EL RRUN RRUN
http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/
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BROWNSVILLE GETS POLICE CHIEF IT DESERVES
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The selection of Orlando Rodriguez as the new City of Brownsville Police Chief after months-long hoopla turned out to be kind of a letdown of sorts.</div><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/AVvXsEhbXgaA9eId6H5QVpePuWOo6_J4MO_E_q-SSbYSoKLvGXJmuXKtzNMeEOoQ1SYZQO6H877k7dn0m3L5tVoqI-Dy1yU-PeJ65jLGfbhZP1cKlz6nR2V7a5LA-KIcE2-bkFCpmL4fTb2Xwx4/s1600/Orlando_Rodriguez_BPD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbXgaA9eId6H5QVpePuWOo6_J4MO_E_q-SSbYSoKLvGXJmuXKtzNMeEOoQ1SYZQO6H877k7dn0m3L5tVoqI-Dy1yU-PeJ65jLGfbhZP1cKlz6nR2V7a5LA-KIcE2-bkFCpmL4fTb2Xwx4/s200/Orlando_Rodriguez_BPD.jpg" width="200" /></a>After months of "vetting" and "screening" by the city administration and people for Hidalgo County, we ended up getting more of the same.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We opted to keep the same kind of administration at the PD that allowed for Commander William Ingram, a 35-year veteran of the department, to retire after his nude picture burst on the Internet.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Rodriguez at the time said that since Ingram was in the process of retiring anyway the retirement makes the issue moot and no charges are contemplated.</div><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/AVvXsEgRAmbEgbunJIeeevMLBMEprpw1zEHceDOTKind5QDZpoZvb5MeQW5VEHUS-qXpe3uY_rutQmEplwp3-wRnNUW6bEDLYNUMlbMbDBBF6V7nseO74szAoVXV370vPVTpNE5XZ3ypDpO6J0k/s1600/nkkp.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAmbEgbunJIeeevMLBMEprpw1zEHceDOTKind5QDZpoZvb5MeQW5VEHUS-qXpe3uY_rutQmEplwp3-wRnNUW6bEDLYNUMlbMbDBBF6V7nseO74szAoVXV370vPVTpNE5XZ3ypDpO6J0k/s200/nkkp.png" width="147" /></a>Apparently, the use of a city-issued cell phone, the taking of nude photos inside the Police Department gymnasium, and the continued sexual harassment of a local woman who he says was a former PD employee are not prosecutable acts now that he will be conveniently gone.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">“He is leaving on Friday,†Rodriguez said. “We have no employee to deal with."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">You've got to admit, that was a "neat" way to deal with the non-problem.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Then there was the incident at Cummings Middle School still under investigation and the subject of several multimillion dollar lawsuits where a teenager was shot by two officers using heavy-caliber assault rifles. Remember that it turned out the kid had a pellet gun and had not even fired at the cops before they took him down?<br />If you remember, also, it wasn't until six or severn hours after they took down the kid that Rodriguez revealed that the gun wasn't real, as online blogs and social media had already informed its viewers.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><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/AVvXsEgTcRegOqYskieBkoP3VJ4GLlWduJRR9nXnBeC88FIi-Y1Si1DLyVcUMwF0GSE581fAfmW8Zf6xpsxwkqjNplf1ye3ynOUVMas8f6c6OlMIEX69z38exXYD4wf0eh6qZV6GetWcCD6VQmY/s1600/cumm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTcRegOqYskieBkoP3VJ4GLlWduJRR9nXnBeC88FIi-Y1Si1DLyVcUMwF0GSE581fAfmW8Zf6xpsxwkqjNplf1ye3ynOUVMas8f6c6OlMIEX69z38exXYD4wf0eh6qZV6GetWcCD6VQmY/s320/cumm.jpg" width="320" /></a>City of Brownsville Commissioner Ricardo Longoria said he knew Rodriguez would be the right person for the job when he saw his handling of the fatal shooting of Javier Gonzales.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">“That was Orlando’s trial by fire,†Longoria said. “He was the voice of Brownsville. He explained it to the community; he put the community at ease. By that simple gesture … I said there’s our guy.â€</div>Rodriguez's sterling performance under fire was illustrated when we learned that he was dealing courageously with so much stress that he had to be treated at a local hospital. But perhaps there was something behind Longoria's praise of the chief. After all, it was his brother Evaristo who was one of the trigger-happy cops who shot the kid. <br />Of course, that had nothing to do with it, did it? <br />Like we said, we got the police chief we want and deserve.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-8810279848549581608?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/brownsville-gets-police-chief-it.html
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BEDC CONTINUES TO TEMPT RESIDENTS WITH SPACEX CANDY
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By <strong>Juan Montoya</strong><br />The banner headline in today's newspaper shouts at the reader that "NASA backs SpaceX," and just underneath it are listed three figures of contracts issued by the government for $440 million, $460 million, and $212 million.<br />"Company might provide manned flights to space station," says the smaller headline under the Big Money.<br />However, it isn't until six paragraphs from the bottom of the story and on Page 8 that the reader is let down gently by the small qualifier of all the Big Dough we might get if millionaire Elon Musk gets more federal funds.<br /><em>"If SpaceX does come to Cameron County, the facility here would be <strong>only</strong> for launching rockets, company officials have said."</em><br />In other words, none of those millions mentioned in the front page banner are coming to Brownsville. And neither, by the way, are manned flights planned for Boca Chica.<br />But that doesn't stop huckster extraordinaire Gilbert Salinas of the BEDC from using the SpaceX NASA contract to justify the hyperbole-filled pitch that his organization and supporters of the rocket launch facility have foisted upon the people.<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/AVvXsEhVOQt7VVhWj8QO3w9M3AcTgUs1TINqmmcPS0wwiZNYi7F53SJyrPKVuO4CGGFGdhu8wWw1sJWzJIR5i9LE9smNBrQ3t1ylsFghK3y69G8cNp1ZarjznRORyDLsZmNror0erlgwX0iPMu0/s1600/sal.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOQt7VVhWj8QO3w9M3AcTgUs1TINqmmcPS0wwiZNYi7F53SJyrPKVuO4CGGFGdhu8wWw1sJWzJIR5i9LE9smNBrQ3t1ylsFghK3y69G8cNp1ZarjznRORyDLsZmNror0erlgwX0iPMu0/s1600/sal.png" /></a>During the FAA hearing for the SpaceX Environmental Impact Statement held in Brownsville, the nature of the event was transformed into a pep rally for the company's possible arrival in the area. At the time, Brownsville was said to be one of three (and still is) sites competing for the facility. The others were Puerto Rico and Cape Canaveral, Florida.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">You remember. All of the city officials and supporters were put at the front of the speaker line and by the time anyone with any concerns about the environmental impact and potential disruption of endangered wildlife were shunted to the rear. You did not hear them speak if you only waited for an hour or two before you left.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">SpaceX had generously lent the city, county and state officials patches of their logos which they proudly wore during the hearing. In other words, it wasn't a hearing at all, rather it was an orchestrated rally of support for the company.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Still, Salinas and the other cheerleaders of BEDC, GBIC, United Brownsville, etc., choose to continue beguiling a city desperate for jobs and new industry with visions of astronauts and space odysseys launching off from right here in our own backyard. As Gomer Pyle used to say: Gaaaahlly!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Actually the word Salinas now uses is "validates," a curious choice of words that seeks to "justify" the whoppers he told when he was drumming up support for SpaceX before the "hearing."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">You remember. He said the Boca Chica site was preferable to the other sites because we're closer to the equator, while deliberately ignoring the fact that the Puerto Rico site was way closer to the middle of the planet than we ever will be.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Then he said that launches from Boca Chica would make it easier to reach the International Space Station because of the "slingshot effect" of out geographic location. That turned out to be wrong, too, and he doesn;t mention that either now that it's been disproved by SpaceX principals themselves. There are no launches to be made from Boca Chica with the ISS as its destination. It's physically and scientifically impossible.</div><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/AVvXsEgAZL8LC3Mve8QSpTFqJ8KqU5p1cOFYNt_nrSDVOY6HVf0aGeoBIHJGa0FYq5oMwsroPUKLpJEQls6Gdp8tXkb1ZfV6zQ0c3VasQPE_Cd5YcNtnsrJgjqK2GwZshLBpdcAzUDrZTsEsU1o/s1600/salpiper.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZL8LC3Mve8QSpTFqJ8KqU5p1cOFYNt_nrSDVOY6HVf0aGeoBIHJGa0FYq5oMwsroPUKLpJEQls6Gdp8tXkb1ZfV6zQ0c3VasQPE_Cd5YcNtnsrJgjqK2GwZshLBpdcAzUDrZTsEsU1o/s320/salpiper.gif" width="320" /></a>Then the other was that the RP1 fuel that was going to be used to launch the SpaceX rockets into orbit were going to be propelled by kerosene, "such as the one you use in your campfire." Well, that might have been the biggest fib out intrepid Mr. Salinas told. It turns out that highly-refined kerosene used as rocket fuel is nothing at all like you would use in a campfire. In fact, if you tried to use that in a campfire, you might end up blown to bits and end up washed up on the beach as fodder for the crabs and sea gulls.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The next one was that there was a "lot of nothing" out there on Boca Chica. That was blown out of the water by the documentation provided the Federal Aviation Administration by the State of Texas that affirms that, aside form numerous endangered species such as the sea turtles, ocelot, jaguarandi, Piping Plovers, etc, there were scores of endangered flora in the "lot of nothing" around the site.</div>So now that SpaceX and Musk have netted another government subsidy that has nothng to do with Brownsville, Salinas says it "validates" the BEDC hype for the rocket launch site. Maybe he was misquoted. Perhaps the thing it does "validate" is the amount of public money BEDC is spending on the SpaceX campaign and the salaries of its bureaucrats.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-3977164561069690760?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/08/bedc-continues-to-tempt-residents-with.html
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