http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/
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NASA, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NIXED SPACE PORT IN BROWNSVILLE IN 1961
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br /><br />With all the hoopla surrounding the potential construction of a launch port for space missions in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Boca</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Chica</span> Beach, it might serve us well to remember history lest we repeat the same mistakes.<br /><br />The media frenzy surrounding the possible launch site by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">SpaceX</span> in Brownsville using Falcon 9 commercial space vehicles has overlooked the fact that the U.S. Government<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxieh3qCybILOqUuQa3q8w7pYjkB9loFxfTH3d99MneOsLoUIRQ0H7iVDn7zcKrovL4XFkuh3Rauptqyhtfnu5QfyUPjuK-wnl6QBKos-Pku_ZWff3wv6gHb1BI1bTsLPe6MtyTiQbsc/s1600/spacex.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 235px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732828722678941314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkxieh3qCybILOqUuQa3q8w7pYjkB9loFxfTH3d99MneOsLoUIRQ0H7iVDn7zcKrovL4XFkuh3Rauptqyhtfnu5QfyUPjuK-wnl6QBKos-Pku_ZWff3wv6gHb1BI1bTsLPe6MtyTiQbsc/s320/spacex.jpg" /></a> â€" through the National Aeronautics Space Administration and the Department of Defense â€" considered doing just that when they were searching for a possible launch site for the manned lunar missions back in 1961.<br /><br />In a document titled numbered MT 61-109546 and tittled "Joint Report on Facilities and Resources Required at Launch Site to Support NASA Manned Lunar Program" authored by personnel of both entities, Brownsville was one of eight sites being considered for the launches.<br /><br />Other sites included the White sands Missile range, Cape Canaveral (on-shore), Cumberland Island (Ga.), Brownsville, Cape Canaveral (off-shore), Hawaii, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Mayaguana</span> and Christmas Island.<br /><br />Granted, that the size of the lunar mission operation would have to be much bigger than the commercial launch zone envisioned by the promoters of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">SpaceX</span> site, yet there are some issues <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">assocaiated</span> that have not changed much in the past 51 years since the initial search was being conducted.<br /><br />One of the criteria was cost to the government. At Canaveral, for example, they were looking at an approximate cost of $75 million for 81,000 acres, a quotation that eliminated the Christmas Island, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Mayaguana</span> and Hawaii, all of which were over 100 million. Additional costs (systems procurement, etc.) proved prohibitive ranging from $435 million at Christmas island, $251 million at Hawaii and $205 in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Mayaguana</span>.<br />Brownsville, however, made the cut with the real estate estimated at $14 million, and additional long-range <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">cost</span> pegging the price at $125 million, competitive with the remaining sites.<br />However, there were some problems with establishing the launch site in Brownsville, the planners concluded. For one, Both the Georgia site and the one in Brownsville would require the intermittent closing of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Intercoastal</span> Waterway that "could cause political problems," according to the report.<br />Further, under the section titled "Launch Vehicle Impact and Overflight Hazards," the report stated that the launch azimuth would be limited to approximately 80 to 90 degrees to minimize land impact of first and second stages hitting populated areas. Today, if a commercial launch to supply the International Space Station were to be launched from Brownsville, it would have to be directed to a 60 degree azimuth which would take the stages dropping over populated areas like Corpus <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Christi, Houston</span> and other U.S. cities to the interior.<br />Related to the issue of overflight hazard, the planners then found that "large portions of U.S, <em>and possibly Cuba</em>, would have to be overflown through second-stage burnout. With the possibility of abort during first and second stage burning, especially during the early phases of the program, some sizable population centers such as Tampa, St. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Petersburg</span>, Palm Beach and Miami, Fla., would be endangered."<br />Taking into consideration "maximum economy" and existing national resources, the planners then concluded that "it would be more advantageous to expand existing physical plants and the technical organizations than to build new ones. Accordingly, this consideration would favor White Sands <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Missile</span> Range, New Mexico, and Cape Canaveral, Fla."<br />There were other more critical considerations besides cost and overflight hazards. In everyone of the sites studied, the government requires huge amounts of water be available for safety and health considerations. The use of liquid and solid fuels to achieve an escape trajectory and reach orbital velocity.<br />With all the highly-toxic and flammable materials being used and the very possible potential for a fire emergency or explosion, water was a critical component of the launch site considerations. There is no water available at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Boca</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Chica</span> Beach or along Highway 4. Ask the residents of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Koepernick</span> Shores when was the last time they had running water.<br />The lone existing water plant there was in the early 80s when the Texas Department of Health shut it down because of unsatisfactory <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">coliform</span> levels and dense concentrations of other heavy metals.<br />The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">SpaceX</span> proponents have suggested that they will use "gray water," whatever that means.<br />A <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Wikipedia</span> definition indicates that it "gets its name from its cloudy appearance and from its status as being between fresh, potable water (known as "white water") and sewage water (black water). In a household context, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">greywater</span> is the leftover water from baths, showers, hand basins and washing machines only. Some definitions of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">greywater</span> include water from the kitchen sink. Any water containing human waste is considered black water.<br />Now, given that, where are they going to acquire the white water that would make the "grey water" available?" If you remember, the only reason that the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Playa</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">del</span> Rio Resort project died on the books was because (aside from the scamming of Polish residents from Chicago) of the lack of drinking water out at the same site being considered for the launch site by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">SpaceX</span>.<br />Lest you think that this blog is a nay-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">sayer</span> to anything progressive for our area, let us assure you that we wish these private enterprise commercial launches the best and hope they succeed.<br />The planners of the 1961 study were not only motivated by dollar costs and related matters. In a telling quote in the DOD facet of the report, they state unequivocally that among one of its goals is "the restoration of a measure of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">prestige</span> lost to the USSR....the United States has the scientific manpower, the engineering data, know-how, the industrial base, and more than sufficient experience with <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">missile</span> and space operations to do the task. If the Nation decides to authorize and fund the project â€" and if we fail to achieve our goals, it will be because of failure to organize our efforts and discipline our operations in an efficient manner."<div>The price for that failure, the DOD planners concluded "will be the cause of our loss of scientific and industrial leadership in world affairs."</div><div>There were back then, obviously, other considerations besides money. That's about the major difference between that effort and the current push for a launch site.<br />But we have learned to be more careful and to beware of not being led down the primrose path when we ended up holding the bag for enterprises and corporations that squeezed us until they couldn't get anymore blood from the turnip and then simply left.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-4332858217594436639?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/04/nasa-departmetn-of-defense-nixed-space.html
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ON MONDAY THE COUNTY SAFETY OFFICER CRASHED, AND JUST GOT ON ANOTHER TRUCK
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<span style="font-weight: normal; ">By</span><b> Juan Montoya</b><div style="font-weight: normal; ">When former Cameron County Safety Officer Robert Lopez resigned his position after the controversy erupted over the hiring of Pct. 2 commissioner's brother-in-law Roberto Cadriel, County Administrator Pete Sepulveda directed Public Works Supervisor Louis Ara to look for a replacement.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">He let Ara know that he wouldn't object if he picked his friend Gilbert Galvan, who lived off FM 803 in the rural area north of Olmito.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Even though county employees say that Galvan did not possess the </div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPHpt3lpI1mAUxlILWb51HNeEoR4NEDa9oMi103JYGeFv_6lWMxkMH7ZWs08HlN5pC4jcuWwZ7_TwWhIwEEyUcROWLgpS8FJ7_9hZszt3Q9N-Szg8TkITfJCIXLkwMEmChTgk00wQej4/s320/safety+officer.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732796915422632162" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px; " /><div style="font-weight: normal; ">certification to carry out the duties of a safety coordinator, he was issued a county truck and let loo<span style="font-size: 100%; ">se upon the unsuspecting residents of the county. Workers noticed that Galvan loved to tear out </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">out of </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">the county barn in Precinct 3 (San Benito) and spin the wheels of the country ride.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Last Monday, speed caught up with Galvan, who failed to negotiate a turn off FM 803 and the intersection of Henderson Road. He lost control of the vehicle and struck a tree near the intersection. When he couldn't drive it away, he had to call a tow truck at county expense to take it back to the county barn.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Since this happened after working hours (Galvan was allowed to drive the truck home and to work), there was no alcohol or drug test required of Galvan, who was then issued the old truck that belonged to Pct. 3 commissioner's secretary. The secretary had received a new car and her truck, formerly used by Garza and still bearing the commissioner's logo on it, was handed over to Galvan, who is now tooling along the county roads in it.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">"He just dumped the other truck in the yard and jumped on another one provided for him by Ara," said a Pct. 3 resident. "How can the county allow a person like that to be driving around? Is it because he's Ara and Sepulveda's friend?"</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7748868488011402267?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/04/on-monday-county-safety-officer-crashed.html
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COUNTY, CITY AND STATE WOEFULLY UNPREPARED FOR WIND POWER INDUSTRY
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<div style="font-style: normal; ">By <strong>Juan Montoya<br /><br /></strong></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Wind power first came to the Buffalo Ridge area in southwest Minnesota in early 2000. </div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Like Texas and other states, Minnesota was under a federal mandate that at least 10 percent of its energy be derived from renewable resources such as wind, solar and/or biomass.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">But unlike Texas, the Gopher State took the mandate seriously and set <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrw5gTlPrbvb1qpLanQfSb2j8-5Ic0dItc5mgx751XqnIiHVucQKXYV2TVzWgX_E7dIwE5q1WSRIPC2k0vi-S46SFEZRUHvSqxP299RtT7-nL6iOAftzZqRiw2eJ_pF0CHqrzmc8Qxog/s1600/wind.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 396px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 277px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732782272165265442" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrw5gTlPrbvb1qpLanQfSb2j8-5Ic0dItc5mgx751XqnIiHVucQKXYV2TVzWgX_E7dIwE5q1WSRIPC2k0vi-S46SFEZRUHvSqxP299RtT7-nL6iOAftzZqRiw2eJ_pF0CHqrzmc8Qxog/s320/wind.jpg" border="0" /></a>about to address the challenges posed by having wind turbines suddenly pop out across the landscape.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">The Buffalo Ridge, actually an escarpment rising from the flat farmland in Murray County, is just about the only high place for miles in the flat lands of Minnesota. However, its rising slopes provided the perfect elevation to harvest what wind there was available.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Unlike South Texas, where predominantly Southeast winds come in from the Gulf of Mexico in the summer and northern blasts whip through in the winter, its "wind budget" is somewhat limited. They, as they are wont to do, settled for the next beast, building atop the ridge.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">But they weren't satisfied with that. The folks in Minnesota figured that simply taxing the turbines for the limited real estate they physically occupy would not distribute the benefits across their communities and would simply benefit the turbine companies that would in turn sell the energy produced to utilities seeking to meet the federal requirements.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">The state quickly set about to establish an <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/1vveQOrRb3KbnqgNod7EKV3yXEC6jHzJNbX6T7DTnOSVeVUpHTi0PDfPXoMfM/edit">energy production tax</a> that would benefit school districts, municipalities, villages and counties where they were erected. With that in place, the income started coming in to the affected areas. The way they figured, if the communities were going to put up with the massive structures that would one day dot the landscape, they should get something in return. Last year, that amounted to some $4.5 million in Murray County.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">However, it didn't end there. Murray County, for example, as did other counties, drafted a <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/1S6hGyw7pv4dQy_Z7gnOjvkO3RkfAaQlkPHo6IxKtw9IBuYOL7cGMmJgvARHY/edit">wind-energy ordinance</a><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/1S6hGyw7pv4dQy_Z7gnOjvkO3RkfAaQlkPHo6IxKtw9IBuYOL7cGMmJgvARHY/edit"> </a>that specifies the size, placement, environmental consideration and construction guidelines for the erection of the turbines. </div><div>I think of this as I read the front-page story in the <i>Brownsville Herald</i> where a turbine is being set up at the old Amigoland Mall site run by UTB-TSC. A cursory search of the City of Brownsville building code indicates that it contains nary a word about the construction, placement and requirements for the erection of wind turbines. Neither does the county's subdivision ordinance.</div><div>In fact, the only mention of towers relates to height restrictions that would interfere with airplane traffic.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">And nowhere in the State of Texas is there a provision to allow communities to tax the energy produced by these companies to benefit the communities where they alight.</div><div style="font-style: normal; ">We can talk about the benefit's of renewable energy until we're blue in the face. But until we codify their existence here, we will be behind the eight ball at the mercy and whim of these new industries with nothing but the structures to show for it. </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-3363547756866982941?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/04/county-city-and-state-woefully.html
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WILL TSTA DISDAIN EDUCATOR WITH MASTER'S DEGREE IN FAVOR Of PROFESSIONAL POLITICIAN SAID TO HAVE ONLY A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA?
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />If early rumors are any indication, the Texas State Teachers Association may endorse a man with only a high-school diploma who has never taught a class over a career educator who has a master's degree and has spent her lifetime as an educator and district administrator.<br />Former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Ruben Cortez, who was defeated by Dr. Enrique Escobedo in the 2010 trustee elections is running for one of 15 seats on the Texas School Board of Education. This year all 15 seats are up for grabs and Cortez, who got himself elected to the Region One board of directors last year is vying for one of them.<br />State Board of Education â€" District 2, serves the counties of Aransas, Calhoun, Ca<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijn5zf40eM-R_fVqbUD25KxNPPINo5caxo1g8_IYWkKE1hRI8Y_BsgB7ouBj71E_0sjRWicjb_lrSMV6pkf6nR6ng6Zu8TKm92h9e8CzWNj-3bxQq-Oy1k2oBplhXtqqFt7_X0WBerAEc/s1600/celeste.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 213px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732768796949048962" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijn5zf40eM-R_fVqbUD25KxNPPINo5caxo1g8_IYWkKE1hRI8Y_BsgB7ouBj71E_0sjRWicjb_lrSMV6pkf6nR6ng6Zu8TKm92h9e8CzWNj-3bxQq-Oy1k2oBplhXtqqFt7_X0WBerAEc/s320/celeste.jpg" /></a>meron, Goliad, Jackson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, Wharton and Willacy, as well as parts of Hidalgo County.<br />He faces Celeste Zepeda Sanchez of San Benito who announced her can<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8r_1HMlcWrGDfhjJV42Bk0ezxd2jwjKgI1JVNhTYkBW6g0mFetwdhCcSYnoScP_yeqSnsTQvlqpWy_2SgOZzhLeajmG0SzeCxknTwz-jZyuVvtWBuWFZwYm9uk_FfIUilgQWFqqzNx0/s1600/cortez-ruben.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 138px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732774943074874770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8r_1HMlcWrGDfhjJV42Bk0ezxd2jwjKgI1JVNhTYkBW6g0mFetwdhCcSYnoScP_yeqSnsTQvlqpWy_2SgOZzhLeajmG0SzeCxknTwz-jZyuVvtWBuWFZwYm9uk_FfIUilgQWFqqzNx0/s200/cortez-ruben.jpg" /></a>didacy for the position for the District 2 seat after Mary Helen Berlanga, a long time serving board member, chose not to seek re-election.<br />The differences in their qualifications should be a no-brainer. But in South Texas, it has become apparent that it's who you know, not what you know.<br />During the BISD board campaign, his opponent ran and ad in the local daily stating that Cortez has only a high school diploma. After he was ousted from the BISD board, he has been hounded by a spate of lawsuits in federal and state courts charging him and the majority he formed with everything ranging from conspiracy to rig insurance bids, retaliation against district employees, and violation of First Amendment rights.<br />Currently two such lawsuits are still being heard in the courts. One of them involves the termination of the district's former Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez. The other involves the former superintendent who alleges Cortez and the majority he formed conspired to fire him after he refused to join them in ousting Juarez after what the former CFO claims was a bogus "investigation" to justify the nonrenewal of his contact.<br />A third lawsuit filed against the majority by former Special Needs Director Art Rendon was settled and Rendon was reemployed with the district and received back pay as well as attorneys fees.<br />On the other hand, with 45 years of experience in education, Sanchez has breadth and depth of experience ranging from her early years as an elementary school teacher that followed her migrant students to Michigan providing summer classes for these Texas school children to serving as the Director of the Gifted and Talented Program at San Benito ISD.<br />That was followed by a position as Assistant Superintendent with the Edgewood School District in San Antonio, Texas.<br />She currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum with the San Benito School District where she has focused on curriculum innovation, technology enhancements, and successful efforts in external funding through sponsored grant programs.<br />On her website, Sanchez proposes to focus her efforts while on the TSBOE on issues of curriculum, school finance, and public school accountability measures.<br />Sanchez holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Texas A&M-Kingsville.<br />“As the grandmother of children in Texas Public Schools, I want my grandchildren and all children to attend safe schools where teachers have the resources, the technology and the environment necessary for children to learn and thrive.†says Sanchez.<br />She resides in San Benito, Texas, and currently serves on the City Commission as well as numerous other decision making boards.<br />Now, if the results of a poll conducted in May by the Texas Freedom Network are indicative of the way the people of Texas feel, the TSTA, by endorsing Cortez, may show itself to be totally out of step with the public.<br />The poll found that "72 percent of likely Texas voters want teachers and scholars, not politicians, to be responsible for writing curriculum requirements for public schools."<br />We contacted Sanchez to inquire about the early indications that the TSTA might pick Cortez over her for their endorsement.<br />"This would be incredible," she said. "What kind of message would the teachers organization be sending to the people of Texas? You would think that they would encourage everyone to get an education and continue on to college and get a degree. For the TSTA to do something like this would be an insult to all of those teachers and parents who encourage students to strive to achieve higher and get an education."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-6185623923165120763?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/04/will-tsta-disdain-educator-iwith.html
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