Thank You Veterans! Friday, November 10, 2017
www.ptrgv.com | 25 Cents
Vol. 46 No. 14
World War II bomber pilot’s service honored by France Mission’s Robert Fisher to receive Legion of Honor tomorrow
By Joe Hinton When he’s hanging out with fellow veterans Robert Fisher often wears a brown leather vintage World War II pilot’s flight jacket. Near-
ly filling up the back of the jacket are 35 white skulls representing each of the bombing missions he flew over Europe during the height of the second world war.
Written across the shoulders above the skulls, spelled out in large capital letters is the word, WOODCHOPPER, a nickname he picked up when he had to take evasive action to avoid a mid-air
collision with another aircraft that was coming into the airfield about 2 o’clock from his position as he was taking off for what was to be his twenty-ninth mission, a scheduled bombing run over
Kassel, Germany. With nowhere to maneuver but down, Fisher’s B-17 bomber hit six tree tops about 20 feet above the ground. The encounter tore the left wing tip while nearly taking
At left is World War II veteran Robert Fisher photographed on Tuesday in his Mission home holding a replica of the U.S. Army Air Force’s 384th Bomber Group tail insignia. At right is Fisher’s class photo taken while attending basic flight school in San Angelo, TX. Fisher received his wings in Jan. 1944.
Former Agua SUD employees received nearly a half-million in severance pay By Jose De Leon III A slew of documents released last week revealed that two former employees with the Agua Special Utility District received nearly half
a million dollars in severance pay following their termination from the utility district. Oscar “Coach” Salinas and Armin Garza, who cur-
See AGUA SUD Pg. 12
Armin Garza
Oscar “Coach” Salinas
By Jose De Leon III
votes comprising about 59 percent of the ballots cast. Acosta, her running mate, received 658 votes comprising about 55 percent of the ballot. Both candidates were aligned with La Joya Citizens Working Together, a political coalition formed by Salinas’ husband, La Joya Mayor Jose “Fito” Salinas. According to the mayor, all
off the left wing, badly denting it and bending it back toward the plane’s fuselage. The collision also damaged the cowling from the plane’s number one engine, smashed the plexi-glass nose, bent in the chin turret in the front of the plane and damaged the ball turret underneath the plane. It also tore off two radio antennas on the plane’s belly. This, all according to the 30-page journal Fisher kept detailing his missions. According to the journal, Fisher was able to pull the plane up despite a damaged left aileron, which controls the front wing, and the left horizontal stabilizer on the tail. After flying out over the North Sea where he dropped his bombs about 30 miles out from land, he was able to make a “relatively smooth landing” back at his airbase near the city of Kettering in central England. “Technically you shouldn’t be walking around,” Fisher’s journal notes were the first words out of the mouth of a major in the U.S. Army Air Force, a technical inspector who greeted the crew. “How could you fly it back?” were the major’s
See ROBERT FISHER Pg. 9
Tom Landry Stadium likely site of VMHS playoff game By Joe Hinton With Mission CISD’s Veterans Memorial High School locked in the District 31-5A playoffs, and having won a recent coin toss to become home team in the first round of bi-district play, school district officials say they are gearing up to host the game in the long awaited Tom Landry Hall of Fame Stadium. District Athletic Director Leticia “Letty” Ibarra said Wednesday she expects the stadium to be ready by the Nov. 17 playoff game between the VMHS Patriots and Brownsville’s Lopez High School and is not making contingency plans to move the game to another stadium as she has had to
See STADIUM UPDATED Pg. 10
The north side of Tom Landry Hall of Fame Stadium will have four large banners filling the voids between the vertical brick columns on either side of the stadium’s façade, each containing the images of two inductees from Mission CISD into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame. The void in the center will be filled with a banner depicting the stadium’s namesake. Progress Times photo by Joe Hinton.
La Joya CWT slate victorious in city council race Incumbent Mary Salinas and political newcomer Rey Acosta were victorious Tuesday night in their respective races for a seat on the La Joya City Council. According to results from the Hidalgo County elections department, Salinas retained her Place 1 seat on the city council having received 707
La Joya city council members are members of La Joya CWT. After seeing the results, councilwoman Salinas thanked God and all her supporters for her victory. “We’re grateful the Lord has given me four more years to serve his people. I look forward to it and many more beautiful things for the city,” she said.
Undefeated no more
Sharyland High’s Rattlers defeated the previously unbeaten Veterans Memorial Patriots last Friday creating a three-way tie for first place in the 31-5A district. Bryan Ramos has the details.
See Pg. 6
INDEX
Entertainment | pg.2
Lifestyle | pg.3
Acosta also thanked his supporters and said that even though he is only looking to serve one term on the council, he hopes to help bring in more change to the city such as streetlights in the recently annexed community of La Havana. “We make plans to move the city forward, that’s what
See CITY COUNCIL RACE Pg. 11
Mary Salinas, right, embraces a supporter following the results of the La Joya city council elections Tuesday. Progress Times photo by Jose De Leon III
INSIDE Veterans Day events
Changing the world, and superintendents
Saturday the nation commemorates the men and women who have served their nation in military service. A schedule of numerous events planned across the Rio Grande Valley are detailed inside.
The Mission CISD board of directors has named an interim replacement for the district’s outgoing superintendent, Ricardo López. Find out whom it is inside.
See Pg. 10
Opinion | pg.4
Sports | pg. 6
See Pg. 13
Obituaries | pg. 11
Classifieds | pg. 12