The Brownsville Beacon

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Yoda probably said it best. He said, "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." We have really tried to stay away from posting a lot throughout the COVID-19 crisis. There are too many voices speaking at once, and sometimes the cacophony of all those voices mashed together just leads to confusion and fearmongering.  There isn't a whole lot we can say other than we want everyone to practice the social distancing measures put in place and stay indoors unless absolutely necessary. City, county, and state leaders are doing everything they can to try and combat the crisis.  We weren't prepared for this. There's no way we could have been prepared for it. Those criticizing our institutions' leaders need to realize they're doing the best they can with the resources they have. I certainly wouldn't want to be in their shoes.  There is no r...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon We here at the Beacon have gone dark for the past few days. There isn't a whole lot we can write during these trying times. Everything else going on in Brownsville today pales in comparison to having to deal with the Coronavirus. We hope you are all doing well and we hope you're staying sane during the quarrantines, curfews, and shelters in place.  Please stay safe and stay tuned to the news for the latest information on local, state, and national rules and regulations. They say things will get worse before they get better, We can only hope the worst times come quick and we're able to weather whatever is thrown our way. We hope you all are well. God bless.

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon If Brownsville were split into boroughs like New York City, Southmost would definitely be one of them. Southmost is one of the oldest parts of Brownsville, and has recently gained notoriety for having some of Brownsville's best authentic home-style Mexican restaurants. Vera's Backyard Bar-B Que was recently featured on The Texas Bucket List. Brownsville residents regularly make their way to taquerias and eateries on Southmost.  When I was an elementary school student, I was bused to Morningside Elementary for school. Our school bus always drove down Southmost, and I clearly remember passing by a drive-in theater on the way to school. Eventually, the drive-in would be torn down and an H-E-B would eventually be built around the area where the drive-in was. If you continue driving down Southmost past Morningside Road, Southmost begins twisting, turning, and curving. Eventually, you'll reach Sabal Palm Grove Road. Whe...

Photograph of then General Joseph K. F. Mansfield taken around the time of the Civil War. Mansfield was tasked with constructing a fort on the banks of the Rio Grande River when General Zachary Taylor arrived before the start of the U.S. - Mexican War.

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon The Southern Pacific Railroad was an extensive network of rail lines that was established at the end of the Civil War and would eventually stretch from California to South Texas.  The Southern Pacific would make its way to Brownsville in 1927. Along with the railroad line, a beautiful Spanish-colonial revival style train station was built and began operating in November of the same year. A fancy event was held at the new Southern Pacific railyard. Southern Pacific dignitaries from Houston along with Brownsville city government leaders held an event complete with a driving of a ceremonial golden railroad spike into the ground. Even though the Missouri Pacific line had come to town in 1905 and set up their rail lines and train station on Levee Street to the left of where the Hotel El Jardin would be built, the Southern Pacific station was built closer to Washington Park. The Southern Pacific Railroad had secured the rights ...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Spring Break is a few days away for local Brownsville schools. Several Texas universities will also be breaking within the next couple of weeks. Even though Matamoros stopped being a Spring Breaker destination years ago, several college-aged co-eds make their way to the Island for a much needed respite. Many business owners, restaurateurs, and hoteliers depend on the surge of business the Island sees during Spring Break and the corresponding Mexican Semana Santa holiday. Traffic on the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway grinds to a halt for hours at a time as thousands of partygoers try to cram themselves onto the Island. As of this morning, 39 states in the United States have confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, more commonly referred to as the Coronavirus. Throughout the country, several universities have limited students participating in class via teleconferencing or video conferencing online methods. Over 40 universities...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon You can't believe everything you read on the internet.  Especially when the large monopolies that control access to what you see online are pulling the strings and leading the conversation where they want it to go. Print media, especially small town outlets, died a long time ago, getting gobbled up by large conglomerates like Freedom Communications. Freedom Communications was a California-based media company that owned several newspapers in Texas, including almost all the newspapers in the Rio Grande Valley as well as the Odessa American.  Freedom declared bankruptcy and AIM Media Texas, LLC. purchased all of their Texas newspapers. AIM Media's headquarters is in McAllen and is captained by former Dallas Morning News president and American Consolidated Media founder Jeremy Halbreich. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Brownsville does not have a local newspaper anymore. The "local" news...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon There were moments when it seemed as if Sheriff Omar Lucio would not be the top vote getter in last night's election. However, after all 103 of Cameron County's precincts reported in, Lucio was able to secure a 713 vote lead over former Cameron County Clerk, Eric Garza. Since Lucio was only able to secure 43.1% of the vote, he will have to enter in a runoff election against Eric Garza, who captured 40.9% of the vote. I was shocked to see someone with limited law enforcement experience come within a few percentage points of being the top vote getter in the election. However, after a conversation with a South Texas law enforcement official, things began to make more sense. It appears the sheriff's office is not what it appears to be on the surface. The first point this certified peace officer made was an important one. The Cameron County Sheriff does not need to be an experienced SWAT commander with a long resume of...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon The results are in. With 100% of Cameron County's precincts reporting, we now know who won, who lost, and who still has to fight for a spot on November's general election ballot. Of the 212,982 registered voters in Cameron County, 34,230 (16%) of them cast their vote in the Democratic Primary. 8,327 (3.9%) cast their vote in the Republican Primary. The numbers are still pretty dismal. I find it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that so many people find so many things wrong in Deep South Texas, yet they decide to stay home when they have the opportunity to select people to represent them at the various levels of government. Here are the results of yesterday's election. President South Texas, with their predominantly Hispanic population, followed the national trend and backed Bernie Sanders. Sanders won Cameron County with 10,470 (33.4%) votes. However, Joe Biden was able to capture the lion's share ...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon When I grow up, I want to be like Jerry McHale. At least, I want to be read as much as he is. I have written several articles referencing my admiration and respect for Brownsville's Blogfather.  The only time I cringe when reading The McHale Report is when I see him call Brownsville the Third World Capital of the United States. I love my hometown. I love that I'm a Texan, I love that I'm from the Rio Grande Valley, and I love that I am from Brownsville. When I lived in San Antonio for a year I never said I was from San Antonio. When I lived in Austin, I never said I was from Austin. I always swelled with pride when people asked me where I was from. "Brownsville, the Rio Grande Valley," I would zealously exclaim. I never hid the fact I was from the Valley. I never pretended to be from anywhere else.  I would always take exception with McHale's assessment of Brownsville being America's Third W...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon In other news local media outlets failed to report, this past Friday saw another one of Elon Musk's flying trashcans exploded during a pressure test. A YouTube video posted by NASASpaceFlight shows the Starship SN1 prototype sitting vertically on what appears to be a launch pad. The prototype appears to explode and launches into the air as the bottom portion of the prototype seems to buckle in on itself. The rocket then falls back to the ground. Debris can be seen flying from the rocket as a secondary explosion envelops the prototype. A second video posted by NASA Space Flight shows the crumpled fuselage folded over a fire-damaged skeletal structure. The prototype seems to have suffered a catastrophic failure during a "cryogenic pressure test" when one of its fuel tanks filled with liquid nitrogen. This isn't the first flying trashcan to blow up during the test phase. In 2019, the MK1 Starship prototype ...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Trying to discourage people to vote has been something that has been happening in this country since people began voting. Voter suppression took center stage after the passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, granting African-Americans the right to vote. Some examples of laws passed trying to discourage minorities and African-Americans from voting include literacy tests. Literacy tests were often times administered to those who were trying to vote in the South all the way until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. Several Supreme Court cases were also filed all the way up to 1970 challenging the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act. Another example is the grandfather clause. The grandfather clause gave an African-American the right to vote if his father, or grandfather, had voted prior to January 1, 1867. At that time, the majority of African-Americans in the United States had been slaves and had not vote...

By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon You would be hard pressed to find a family in Brownsville who doesn't have more than one family member who is dependent on some sort of medication. Whether it is a product of our genetics, our environment, or a combination of the two, almost all of us are related to someone who is taking medicine to help control their cholesterol, their blood pressure, or — the big one — their blood sugar. There is a large number of diabetics in the lower Rio Grande Valley and in Brownsville. I am one of them. When I first began injecting myself with insulin, I was doing it the old fashioned way. I had glass vials and used a hypodermic needle to jab my belly and introduce the medicine into my system. When I visited my doctor one of the last times, he now had some fancy, newfangled pen that had the medicine in it. You didn't need to use a vial of anything, just dial up the number, and stick yourself with the needle and you were good to g...