The Brownsville Beacon

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon In four years, Starbase, Texas will be the city of tomorrow. Rockets will be blasting off from launchpads just off the Gulf coast. Starbase will be a company town owned by Elon Musk and SpaceX that will replace the city that once stood watch and defined the Texas border with Mexico. Brownsville will slowly be replaced by Musk's futuristic dream Utopia. Colonists wanting to start a new life on Mars will begin their journey at what was once Boca Chica Beach — one of South Texas' last undisturbed beaches. Citizens will be able to drive their electric cars from one end of the city to the other, via a network of private toll roads built by one of Elon Musk's companies. Those fortunate enough will even be able to use Musk's tunnel connecting the Lagunas to Boca Chica Beach at Starbase. Tens of thousands of visitors will visit Starbase to witness these shiny rockets blast into space and take their passengers to...

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon County administrator Pete Sepulveda talked to The Brownsville Herald  about an idea an Elon Musk company called Boring — no, seriously, it's The Boring Company — digging a tunnel from the southern end of South Padre Island to the northern end of Boca Chica Beach. This would open the beach up and solve the problem of the all-too-frequent beach closures and allow access to the northern end of Boca Chica. So, here's the proposal. Instead of keeping to the original legal binding deal which very specifically laid out a set schedule for public road and beach closures, Musk would continue to close off the beach access whenever he wanted. In exchange, his Boring company would dig a tunnel so his employees living out at Laguna Vista and Laguna Madre would be able to just cut across and they'd be at the SpaceX facility in no time, flat. Oh, and the public would be able to use the road, too, I suppose. Yeah, I guess. ...

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon It breaks my heart to see friends posting vacation pictures on Facebook showing them visiting zoos in San Antonio and Houston. I would always scratch my heart and wonder why they'd go out of their way to visit a zoo when we have a zoo here in town. After looking into the way out zoo is maintained, I can't say I blame them. The Gladys Porter Zoo is in a sad state of disrepair. Built in 1971, it was once the crown jewel of Brownsville's tourist industry. One of the advantages to the Gladys Porter Zoo is the animals are not caged up in tiny, metal barred cells. Animals are able to roam free, or as free as an animal in captivity can roam short of being in a wildlife preserve. The problem is the zoo is definitely showing its age. Several of the glass windows separating the animal habitats from the public are cracked and in need of repair. However, the biggest problem with the zoo is space. There is little, to no,...

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon People in the Rio Grande Valley's politics need to be defined by rationality and practicality rather than a political party. For as long as I can remember, and until recent results have proven, Republicans didn't stand much of a chance in city, county, state, and national elections in the Rio Grande Valley. Often times the Democratic primary chose elected officials. Once a Democratic candidate was chosen, there were times when they appeared unopposed on the ballot. Recently, lunatic fringe candidates who aren't Republicans began running as Republicans to avoid a primary fight and directly appear on the ballot for the general election. The recent state senate election for district 27 had a Republican candidate who previously ran for office as a Democrat and a member of the Green Party. Her platform made her sound more like a Democrat, causing the Cameron and Hidalgo County Republican Chairs to disavow themse...

By Diego Garcia III  ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Less than 24 hours before Cameron County was scheduled to hold an in-person commissioner's court meeting at the old Cameron County Dancy Building, county officials decided in the interests of public health and public safety, the meeting would instead be held via telephone conference. The announcement and change came less than one full day after County Judge Eddie Treviño held an in-person press conference with members of the local health community to encourage the citizenry to get vaccinated.  It seems for every decent thing Treviño and county leaders do, we have to put up with a handful of poor decisions. I woke up this morning expecting The Brownsville Herald to be streaming the commissioner's court meeting just like they had live streamed the press conference the day before. I was surprised to see there were no live feeds being offered by The Herald . I figured it wouldn't really be a problem — I would simply visit...

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon A blog is defined as "a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style." The term is a shortened version of "weblog," a sort of online journal published on the internet for all to see. I am very well aware the internet in all it's dark corners is filled with scores of miserable, negative people who love nothing more than to spread their hatred and misery. Most of these people were voiceless before the internet gave them a voice. Many of them confuse those who visit their blog with the belief they're powerful, influential, and people take their blog seriously. They don't. I have no such delusions of grandeur. I am very well aware my blog is not as powerful and influential as some people think theirs is. I don't even know how to check to see how many people visit my blog or it's mirror...

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon County Judge Eddie Treviño held a press conference Monday to urge county residents to consider getting their COVID-19 vaccine. Some watching the press conference via The Brownsville Herald's  Facebook page speculated Treviño was going to initiate another countywide lockdown. He didn't. Instead, Treviño introduced several members of the local medical community, including county doctors, administrators of the Valley Baptist Health System, and one of Valley Baptist Harlingen's ER charge nurses. The county has seen an increase of over 3000 cases during the last six weeks, and local hospitals are being filled to capacity once again. Officials said the current relaxation of mask mandates and increased social gatherings were to blame in the rise of COVID cases, particularly among young people. One doctor who addressed those in attendance spoke about the inevitable rise in COVID-relates deaths the county will see a...

By Diego Garcia III  ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon The United States of America has always been a nation of immigrants. Ever since the first English colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, the colonies that would eventually become the United States would see people from all over the world populate the territory. Spain had already sent explorers to the Americas before the English arrived on the East Coast of North America. By the time the 104 English settlers landed in Jamestown, explorers had landed in what would eventually become New Spain and had ventured northward into California, Texas, and as far away as Florida. Europeans brought new animals, foods, and disease to the New World. If Cortez, and the English, would have brought flowers rather than muskets, they still would have killed off the majority of the Native American population with the illnesses they brought.  Eventually, the United States would be established after the colonists, with the help of the...

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon One of the problems with the Texas Constitution is the sheer length of the document. Texas lawmakers often choose to add to the Constitution rather than amend and streamline the document. Coming in at just a few words shy of 87,000, the Texas Constitution is the second longest state constitution in the county. Among some of the laws still on the Texas books include gems prohibiting the milking of your neighbor's cow or it being illegal to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel.  The Texas Constitution and a rash of antiquated laws need to be revamped and updated. The same can be said about Brownsville's city charter. While it may not be the phone book sized behemoth the Texas Constitution is, current city administrators and their actions are making Brownsvillians take a longer look into what is effectively the city's Constitution. Two of the main issues currently revolve around the massive tax bre...

By Diego Garcia III  ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon One of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning is peruse the local blogs. My daily routine starts with visits to The McHale Report , The Brownsville Observer , and El Rrun Rrun . On a side note, I'm glad to see Jim Barton is feeling better and publishing articles regularly. I wish him good health and I hope he's doing well. One fine morning, I saw a picture of Brownsville Navigation District Commissioner John Wood on The McHale Report . Underneath was a caption that asked if Wood was considering another run for a term as a port commissioner. In all my infinite wisdom, my addled brain conjured up a half-formed thought, and I took to Facebook to post a quick, witty quip. Wasn't John Wood the city commissioner who once referred to Brownsville taxis as "taco wagons?" I was quickly set straight by a friend who messaged me privately. John Wood wasn't the commissioner who made the disparaging remark....

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Ask Jessica Tetreau who the most popular commissioner ever to serve on the Brownsville city council is and she'll shoot you straight. Jessica Tetreau will tell you Jessica Tetreau is the best, most popular city commissioner in Brownsville's 173-year history. The only person to ever be elected via write-in vote, she defeated an incumbent commissioner and has served District 2 since 2011. She won reelection by a razor thin margin in 2015, but was able to soundly defeat her opponents, a former Brownsville mayor and a former school board member to secure her third term. Tetreau fancies herself the Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Brownsville. Her third, and final, term as commissioner is set to expire in 2023. Tetreau will no longer be allowed to run for a fourth term. Her office, along with all the other city commission seats, is now term-limited. In the last election, Brownsville voters overwhelmingly approved a chan...

By Diego Garcia III  ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon Take a trip with me, if you please, to Brownsville, Texas in early August, 1961. it was hot, but there was some wind blowing in cooling things down a bit. Skies were also partly cloudy. City Goings-On:  Boca Chica was being expanded from a two-lane road to a four lane road from Military Highway to International Boulevard (Four Corners), and a proposal was being introduced to secure state funds to expand Boca Chica from two to four lanes from International to the Y split with Billy Mitchell. Police Chief Gus Krausse was defending the city's thin, 12 inch tall road medians (called "cattle chutes" that had been installed on Boca Chica and Palm Boulevard. Chief Krausse said they were primarily installed as safety measures to prevent cars from meandering from one lane to another. It's interesting to see road issues persist on Boca Chica Boulevard some 60 years later. A woman didn't want to wait for a train stalled...

By Diego Garcia III  ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon If you visit the Cameron County website, you'll find a section dedicated to press releases. Among the disheartening information about the rising COVID cases is the proposed raise in compensation for 26 county administrators. The county judge and the four county commissioners are proposed to receive an 11,000 dollar pay bump, while the other 21 administrators are in line to receive 5,000 dollar pay bumps. Along with the commissioners and the county judge, the list includes the county and district clerks, the tax assessor/collector, the county attorney, the county treasurer, the justices of the peace, the constables, and the sheriff. The questions that beg to be asked are: Is this the right time for the top county administrators to be asking for a raise?  Have these top officials made Cameron County a better place? Does their performance merit a significant increase in compensation? With the county in the grip of a cripplin...

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor if The Brownsville Beacon Of all the things the Romans could have cared about, they would much rather cram themselves into the Coliseo Romano  and cheer the lions on as they tore the Christians to shreds. Instead of worrying about public sanitation and outside invaders, they would much rather scream with delight as gladiators fought to the death with broadswords and maces. If the mob was busy being distracted with violence and destruction, they wouldn't care about the problems Caesar and the Senate weren't solving. Bread and circuses. Almost two thousand years later, it is apparent certain members of the Brownsville Independent School District's board of trustees are taking a page straight out of the Roman Empire's playbook. Rather than focusing on things that matter, some trustees are busy concocting stories, manipulating the narrative, and participating in petty revenge schemes designed to make other board members look bad. An ...