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CAN BARRERA, FIRE MARSHALS KEEP MAQUINITAS CLOSED?
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3IshzOkC0TVH47PqwzDo5JgNBQNFcvoFMYwQwFJ4icsu383eyntMwHD0BbPbijQsD50JEQr3gpXrZOAjthoSQeFXFOJNBMS3jAefvMJbaAWFkX4BPWgSCcp48RK90RmOGrR_sALOUVg/s1600/hbarr.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3IshzOkC0TVH47PqwzDo5JgNBQNFcvoFMYwQwFJ4icsu383eyntMwHD0BbPbijQsD50JEQr3gpXrZOAjthoSQeFXFOJNBMS3jAefvMJbaAWFkX4BPWgSCcp48RK90RmOGrR_sALOUVg/s400/hbarr.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732755912701030642" border="0" /></a>By JERRY DEAL<br /><a href="http://myleadernews.com/wp/2012/04/can-barrera-fire-marshals-keep-illegal-8-liners-closed-probably-not/"><span style="font-style: italic;">MyLeaderNews</span><br /></a><br />Here is how it really is.<br />Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Humberto Barrera and inspectors from the fire marshal’s office recently pulled off what other county and local law enforcement officers have not been able to permanently do, or really not tried to do â€" close down the 8-line operations that have infiltrated the county in the past few years â€" most of them, if not all, operating illegally.<br />Barrera and the county fire marshal’s office closed down a number of the 8-line operations due to building and fire code violations.<br />Question: What took you so long, some of these operators have been in business in ramsackled structures for months, some years â€" including faulty or unsanitary restroom facilities?<br />Although Barrera says it has nothing to do with illegal gambling, do not believe it. Will it work?<br />Only for a time, then many of these operations will be brought up to legal standards because there are big bucks behind them.<br />There are so many sides to all this, it is hard to find a beginning.<br />Even before that, however, I will say I am not opposed to gambling, but want legal gambling where the participants do not get ripped off â€" like what is happening now.<br />Let’s start by me informing you readers that organized crime and big business are behind this. They do not abide by the law because they are making big bucks by giving out cash instead of the “fuzzy bears†gifts that are legal.<br />One of the big 8-liners operations is Aces Wired, which sometime back paid a $1 million penalty for illegal operations of 8-liners. The owner of this company reportedly has connections with Gov. Rick Perry.<br />When an operation is busted, it simply moves to another location. Often the operators are fined and allowed to repurchase the confiscated gambling units.<br />So, who are the owners-operators of the Valley operations? Who knows and why isn’t law enforcement finding out?<br />Point on this: Barrera and fire marshals returned to a La Feria operation, after it had been closed, but was again operating. They found bundles of money, obviously from money taken in illegally.<br />Also, many operators say they do not know who their bosses and owners are, that they have never met them. They say they leave the money at a certain place when they close and it is picked up before they re-open, and that money for their work is also there for them on payday.<br />Am I the only one suspicious about all this?<br />It very likely will take a federal investigation or a federal bust to get down to all this, because the county only occasionally makes busts â€" which I say are only to try to show they are handling the situation. It is overdue for the IRS to step in on all these gaming operators.<br />They are not â€" that includes the sheriff’s department and the district attorney’s office. Regardless the spin they give, they have not adequately done their job.<br />What can be expected from the DA. He is so busy in trying to win a Demo congressional election, he can’t be bothered.<br />But, even before that, he could not be bothered.<br />Also, in his office, there is Assistant DA Carlos Masso, who may have connections to those in the 8-liner operations, and wants to be the next district attorney.<br />On a more local political scene, that Menchaca woman, who is seeking to unseat Justice of the Peace Sallie Gonzalez also reportedly has 8-line connections.<br />Gonzalez, I am told has no monetary connections to any 8-line operations, except to play them. (including one that was busted).<br />There also are some on the Harlingen City Commission who favor the 8-liners with some restrictions.<br />But restrictions elsewhere have not worked, why do our city fathers believe it would here><br />So, you tell me how to get the illegal gambling stopped, except to legalize it with state control and weed those who are illegally making millions off of their illegal operations.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-8274953316809172972?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/04/can-barrera-fire-marshals-keep.html
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JUAREZ VS. BISD: A SORDID TALE UNFOLDS IN AMENDED COMPLAINT OF BID RIGGING AND RETALIATION
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM185S9ZByR49D2gibKoESgkvhcSRumFr_NdPdN48EMF7s8yeeSgayWFJON2bqy0oJIdp4mHJj4PuR8wYkiDkqxy5ADSo4huGMZGWBF8uF1JoqKozfoLpzu9SPBpfp0hsVmxalWjZ4mro/s1600/juarez.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 138px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM185S9ZByR49D2gibKoESgkvhcSRumFr_NdPdN48EMF7s8yeeSgayWFJON2bqy0oJIdp4mHJj4PuR8wYkiDkqxy5ADSo4huGMZGWBF8uF1JoqKozfoLpzu9SPBpfp0hsVmxalWjZ4mro/s320/juarez.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732535832922150658" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: normal; ">By </span><b>Juan Montoya</b><div style="font-weight: normal; ">As one reads through the 21-page amended complaint in the lawsuit filed by former Brownsville Independent School District Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez, it becomes apparent that the majority on the board back in 2008 when his contract was not extended did not want to hear the recommendation that the insurer that best served the district's employees was not the one whose agent was Johnny Cavazos.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Juarez, after comparing the bids for the district's Stop-Loss insurance with at least three or four different consultants â€" including Kent Whittenmore â€" came to the conclusion that AAG insurance offered the district a better value for its employees coverage than did Mutual of Omaha, the company for which Cavazos was the agent of record.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">But, unlike Mutual of Omaha, AAG's offer was recommended by Lance Pendly the district's insurance consultant <span style="font-size: 100%; ">who cited the company's "net of commissions and no agent of record" as factors in his recommendation.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Then, on Sept. 16, 2008, Juarez who had only been with the district for only three months, gave the board members his recommendation to contract with AAG and faced the wrath of the majority on the board, specifically Ruben Cortez and Joe Colunga. Not only did they object to the choice, but also accused Juarez of "misinforming" them on the best value. Adamant that Cavazos' company be awarded the contract, they send superintendent Hector Gonzalez to either fire Juarez or face the consequences himself.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">At that meeting, both Cortez and Colunga "questioned (Juarez) redundantly about his recommendation. This culminated in the board launching an investigation and discussing Juarez's employment in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, his attorneys assert.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">The lawsuit sates that: "By this time, and unbeknownst to Juarez, a conspiracy existed by and between various board members and others employed , and others not employed, by BISD. Co-conspirators included Joe Colunga, Rolando Aguilar, Rick Zayas, Miguel Saldana, Tony Resendez, Kent Wittenmore, Elizabeth Brito-Hatcher, and Otis Powers."</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">"The purpose of this conspiracy appears to have been, among other things, to coerce BISD employees to file false grievances and perform other coercive acts against BISD employees who chose not to engage in the illegal activities of the co-conspirators, and to prevent and/or discredit information about the conspiracy from reaching the public," Juarez's complaint states.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">In fact, Wittenmore himself filed two grievances against Juarez, even though evidence shows that he had also recommended that AAG was the best value for the district. </div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Later, after board members learned that Juarez had gone with his lawyers to the FBI charging that they had conspired to rig the insurance contract, his contract was not extended.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">"Instead of following the defendant trustees' illegal instructions to terminate Juarez, the superintendent allowed Juarez to "resigning" so he could be reassigned to other duties within the district," the complaint states. "When the defendant trustees learned that the superintendent had done this, they were outraged. Upon discovering this reassignment, trustee Aguilar and trustee Cortez went to the superintendent's office outraged. They both screamed, "why didn't you fire Tony? Why didn't you terminate him?"</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Among the illegal acts reported by Juarez to the FBI were included some of the following criminal violations:</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">"A. Coercion of public servant, Gonzales, to illegally terminate (Juarez) in violation of his rights of due process in violation of the Texas Penal Code;</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">B. Coercion of a public servant, Juarez, to falsify a grievance against Gonzales or face nonrenewal of his contract, i.e. "constructive termination.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">C. Bribery of a public official, regarding $500 paid to then sitting trustee Otis Powers...</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">D. Exercising improper influence over the Wittenmore grievance by then sitting trustee, Otis Powers ...</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">E. Participating in a closed meeting without the keeping of a certified agenda or recording of closed meeting in violation of the Texas Open Meeting Act (TOMA)...</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">F. Conspiring to circumvent TOMA by participation in illegal deliberations with less than a quorum in violation of TOMA...</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">G. Participating in a closed meeting not permitted by TOMA in violation of TOMA...</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Juarez also alleges in his amended complaint that after the defendant trustees learned he had gone to the appropriate authorities and reported the alleged criminal acts he charges that they "thereafter engaged in additional, numerous acts of retaliation against him, including acts specifically intended to destroy his reputation in the community and in the education professions. (His) reporting of the boards' illegal activity bagan a whole new drive by the co-conspirators to do further damage to his career, reputation and job. The defendant trustees' goal was reached when they succeeded in nonrenewing Juarez' contract."</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">The amended complaint was filed at the direction of federal judge Andrew Hanen who gave his attorneys until April 13 to amend his original complaint and file it to include the alleged conspiratorial acts by the defendant trustees and others.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Earlier, Hanen's ruling that the four defendants were denied qualified immunity and would have to defend themselves as individuals as a violation of Juarez' First Amendment rights when they retaliated against him for going to the authorities. The defendants appealed his decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and Hanen's order was upheld. The appeals court later refused a motion for rehearing of the same order.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Gonzales has filed a lawsuit against the district in a state district court. </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7184086556913006740?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/04/juarez-vs-bisd-sordid-tale-unfolds-in.html
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