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REMEMBERING FRED BUSTINZA JR., HIS ART, HIS TRAGIC END AND RECOGNITION OF HIS WORKS
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By <b>Juan Montoya</b><br /><div>Just a little over six years ago (Aug. 20, 2005), Brownsville woke up to read in the local daily that an up-and-coming local artist had been brutally murdered in front of his mother at a local bar.</div><div>Alfredo (Fred to his friends) Bustinza Jr. was killed by two members of the Texas Syndicate prison gang at at El Tucan Sports Bar at 12th and Jackson streets after a misunderstanding that had its roots in an incident that had happened between a lesbian and her lover at a 14th Street bar.</div><div>To make matters worse, the beating and stabbing death took place before the horrified eyes of his mother Frances as she sat with him at the same table. He was stabbed 13 times. Another friend who was with him at the time, Jose "Pepe" Rodriguez, was also beaten and stabbed in the neck while he was in the bathroom and the Bustinzas waited for him in the bar.</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGg26FwuWzxHxd_rgZgVBKVdQu_7LLk52QzhTr7c7c_4mExCjiPcKBZQ2oOJNs6Cgt2bx2Krwb4thqJcu-RPPk1jgm8irIrvfjyq1IiN1GzFHWlVf0NTYxzBcDgTTN22nF7fnGObEN962/s1600/bustinza1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGg26FwuWzxHxd_rgZgVBKVdQu_7LLk52QzhTr7c7c_4mExCjiPcKBZQ2oOJNs6Cgt2bx2Krwb4thqJcu-RPPk1jgm8irIrvfjyq1IiN1GzFHWlVf0NTYxzBcDgTTN22nF7fnGObEN962/s320/bustinza1.jpg" width="240" /></a>Fred had achieved fame for his artwork that has eluded more conventional artists. His style can only be called "modern" because his style combined the elements of Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and even Brownsville resident Julian Schnabel, who he admired. In fact, the Bustinza family home off the frontage road across the US 77-83 Expressway from the HEB on Boca Chica and Paredes road was just a few blocks from the Schnabel home in the Los Ebanos neighborhood across the resaca from Gladys Porter Park.<br /><i>(I took the picture of Fred and his mom Frances at the 123 Lounge a few weeks before he was killed.)</i></div><div>Two men, Arturo Rodriguez of Brownsville, and Nestor Javier Garza, were charged in the murder.</div><div>To make matters worse, after Bustinza was killed, the owner of the bar had his body moved outside where his body was found by police.</div><div>The police suspected that the fight began after Arturo Rodriguez thought Pepe, Bustinza’s friend, had tripped him while he was walking to the bathroom. </div><div>But the word on the street indicated that Fred had become involved in an altercation a few days before where he defended a woman from her lesbian lover and that his appearance at the bar gave the woman the opportunity to incite the two men accused to assault him.</div><div>"The woman had beaten her lover and was looking for her when she came upon her sitting at the bar with Fred at the 1,2,3, Lounge trying to comfort her," said a woman who witnessed the confrontation. "Fred told her that she wasn't going to beat anyone there and the woman became livid. She and Fred were standing on either side of the pool table with cue sticks in hand. The woman's girlfriend was cowering in the bathroom and called the police. When she heard that she had called the police, she ran out the back door."</div><div>The scuttlebutt was that the same woman spotted Fred sitting at the bar and took advantage of the fact that Rodriguez and Garza owed her money and incited them to attack him as he sat using the tripping incident as an excuse. The facts may never be known.</div><div>I used to live off Poinsettia Street in the same general neighborhood where the Bustinzas lived and often they would come over to the house to sit in the secluded ebony-shaded backyard and drink beer. Fred Sr. was alive then and my mate soon struck up a friendship with Frances, Fred's mom.</div><div>Fred once hung up a canvas mural depicting the history of rock and roll with Elvis, Marylin Monroe and even Selena depicted among the figures along with Dick Tracy. I am no connoisseur of moder art, but it had its appeal. He enjoyed showing his work as much as we enjoyed hearing him explain it over a cold brew.<br />At one time actor Abel Salas, Tony Gray, Brad Doughtery, Jerry McHale and other local literati sat in the backyard arguing art and even almost coming to blows with Fred. What did we know? </div><div>According to art websites, Bustinza’s works have been shown in art galleries from Matamoros to several Texas cities to New York to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Arts in Washington, D.C.</div>Now I understand that lovers of his art have established a website where his art can be viewed and bought. That site is listed as: http://fredbustinza.webs.com/.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-5367592755544815901?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/remembering-fred-bustinza-jr-his-art.html
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THE LAGUNA MADRE: A BIRDERS' AND ANGLERS' PARADISE WITHIN A HALF-HOUR FROM BROWNSVILLE
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxRmKnI4uhGxnKvyUcSy2an3yZnc6oeNYizAgZG3jsk6BQJ4kXY2pkjQxijQ0jeS4oQ7cmFzrpUm_KjJho6EtTO6iaetp5IzwnBMoIy0nnMJFq7cf0OoGuwnBraAfZdpB1pT1pEPq0AOv/s1600/sunseteidted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxRmKnI4uhGxnKvyUcSy2an3yZnc6oeNYizAgZG3jsk6BQJ4kXY2pkjQxijQ0jeS4oQ7cmFzrpUm_KjJho6EtTO6iaetp5IzwnBMoIy0nnMJFq7cf0OoGuwnBraAfZdpB1pT1pEPq0AOv/s640/sunseteidted.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>The photo above was taken from the South Padre Island side of the Laguna Madre recently. The dark lines in the middle of the reflected orange swaths of the setting sun are numerous birds of different species that congregate on the food-rich shallow waters on either side of the Laguna.<br />The laguna waters are also the nursery for shrimp, redfish and other game fish that attract anglers from throughout Texas and the United States. Where else can one drive from the city for a half hour and be treated to scenes like this?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-5016058728237140852?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/laguna-madre-birders-paradise-within.html
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VILLALOBOS SEEN AS DEMOCRAT TO BEAT IN US DISTRICT 27 REP'S PRIMARY RACE
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />Although supporters of his other Democratic opponents hint darkly (and hopefully) of federal indictments to come, no impartial observers of local politics can deny that as of today the man to beat for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Rep for District 27 is two-time Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos.<br />Even a cursory visual tour of Brownsville barrios and its environs indicate that Villalobos is already working hard since his Dec. 8 announcement on getting his message out to the Democratic faithful.<br />The newly-drawn 27th Congressional District encompasses Cameron, Willacy, Kenedy, Kleberg and the western portions of Nueces County. If its boundaries can withstand the challenges from various Hispanic groups and the Department of Justice's Office of Civil Rights, that should be the arena where the contest will occur.<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9cANoLnIeXQ-m4wwdFGNbbreP_5uCQXnxqkcUbAnjDBogT9x8dbXKVbGd3l9TbJaKN-iKGemmkPUGnP5AMHgrEki7qoydh5lrJxYHb8nMEGbNkZeOZ1kCwa0L1hnMQGeeHSPbowKD6kp/s1600/276863_160374830714495_946684643_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9cANoLnIeXQ-m4wwdFGNbbreP_5uCQXnxqkcUbAnjDBogT9x8dbXKVbGd3l9TbJaKN-iKGemmkPUGnP5AMHgrEki7qoydh5lrJxYHb8nMEGbNkZeOZ1kCwa0L1hnMQGeeHSPbowKD6kp/s1600/276863_160374830714495_946684643_n.jpg" /></a>It is unknown who will face Villobos should he prevail in November on the Republic slate, but incumbent Blake Farenthold has not ruled out (or ruled in, for that matter) whether he will vie for his party's candidacy here or in the district further north that encompasses his base in Nueces County.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Other Democratic candidates so far include Elmo Aycock and Anthony Troiani, Ramiro Garza and Denise Blanchard.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Aycock, a relative unknown, has posted small window signs in Brownsville trumpeting his military service. His website states that he is a former Marine from San Antonio who "grew up in a middle class Christian Family that taught him to be selfless, fair, and useful."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">He is a graduate of Our Lady of the Lake University with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies with an emphasis in Political Science. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A combat veteran of Iraq in 2005, he was honorably discharged from active duty in 2011 after 12 years of service in the Corps.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Troiani, who served one term as a City of Brownsville City Commissioner is originally from Modesto, Calif., but moved to South Texas after he got his law degree. He is also a Marine Corps veteran.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Edinburg City Manager Ramiro Garza, Jr., is also running for Congress as a Democrat. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Garza, who was born in Brownsville and raised in Port Isabel, has strong family ties in Cameron and Nueces counties. His platform is headed by job creation in the district. Although he was born in Brownsville and raised in South Texas, many wonder whether his absence from the area will work against him.<br />And Denise Blanchard, ousted Solomon Ortiz's administrative assistant for the last 20 years of his tenure, has gone around claiming penury but telling anyone within earshot that she wants to serve because she has a "passion." Her sudden re-adoption of her Hispanic maiden Hispanic name â€" Saenz â€" has raised the suspicions that there is a fair amount of political convenience behind her sudden love of things Mexican.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> Villalobos, on the other hand, was born in San Benito and was raised in a military family. In his webpage, he said learned family values and hard work at a young age. He earned a degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and his law degree from Southern Methodist University. he and his wife have two children who attend public elementary schools.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">"Mando has had a strong presence here for many years," said a local political activist. "If he can weather the storm generated by the conviction of Abel Limas and Jim Solis and personnel in his department, he has the name recognition none of the other enjoy. Looking at the situation realistically, he looks like the strongest candidate right now." In the announcement, Villalobos said he knows how to get things done, claiming to have secured more than a 99 percent success rate on all cases that have come before his office. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Also, he stressed his commitment to the Hispanic mantra of honor to family, hard work, country and community and promised to "not yield the rights and security that our seniors have earned.†</div>He also said he would focus to "turn this area into a leader in renewable energies and clean water, and to expand institutions of higher learning in the areas of research and development of new technologies."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-6196999423367191853?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/villalobos-seen-as-democrat-to-beat-in.html
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THE BROWNTOWN HOLLER ROLLS OUT WELCOME WAGON FOR TERCERO IN TYPICAL BROWNSVILLE FASHION
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyj9_RJqOC61wsHmxmywDiTVsZ62-zV4_JfJSamhb8qiVnq5ccYb99UD4iDFj2KcYCb-_Ni7BHQd5Mh-ymx_jjX-ibjnkLY6P5XUNvwbM31JBMV3zFS4mNs-XvJ_E9jdckPjLel0GCUSAB/s1600/horn.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyj9_RJqOC61wsHmxmywDiTVsZ62-zV4_JfJSamhb8qiVnq5ccYb99UD4iDFj2KcYCb-_Ni7BHQd5Mh-ymx_jjX-ibjnkLY6P5XUNvwbM31JBMV3zFS4mNs-XvJ_E9jdckPjLel0GCUSAB/s320/horn.gif" width="320" /></a></div>By <b>Juan Montoya</b><br /><br />In typical Brownsville fashion, the<i> Brownsville Herald's</i> Jacqueline Armerndariz has in so many words announced that the daily will continue to be the mouthpiece of the sore losers in the UTB-TSC separation issue that we thought was already behind us.<br />In today's issue of the scurrilous publication, Armendariz breathlessly informs us in a front-page story that (gasp!) incoming TSC president Lily Tercero recommended and the trustees approved, the hiring of two eminently qualified administrators to help her put the community college back in shape after its sacking by the UT System.<br />Their sin, apparently, was that both had been among five people who had written recommendations for Tercero's hiring as TSC president. This is, indeed, a small hook upon which to hang an "expose."<br />The TSC administration didn't help matters much by asking the Texas Attorney General for an opinion to determine whether Tercero's personnel file was confidential and whether releasing it was a matter of public interest. The AG approved their release.<br />Armerndariz reported that Tercero had recommended that the board hire Roberto Aguero as TSC vice president of instruction and student services and appoint Leonardo de la Garza to the TSC transition team in November.<br />Then, as if to reveal a dastardly plot behind the new TSC president's motives, Armerdariz states that "both men authored recommendations for Tercero, according to the background check document dated June 29."<br />As a reader of this blog pointed out, it is interesting to note that the daily did not make a peep when UTB-TSC president Juliet Garcia was hiring her friends and their relatives left and right and rewarding them with lavish salaries. Now, suddenly, the recommendations by Tercero to the board to hire unquestionably competent administrators who vouched for Tercero as an outstanding candidate for TSC president are seen somehow as suspect and insinuate a <i>quid pro quo</i> for their glowing recommendations.<br />"Where was the Herald when Juliet would reward her loyalists with well-paid positions?," asked a reader. "Could it be that Garcia's supporters are still wounded after the TSC trustees decided to establish an autonomous community college and ending the unjustified subsidy of the UT System?"<br />Some of the names that come to mind almost immediately are those of Michael Putegnat, one of the original architects of the infamous "partnership" who has reaped the benefits of his association with Garcia to no end. Aside from his position as a liaison with the UT System, Garcia also named him to â€" among other things â€" oversee the UTB-TSC consultation with the federal government over the Border Wall.<br />Not only did that fetch a nice bit of change for Putegnat, but he also managed to profit by creating a company to actually build the thing. The wall, despite his heroic efforts to plug the dike, was actually constructed, albeit with some aesthetic considerations recommended by the cosmopolitan Putegant. for a slight fee, of course.<br />Then there's the matter of the hiring by UTB-TSC of TSC trustee Eddie Campirano's daughter as an alumni manager over more qualified candidates. Campirano moved on to become director of the port of Brownsville. One of his highest paid employees is none other than Herman Rico, the port's marketing director, who just happens to be (guess who?) Juliet Garcia's son-in-law. <br />Where was the daily then?<br />And how about the pressure applied upon the former TSC financial office employee who refused to move money from one fund to another to cover construction costs overruns by a Garcia-favored administrator and was harassed to no end by UTB-TSC henchman Wayne Moore? It wasn't until her husband, 444th District Judge David Sanchez, stepped in that the matter was quietly resolved.<br />Need we go further?<br />Let's see just who these to Tercero "sycophants" were.<br />Aguero served as the vice chancellor for academic success for Alamo Colleges and de la Garza is chancellor emeritus of the Tarrant County College District. <br />TSC Board of Trustees Chairman Francisco "Kiko" Rendon and Trustee Juan "Trey" Mendez said the two were "overqualified" to take the positions they got at TSC. Both said that de la Garza was recommended by the University of Texas System and Aguero is leaving the Alamo Community College District.<br /><div class="newstext marginMidSide">"These individuals are highly qualified and were the individuals recommended by our President," Mendez told the daily. "I trust our administration and see no reason to believe that anyone has been hired because of the perception that they were owed a favor."<br />TSC chairman Rendon said that Aguero was "taking a step down from his position as VP of Academic Success. ... Because he believes in our mission and would like to be part of this important moment in TSC’s history."<br />Now, isn't that a bit different than the way in which, say â€" Campirano's daughter â€" got her foot in the door with the help of the Garcia connection?</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-6589139193079712637?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/browtown-holler-rolls-out-welcome-wagon.html
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