choir director. “Our aim is to gather together and enjoy a wonderful evening of beautiful music.”

Anyone interested in

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participating should contact Callaway 802-2015 (text or voice mail), or kjcallaway13@gmail.com. When leaving a message, be sure to leave a name, contact phone number, preferred voice part and an email address.

Copies of the music and learning CD’s for each voice part will be available beginning Nov. 17. To reserve a copy and confirm participation, contact Callaway as soon as possible.

All the participants will meet for a combined rehearsal at 6 p.m. prior to the concert on December 18 so everyone will have the chance to sing together before the public performance.

Alleviate ‘sugar sag’ with healthier diet

OUSTON – Everyone wants to age gracefully but they may not know that certain foods cause "sugar sag," which results in wrinkles and loose skin, according to Dr. Rajani Katta, professor in the department of dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine “Sugar sag is essentially a loss of elasticity in the skin that occurs from elevated levels of blood sugar, explains

Dr. Katta. “Naturally over time everyone's skin will begin to lose elasticity, however eating certain foods over time can accelerate the process.”

While many think of sugar itself as the main culprit, any foods that raise blood sugar, including simple carbohydrates, such as white bread and white rice, can cause collagen fibers to become brittle and not function as well.

"Research has shown that elevated blood sugar can lead to changes in the collagen and elastic fibers of the skin via a process known as glycation," Katta said. "This results in cross-linking of the skin fibers, causing increased stiffness and reduced elasticity."

These changes promote wrinkles, and once wrinkles are formed, there is no natural remedy to reverse it.

However, it is possible to counteract it, says Katta.

She recommends that people incorporate more fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices into their diets as a way to prevent sugar sag and its negative effects, like wrinkles and jowls.

These foods keep the skin healthy and slow the process of visible aging on the skin.

"The idea behind preventing sugar sag is 'better skin from the inside out,'" said Katta. "What you eat affects your skin."

Dr. Katta also recommends protecting skin from the sun and not smoking as proactive ways to care for skin and age gracefully through life.

group of musicians from week to week,” he said. “August, September, October and the first part of November is rough because many of the band directors that play with the group are working with their high school bands getting ready for Pigskin (UIL marching contest). But the people that are there every week have a sense of dedication and loyalty to the group that has truly made a positive impression on me.”

Incorporated in 1974, the Band is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide cultural entertainment to the community and an outlet for local musicians who enjoy

rehearsing and playing a variety of music.

The 2014-2015 MSB season concert dates include Dec. 16, “Stille Nacht”; Feb.10, 2015, “Let’s Dance!”; and March 24, 2015, “Journey Through American Music.”

All concerts are held at Trinity Worship Center at 7:30p.m. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at all Wilder Resorts locations, Weslaco Chamber of Commerce, all McAllen Community Centers and at the door the evening of the concert (if available).

Visit the Band’s website at www.mcallentownband.org for more information.

Coming Attractions

November 7 • Doors open at 7 p.m. for the John Anderson and Mark Chestnutt anniversary concert at the Pharr Events Center, 3000 N. Cage. Tickets are $20 general admission and $37 for reserved seating. Call 800-745-3000 or go to ticketmaster.com to purchase.

• Los Tigres Del Norte, Joan Sebastian and El Chapo de Sinaloa perform at 7 p.m. at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. show. Go to ticketmaster.com or call 800-745-3000 to purchase.

Tickets range from $59.50 to $175 per person.

November 8 • The opening reception for the Upper Valley Art League’s next exhibit, “Beams of Light,” takes place in the UVAL gallery on Saturday, Nov. 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. The themed exhibit captures the essence of the interplay of beams of light.

Each piece is an original work of art captured in a variety of mediums, including photography.

The public is invited to the free event. Light refreshments will be served. UVAL is located in the Kika De La Garza Fine Arts Center, 921 E. 12th St. in Mission. Call 583-2787 for further information.

November 8 • He’s lovable, he’s huggable and he’s all “fluffy.”

He’s comedic talent Gabriel Iglesias, and he’s performing at State Farm Arena at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets range from $30 to $65 and are available at ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

November 9 • Lionel Richie performs at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo for one night only. Show starts 8:30 p.m.; doors open at 7 p.m. Ticket prices range from $75 to $245 and are on sale at ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

November 13-23 • The Pharr Community Theater presents their pro-

duction of “Pat & Lyndon” based on a script by Archer Crosley and directed by Luis Moreno. The two-act play will be staged at the Carnahan Elementary auditorium, 317 W. Gore St. in Pharr.

It’s the story of two men who went to Vietnam and died. Pat in body and Lyndon in spirit. Pat was a soldier, Lyndon was the 36th President of the United States. Showtimes are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $7 general admission and $5 for anyone under 18. For more information, call 648-2488 or 655-9308.

November 14-16 • The Upper Valley Art League (UVAL) second Mission Celebration of Fine Art show will be held at the Mission Community Center at 1420 E. Kika de la Garza Loop.

Artists will be exhibiting original works of fine art in oil, watercolor, acrylic, mixed media, drawing, sculptures, ceramics, jewelry, fiber art, encaustic and photography. Participating artists will demonstrate their various mediums on site all three days of the event and will also have works available for sale.

Show hours are Friday from 1 to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The show is free and open to the public. Vendors will have food to sell.

November 15 • The Ballet Folklorico South Texas College presents the Amistades Concert Series 2014 at the Edinburg city auditorium. They are joining with El Ballet Folclorico del Nuevo Santander for a special one-time performance of both institutions of higher education.

It begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 (cash only) per person, payable at the door. The auditorium is located at 415 W. McIntyre St. in Edinburg.

To see the complete Coming Attractions calendar, go to www.ptrgv.com.

November 7, 2014

Singleterry takes the bench in overwhelming victory

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By Lea Victoria Juarez aime Tijerina’s victory party had only just begun before the early votes were tallied and he found out his position didn’t look too good in the race for the 92nd District bench.

The Mission native hosted an intimate gathering at Renee’s of Sharyland Tuesday night. The party was expected to last until about 9:30 p.m., but around 7:30 p.m. Tijerina informed his guests that his opponent Luis Manuel Singleterry was ahead with 33,530 votes and he, Tijerina, only raked in 18,091.

“Early voting and the mail-ins are at a point to where we probably won’t come back to win it,” Tijerina said to the crowd. “So I wanted to let you know that now in case you had something else to do tonight. But we are at such a deficit where we would have to win [election night votes] at about 80/20, which I don’t think will happen.”

He thanked his family and supporters for their help, cracked jokes and reminisced over his campaign days before grasping his beverage and stepping away from the podium.

Only a few hours before, while polls were still open, he addressed another crowd at Bannworth Park and told them he would be happy no matter the outcome. After seeing the early voting results, Tijerina said he still felt that way, even though it was a bitter pill to swallow.

“What I’m doing now doesn’t define me. I’m just happy to serve the community as long as I can,” Tijerina said. “So if they don’t want me to serve, then I’ll move on to something else. I’m perfectly happy with that.”

Tijerina was appointed to the bench by Gov. Rick Perry last year to fill the position vacated by Ricardo Rodriguez, who left to run a successful campaign for district attorney. The judge will finish out the next two months on the bench and work with Singleterry during the transition.

“You can tell the public that I’m ready, willing and

page 3A

www.progresstimes.net | www.sharylandtimes.com

Luis Manuel Singleterry celebrated his victory at he Pharr Events Center Tuesday night. Singleterry beat out Mission native Jaime Tijerina as judge for the 92nd District Court.

able to do it again if they want me to,” Tijerina said.

“One day they will be ready for Judge Jaime Tijerina.”

Meanwhile, at the Pharr Events Center, Singleterry was at his own victory party with family, friends and supporters. Country music boomed on the speakers and the smell of Mexican food filtered through the air. The newly elected judge of the 92nd District Court posed for photo after photo with a smile perpetually stretched

across his face.

It’s been a tough 15 months, he said. The campaign was stressful and took time away from his family, but in the end he came out the victor. Although, he said he wasn’t surprised with the results.

"It’s not won or lost in a day. This is just like anything else. You're going to get out of it what you put into it,” the judge said. “We put in a lot

See SINGLETERRY 11A

Rare butterfly sighted west of La Joya

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group of butterfly enthusiasts received an unexpected treat last Sunday during a Texas Butterfly Festival field trip. Nature photographer and driver for the group, Luciano Guerra, spotted and photographed an extremely rare butterfly.

While Guerra did not immediately recognize the butterfly, the group’s guide Bob Behrstock identified it as the rare Blue-studded Skipper, a species that has not been spotted in the Rio Grande Valley in decades. Guerra and other members of the group observed the butterfly at the Yturria NWR tract located west of La Joya.

Marianna Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, which hosts the Butterfly Festival, had experts check the databases for any record of this species being spotted in the U.S. and no record was found in the NABA BIS (Butterflies I’ve Seen) database. An old legacy report of a Blue-studded Skipper in the U.S. was found on the Butterflies and Moths of North America website: http:// www.butterfliesandmoths. org/species/Sostrata-nordica.

Courtesy Luciano Guerra/National Butterfly Center

This site reports this butterfly’s range is usually from Argentina to Mexico, with rare strays into the Rio Grande Valley. Apparently, there is no record of sightings of this butterfly in the U.S. in decades, perhaps the 1950s.

“Blue-studded Skipper in the U.S. is very cool,” said Jim Springer of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA).

NABA President Jeffrey Glassberg also went out to search for the rare specimen.

Since it was first spotted Sunday, the rare Skipper has become a “chase” butterfly, with other naturalists and butterflyers going to the site where it was located to

try to catch a glimpse of this unusual find. It was spotted again on Monday and groups continued to visit the area this week in search of it.

Other unusual butterflies have been spotted during the Butterfly Festival, Wright said.

“Additionally, we have a Starred Skipper in McAllen, and a Telea Hairstreak and a Pearly-gray Hairstreak in Falcon Heights (at the Baptist parsonage/Berry Nall's home). Trips are still out, today, and the NABA butterfly count is tomorrow, so we continue to look for more exceptional species and unusual finds,” Wright reported on Tuesday.

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opinion

By Ed Sterling Texas Press Association

STATE CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS

USTIN — The Secretary of State’s Elections Division on Oct. 31 posted early voting turnouts for each of the state’s 15 highest-population counties: Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, Collin, Denton, El Paso, Fort Bend, Hidalgo, Montgomery, Williamson, Galveston, Nueces and Cameron.

Of the 8,978,313 registered voters in those counties, 1,715,731 voted early in person or by mail. That’s a 19.11 percent cumulative early voting percentage.

To compare with the last midterm election, in 2010, the cumulative early voting total for those 15 counties was 1,731,589 ballots cast out of 8,339,034 registered voters, or 20.76 percent of the total.

Governor greets Toyota Gov. Rick Perry on Oct. 27 welcomed New York, N.Y.-based Toyota Motor North America Inc. to Plano, where its new headquarters will be built. The manufacturer’s relocation to Plano is supported by a $40 million investment from the business-luring Texas Enterprise Fund administered by the governor’s office.

The facility, to be completed in late 2016 or early 2017, will bring nearly 4,000 jobs and more than $300 million in capital investment to North Texas, according to Perry’s Oct. 27 statement. Toyota Motor North America, combined with 21 on-site suppliers, already supports some 6,000 jobs in San Antonio, including 2,900 from its $2.3 billion manufacturing plant.

TxDOT ends gravel policy Texas Department of Transportation in the summer of 2013 announced a plan to convert 83 miles

of “significantly damaged paved roads” in the Eagle Ford Shale energy-producing region to gravel surface as a temporary budget-cutting measure.

In an Oct. 24 letter to the Legislative Budget Board, TxDOT announced the formal termination of its “highend unpaved road conversion policy” and requested access to $402 million in additional funding for Fiscal Year 2015 with half going to safety projects across the state and the remainder toward roadways affected by the state’s growing energy sector.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst praised TxDOT’s announcement, saying, “Texas families and businesses in both rural and urban areas deserve a comprehensive firstrate transportation system and they’ll get it.”

Nurse recovers from Ebola Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner Dr. David Lakey on Oct. 28 expressed relief when Amber Vinson, a nurse with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, was declared free of the Ebola virus last week. She was in isolation and receiving treatment at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

“We are so pleased that Amber Vinson has been declared free of Ebola. She is one of the health care workers who bravely provided care to the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States.

“Through excellent health care and her own courage, she beat the disease. Based on the clinical and lab findings, people are not at risk of getting the disease from her, and she has been completely cleared.

We wish her the best as she transitions back to a normal life, and we welcome her back home to Texas,” Lakey said in an official statement.

Summit focuses on bullying “Bullying remains one of the most prevalent and widely discussed topics pertaining to school safety and security,” Texas Education Agency announced during Texas Safe Schools Week, Oct. 19-25.

During the week, Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University in San Marcos and the Texas Education Agency spotlighted resources available to help school districts and charters address and combat bullying and cyber-bullying on campuses. Also, Texas School Safety Center presented the 2nd Annual Texas Bully Prevention Summit on Oct. 30 in San Marcos.

Drought conditions persist Gov. Perry on Oct. 28 announced the renewal of the emergency disaster proclamation the governor originally signed in July 2011, certifying that exceptional drought conditions posed a threat of imminent disaster in specified counties in Texas.

This month, the proclamation applies to 98 of the state’s 254 counties. In contrast, the proclamation applied to 113 specified counties last month.

The drought proclamation directs that “all necessary measures, both public and private” as authorized by state law “be implemented to meet that threat” and “all rules and regulations that may inhibit or prevent prompt response to this threat are suspended for the duration of the state of disaster.”

November 7, 2014 page 4A www.progresstimes.net NEWS | SPORTS | ENTERTAINMENT | PHOTOS

Letter to the Editor:

Reader: Rolling blackouts in Valley are Un-American R To the editor, ecently I read an interesting article about our recent rolling blackouts. Fortunately you don’t need to know anything about megawatts, voltage, amps or transmission lines to understand what is going on.

I’m a “utility brat” who, as a child of an AEP executive vice president in the ’80s, learned a lot about our electrical distribution business.

Therefore, I can clearly tell you we are being sold down the Rio Grande with the help of our do nothing PUC, Frontera and ERCOT. In a nut shell what Frontera wants and it appears ERCOT is willing to support is that Rio Grande Valley customers will be last on the list for power when the supply,

without the Frontera generators, can not meet demand.

We could have rolling blackouts while power generated

by Frontera an American company, or should that be “un-American company”, from American natural resources is sold to Mexico where Frontera can get a better profit structure.

Legal? Probably, if approved. Right? Certainly not! Un-American, most assuredly!

I have no problem with Frontera selling excess capacity to Mexico. That’s just good business. However the PUC must require that all of the Valley demand plus a reserve amount is covered before the first kilowatt is sold to Mexico. It will be interesting to see if our do nothing

PUC, which routinely approves almost every rate increase and is responsible for our meters that can turn your power off with no personal contact, will again cave to Big Business.

I would also like to ask State Rep. Rene’ Oliveira if he has any stock in Frontera since he is supporting them.

It certainly seems like he has very little interest in the Valley having reliable power.

Here is where to send your complaint: Texas PUC 1701 N. Congress Avenue PO Box 13326 Austin, TX 78711-3326 Or customer@puc.texas.gov Signed, Ned Sheats Mission, Tx

Hinojosa on the passage of Texas’ constitutional amendment for transportation funding

Voters approved the statewide ballot proposition for a constitutional amendment to fund transportation infrastructure maintenance and improvements Tuesday.

Currently, the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) receives 75 percent of the state’s annual oil and gas production tax collections that exceed the amount collected in fiscal year 1987, when it was created. The amendment would direct half of the money currently destined for the ESF to the State Highway Fund. The remaining half would continue to build the unspent balance of the ESF. The Texas Department of Transportation has projected a transportation funding gap to just over $4 billion dollars annually. In order to accommodate the safety and maintenance demands brought about by the booming energy

sector, the $4 billion need has increased to $5 billion annually.

State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa issued the following statement on the passage of the constitutional amendment: “I am pleased to see Texan’s approve the ballot proposition for transportation funding. The newly approved constitutional amendment will provide approximately $1.7 billion in the first year alone to go toward much needed transportation improvements and maintenance without any new taxes, fees, or debt.

“The approval of this ballot measure is an important step to filling our current $5 billion annual shortfall for transportation funding.

“The Texas Legislature must still come up with a viable “Texas solution” to fund our transportation shortfall.

As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Transportation Funding, I looking forward to weighing all options and remain committed to delivering a sustainable funding solution to provide the transportation infrastructure our state needs and Texans deserve.”

Hinojosa represents the counties of Nueces, Jim Wells, Brooks, and Hidalgo (part). Hinojosa serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, a member of the Select Committee on Transportation Funding, Joint-Interim Committee to Study Water Desalination, and serves on the Senate Committees on Natural Resources, Criminal Justice, Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security, as well as the Legislative Budget Board (LBB).

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1217 N. Conway • Mission, TX (956) 585-4893 MEMBER 2014

TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION

The Progress Times (USPS 971-420; ISSN 0890-2666) is published each Friday by Mission Publishing Co., 1217 N. Conway, Mission, Texas 78572, (956) 585-4893. Subscriptions $20 annual in Hidalgo County; $25 outside of Hidalgo County. Second class postage paid in Mission, Texas 78572. ©2014 Mission Publishing Company, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the PROGRESS TIMES, P.O. Box 399, Mission Texas 78573.

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November 7, 2014

VETERANS from pg 1A

the fact that there was no snow or earthquakes in the area. She had made friends with the Navy divers who encouraged her to join them, but she joked that she liked having her hands and fingers right where they were.

Still, Spalding followed her calling and ended up a chaplain at Parris Island, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in South Carolina. It was about 1990 and she soon volunteered to go to Desert Storm.

Meanwhile, Young graduated in 1968 from a nursing school in Ohio and promptly was activated and sent to Ft. Sam Houston.

She first was assigned to the neurosurgery and maxillofacial intensive care unit in San Francisco in November 1968. The day before Christmas she received orders to go to Vietnam.

“They had told us in basic training, ‘If your recruiter told you you wouldn’t be going to Vietnam, you were misled,’” Young said. “But the reality was I wanted to go. What an adventure, personally and professionally, really.”

Wartime Spalding expected Saudi Arabia to be hot and dry, but when she arrived it was cold and drizzly–that was until about March, she said, when someone flipped the heat on.

The sand was like talcum powder, except gritty.

At one point she was transferred from the Marine Corps Hospital, which had hot, running water, sheets and air conditioning, to a post with no running water where they were allowed showers twice a week.

She worked with a Greek Orthodox chaplain and remembered working out a deal with him when he wanted to celebrate Pascha, a festival held the night before Christ is said to have risen during Passover. Spalding helped him obtain supplies needed, like candles, and in return she asked him to include a doctor over at the hospital who was Greek Orthodox, but hadn’t seen an orthodox priest since he’d been in the

www.progresstimes.net | www.sharylandtimes.com country.

The chaplain agreed, and Spalding went with a driver to pick up the doctor. At the hospital, a bus full of Polish nurses had arrived and the group ended up leaving at the same time as Spalding and her group left.

In the rearview mirror, Spalding’s driver saw the bus get pulled over by Saudi Arabian authorities, and Spalding asked him to turn around.

“I didn’t want to see the busload of Christians being mistreated,” she said.

“The Saudis are not going to mess with Americans in uniform.

They’re not going to mess with Brits in uniform. Everybody else is fair game.”

The Saudi Arabians didn’t speak English, so Spalding said she resorted to charades to get her point across.

“I looked at the nurses, and I said, ‘Mine,’” said Spalding, crossing her arms over herself to show possession. “Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine” “And the guy’s just staring at me, so I look at the driver and say, ‘Get the hell out of here before he changes his mind,” Spalding said.

Her driver, she remembered was sweating bullets, sure that Spalding was about to start an international incident.

“When God is with you, you don’t worry about international incidents,” Spalding said. “And that’s how I saved a busload of Polish nurses.”

Back in Vietnam, Young was a part of a nursing staff that watched over two wards that took care of head and spinal cord injuries. The soldiers she cared for also often had missing limbs and abdominal wounds.

Young later learned she was assigned to the unit because of her three months’ experience working in the neurosurgery ICU in San Francisco. She found herself

Cindy Young

getting a lot of experience quickly in the two wards, working 12 hours a day, six days a week. In one ward, soldiers with head injuries woke up from anesthesia and learned they’d earned their ticket home.

“That was a joyful patient to wake up out of anesthesia and to tell them, ‘You’re safe, you’re not going back there, and you’re going home,” Young said.

The soldiers in the other ward weren’t so lucky. Those soldiers had more serious injuries or were in comas. It was quiet, Young said, and it was there where she met the man she’d later marry.

Doug Young already had served a tour in Vietnam in 1966, but he was a career military man and couldn’t stand being on an Army post in America, Cindy Young said, so he went back to Vietnam. About halfway through his second tour, Doug Young was given an administrative position that called for him to go to the post Cindy Young was assigned once every three weeks.

Nurses weren’t allowed to

leave the post, though Cindy Young said she sneaked out with other nurses twice, both times with helicopter pilots. The Army, she said, is very protective of women in service.

“Americans to this day are not ready to see women come home in body bags,” Cindy Young said.

“They do not want to put their nurses in danger, or any of their women.”

Meanwhile on one of Doug Young’s trips to the post, he had been drinking with his driver, who didn’t believe Young when he said there were American girls at the base.

He’d seen them when he was taken to the hospital with malaria.

Doug and his driver walked throughout the hospital, starting in the emergency room and working their way back through the labs until they found Cindy’s ward. She and two other nurses were on duty.

“As he tells the story, he sobered up quick,” Cindy Young said, walking into the ward and seeing all of the bandaged men.

But Doug still got the numbers of the three nurses and Cindy Young invited him to their Labor Day party. The relationship grew from there, with a date every three weeks when Doug Young could make it to the base. Cindy Young said they’d go to the officer’s club and dance or go for dinner at a Chinese restaurant at the post.

They eventually took an R&R together in Australia, where, Cindy Young, stressed they had separate rooms.

Both Cindy and Doug Young returned to the States in March, and Cindy served another eight months in Georgia.

Coming home While overseas, Spalding worked closely with the combat stress centers, which she said helped alleviate a lot of the cases of post-trau-

matic stress disorder for veterans returning to the States.

And when she got home, she worked with the new recruits and estimated about half of the women coming into the Marine Corps were victims of sexual assault in some way.

“Average guys go into the Army and Navy, depending on where you live regionally. Marines have something to prove,” Spalding said.

“For some women, it’s ‘I’m going to learn to fight back.

Nobody’s ever going to hurt me again.’”

Spalding said she was able to bring in a counselor to help the women in a way she couldn’t.

In the late 1990s, Spalding retired from the Navy and got a job as a social work supervisor in Florida and disliked it, so when it was suggested she move to Texas and become a prison chaplain, Spalding took up the offer, ending up at an Edinburg prison, which she also disliked, saying she trusted the inmates more than the guards.

She went on to teach, and Spalding taught classes at South Texas Vo-Tech for several years until her position was cut.

For her part, Young said coming home was weird because unlike in previous wars, soldiers were returned in shifts.

“That meant when you came home, you came home all by yourself, and you were kind of floundering,” Young said.

When she finished her two-year commitment with the Army, she moved to Atlanta with a friend she made while in Vietnam and went to work for a civilian hospital. Doug Young also was in Atlanta, where he got a job working as a police officer.

“It took me about a month to realize that the amount of responsibility and intellect that it required to do my job in Vietnam was not solicited or wanted in Atlanta,” Young said.

In Vietnam, doctors are always on call, so there was a protocol for nurses to do as much as they could before calling and waking up a doc-

page 5A

tor in the rare moments he’s able to sleep. That meant a nurse could order blood and administer it if needed. That’s not the case back home. She lasted about two months in the civilian hospital.

Young ended up requesting to go back to work at a military hospital, where she could work with people who understood her background and who she was.

In 1975, Young said, “I got a little nutty,” and took a bartending course and tended bar six months.” But a friend of Doug’s soon found her and talked her into coming to work at his hospital. She’s been nursing at civilian hospitals ever since.

The Youngs eventually got married, but found decades after they left Vietnam, they felt pulled back to the country. They joined Vets with a Mission in 2002 and went back to volunteer their time. Going back was terrifying, Young said, because the last time she was there, she was being shot at. On top of that, they flew out of Hanoi, “head of the evil empire during the war, and that was a little unnerving.”

The couple planned to return with Vets with a Mission in 2003, but the trip was cancelled because of SARS outbreak. Instead, they prayed about it and went on their own, spending two weeks in the country.

Then, in 2004, they went for a year and a half to work with the English Language Institute China, teaching English at the university level.

They returned in 2006 when Doug’s mother became ill.

Since then, they return to Vietnam to visit friends once or twice a year, and one of their former students soon came to the United States to go to graduate school.

She ended up being the first of several Vietnam students the Youngs would welcome to the States as they earned graduate degrees. The Youngs became honorary parents of another student when she was married in Vietnam two summers ago.

“It was a God thing,” Young said. “God planned it a long time ago and drew us back.”

page 8A

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Chief Saldaña ends 33-year career as firefighter

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By Julie Silva he son of a fire marshal, firefighting is in former Chief Luis Saldaña’s blood.

His dad served as a volunteer fireman in Harlingen when his parents got married.

They moved to Mission, started a family and raised children who all served, the boys as volunteer firefighters, and the girls in the ladies auxiliary. Saldaña’s nephew now is a third generation as a career firefighter in Edinburg and volunteer in Mission.

“That says a lot for the Saldaña family being involved in public safety for as long as

we’ve been,” Saldaña said.

The chief ended his 33year career as a fireman Friday, retiring from the city after having served the last 16 years as chief. Deputy Chief Rene Lopez Jr. has been named interim chief. He has 32 years of experience and, like Saldaña, comes from a family of firefighters.

Even with his family’s history in firefighting, Saldaña almost went down a different career path, and first considered taking a law enforcement course in Brownsville, but it was cancelled.

Back then, volunteer firefighters were the backbone of the department, as there

were only three full-time firefighters per shift at the two fire stations. The city had one open-cab pumper truck, but Saldaña said most of the time the crew used homemade fire trucks, which were effective.

Saldaña had been serving as a volunteer fireman two years, and it was about that time he was accepted into the Manpower program, which was federally funded and paid workers minimum wage while they trained on the job.

He worked for the fire department.

The second fire station, on First Street and Dunlap, was six months from completion when the city hired Saldaña on full time in 1981. Mission’s city limits stretched from Los Ebanos to Taylor, up to 495 and down to the south side of the expressway.

Saldaña remembered the first big fire he worked as a volunteer. The Mission Hardware store at the corner of Tom Landry and Conway was ablaze at about 6 a.m. and the fire was stubborn because of all the chemicals in the store, he said. Their primary concern was making sure it didn’t spread to the Sherwin Williams store next door.

They had worked the fire until about 1 in the afternoon, and then went back to the fire station to rest when they got a call of a grain elevator fire in McCook County, which was put out with help from Edinburg. Saldaña figured it was about 8 o’clock that night when they finally got home, beat up and worn out.

“Ever since then, it’s

been an adventure because everything has changed and evolved,” he said.

When he first started out, Saldaña didn’t imagine becoming chief of the agency. He was just an excited go-getter, taking every class he could to learn more about firefighting. He said it wasn’t until about 10 years in that he realized if he kept working hard, he could be a leader and make a difference.

Saldaña said the success of the fire department under his leadership speaks for itself, with the department growing from 15 employees in two stations to 75 employees in five fire stations with all of the modern equipment firefighters need to do their jobs.

Saving lives One of the hardest days Saldaña saw as head of the department was in December 2008. The fire department was responding to a mobile home fire on Glasscock and 495 when a call came in reporting a trench collapse at 3 Mile Line and Conway. At the time, Mission was expanding its sewer lines to the northern part of town.

The trench had collapsed on a worker, pinning him from the knees down. The fire department worked for 10 hours to try and get him free. They brought in an ambulance crew and started discussing the possibility of having to amputate the man’s legs.

“It was a very big decision to tell the doctor, ‘OK, prep the team,’” Saldaña said. “We tried every avenue that we

thought we could.”

They brought in trucks to try and suck the dirt out.

They sprayed a pressure gun at the same time to try and get more suction. Nothing was working, and at 10 o’clock that night, Saldaña was preparing to give the order. The man had been there too long, it was cold and he could die from hypothermia.

“When I was getting ready to tell him, ‘Let’s do it,” I heard a yell in the background: ‘We got him.’ That was the biggest load off my shoulders when I heard them say, ‘We got him.’”

Saldaña didn’t know it, but his lead instructor from fire academy was waiting behind the line and asked one of the firefighters to send the chief over.

“I’ll never forget the words, him saying, ‘Excellent job in your leadership skills to make this occur,” said Saldaña, getting emotional. “Those were mentors to me, and I won’t forget those guys.”

He credited his staff for doing everything they can to make Mission a safer place to live. He pointed to the state-recognized special ops team and the education programs set up within the department and said the em-

November 7, 2014

ployees take pride in their work.

“The goal is that everyone goes home after their shift,” Saldaña said.

While technology has improved over the last few decades, the number of firefighter deaths has remained steady, Saldaña said, because “firefighters are thinking because they’ve got the bigger and better things, they can do more, and no, those pieces of equipment or those garments can only protect you so much.”

As a result, firefighters need a leader on the ground making the right decisions and making sure his firefighters aren’t put in harm’s way.

“I preach it to my guys: Always expect the unexpected because you never know what you’re going to run into,” Saldaña said. “We are no longer what you call a fire department. We are an all hazard response organization now.”

Fires no longer are the fire departments bread and butter.

Now, Saldaña said, firefighters are called more often to accidents and for EMS service.

Stepping down won’t be easy, Saldaña said. After dedicating 35 years of his life to firefighting, he’s going to miss listening to the radio, getting morning briefings and the camaraderie with other chiefs in the area.

“I walk away with a lot of good memories,” he said.

“We’ve had our little downfalls. We’ve had our tragedies with staff, but overall it was a very, very, good ride. I saw a lot of things change in this community and for the better to where it is today.”

November 7, 2014

obituaries

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Stephen Joseph Bader ISSION - Stephen Joseph Bader, 64, passed away on October 29, 2014.

Survivors include his wife, Brenda Grace Bader; children, Nicholas Andrew Bader and Allan Edward Bader; brother, Michael Scott Bader; and sister, Missy Johnson; and a grandson.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Edward Marion and Lynda Annette Bader.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15; time and location to be announced. The family requested donations to be made to New Mission Systems International, Attn: Ingo & Capri Tophoven Family, 2701 Cleveland Avenue Ste. 200, Fort Myers, FL 33901.

Irasema Cantu ISSION/ LA GRULLA – Irasema “Ira” Cantu, 51, passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014 at Amara Hospice in Edinburg.

Mrs. Cantu was born on July 22, 1963, in Hoopeston, Ill. to Victor Sr. and Anestacia F. Cantu. She lived in Mission for a number of years and worked at the Alto Bonito Elementary school with the Rio Grande City I.S.D for 32 years.

Survivors include her husband, Jaime Mendoza; children, Joanna I. Mendoza, Alejandra J. Mendoza and Jaime Mendoza Jr.; her mother; and siblings, Victor Cantu Jr., Norma Martinez, Felix Cantu, Maribel Cantu and Perla Cantu.

She was preceded in death by her father.

Visitation will be held on Friday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Hernandez Funeral Home in Rio Grande City. The funeral mass will be held on Friday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m. at Holy Family Church in La Grulla. Burial will follow at Cantu Cemetery in La Grulla.

Eliza Diaz ISSION – Eliza “Tita” Diaz, 91, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014.

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She was born on April 3, 1923, to Donaciano and Luisa Diaz, in Cienega de Flores, N.L., Mex. Survivors include her daughters, Dora A. Diaz and Isabel Diaz; son, Juan A. Longoria; and seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her son, Jose Guadalupe Diaz, and granddaughter, Liza A. Longoria.

A funeral mass was held on Nov. 5 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Mission. Interment followed at La Piedad Cemetery in McAllen.

Lottie P. Hernandez ISSION - Lottie P. Hernandez, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014, at Doctor’s Hospital in Edinburg.

She was born in Buffalo, NY on Jan. 7, 1921, and grew up working at her mother’s restaurant, Laura’s Café.

Survivors include her children, Bob Hernandez, Estella Flores, Rudy Hernandez and Laura Coleman; sister, Minnie Peña and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jose Hernandez; son, Sonny Hernandez; granddaughter, Lisa Maria Dorges; parents, Bob McClelland and Laura Miller; and sisters, Ruby Lopez, Helen Medvecky, Helen Ary, America Fagan and Jessie Peña.

A memorial service was held on Nov. 6 at Ric Brown Family Funeral Home in Mission.

Porfirio G. Leal LTON - Porfirio G. Leal, 88, passed away on Monday, Nov. 3, 2014.

Mr. Leal was born on Feb. 26, 1926, in Los Ramones, N.L., Mex. Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Maria Ignacia Leal; daughter, Maria Juanita Leal-Perales; brothers, Leopoldo and Eusebio Leal; and three grandchildren.

He was preceded in death

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WE SALUTE OUR VETERANS

by his parents, Manuel Leal and Felicitas Garza; siblings, Eva Salinas, Petra Leal, Manuel Leal and Abundio Leal.

A mass was held on Nov. 5 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen with Rev. Tom Luczak, OFM, officiating.

David Lindsey ISSION - David Lindsey, 56, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014, at McAllen Nursing Home.

Born on Feb. 12, 1958, he was an employee of the Renaissance Behavioral Center. He was previously employed at Manor House Nursing Home in Dover, Tenn. and the geriatric wing of the Mission Hospital.

He was preceded in death by his father, Charles Junior Lindsey.

Survivors include his mother, Ruby Lindsey of Mission, and sisters, Connie Reaves of Conroe and Cathie Davis of Hampton, Arkansas.

A service was held on Nov. 5 at Ric Brown Funeral Home in Mission. Burial was held at Union Grove Cemetery in Hampton.

José Cirilo Bugarin Perez MISSION - José Cirilo Bugarin Perez, 79, passed away Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, at Doctors Hospital in Edinburg.

Mr. Perez is survived by his wife Micaela Salinas Perez; children, Rosie Vasquez, Rick Perez, Robert Perez, Eleazar Perez and Humberto Perez; brothers, Herminio Perez and Jose M. Reyes; and 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren..

He was preceded in death by his parents, Maria Del Rosario Perez and Telesforo Bugarin.

A funeral mass was held on Nov. 3 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Mission. Interment followed at Valley Memorial Gardens in Mission.

Clifford Don Peterson AN ANTONIO – Clifford Don Peterson, 85, passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, in San Antonio, Texas from heart-related problems.

He was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Clifford R. Peterson of Mission and grad-

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uated from Mission High School in 1946.

Survivors include his wife, Veronica Haywood Peterson; son, Austin Peterson; daughter, Rici Siebold; brother, Jack Peterson; sister, Margaret Peterson Cantrell; and a grandson.

A memorial service will be on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. at St. Paul Episcopal Church, 1018 E. Grayson, San Antonio.

Obituaries can be found online and are updated as they are received. Visit www. ptrgv.com to stay current with obituaries and other news that matters to you.

Notices

Sam Benzel MISSION - Sam Benzel, 91, passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014.

Eliza Nicole Gonzalez MISSION - Eiza Nicole Gonzalez, 4 months old, passed away on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014.

John Hanadel MISSION - John Hanadel passed away on Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, at Mission Regional Medical Center.

Dianne S. Hausz MISSION - Dianne S. Hausz, 66, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014, at LifeCare Hospital in McAllen.

Bertoldo M. Herrera MISSION - Bertoldo M. Herrera, 48, passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, in Mission.

Ricado Mendiola MISSION - Ricardo Mendiola, 18, passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, in Mission.

Sandra Patricia Robledo PALMVIEW - Sandra Patricia Robledo, 45, passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, at McAllen Medical Center.

Dennnis Salinas LA JOYA - Dennis Salinas, 47, passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, at Mission Regional Medical Center.

Silvano Treviño MISSION - Silvano “Cuate” Trevino Jr., 50, passed away on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014, at his home in Mission.

Veterans War Memorial of Texas celebrates Veterans Day

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By Kathy Olivarez

t 11:11 a.m., the time the Armistice from World War I was signed, Veteran’s War Memorial of Texas in McAllen, will once again honor the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Armistice Day Treaty was signed in Compiegne, France at 11:11 a.m. on November 11, 1918, officially ending World War I. According to Col. Frank Plummer, USAF (Ret)., 1.3 million American men and women have given their lives in all of the armed conflicts since the Revolutionary War. The war memorial in McAllen was Plummer’s dream and he has worked hard for a period of many years to make it happen.

The war memorial features many granite walls depicting all of the major wars in which the U.S. military has served. In addition, life-size bronze statues, that were commissioned specifically for the McAllen, Texas memorial, stand as a lasting tribute to the men and women who have served in all branches of the armed forces of the United States.

The crowning feature of the memorial, which has taken decades to complete, is the new 105-foot black granite spire, which was completed after the last Veteran’s Day celebration, in memory of those who gave their lives for America.

Plummer said over 400 schoolchildren are expected to attend the event.

Col. David Kramer, a veteran of the World War II, Korean and Vietnam Wars, will serve as keynote speaker.

Guests will gather around the new 105-foot black granite spire as the tribute ceremony is conducted.

Rick Estrada will issue the sound to the colors as the giant flag owned by Jim Shawn is raised above the memorial.

He will also perform “Taps” at the end of the ceremony.

The young, talented Valley native singer Stephen Lopez

will sing the “Stars Spangled Banner” and “American Soldier.” There will be a 21-gun salute by the McAllen Police Honor Guard and Colors will be presented by the McAllen Police Department.

Plummer said the Veterans War Memorial of Texas continues to get state and national attention. Recently, members of 300 Daughters of the American Revolution gathered in McAllen for a convention. They visited the war memorial as part of the activities planned during the convention. Afterward, they voted to fund an eight-foot statue of Patrick Henry making his “Give me Liberty or Death” speech to be placed in the section of the memorial dedicated to the American Revolution. The statue will be made by sculptor Douglas Clark and will be ready for dedication on April 19, 2015, exactly 240 years to the day he uttered those famous words. It will be placed in the Plaza of Liberty honoring the American Revolution that started in 1775 in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

Plummer also said the war memorial will be receiving a coat of arms for George Washington that was originally placed at the DAR headquarters in Washington by members of the Texas chapters of DAR. When that building was torn down, the coat of arms was returned to Texas and will be placed at the McAllen memorial.

The Veterans War Memorial of Texas is located to the west of the McAllen Convention Center on Ware Road, just north of Expressway 83.

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ChurCh DireCtory BREAD OF LIFE CHURCH 2820 N. Conway Ave. • 581-1411 CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD 4501 N. McColl. - McAllen

THE SPIRIT OF LA LOMITA LIVES HERE AT

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE PARISH

THE SPIRIT THAT CONQUERS SIN AND DEATH! CELEBRATE LIFE & LOVE WITH US

MISSION

THE FATHERS: †FR. JIM, FR. PHILION & FR. ROY (†MAGNA, †SENTINEL, †MAGNO, †AUGIE, †DIDYMUS, †CHUNkLY, VALENTINE, NEWLY, BENDITO & FRITZ)

PADRES OBLATOS

THE MISSIONARY CATECHIST OF THE POOR: SR. LUPITA THE SISTERS OF ST. DOROTHY: SR. CINDY, SR. COLLEEN DAUGHTERS OF MARY MOTHER OF MERCY: SR. ELIZABETH, SR. BIBIANA & SR. MADONNA †DEACON AYALA, DEACON CASTANEDA

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS 29th & Dove - McAllen 618-0884 CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS Missonaries • 580-2570 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH 911 N. Main - McAllen 686-4241 CONWAY AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH 1 Mi. N. Conway • 585-2413 EL FARO BIBLE CHURCH 15 miles W. of Mission on Exp. 83 Sullivan City, TX • 585-5617 EL MESIAS UNITED METHODIST 209 E. 6th • 585-2334 FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH 3 miles N. Shary Rd. • 581-1465 FAITH FELLOWSHIP BIBLE CHURCH 1 mile N. Exp. 83 on Tom Gill Rd. 519-6311 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 1300 Doherty • 585-1442

“ CAN IT INDEED BE THAT GOD DWELLS AMONG MEN ON EARTH?” “ YOU ARE STRANGERS AND ALIENS NO LONGER…YOU ARE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD…WITH CHRIST JESUS HIMSELF…” (2ND READING) THE CHURCH IS HERE SO THAT YOU CAN BE AT HOME WITH GOD, WITH YOURSELF, WITH EACH OTHER, WITH LIFE NOW AND FINALLY AND FULLY “ AT HOME” IN HEAVEN. “ I LOVE THIS CHURCH!”

“Texas Friendly” spoken at all masses (and confessions).

Saturday (English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4:00 P.M. Saturday (Spanish) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7:00 P.M. Sunday (Spanish) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7:30 A.M. Sunday (English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9:00 A.M. Sunday (English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10:30 A.M. Sunday (Tex-Mex) Mariachi Mass . . . .(Noon)12:30 P.M. Sunday (Tex-Mex) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5:30 P.M. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday (Tex-Mex)6:55 A.M. Thursday (Tex-Mex) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7:00 P.M.

CONFESSIONS

Thursday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:00 P.M. Saturday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3:00 P.M.

620 DUNLAP, MISSION, TX • 585-2623 ONE BLOCK WEST OF CONWAY ON MAGNA DRIVE (6TH ST.)

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH 12th and Miller - Mission 585-7281 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 1102 Ash St. • 585-4829 for worship schedule.

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 1101 Doherty • 585-1665

NORTH PALMVIEW APOSTOLIC CHURCH 7612 W. 6 Mile Ln. Mission • 735-2569

ROAD TO SALVATION ASSEMBLY OF GOD 239 W. 2nd St. - La Joya 1312 Oblate • 585-3261

OUR LADY QUEEN OF ANGELS One-half mile South Leo Avenue La Joya • 585-5223

SAN CRISTOBAL MAGALLANES & COMPANIONS PARISH

3805 Plantation Grove Blvd., Ste. 5

OUR LADY OF FATIMA CHURCH 6634 El Camino Real • Granjeno 279-4159

SAN MARTIN DE PORRES 5 mi. N. Conway, 1/2 Mile West Alton • 585-8001 & 585-8002

IGLESIA BAUTISTA BETANIA 851 S. Breyfogle Rd. • 585-5688

OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH 2.5 miles S. Conway (FM 1016) Mission • 279-4159

ST. JOHN OF THE FIELDS CATHOLIC CHURCH 1052 Washington Ave. • 585-2325

IGLESIA BAUTISTA CRISTO EL REY 1600 E. Bus. 83 - Mission

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CATHOLIC CHURCH 620 Dunlap • 585-2623

IGLESIA BAUTISTA COLONIAL 3713 N. La Homa Rd. • 585-5332

OUR LADY OF THE HOLY ROSARY CHURCH 923 Matamoros St. • 581-2193

ST. PETER & ST. PAUL EPISCOPAL CHURCH 2310 N. Stewart Rd. 585-5005

IGLESIA BAUTISTA DEL VALLE 217 W. Mile 3 Rd. • 424-1602 Palmhurst

PALM VALLEY CHURCH 1720 E. Griffin Pkwy.

585-3203

SHINING LIGHT BAPTIST CHURCH 6 1/8 N. Doffing Rd. (FM 492) 580-4078

FREEDOM LIFE CHURCH 2214 W. Griffin Pkwy. • 519-7000 Mission GRACIA DIVINA MINISTRY 4122 N. Conway • 584-3112 GREAT OAKS COMMUNITY CHURCH 2722 N. Conway • 451-5500 Mission IGLESIA ADVENTISTA DEL SEPTIMO DIA 1725 W. Griffin Parkway 581-9008

IGLESIA DEL PUEBLO 7500 West Expressway 83 581-1900 IGLESIA DEL DIVINO REDENTOR 1020 North Los Ebanos Rd 585-5898

PEÑITAS BAPTIST CHURCH 1/3 Mile S. of Exp.83 on FM 1427 583-6236 PRIMERA BAPTIST CHURCH Corner of 6th & Oblate 585-4711

LA RESPUESTA CHURCH 405 W. 12th Street • 585-0787

PRIMERA IGLESIA DEL VALLE APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLY 210 St. Marie. • 585-8651

MISSION CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE 1 mi. E. 495 • 585-6683

PROMISE LAND CHURCH 2300 E. Palm Circle (Corner of 495) Mission, TX 78572 • 624-9307

NEW HOPE AT THE BORDER 905 N. Conway • 585-4122

RIVER OF LIFE CHURCH 901 S. Shary Rd. (Located in the Holiday Inn Express Conference Room) 451-4838

NORTH MISSION CHURCH OF CHRIST 1410 E. 3 Mile Line • 585-0146

Mission • 580-4551

ST. PAUL'S CATHOLIC CHURCH 1119 Francisco • 585-2701

TEMPLO BIBLICO 5 Mile/Conway • 581-4981 or 585-3831 TEMPLO EVANGELICO, M.B. CHURCH La Joya THE DOOR CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

810 E. Veterans & La Homa Suite F.

Palmview Crossing Plaza 212-1594/424-1984

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 3701W. 3 Mile Line • 585-3261 WEST MISSION LUTHERAN FELLOWSHIP Pleasant Valley Ranch 7320 W. Exp. 83 • Mission 583-7667 VALLEY FELLOWSHIP 1708 E. Griffin Parkway Mission • 424-7200

MISSION AUTO ELECTRIC, INC. DBA

ER MAE EPQOU IW PMENT

Commercial Lawn Equipment “Since 1954”

915 West Bus. 83 • Mission, tX 78572 • (956) 581-7433

KING, GUERRA, DAVIS & GARCIA

ATTORNEYS AT LAW DAVID H. GUERRA NEAL KING (retired) DARRELL DAVIS ESMERALDA GARCIA (retired) 301 E. Tom Landry • Mission • 585-1622

IMPLEMENT COMPANY, INC. MISSION 585-1618

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lifestyle

November 7, 2014 page 10A www.progresstimes.net NEWS | SPORTS | ENTERTAINMENT | PHOTOS

Annual Border Economic Symposium is Nov. 14

BETWEEN the bookendS

Speer Memorial Library

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12th St. & Kika Loop • Mission • 580-8750

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By William Renner nyone fond of animals is invited to join in on the book discussion of “The Elephant Keeper,” on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m. It takes place in the Speer Memorial Library Community Room.

In 1773, Tom Page, the caretaker of an elephant, is asked by his employer, the elephant’s owner, to write a history of his time with the elephant. Tom puts pen to paper, and what follows is a fascinating account of a friendship between man and elephant.

In Tom’s story, a ship arrives at Bristol, England, in the spring of 1766, having sailed from the East Indies with a cargo of exotic animals. Among the animals are two young elephants—a brother and sister—who are sick and weak from being confined during the long journey.

A wealthy businessman purchases the elephants and entrusts their care to young Tom who works for him as a stable boy. Tom nurses

the elephants back to health, forming a deep bond with them, and names them Timothy and Jenny.

When the elephants are separated a few years later, Tom stays with Jenny; and when she is sold, Tom leaves his family and moves to the new owner’s estate to work as Jenny’s keeper. As the years pass, Tom remains devoted to his elephant friend, becoming her defender against exploitation and inhumanity.

Written by Christopher Nicholson, and first published in 2009, the novel offers a compassionate look towards animals in an era that regarded animals as lacking reason and sentiments.

Copies of the book are available to those who sign up for the book discussion.

Go to the library reference desk or call 580-8754 to reserve a copy. The title is also available as an eBook at http://mission.lib.overdrive. com.

Speer Memorial Library is located at 12th and Kika De La Garza in Mission.

Next archery 3-D shoot set for Nov. 22-23

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n archery 3-D shoot will be hosted by the Mission Skeet & Trap Club, Inc. and the RGV Bowhunters Club on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 22 and 23. It takes place at the Mission club's facilities located on Conway Avenue, south of the Expressway 83 about 1/2 mile on the right.

Gold, silver, and bronze medals will be awarded for traditional and compound shooters in the men, women, youth, cubs and mini-cubs age groups.

There will be 15 animal

targets, and archers can shoot either day or both days in different categories.

The Saturday start time is 3 p.m.; Sunday is from 8:30 to 10 a.m.

The fee will be $10 for adult members, $15 for adult nonmembers, $5 for those under age 13, and $10 for ages 13 thru 17.

The Mission Skeet and Trap Club provides facilities for pistol, skeet, trap, fivestand and archery. For more information on the event, the range or membership, call 424-6528 and 583-5996.

Rosie the Riveter

County to honor women from WWII campaign

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DINBURG – Did someone in your family or someone you know participate in the “Rosie the Riveter” movement during World War II? If so, the Hidalgo County Public Affairs Division would like to know.

“Rosie the Riveter” was the star of a government campaign aimed at recruiting women for the munitions industry. In movies, newspapers, posters, photographs and articles, the campaign stressed the patriotic need for women to enter the work force and many did.

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Serving the Community Since 1988 Skilled Nursing Services 24-hour licensed nursing care I.V. Therapy Medication Management Enteral Therapy Infusion Therapy Comprehensive Wound Care Respite Care

In-patient and Out-Patient Rehabilitation Physical Therapy

Fall Prevention Program Strength and Endurance Program Gait Training Decrease healing time for injuries

Occupational Therapy

Neuro Re-education Activities of Daily Living Training Contracture Prevention Program Home Evaluation and Assessment

Speech Therapy

Swallowing Program (Vital Stim Therapy) Speech Intelligibility Cognitive Retraining

Social Services Activities & Recreation Family Program Barber & Beauty Shop Services

The services provided are but a glimpse of how we can help your loved one receive the best services available in the community. Mission Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is able to provide services that focus on treatment and our primary objective is on returning you home as soon as possible.

Conveniently located across from Mission Regional Medical Center Mission, TX

To La Joya & Rio Grande City

To McALLEN

✩

Bryan Rd.

Contact us for a private tour of our facility.

1013 S. Bryan Road Mission, TX 956.580.2100

The Public Affairs office is gathering the information on women, especially those from the Rio Grande Valley, who answered the call to duty during World War II as widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force. “Rosies” were crucial to the war effort and Hidalgo County would like to help recognize them for their service to the country.

Anyone with information is asked to contact them via email at public.affairs@ co.hidalgo.tx.us or by phone at 292-7026.

Expressway 83

★

MISSION NURSING HOME

he public is invited to join experts who will focus on the latest economic issues and trends that will impact the Rio Grande Valley during the Fourth Annual Border Economic, Development and Entrepreneurship Symposium (BEDES) Nov. 14.

The Economics and Finance Department at The University of Texas-Pan American and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, San Antonio branch, will team up to host the symposium that will held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance.

BEDES will bring together UTPA students, researchers, entrepreneurs and business leaders, federal agency heads, public policy experts and local economic development leaders who will provide a variety of perspectives in addressing impact on the border region of the Mexican energy reform and its impact on the border region as well

St. John’s hosts annual festival

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t. John of the Fields Catholic Church is holding their annual Fall Festival this Sunday, Nov. 9. It takes place on the church grounds, 1052 Washington St. in Mission, from 5 to 10 p.m.

There will be food, games, music and the annual drawing with prizes of a flat screen television, laptop computer, iPad and more.

For more information, call 585-2325.

as other recent economic trends that will have an impact locally and nationally.

Students and the community will have the opportunity to engage in discussions, ask questions and learn from a range of experts who will share their expertise and advice in keynote presentations, panel discussions and question-and-answer sessions. Presentations will include scholarly, field-based research, real-world experience and policy content.

Registration is free and lunch will be provided. To see a complete agenda or to register, visit the BEDES website or find the conference on Facebook (UTPA BEDES). For more information or special accommodations, contact Fabiola Urgel at feurgel@broncs.utpa.edu.

Free Society News Announcements

Quinceanera, engagement, wedding, milestone anniversary* and milestone birthday** announcements are run FREE of charge in the Progress Times.

The quinceanera, wedding, anniversary and birthday announcements should be submitted no later than two months after the event date. Engagement announcements must be submitted no later than three weeks prior to the wedding date.

Quinceanera and milestone birthday photos are upper body, single column of the individual only; no group shots. Engagement, wedding and anniversary photos of the couple are run two columns in size.

For questions or to obtain the appropriate form to submit with a photo, send an email to communitynews@progresstimes.net, call the Progress Times at 585-4893.

Please include a contact name and phone number for all inquiries.

November 7, 2014

Events Calendar

page 11A

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Nov ember 7 – Pre-kinder children, their parents and/or grandparents are invited to the Agape Christian School annual Country Fair from 9 to 11 a.m. to participate with their PK2, PK3 and PK4 students in a variety of carnival type games and rides. This year there will be a hayride, pony rides, a ferris wheel, a pirate ship and the tea cups. Children will toss cowboy hats into a ring, beanbags into a boot, line dance with their parents and along with other games, all topped off with popcorn and slushes. Parents interested in finding out more about Agape Christian School are invited to bring their preschool aged children and join in. Admission is free. Call 585-9773 for more information.

Nov ember 8 – The regular monthly meeting of Aglow International Mission Spanish Lighthouse begins at 6 p.m. at Taco Ole Restaurant, 2316 N. Conway, Mission. Juanita Villarreal, pastor at Liberty Temple in Pharr, is the featured speaker. For more information, call Esthela Villarreal at 655-1119 or Connie Escamilla at 279-7887.

Nov ember 8 – Alton Elementary School will host its First 5K Run/Walk/Get Colorful event. This will be a color run with the first wave starting at 8 a.m. followed by the next at 8:30 a.m. Participants are asked to arrive an hour prior to the wave time. Registration can be done at Alton Elementary School, 205 N. Chicago, Alton. Early registration through Oct. 24 is $10 for ages 15 and up and $5 for ages 7 to 14. After Oct. 24, registration prices increase $5 for each bracket. T-shirts for the event will be $8. For more information, call 323-7600.

Nov ember 8 – The Rio Grande Valley Quilt Guild meets 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at South Texas College, 400 N. Border in Weslaco, Building G, Room 191. Use parking Lot 1. For additional information, call Rene Darkis at 812-890-1572.

Nov ember 8 – The First Presbyterian Church of Mission, 1102 Ash Drive, will host their second annual crafts bazaar from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Admission is free.

Nov ember 8 – The McAllen Public Library, 4100 N. 23rd Street, will hold its first book festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Nov ember 8 – Port Isabel Ghost Tour meets at 8 p.m. at the Port Isabel Lighthouse. Admission is $10 and tickets are available at Port Isabel Chamber of Commerce, City Hall and Museums of Port Isabel.

Nov ember 8 – Market Days in downtown San Benito runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Batts Street & Railroad Tracks with local vendors, live music and food. Call 361-3804, Ext. 302 or 304, for more information.

Nov ember 11 – The public is invited to the Marine Military Academy’s Veterans Day Parade at 4 p.m. on the MMA Parade Grounds. Veterans from all military branches are encouraged to attend and will be asked to join the MMA superintendent for the pass in review. MMA’s battalion-size parades are always held in front of the historic Iwo Jima Monument. Although bleacher seating is available, individuals may bring lawn chairs. MMA is located at 320 Iwo Jima Blvd., off Loop 499, and next to the airport in Harlingen. For more information, call 421-9225.

Nov ember 11 – A Veterans Day ceremony begins at 8:50 a.m. when veterans and surviving family members are invited to march down Sam Houston Street with a police escort to the San Benito Veterans War Memorial site (Railroad Tracks and Rowson Street). A patriotic ceremony will pay tribute to all veterans. To participate, or for more information, call Victor Garza at 399-7464.

Nov ember 11 – The Rio Grande Valley Chapter Texas Master Naturalist monthly meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Cameron County Annex Building located at Williams Road and Hwy. 83/77 in San Benito, 1390 W. Expressway 83.

Ruth Hoyt, wildlife photographer, will give a presentation about experiences photographing nature sprinkled with professional tips on how to take better photos. The meeting is free and open to the public. The social time begins at 6:30 p.m.

Nov ember 12 – The Edinburg World Birding Center, 714 S. Raul Longoria, will present their Campfire with a Naturalist presentation on “Bats” at 6 p.m. Admission is $5. Call 381-9922 for information.

Nov ember 12 – The Upper Valley Home Owners Association meets at Twin Lakes RV Park, 301 N. Shary Road at 9 a.m. for discussions on tax issues. Owners of RVs and park models are invited.

Nov ember 12 – The next public meeting of the Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum of the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC), will be held in the USIBWC conference room, 325 Golf Course Road in Mercedes. Presenters will give an update on Mexico’s Rio Grande water deliveries to the United States and discuss how vegetation in the Arroyo Colorado has increased flood risk. For more information, call 5653150 or e-mail sally.spener@ibwc.gov.

Nov ember 13 – Volunteers are needed for the Operation Interdependence-RGV organization’s next “Packing Party” scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army at 1600

N. 23rd St. (23rd and Pecan) in McAllen. The event is suitable activity for families, church groups, co-workers and individuals. To volunteer, become a sponsor for the campaign, make a monetary or in-kind donation by contacting Jennifer Nava at 632-3589. Every penny goes directly to buying supplies for the soldiers. Refreshments will also be provided.

Nov ember 13 – Buckner Children and Family Services will present a foster care information meeting at 6 p.m. at the Buckner office in McAllen located at 5425 North McColl Rd. Families trained and licensed are needed to serve as foster group parents for older children and sibling groups at the Rio Grande Children’s Home campus in Mission, as well as in the Rio Grande Valley community. A Buckner representative will give an overview of foster care options in Texas. For information or a reservation to attend the meeting, call Nelida Tristan at 585-4847 or email ntristan@buckner.org.

Nov ember 13 – Go on a virtual bird-watching tour of the northernmost forests, along the western Great Lakes, with Erik Bruhnke at Quinta Mazatlan at 6 p.m. He will explore avian aesthetics and his memorable birding moments and award-winning bird photography from his old stomping grounds in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The program fee is $3 per person; no reservation required. Quinta Mazatlan is located at 600 Sunset in McAllen. For more information, call 681-3370 or visit www.quintamazatlan. com.

Nov ember 13 – Make a personalized hot drink mug for “Family Fun Night” at the International Museum of Art & Science, 1900 Nolana in McAllen. It will be held in the old art studio from 4 to 6 p.m. Seating is limited. Cost is regular admission price plus $2 for supplies. Admission for IMAS members is always free. Call 682-0123 for information.

Nov ember 13– Buckets of Fun, “Fun with Feathers,” runs from 10 to 11 a.m. at Quinta Mazatlan, 600 Sunset in McAllen, for preschool children and their parents. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for kids and seniors. Erik Bruhnke will speak from 6 to 7 p.m. on “Birds of the Northwoods.” Admission is $3 per person. Call 681-3370 for more information.

Nov ember 13 – Jammin’ on Jackson Street with Vance Greek will be held at the Railroad Crossing, 101 E. Jackson Street, Harlingen, at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Nov ember 13 – The Nomad Shrine Club, 1044 W. Nolana (between Sugar and Jackson Roads) in Pharr, will host a chicken dinner fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eat in or carry out; cost is $5 per plate.

Nov ember 15 – A chicken barbecue fundraiser will be held to benefit the new Pioneer Diamond Belles dancers. Plates are $6 each filled with a leg quarter, rice, beans, bread and jalapeño. Pick-up will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.at the Thompson Fruit Stand, 2409 E. 4 Mile Rd. in Mission.

Plates can be purchased in advance from any Diamond Belle or by calling Betty Peña, Booster president, at 8022994. Plates will also be available that day while supplies last.

Nov ember 20 – Buckets of Fun, “Fun with Thanksgiving Forest Feast,” runs from 10 to 11 a.m. at Quinta Mazatlan, 600 Sunset in McAllen, for preschool children and their parents. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for kids and seniors. Learn about “Tower Gardening” from Donna Wright from 6 to 7 p.m. Admission is $3 per person. Call 681-3370 for more information.

To see the complete Events Calendar for the coming weeks, go to www.ptrgv.com.

Sisterly bonds Mission Mayor Norberto “Beto” Salinas, left, stands with David Gustavo Flores Lavenant, mayor of Francisco I. Madero, Coahuila, Mexico after signing a Sister Cities agreement last month.

SINGLETERRY

of hard work.”

The final vote count was Singleterry 49,226 and Tijerina 28,552.

Aside from the election result, Singleterry said his favorite part was getting to know the community and giving them a chance to get to know him. He’s proud of them for how well-informed the public has become and hopes to see it proceed.

HOSPITAL DISTRICT

have committed $500,000 to the medical school annually for 10 years.

If he and others like Fern McClaugherty, of Objective Watchers of the Legal System, hadn’t gotten involved, Salinas said the tax rate probably would have been approved. There was just a 2,500-vote difference between the number of people who approved of the tax rate versus the number that didn’t.

“Two-thousand votes is nothing, but it’s enough to make a difference,” Salinas said.

He questioned why a constitutional amendment was passed in November 2013, increasing the cap from 10 cents to 75 cents if area leaders planned to keep the tax at 8 cents. The measure was passed statewide and by 66 percent of Hidalgo County

from pg 3A

“I know that people out there are taking these elections very seriously. You can tell by the increase in the number of votes. It's a turn in the right direction,” he said.

“As a people, we need to continue to do this more and more to grow. We can’t be satisfied with what we have now. We need to continue doing this in the future." from pg 1A

voters.

Creation of a hospital district was first approved by the Legislature in 1959 with the 10-cent cap. At the time, only a few counties in the state could create one. Then, when the rest of the state was given authority to create hospital districts in 1962, the max was set at 75 cents. Hidalgo’s 10-cent cap was not affected.

“This ceiling makes creating an effective tax district very difficult,” stated the bill submitted by Hinojosa requesting the constitutional amendment. “As Hidalgo County continues to grow and indigent care costs rise, the need for a hospital district must be evaluated. Hidalgo County is the largest county in Texas without an operating hospital tax district.”

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November 7, 2014

Class of ’65 from pg 1A

In the ’60s, the class, which now boasts not only the veteran senator, but also well-known doctors and attorneys, attended a high school with creaking wooden floors and no air conditioning.

Linda Treviño Rodriguez remembered big noisy fans were used for circulation. Her freshmen English class was in the same room she was assigned in first grade.

Jenny Cummings, who helps keep the class organized, said the old high school had been on its last legs. She later learned through an in-

terview with then-Principal Kenneth White that there was a very tight budget and a lot of things came through Army surplus. The school was so overcrowded, classes were staggered and students had off periods, Cummings said.

So when students moved into the new school just before Thanksgiving in 1964, Martha Smiley said, “We were very proud, and we were sure we deserved it.”

And, as Mary K. Griffin said in a student newspaper published in December, “It’s nice to have warm rooms and a roof that doesn’t leak.”

For many, memories

of construction of the new school are connected to the day President John F. Kennedy was shot. On that date, Nov. 22, 1963, the school district had scheduled the groundbreaking for the new school. At the ceremony, officials found out about the tragedy in North Texas.

The new school had air conditioning and nice lockers, and it was modern, Treviño Rodriguez said.

It boasted a library with a spiral staircase, but it didn’t have a cafeteria as the campus was open and students went home to eat lunch. A garden of the Eagles was planted and cheerleaders made a mosaic Eagle.

It was billed as the “million-dollar school,” Cummings said, adding that that was considered a lot of money at the time.

“It was a lot of pride going to the new school and being the first group of seniors to go into it,” Cummings said. “We thought we were very special, and we’ve carried that since then.”

Over the years, the school has been expanded, and Treviño Rodriguez said even when they moved in, the gym had a capacity of 900 and already was too small for the number of students. The enrollment capacity was 1,200.

Cummings said nothing looks the same any more.

Even their library, which they thought was massive at the time, has been turned into a study hall, she said.

Smiley recalled a video Cummings had put together and shown earlier in the evening that paid tribute to the classmates who have died since their last reunion.

“For all the pride we had in the building, as I looked at the pictures of our deceased classmates, what I was reminded about was the great personal connections that we made throughout the years,” Smiley said. “To be able to remember that many people over this many years, you know that you had a good connection with them.”

Gloria Garza remembered her friend Chuy helping her run a campaign for senior class representative on the student council.

“He got people to vote who had never voted before,” Garza said. “And that’s how we got involved in politics.”

Both Garza and Hinojosa said they were a part of one of the first classes to integrate, crediting the mixture of Anglo and Hispanic teachers at the school who helped them all see past the color of their skin.

Hinojosa remembered Hispanic students exchanging tacos with papas con huevos with their counterparts who had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They danced together at dances, which Garza remembered being held outside in the school parking lot.

“It was quite a change that

was taking place in our society. The Class of 1965 really paved the way in the way we treated each other with respect and dignity, but we also liked each other,” Hinojosa said. “It really reminds me of our foundation. I am who I am, and we are who we are based on what we learned in high school and how we were raised.”

Garza, who joked that she never let her studies interfere with her social work, went into education and retired to San Antonio two years ago. It

seems now, she said, the class is closer than it was when they graduated. Cummings agreed, adding that technology like the Internet and cell phones make it a lot easier to stay in touch.

“When we were 20, we were never going to be 30, and when we were 30, we were never going to be 40. All of a sudden 50 is the new 20, and then all of a sudden I’m 67, and I’m looking around going how did that happen?”

Garza said. “I just thank God I was born in that era.”

November 7, 2014

page 1B

VOLLEYBALL: Patriots and Diamondbacks advance he Veterans Memorial Lady Patriots and Pioneer Lady Diamondbacks both had to travel to play their bi-district round playoff games Tuesday night but both emerged victorious as the Lady Patriots defeated the Mercedes Lady Tigers and the Lady Diamondbacks defeated the PSJA Lady Bears.

Veterans Memorial Lady Patriots As District 31-5A champions, the Lady Patriots earned the right to play the fourth place Lady Tigers who quickly found themselves overmatched against the Valley’s top team. While the Lady Tigers fed off their home crowd’s enthusiasm early to take a 3-0 lead in the first game, Veterans roared back to take the opener by a score of 25-14. Games 2 and 3 went much the same way with the Lady Patriots winning both by double digits 25-12 and 25-13.

In total it took the Lady Patriots less than an hour to take the straight sets victory over Mercedes, advancing to the area round where they will be taking on Flour Bluff.

With nine kills, one assist,

one ace, two digs and three blocks Veterans Memorial’s junior middle hitter Daisy Reyna made her presence felt against the Lady Tigers in a big way.

“Our mentality all year has been to go further in the playoffs this year than we did last,” shared Reyna. “We can’t let anybody get into our heads. We just need to play our game and play to our full potential. We did struggle a little tonight but once we started talking and calling the ball we got our momentum and we started making plays.”

Sophomore all-around player D.D. Ibarra had 11 kills, 16 assists, six aces and 15 digs for the Lady Patriots Tuesday night. As impressive as those stats are, Ibarra thought that she could’ve done more.

“Personally, I thought that I could’ve done a lot better tonight,” said Ibarra. “I was not connecting with my hitters and that’s something that I need to work on.”

In her third year as a starter, junior Gabby Lerma contributed to the Veterans Memorial victory over Mercedes with 15 kills, seven assists, two aces, 15 digs and one block.

my had an experienced team coming into today’s game, but I just felt that our team was ready,” said first-year head coach Vic Garza. “I told our girls before the game that I felt they had paid the price, put the work in and were definitely worthy of winning the region and head to the state tournament. All they had to do was compete for it. And they did--they are the regional champions.”

After JDA had taken a two-games-to-none lead, Faith Academy stormed back with a hard-fought win at 2520 and a relatively easy game at 25-9 to take the match to the fifth and final game. JDA, however, managed to catch early momentum and never

trailed in the final game, winning with a score of 15-12.

“That was by far the most exciting game I have ever been a part of,” said the overjoyed junior outside hitter Madeline Ayala. “Words cannot describe how I feel right now; we are so happy and blessed to be heading to the state tournament.”

The Lions headed to Corsicana on Thursday and it will be the school’s first state appearance in any sport. Juan Diego Academy has been in existence Mission for four years and has been a member of the TAPPS District 6 -1A for two full seasons. The Lady Lions possess a 32-4 record and have won the district two years running.

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By Luciano Guerra

Veterans Memorial’s Darian “D.D.” Ibarra gets a spike past a Mercedes defender. Progress Times photo by Luciano Guerra

Lady Lions win regional, head to the state tournament

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he Juan Diego Academy Volleyball Team clinched the TAPPS Regional Title with a dramatic, five-set victory over Faith Academy of Belleville Saturday afternoon in San Antonio. The win propels the team and the school into its first TAPPS 1-A State Finals in school history.

The Lions will play in the second State Semi-Final match tonight (Friday) at 8 p.m. in Corsicana against Gateway Christian Academy out of San Antonio, with the two semi-final winners playing for the State Championship in 1A on Saturday at 2 p.m., also in Corsicana. On the other side of the state, the Final Four bracket will be

Heritage School (Fredericksburg) vs Waxahachie Prepatory Academy (Waxahachie).

But the night and the weekend of the regional tournament belonged to the Lady Lions. After dispatching the Lady Rams of Legacy Christian Academy (San Antonio) in three sets, 25-19, 25-16, and 25-14, on Friday night, the stage was set for the regional final between the Lady Lions and Faith Academy for the regional title.

Faith Academy, like Juan Diego, had swept its district foes and had the upper hand against the Lady Lions from the experience standpoint, having finished as state runner-up in Class 1-A last year.

“We knew Faith Acade-

“We could’ve played better tonight but luckily we played well enough to win this match,” explained Lerma. “For our next match however we’re going to have to step it up. I myself had a lot of errors tonight but I’ll do better next game.”

As the Lady Patriots head coach, Diana Lerma expressed similar sentiments about her team’s play against Mercedes.

“We didn’t play to the best of our ability but a win is a win and we’ll take it,” Lerma said. “The good thing is that the scouts that were here didn’t see us at the level of play we are capable of playing so that’s a positive. We will most likely be playing Flour Bluff next and while we did not send a scout to their game I see that they did have one here at our game.”

“This was not the kind of game I’m used to seeing my girls play,” added Lerma.

“It’s like they were playing just to finish,” With Tuesday night’s victory the Lady Patriots took their first step in attaining their season-long goal of surpassing last year’s playoff success in which they advanced into the fourth round of the state playoffs. Veterans Memorial will be traveling to Alice High School tonight where they will be playing Flour Bluff in the area round of the playoffs at 7 p.m.

Pioneer Lady Diamondbacks The Lady Diamondbacks

extended their inaugural season by winning the first playoff game in Pioneer High School history over the PSJA Lady Bears Tuesday night.

After getting off to a slow start, Pioneer trailed PSJA, 21-13, before mounting a ferocious comeback and outscoring the Lady Bears 13-3 to take the first set 2624. The Lady Diamondbacks went on to win set No. 2 by the same two point margin, 28-26, and set No. 3 by four points, 25-21.

Having her team fall behind early on, Pioneer head coach Laura Cavazos called a timeout that helped her girls get on track just in time to take the critical first set.

“We came off to a really bad start and missed some serves,” said Cavazos. “I think we just had the jitters we were down 13-21 when I called my last timeout. Then we came out and the girls didn’t stop pushing. Taking that first match just said a lot about our tenacity.”

Individually, Nora Monie had two aces, 15 kills and seven digs, Maddie Hatzold had 13 kills and two digs, Deandra Garza had seven kills, Mariah Youngblood had nine kills and five digs and Audrey Smith two aces, two kills, 37 assists and six digs against PSJA. The Lady Diamondbacks will be playing Victoria West in the area round of the state playoffs tonight at 6 p.m. at Corpus Christi Carroll High School.

Prep Schedule Thursday/Friday Football – Nov. 6 and 7 (Final Week of District Schedule)

Palmview at McAllen High (TH) Veterans Memorial at Edinburg Vela (TH) Sharyland High at Rio Grande City (TH) La Joya at Juarez-Lincoln Mission at McAllen Memorial Sharyland Pioneer – Bye

7:00 7:00 7:00 7:30 7:30

p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m. p.m.

Friday Area Playoff Volleyball – Nov. 7 Sharyland Pioneer vs Victoria West 6:00 p.m. at Carroll High School Veterans Memorial vs Flour Bluff 6:30 p.m. at Alice High School

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November 7, 2014

La Joya Coyotes end playoff drought T

By Luciano Guerra

he three-way split of La Joya High School in 2008 began a drought that has finally come to an end. It’s been six years since the opening of Palmview High School and Juarez-Lincoln High School and seven years since a La Joya Independent School District (ISD) football team has qualified for the state playoffs.

That dry spell came to an

end two weeks ago, however, when the Palmview Lobos clinched a playoff berth with their win over Juarez-Lincoln. And now, the La Joya Coyotes have done the same with their 23-6 win over the Nikki Rowe Warriors last week.

Despite the fact that last week’s victory was only their third win of the season, and only their second District 30-6A victory against three losses, the Coyotes will be

joining the 8-1 McAllen Memorial Mustangs, the 6-3 McAllen High Bulldogs and the 6-2-1 Lobos as the four 30-6A teams to play on after this week’s final round of district games has ended.

“We’ve had a tough schedule all year long, but the kids never lost faith and neither did the coaching staff. So, I think that we’ve just pulled together because we knew that it would come down to the final games of the season and in our minds we’ve always felt that we had a shot,” Coyotes head coach George Espinoza said.

Giving up only 13 points total to their past two opponents, La Joya’s defense has played a major role in keeping the Coyotes in games and in a position to close out their district schedule on a threegame winning streak. If the Coyotes are going to continue their recent winning ways, they will need more than their defense to keep them in games; they will also need their running game to continue producing results.

“We’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel,” said Espinoza. “We’re not about to start throwing things in there just to throw things in. We’re going to go with what’s been working for us and we’re going to try to get better at it.”

Against the Warriors last week, Coyotes senior quarterback Julio Garcia completed six of 12 pass attempts

for 82 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Garcia’s long pass of the night was a 51-yarder to junior wide receiver J.C. Maldonado who caught three of Garcia’s passes for 62 yards and a touchdown.

Justin Leanos led the way on the ground for the Coyotes as he carried the ball 23 times for 115 yards. Garcia was the Coyotes’ second leading rusher against the Warriors with five carries for 52 yards.

Having already clinched a playoff spot the Coyotes will be looking to use to-

night’s game as a tune-up for their bi-district opponent.

However that does not mean that La Joya will be looking past tonight’s opponent, the Juarez-Lincoln Huskies.

“We’re fortunate enough to have made the playoffs,” added the third year coach.

“We have an extra ballgame to play and we’re going to get ready for Laredo United after this week’s game against the Huskies.”

With a 0-9 record JuarezLincoln would seem to be an easy win for the Coyotes to chalk up tonight. Howev-

er, Espinoza knows that the Huskies would love nothing more than to end their season with a win against one of their two crosstown rivals.

“The Huskies are not going to lay down for us,” said Espinoza. “They’re going to get their kids pumped up and try to get things going. We’ve just got to keep our exposure and remain focused on the job we need to do and that’s all we’re worried about.”

Kickoff for tonight’s Coyotes/Huskies game at La Joya ISD Stadium is scheduled for 7:30.

McAllen Memorial 34, Palmview 14 In a battle of District 306A's only two undefeated teams the Palmview Lobos fell to the McAllen Memorial Mustangs last Friday night by a score of 34-14. It was the Lobos who scored first when junior running back Abel Torres ran the ball into the end zone with 3:14 remaining in the first quarter. However Memorial took advantage of multiple Palmview turnovers to score 34 unanswered points before Torres scored his second touchdown of the game with 3:18 remaining in the game to close out the scoring.

With the victory the Mustangs clinched no worse than

a district co-championship.

The Lobos, who played the McAllen High Bulldogs in their district finale last night, could still claim a share of the title with a victory over the Bulldogs coupled with a Mustang’s loss to the Mission Eagles tonight.

Mission 27, Juarez-Lincoln 13 The Mission Eagles gave their fans something to celebrate on Homecoming night as they defeated the Juarez-Lincoln Huskies by a score of 27-13. The win was Mission’s first against District 30-6A competition and second overall this season as the Eagles improved to 2-7 while the Huskies are yet to chalk up their first win against nine

losses.

Mission senior quarterback Jesus Cuellar completed 17 of 33 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns against the Huskies. Junior wide receiver Andrew Hidrogo was on the receiving end of seven of those passes for 171 yards.

Mission’s offense tallied a total of 261 passing yards and 148 rushing yards while the Eagles’ defense held the Juarez-Lincoln offense to a total of 200 yards rushing and 30 yards passing.

The Eagles will be traveling to McAllen Memorial Stadium tonight where they will be facing the district’s top team, the 8-1 McAllen Memorial Mustangs, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30.

Roma 27, Pioneer 3 The Sharyland Pioneer Diamondbacks saw their inaugural season come to an end last Friday night as they fell to the Roma Gladiators by a score of 27-3. The Diamondbacks just could not get on track against the Gladiators as they could only accumulate 49 yards of total offense on the night. Defensively the Diamondbacks allowed Roma 400-yards of total offense on 85 plays.

After opening the season with back-to-back non-district wins and after defeating the Valley View Tigers in their first District 31-5A game in school history, Pioneer lost

La Joya junior quarterback John Cadena is chased by McAllen High defenders as he looks to turn upfield with a keeper during the playoff-bound Coyotes’ recent loss to the Bulldogs.

Progress Times photo by Luciano Guerra

Big 7 Football Week 10 in Review

See REVIEW 3B

November 7, 2014

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page 3B

From Italy to Mission: Bert Ogden brings in Maserati

M

By Lea Victoria Juarez ission is going to get a taste of Italy when the Maserati dealership opens its doors in December. The tridents will be seen lined up along Expressway 83 next to Bert Ogden Cadillac and Chevrolet.

Known for its exotic status, Maserati will be the 22nd Bert Ogden dealership to spring up in the Rio Grande Valley, and the 10th since 2008. But even with the growth in the Valley automobile industry, Director of Maserati Ignacio Mallett said he doesn’t foresee any competition for the Italian vehicle.

“There’s other car lines out there that are not down here, and that’s why I say we’re not going to have any competition,” Mallett said. “The norm, your other

brands that are down here, are not a refined car like this.

They’re not a high-end sports automobile, and that’s what Maserati is all about.”

Maseratis are hand-crafted and assembled as opposed to a machine-line process. It takes about 22 days for a single vehicle to be assembled and considered road ready.

The Maserati Ghibli

Another nine days are spent on inspection and testing.

In December, Maserati celebrates 100 years of service on the road and on the racetrack. Alfieri Maserati founded the first office in 1914 in Bologna, Italy and is now represented in 61 countries.

The nearest dealership is

in San Antonio. By bringing the product to the community, Mallett said Bert Ogden will be able to give the local car-enthusiast what they want with convenience. Once the lot is up and running, some time between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15, there will be about 15 to 20 vehicles on site.

“Bert Ogden has gone to

the extent to bring this particular dealership down here and will continue exploring other avenues of other car lines that are going to be unique to the Valley,” he said.

“You no longer have to go up north for that particular type of high-end car.”

As a Corpus Christi native, Mallett anticipated

these types of dealership in that area along with general growth in the city, but it never materialized.

The RGV has seen growth with the Premium Outlets opening in 2006, dealerships cropping up such as Mercedes Benz and Audi in 2011 and 2012, respectively, and a Cinemark Movie Bistro, which opened in 2013. Although Mallett admits he’s sad this growth didn’t happen for Corpus, he sees the potential businesses have in the deep south.

“We thought for the longest time that Corpus Christi was going to be the city to explode. Unbeknownst to us, the Valley was growing like crazy and all of a sudden the explosion happened here,” Mallett said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity in the Valley right now and in the future.”

Team Liberty member J.J. Garza shakes hands with supporters after his win.

La Joya ISD voters keep Team Liberty

P

By Julie Silva ALMVIEW–Shortly after 7 p.m., cheers erupted at the Imperial Ballroom where Team Liberty volunteers had already begun to come together.

Joel Garcia, La Joya Independent School District board secretary, ran through the crowd, hugging and yelling with joy. Early voting figures just released showed all three incumbents up for reelection with a commanding lead.

Election Day votes hadn’t been tallied yet and already volunteers were yelling, “We did it!”

They gathered outside waiting for the three men of the hour–Juan “J.J.” Peña, Place 1; Juan Jose “J.J.” Garza, Place 2; Johnn Valente Alaniz, Place 3.

Their challengers were political newcomers. The Diamond Pack consisted of: Fernando Torres, Place 1; Irma Linda Villarreal-Veloz, Place 2; Victoria “Vicky” Cantu, Place 3.

Of all the races, Peña received the most votes, 4,326, to win with 62 percent of the ballots cast. Torres received 2,646.

Garza received 59 percent

REVIEW

its final five games of the season to finish with a 2-7 overall and 1-5 district record.

With only three seniors on its 2014 roster, Pioneer will be returning pretty much its entire team next year.

Veterans Memorial 21, Rio Grande City 12 The Veterans Memorial Patriots rode the arm of senior quarterback Santos Villarreal to a 21-12 District 31-5A win over the Rio Grande City Rattlers last Thursday night.

Villarreal completed 32 of 44 pass attempts for 327 yard, three touchdowns and one interception. Top receivers for Veterans included Roman De Leon (9/127 yards - two TDs), Adam Solis (9/91 yards - one TD), Bobby Tovar (5/66 yards) and Jay De Leon (4/30 yards).

On the ground senior running back John Garcia carried the ball 17 times for 138 yards and one TD. In total the Patriots accumulated 484 yards of total offense while allowing the Rattlers only 168 yards (136 passing, 32 rushing yards) of total offense.

Defensive standouts for the Patriots were Kevin Liebano (13 tackles, two interceptions), Hugo Cabrera (14 tackle, one pass defended), Joel Mares (nine tackles, one pass defended) and Marco Mendiola (seven tackles, one for a loss).

Veterans Memorial (7-

of the votes, garnering 4,119 ballots in his favor. Villarreal-Veloz received 2,862 votes. Alaniz, with 57 percent and 3,955 votes, won by the slimmest margin. Cantu received 3,023 votes.

As the crowd waited for Peña, Garza and Alaniz, Garcia held up his cell phone yelled out, “Espie says, ‘Thank you.” The crowd cheered once again so Board President Esperanza Ochoa could hear.

Garcia and Ochoa were part of the original Team Liberty slate members elected to office in 2012.

Garza also was one of the 2012 Team Liberty candidates as he’d been running for a seat vacated when Mayor Fito Salinas was elected to office.

By the time, Garza arrived to the party, dozens of people were outside ready with hugs, photos and congratulatory messages.

“This one was pretty bad,” Garza said of the campaign, a large part of which played out on fake and anonymous Facebook profiles and through radio ads. “It was worse than expected.”

Peña arrived at the ballroom next, and said he was from pg 2B

2) traveled to Edinburg last night to play the Vela Sabercats (8-1) with the winner having earned the district’s second seed in the upcoming state playoffs and with an outside chance of claiming a share of the district title depending on the result of last night’s Sharyland Rattlers at Rio Grande City game.

Sharyland 55, Valley View 21 The Sharyland Rattlers improved to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in District 31-5A play with their 55-21 victory over the 1-8 Valley View Tigers at Richard Thompson Stadium last Friday night. Six different players scored for the Rattlers against the Tigers as Sharyland clinched no worse than a tie for the district title with the win.

The Week No 10 win marked Sharyland’s fifth victory in a row and the third time this season that the Rattlers have scored over 50 points in a game. On the season Sharyland has outscored its opponents 355 – 171.

The Rattlers closed out their district schedule on the road last night against the 2-7 Rio Grande City Rattlers. If as expected Sharyland defeated Rio Grande they have clinched the outright district championship and will be entering next week’s bi-district round of the playoffs as the top seed.

confident the team would win throughout the election.

“I attribute it to the people and the public seeing that we’re doing a good job, that we’re being fiscally responsible and our employees and our district are in a good place, and they’re happy,” Peña said.

Alaniz, who arrived last, agreed with Peña, saying he had confidence in the people.

In the end, Alaniz said, he felt good about the outcome.

“Starting tomorrow, the first thing is get our minds back in the school district setting and not in the election,” he said.

Hollis Rutledge Honored Mayor Norberto Salinas, members of the community and Mission police department gathered at Hollis Rutledge Park Oct. 30 to honor the deceased fire chief Hollis Rutledge Sr. The wreath ceremony was held in front of the placard, where a brief scripture was read and Hollis Rutledge Jr. shared stories of his father for the park’s 14-year anniversary.

Daniel Morales completes basics ir Force Reserve Air- through the Community Col-

A

man Daniel Morales and Airman Andrea L. Gonima graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio. After the eightweek program that included training in military discipline and studies, Airmen earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree

lege of the Air Force.

Morales is the son of Adriana P. Hernandez of Alton and Daniel Morales and grandson of Aurora Hernandez of Mission. Gonima is the daughter of Amy and Eric Gonima of Mission. They are both 2014 graduates of Sharyland High School in Mission.

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Holbrooks ready to take over Klement’s Grove and Country Store

T

By Julie Silva he grove began small with 5 acres in back of their home at the corner of Taylor Road and Mile 3. At that time, Will Klement said, waving a hand at Mile 3 Road, the area was considered the country.

“That road right there was not paved, not even caliche,” Klement said, “It was a sand road.”

Will and Julie Klement bought the house in 1967 to get their boys out of the city.

To teach their children responsibility, the Klements had their boys pick fruit and sell it from a wagon on the corner by the house. Over the years, the enterprise grew from the wagon to a chicken house to a small building.

Will Klement said his boys would bring their friends and they’d all pick fruit to earn money after school and on the weekends.

Before Christmas kids would line up to pick the trees clean as they were paid by the bushel, but the day after the holiday, no kids could be found, he joked.

In 1984, Klement Grove and Country Store was built, and in the three decades since the Klements turned the shop into a local hotspot for fresh squeezed juices, fruit, jams and jellies, Texas honey and homemade pies and fudge.

But in January, Will Klement turns 80, and he and his wife have decided it’s time to take a step back from the business.

They’ve had several offers from growers to take over the store, but when it came time to pass the torch, Will Klement said family was important. His own grandchildren all had a part in the store, and his daughter-in-law helped run it until recently.

That’s why the Klements turned to the Holbrooks, another Mission family with deep citrus-growing roots.

“I thought these people would probably do the best job because I knew that he had his son-in-law with him,” Klement said. “Family was involved with it, and that’s kind of what you need.”

Dennis Holbrook, owner

of South Tex Organics, and his family are taking over the market with a grand opening scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7.

Under the name Earth Born Market, the store will continue to sell all the products the Klement shop has become known for in the area. In fact, last week, Will Klement showed the Holbrook women the right way to make fudge. (Insider tip: The recipe calls for fresh pecans, none of that prepackaged stuff.)

On top of keep up with old favorites at the market, the Holbrooks plan to introduce organic alternatives as well as vegetables.

Farming is in Dennis Holbrook’s roots. His father was a farmer in Utah who wanted to get out of the cold and snow in 1955. Plus, the farm, shared with other family members, was too small to sustain four families.

Holbrook’s parents first visited the Valley in November when already there was snow on the ground in Utah.

In comparison, the Valley looked like paradise.

“The comment that my

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father made to my mother as they were going back to Utah, is if the Valley is half as good as these people say it is, this will be good,” Holbrook said.

And it was. The Holbrooks had to learn a different type of farming in South Texas, but soon they became friends with developers and began to plant groves and manage properties for absentee landowners.

Dennis Holbrook grew up in the business. As young as 10, he remembered his father giving him a hoe with a broken handle to hoe cotton.

When it came time to pick

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the cotton, Holbrook was too small to carry a regular cotton sack, so his father put two gunnysacks together for the young boy to carry.

The next year, Holbrook was driving a tractor, and he eventually moved up to applying herbicide and insecticide to crops. At 23, Holbrook bought the grove care company from his parents, having returned home from college.

The business grew from there.

In the early ’80s, Holbrook got involved in growing products organically.

“I could align myself very

closely with the concept of organic, using natural pesticides, using beneficial insects–what Mother Nature supplies or makes available to you,” Holbrook said.

“You’re looking at being able to utilize what nature already had in place.”

Holbrook said he and his family had talked about starting a market like Klement’s but never moved on it, so when the Klements met with him about taking it over, he thought it would be a good fit.

Plus, it enabled him to bring his own son, Russon, back home to help run the business. Russon Holbrook’s background is mainly in business and investment, but he said he’s ready to return to his roots. That’s why he brought his own family back home.

“The store was developed as a result of (the Klements) wanting to teach their children the value of hard work,” Russon Holbrook said. “The same mentality that my grandfather taught my father and my father taught me is the same mentality that I want to pass on to my kids as well.”

“That’s the culture we want to create, keep the same homey, country feel, but modernize it with today’s methodology of farming.”

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City of Alton – Contract – Labor for Mowing of Weedy Lots

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PUBLIC NOTICE The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a Regular Meeting on November 19, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. at the City Hall Council Chambers, 1201 East 8th Street, Mission, Texas in order to consider the following: Rezoning: 33.47 acres out of Lot 24-3 & 27.97 acres out of Lot 24-4, West Addition to Sharyland Subdivision, from (R-1) Single Family Residential to (P) Public Zone; Rezoning: The East 1 acre of the West 6 acres of the North 16.65 acres of the South 21.65 acres of Lot 195, John H. Shary Subdivision, from (AO-I) Agricultural Open Interim to (R-3) Multi-Family Residential; Rezoning: Lot 7, Block 119, Mission Original Townsite Subdivision, from (R-1) Single Family Residential to (C-3) General Business; and Rezoning: Lot 3, R &E Subdivision, from (R-1) Single Family Residential to (C-3) General Business Abandonment of right-of-way easement on a 1.93 acre tract out of a 2.18 acres tract out of Lot 19-3, West Addition to Sharyland Subdivision, as requested by Mission Real Properties, Inc. If a zoning is amended during the public hearing, it shall be pursuant to the City of Mission’s Amendatory Zone Policy Statement. Anyone interested is invited to attend.

Anna Carrillo, City Secretary

Work will consist of the mowing of weedy lots, rights of way, alleys, and the removal of trash and brush from lots within the City of Alton.

PROPOSAL DUE DATE:

November 21, 2014

TIME:

10:00 A.M.

The City of Alton will receive sealed bids for the Contract-Labor for Mowing of Weedy Lots until 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 21, 2014 addressed to the City of Alton in the office of the city manager, Alton City Hall, 509 S. Alton Blvd., Alton, Texas 78573. The bids will be publicly opened and read aloud as near as practical after 10:00 a.m. on the date of submittal at the Alton City Hall. Bids received after closing time will be returned unopened.

Bid/Contract Documents, can be downloaded from the City of Alton web page address: www.alton-tx.gov, or you may obtain copies of same by contacting the office of: JEFF UNDERWOOD, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, LOCATED AT 509 S. ALTON BOULEVARD, ALTON, TX 78573 by calling (956) 432-0760 or by e-mailing your request to the following e-mail address: jeff.underwood@alton-tx. gov A pre-bid conference will be conducted by the Owner on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. The pre-bid conference shall be conducted at the City of Alton City Hall office located at, 509 S. Alton Boulevard, Alton, Texas 78573.

Equal Opportunity in Employment – All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap or national origin. Bidders on this work will be required to comply with the President’s Executive Order No. 11246, as amended by Executive Order 11275, and as supplemented in Department of Labor regulations 41 CFR Part 60.

The City of Alton is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer.

The City of Alton reserves the right to reject any or all bids or to waive any informality in the bidding. In case of ambiguity or lack of clearness in stating prices in any bid, the Owner reserves the right to consider the most advantageous construction thereof or to reject the bid. The contract will be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.

Bids may be held by the City of Alton for a period not to exceed 60 days from the date of the bid opening for the purpose of reviewing the bids and investigating the bidder’s qualifications prior to the contract award.

LEGAL NOTICE Company Name: Family Dollar Stores, Inc. Billing Address: P.O. Box 1017, Attn: Tax and Licensing Department, Charlotte, NC 28201-1017 Application has been made with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for Wine and Beer Retailer’s Off-Premise Permits by Family Dollar Stores of Texas LLC d/b/a Family Dollar Store #5904, located at 90 W. Expressway 83, Sullivan City, Hidalgo County, Texas 78595.

Officers of said Limited Liability Company are: Howard R. Levine, Chairman, CEO and Director Jason Reiser, Executive VP - Chief Merchandising Officer Barry W. Sullivan, Executive VP - Store Operations Mary A. Winston, Executive VP - Chief Financial Officer Robert L. Rogers, Senior VP - Real Estate James C. Snyder Jr., Senior VP - General Counsel and Secretary Bryan E. Venberg, Senior VP - Human Resources Jonathan E. Broz, VP - Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary Erik D. Gast, VP – Controller Jose M. Luis, VP - Real Estate Development Beth R. MacDonald, VP - Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary Thomas E. Schoenheit, VP - Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary David R. Styka, VP - Finance and Treasurer

PUBLIC NOTICE The City of Alton will hold a public hearing on Monday, November 24, 2014 at 5:30 p.m. at the City Hall Chambers located at 509 S. Alton Boulevard to consider the following requests: Si desea información en español, llame al departamento de Planeación de la Ciudad de Alton, (956) 432-0760.

CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS: Roberto Farias, d.b.a. Farias Store & Meat Market is requesting a Conditional Use Permit to obtain a Wine and Beer Retailer’s Off-Premise Permit at 2201 W. Main Avenue, also legally described as Lot 5, Hill-Top Subdivision, Alton, Hidalgo County, Texas.

Patricia Valdez is requesting a Conditional Use Permit to operate a child care center at 412 S. Inspiration Blvd., also legally described as the N94.47’ of Lot 39-1, 2.47AC GR 2.43AC NET, West Addition to Sharyland Subdivision, Alton, Hidalgo County, Texas.

The public is invited to attend and express support for or opposition to these applications. You may also file written support or opposition by 12:00 noon on December 9, 2014, for the Planning and Zoning and the City Commission.

For additional information, contact Jeff Underwood, Assistant City Manager at (956) 432-0760.