The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 8, 1986 Page: 1 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rio Grande City Public Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Moonlight
THE RIO GRANDE HERALD
Serving Starr County For Five Decade
H.E.B.
Specials,
Pages
6,7,8,9
Published in Rio Grande City, Texas, Every Thursday By The Rio Grande Publishing Co.
& 'W
No. 28 THURSDAY, MAY 8,1986
FIFTEEN CENTS
Three Other Races Going Into Runoffs
Chapa Holds Slight
Edge, Runoff Ahead
By KENNETH ROBERTS
Two-term incumbent County
Judge Bias Chapa, in Saturday's
Democratic primary election, was
forced into a June 7 runoff battle
with challenger Jose M. Martinez,
Jr.
The County Judge's race is only
one of four races for county office
for which a runoff will be required.
The others are: Precinct Four
Commisssioner, County Treasurer,
and Precinct Four Justice of the
Peace.
Judge Chapa edg^d challenger
Martinez by only a margin of 120
votes, or 3588 to 3468, while Julio
Saenz, Jr . garnered 547 votes.
Martinez carried eight of the ten
precincts, while Chapa carried
Precincts Seven and Fight, plus the
absentee vote.
The vote by precinct, in the
G.O.P.
Election
Results
In Saturday's elections. Bill
Clements was the winner in Starr
County's Republican primary
balloting,which had a total of only
22 votes cast in the governor s
race.
Clements, who won overwhelm-
ingly statewide to set up a rematch
with Gov Mark White, won 14
votes to seven for Kent Hance and
oneti" t' S. Hep Tom Loeffler.
In the Attorney Generat's race,
Roy R. Barrera, Jr . a San Antonio
state district judge, won 24 votes to
three for Fd Walsh of Georgetown
That race was forced into a June 7
runoff election
The remaining results are broken
down as follows:
Lieutenant Governor Aaron L.
Bullock, 8: David Davidson, 5;
Clint Jackson, 5; and Virgil
Mullinax, 2 Land Commissioner
Grady P Yarborough, 9; Joe
Collis, 7: M.D Anderson, 5;
Agriculture Commissioner- Charles
F. "Farmer" Frontier, 16; Bill
Powers, 9.
Railroad Commissioner John
Thomas Henderson, 13; Milton F
Fox, 4; Fd Fmmett. 2; Ralph E.
Hoelscher, 2; Supreme Court
Justice. Place 1 Charles Ben
Howell, 13; Nathan Lincoln Hecht.
7. Supreme Court Justice, Place 2-
Nathan E White, Jr., 16; Supreme
Court Justice. Place 4 (unexpired
term)- Bill J Stevens, 12; John L
Bates, 6.
State Senator. District 21- T Fllis
Dibrell. 18. Bennie Bock. 4. County
Chairman. Esther P Gonzalez. 25.
Precinct Four Commissioner Jose
Luis Saenz. 17
County Republican Chairman
Esther P Gonzalez noted that
"many Republicans voted in local
elections (of the Democratic
primaryt." But she added, "we
expect a big Republican turnout in
November We plan an educational
campaign in November."
County Judge's race, is broken
down as follows;
Precinct One (Multipurpose
Center)- Martinez, 171 votes, Chapa
119, Saenz, 50; Precinct Two
(North Grammar)- Martinez 212,
Chapa 163, Saenz, 51; Precinct
Three (Roque Guerra), Martinez
763, Chapa 553, Saenz 116; Precinct
Four (San Isidro)- Martinez 272,
Chapa 184, Saenz 31. Precinct Five
(El Sauz)- Martinez 42, Chapa 16,
Saenz 0.
Precinct Six (Roma)- Martinez
662, Chapa 525, Saenz 80; Precinct
Seven (Salineno)- Chapa 123,
Martinez 79, Saenz 17; Precinct
Eight (La Union in Garciasvilie)-
Chapa 637, Martinez 174, Saenz 37;
Precinct Nine (La Grulla)-
Martinez 339, Chapa 336, Saenz 15;
Precinct 10 (Holy Family Center,
RGC)- Martinez 100, Chapa 97,
Saenz 36
Judge Chapa carried the
absentee vote by a margin of 835 to
654, with Saenz receiving 114 votes
The incumbent's strongest support
obviously came from Precinct
Eight, which he carried by a
margin of greater than three-to-
one
In the Precinct Four Commis-
sioner's race, challenger Abel N
Gonzalez. Jr.. missed by just five
votes gaining an outright victorious
majority against longtime commis-
sioner Reynaldo "Moreno" Alaniz.
Gonzalez gained 871 votes to 834 for
Alaniz, with Pedro "Pete"
Gonzalez forcing the runoff by
gaining 42 votes.
Gonzalez told The Rio Grande
Herald on Monday "I'm happy
with the turnout, and that I
received more votes. I want a
recount of all the boxes I owe it to
all the people who worked so
hard," and for his own satisfaction
as well.
Gonzalez, who is asking for a
recount of all ballots, said he wants
the San Isidro box. which Alaniz
carried 353 to 150, looked at
especially closely, complaining that
this box "tooK too long to come in."
Alaniz said he was surprised at
Saturday's results, adding that
"You never know about elections;
it's too hard to predict." He
predicted that he would be
victorious in the J une 7 runoff.
At the canvassing held by the
County Democratic Executive
Committee, Democratic Chairman
Benito Saenz said that Alaniz had
requested that all ballots from
Voting Precinct Two be recounted.
Saenz granted the requests of
both Abel Gonzalez and Alaniz for
recounts, but turned down the
request of Precinct Two challenger
Adrian Gonzalez, because of the
latter's 208 vote margin of defeat
against Precinct Two Commission-
er Amando Pena.
For a recount request to be
usually granted, he said, the
(Srr I I i:< TU>\S. I>nf>r II)
The Veterans of Foreign Wars presented a number of Patriotic Citizen Awards to
local citizens and businesses who regularly fly the American Nag. Local post
commander Noe Olivarez, center, presented the awards to Adalberto Garza, left, the
first assistant chief of the Fire Department; and Rene Montalvo, right, executive
director of the Starr County Industrial Foundation.
What Are Future Implications?
Starr Educators Win District Court Case
By KENNETH ROBERTS
Managing Editor
The Project Principle group of
Starr County educators fighting
against the TECAT test gained a
favorable ruling from 229th District
Judge Ricardo H Garcia in a
Friday hearing in Rio Grande City
Judge Garcia granted a tempo-
rary injunction that forbids the
Texas Education Agency or the
State Board of Education from
taking any action to deny re-
certification to any teacher based
on the TECAT alone. He also
prohibited release of ;he TECAT
scores to anyone but those taking
the test.
Walter Watson, the leader and
organizer of Project Principle,
commented that Garcia s ruling
was "everything we wanted and
then some." A representative of
the Texas Attorney General's office
who argued in behalf of the state's
position on TECAT indicated, after
the ruling, that the state will
appeal.
Attorney Allen "Gccha"
Ramirez, who represented the
teachers, told The Herald, "We
have won what has to be consid-
ered a major victory for teachers "
Specifically, certificates cannot be
voided for any teacher who is a
member of Project Principle until
White Carries Starr
County Vote
Governor Mark White
Starr County Saturday by a
of 527 votes over his
carried
margin
closest
challenger in a race in which 4780
votes were cast.
White received 2373 votes, or
slightly iess than half, of the votes
cast Saturday His closest
challenger, Andrew C. Briscoe, III.
of Dallas, garnered 1846 votes The
(other gubernatorial candidates vote
totals were as follows: Ron Slover,
111; Sheila Bilyeu. 163. A. Don
Crowder, 126: and Bobby Locke,
161.
White was targeted for defeat by
Starr County educators, who
formed a political action commit-
tee because of their opposition to
many aspects of House Bill 72 The
strongest opposition locally has
been concerning the TECAT test
Walter N Watson, of the Starr
County Educators Political Action
Rio Grande City Fire Chief O.F. "Speedy" Guffey, left,
was presented with an awards certificate recently for
excellent service for 30 years as an instructor at the
Texas Fireman's Training School. Making the pres-
entation was Chief Mason I.angford of the Killeen Fire
Department. The school is held annually by the Texas
Engineering Extension Service, The Texas A&M
University System, Fire Protection Training Division.
Committee and also active with
"The Force" coalition of educators
in the Valley, informally told The
Rio Grande Herald Saturday night
that he was pleased that White did
not gain an absolute majority in
Starr County, and said the less-
er-known candidates received a lot
of protest votes
Watson noted with pleasure that
Briscoe carried three precincts,
and just missed carrying a few
more
But Starr County Democratic
Chairman Benito Saenz said, "He
(White) won the county so obvi-
ously a lot of Democrats endorsed
him He had just under 50 percent;
that's all right
Saenz predicted that in Nov-
ember "the county will go very
strongly Democratic again When
all is said and done, when they
(voters) compare the four years of
White to the four years of Clem-
ents. it's a clear-cut distinction
between what they havedone
The chairman also predicted that
White would modify some aspects
of House Bill 72 as time goes by
He agreed strongly that "the
concerns of teachers need to be
addressed."
The gubernatorial voting for
White and Briscoe is broken down
by precinct as follows:
Precinct One i Mult ipur pose
Center)- Briscoe 160, White 112;
Precinct Two (North Grammar)-
White 151. Briscoe 137; Precinct
Three (Roque Guerra Elementa-
ry)- White 450. Briscoe 443; Pre
cinct Four (San Isidro)- White 223.
Briscoe 133; Precinct Five (El
Sauz)- Briscoe 22. White 15
Precinct Six (Roma) Briscoe
358, Mark White 2%; Precinct
Seven iSalineno)- White 63. Briscoe
39; Precinct Eight (La Union i-
White 287. Briscoe 126. Precinct
Nine i La Grulla'- White 271.
Briscoe 82: Precinct Ten (Holy
Family Center)- White 85. Briscoe
79; Absentee- White 420. Briscoe
267
In the District 21 State Senate
Race. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo
won a plurality in Starr County
with 2383 votes J A "Sporty"
Garcia of San Antonio garnered
1800 votes, while Oscar Carrillo of
Benavides finished third with 1080
votes. State Rep Billy Hall, Jr . of
Laredo wound up with 642 votes
Reports indicate that Hall was
the leading vote-getter throughout
District 21, but will face a runoff
with Zaffirini District 21 stretches
all the way northwest to Eagle
Pass and Uvalde; to north San
Antonio, New Braunfels and
Seguin: and eastward to Beeville
Zaffirini carried six of the ten
precincts, plus the absentee vote,
while Garcia carried Precincts
Eight and Nine by solid margins
Carrillo's 280 votes tied Zaffirini
for the lead in Roma, while he
carried Precinct Seven with 50
votes to 45 for Garcia and 34 for
Zaffirini.
Hall's strongest showing was the
249vvotes he received in Precinct
(.See M IIIII I'iiui- iii
litigation is completed
Ramirez added, "It opens the
way for us to take the constitu-
tional issues directly to the Texas
Supreme Court It appears we will
be the first case involving TECAT
to go to the Supreme Court and
have constitutional issues
addressed."
Arguing the case on behalf of
Project Principle were attorneys
Allen "Gocha" Ramirez and David
Garza Attorney Glenn Ramey
made arguments on behalf of the
Rio Grande City CISD, insisting
that school districts face a serious
legal dilemma in releasing teach-
ers that failed a TECAT test that
might be unconstitutional.
At the beginning of the hearing
Friday morning, Judge Garcia
noted that "I changed the case
from this afternoon to this morn-
ing This is the only case we have
all day."
Ramirez, in his opening state-
ment, urged the judge to prohibit
contracts from being severed be
tween teachers and school districts
due to failure of TECAT He added.
"The state has said they will not
give subject area tests before June
30. Also, the state has said they will
void certificates on the TECAT
alone "
Ramirez continued, "We
challenge the statute of various
constitutional grounds," such as
equal protection, interstate com-
merce, denial of right to travel,
and due process of law...We have
served the school district (in this
case)."
Ramirez concluded his opening
remarks by saying."We are re-
questing injunctive relief from the
court that defendants be con
strained from using the TECAT
scores alone to void certificates
Assistant Attorney General Kevin
O' Hanlon said. "The legislature
did not provide appropriation for
another test." Garcia questioned.
"Is that the fault of the teachers9"
He said. "A judge cannot order an
executive agency to appropriate
money. Jurisdiction has been
limited under Administrative Pro-
cedures (Section 12) to Travis
County."
Judge Garcia noted that two suits
relating to TECAT wet" before
state appeals courts in Austin, with
another case on appeal before the
Court of Appeals in Dallas
Garcia asked, 'What happens to
teachers in Starr County? Will they
lose their certificates?" The At
torney General's representative
replied, "Nothing's going to happen
to their certification. By April 1.
teachers iunder current law) must
be told whether they are rehired
There will be another administra-
tion of the test on June 28."
Garcia asked, "How long will it
take to grade the tests0 I don't
think it can be done in two days
(prior to the June 30 deadline)."
O'Hanlon responded, "Interpreta-
tion relates to the day the test was
taken, not how long it takes to get
the test graded and notify the
teacher of results.
"It appears that this action is
somewhat premature The crucial
time will not come until well in
July The district is free to ask for
a one-year waiver to give teachers
three more opportunities to pass
The Commissioner of Education)
has discretion to grant w aivers "
Glenn Ramey, the attorney for
the Rio Grande City CISD, argued
tha' "the school districts may have
to enforce a statute that may be
unconstitutional We would like
this statute decided one way or
another " Ramirez complained,
"They teachers) will have their
property rights lifted without the
fs11)1 t I l<H{\ I'nur 11)
Senate Primary Leader
Visits Rio
Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, who
was the front-runner by a decisive
margin in Saturday's District 21
State Senate primary election,
campaigned throughout Starr
County Tuesday, and made an
early afternoon visit to the offices
of the Rio Grande Herald
While visiting The Herald Zaf
firini discussed the outcome ot
Saturday's election, in which she
led Laredo State Rep Billy Hall b\
a margin of 44 to 31 percent She
proudly noted that she carried 13 of
the district's 20 counties, and
finished second place in the coun
ties she did not w in
Zaffirini campaigned in La
Grulla Tuesday morning, and pro
ceeded on to a rally in Roma after
visiting The Herald for about 40
minutes
Zaffirini noted she carried Gua
dalupe County iSeguin>. where
Hall had been endorsed by retiring
Sen John Traeger Also, she noted
her victorv in Uvalde County
where Hall was supported by
former Gov. Dolph Briscoe
Zaffirini told the Herald. "My
primary issue has been the eco-
nomic and social importance of the
family I've been talking about
traditional family values,
excellence in education, and quali
ty health care Those are the
primary issues of the district
Some issues vary from county to
county, the counties are so
diverse "
She said. "I've been talking
about specifics," in economic dev
elopment. namely the creation of a
Texas Venture Capital Agency that
would grant loans to help busi
nesses create up to 15,000 new jobs
This would come from $200 million
proceeds supplied by a state
lottery
About the state lottery and
para-mutuel betting, Zaffirini
would require these three condi
tions local option, strict safe-
guards against organized crime.
and statewide referendum She
insisted. "The people of Texas
should decide this important
issue," adding that if either passes
statewide, local voters should have
the option to accept or reject
Zaffirini advocates that $40(1
million from the lottery be used to
fund health care programs,
especially for the poor
The senatorial hopeful noted that
"economic development means
different things in Bexar County "
than in Rio Grande City
About the education issue Zaf
firini contended "a lot of work
needs to be done in this area We
need more local control of dis-
ciplinary management 1 support
no-pass, no-play, but I have a
problem with the six-week penalty
We need a more positive approach
to help the students maintain
passing grades
She offered the opinion that 4 H
and FFA should be considered
rw /1hHRi\i. r„u, <t
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Roberts, Kenneth. The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 8, 1986, newspaper, May 8, 1986; Edinburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth195027/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.