The Year That Was, Part I

"I make my living off the evening news
just me something, something I can use
people love it when you lose
they love dirty laundry..."
- Don Henley, Dirty Laundry

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

PORT ISABEL, Texas - Just west of here, as you drive into town from Harlingen or San Benito or any of a dozen other hardscrabble towns dotting the Rio Grande Valley map, we found a piece of discarded paper someone had tossed out into the winds. The writing had faded, perhaps because of the harsh South Texas sun or the dried-out mud that covered most of it, but it read: "If you find this note, get away! Get away from this hellhole fast!"

The scribbled signature of the long-gone author was not decipherable. Who knows who that person was, or where he may now be? The message, however, seemed serious. Too serious. I took my cigarette lighter out of my jacket pocket and lit one end of the paper before tossing it into a rusting trash can the county had set up for outbound tourists leaving nearby South Padre Island. I was upwind, so there was no distinguishable aroma to the burn, although one could have said there was a tinge of either rotten catsup or soft-ass, nursing home salsa there near the end of the flame. That end of the flame is where most of the people who call the Valley home reside.

It is always soon-to-be-a-minor-motion-picture time around here. Strange and wicked tales rise out of the gutter and sail out into the streets, some say wrapping themselves around the necks of some of the more celebrated folks from here to Rio Grande City out west. You'd need a 50-foot, hydraulic shovel to get to the bottom of these tales, and even when you poked at a good one, well, the story would always end the same way - in tragedy.

Welcome to Hard Times.

The Year 2011 is coming to a close and we again take a stab at noting some of the news doozies that came down the proud highway. We begin:

THE CORRUPT JUDGE - Abel Limas didn't just sit on his ass in his district court; he sold it. An indictment that came out of the blue earlier this year son unfolded into tales of bribes and favors and more bribes. Limas was raking it in, every dollar and peso in exchange for favorable rulings for losers who appeared before him. He said little in confessing; he merely walked off the bench and into infamy. The legal system in his Cameron County took the hit, one more, and everyone who thought you could take a bath and be clean realized it isn't just the roads that are dusty in Brownsville, oddly a geography where the Limas name had earned a good place in law enforcement. Prison for the judge, was the call from the doomed populace, even as someone noted that the region's harsh geography and low-rent politics already had claim to that characterization.

THE BAD POLITICIAN - Kori Marra, attractive daughter of West Texas, came to the Valley accompanying her husband, a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The marriage went sour and the two divorced. Ms. Marra entered local politics and gained election to the Harlingen City Commission. District 3 was her seat until last month, when she was removed from office after being convicted of violating ethics guidelines. Her reputation was that of a single, wing-footed party girl, forever being photographed with a drink in her hand, but it wasn't really the Real Kori Marra. That one did not surface until a post-conviction interview she did for Action 4, the local television station. In that interview, Ms. Marra looked and spoke in a professional manner, like an elected official of the sort her constituents had always wanted. It was a spectacular performance that came a bit late, however. Also part of the exit strategy was an appearance before a recent City Commission meeting, where she delivered her most intelligent discourse while inside City Hall. Her departure is a loss, is our feeling. We have always said that it is female politicians who will save the Rio Grande Valley from its addiction to elected office corruption. We're disappointed in Ms. Marra, 'cause we sort of know that she would do things differently if given a second chance.

THE INCOMPLETION - High school football, as played in the Valley, is the cruel, annual hoax. Every year, young lads turn out for the teams, and every year these same lads end it with defeat. No community is spared. Every year since 1961, the last year the Valley had a state champion that ended things with a victory. This year, it was the Harlingen Cardinals. They ran roughshod over 13 opponents until they met a speedy club from San Antonio Madison in the 5A quarterfinals. When the last second ticked off the field clock, Harlingen had tasted bitter. No one knows what this does to the region's psyche. The kids keep playing, even as they are turned back in that December rite now known as Valley Week, when whatever area team is in the state playoffs folds and comes home a loser.

BLOGOSPHERE - Much news broke in this world. Bloggers came and went, one to jail, and others merely lost their edge. It happens. Writing is fighting. Most who do it well know that it is the worst of mistresses, always there demanding more and more and more. Brownsville Blogger Bobby Wightman-Cervantes eased into retirement after issuing a damning indictment on his readership. He could write his arse off, he said, but nothing ever changed in his dysfunctional, too-Mexico hometown. Blogging neighbor Juan Montoya was jailed for not paying back child-support. It is becoming an annual Christmas ritual for the hard-edge border blogger. As another week came to a close, many of his readers were offering to contribute to his bail fund, as well as gather Christmas gifts for his children. Blogging is fun and sometimes rewarding. Children, however, rarely get the joke Juan is playing on Brownsville. In Harlingen, blogger Jerry Deal slowed down to a crawl, turning the task of informing readers on news developments to his readers' comments. A distinctive turn toward advocacy journalism was also detected on Deal's blog. where once he championed fairness, of late he began to shill for his side of the story, penning favorable stories for those politicians he supported and harsh ones for those he did not. It was the Fall From Grace of The Year, one some readers blamed on Deal's advancing age. Brownsville's Jerry McHale, the Dean of Valley bloggers, dropped his porno blog in favor of what started out as a pro-Brownsville blog that has now returned to his old way of slamming his usual opposition, namely the female president of the local university. This was the year McHale declared would be his "classical period." It hasn't turned out that way. A flyweight pretender arrived in the form of Brownsville blogger Jim Barton. We say pretender because, like other bloggers who harp on a few personalities or take sides and ignore the complete story, Barton has not as yet found an altitude of credibility for his blog. What is it? And where is it going? His decision to mock writer Junior Bonner branded him a rank amateur, an assignation we hear he is fast-trying to lose. On the flipside, Blogger Gregg Wendorf of still-booming Pharr (http://www.gbwendorf.com/) is gaining a wide readership with his biting socio-political commentary. He's on the rise, and, for Valley bloggers, that is rare flight.

THE WEAK PRESS - No one has investigated or gotten to the bottom of the weird death of that Cameron County assistant district attorney whose body was found slumped inside his car in the neighboring Mexican bordertown of Matamoros. And nothing came of the bloody killing of that jet-skiier in Falcon Lake earlier this year. Word was he was gunned down by operatives of a Mexican drug cartel, or that is what his surviving wife said. But there were rumors that David Hartley had been running with the drug pushers in Reynosa. Both stories made national news, but local newspapers simply let them fade. No outlet has managed to find out what became of the former Valley Morning Star publisher (Tyler Patton) arrested on a DWI charge. Was he fired? Where is he now? Nothing. Nothing either for Real Reporting on the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings semi-pro baseball club. They played out their season at city-owned Harlingen Field and did well, although some word surfaced that the club was delinquent in paying its utility bill. And then, when they won the Southern Division pennant and traveled to Canada to play for the title, club management was told none of their nine players from the Caribbean would be allowed entry into the country. In a bizarre move, the team quickly drafted nine replacements from their rival San Angelo Colts and still lost the championship. No one in Valley sportswriting raised an eyebrow about any of this...

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