81st
Mission, Texas
JANUARY 13-27, 2018
Texas Citrus Fiesta
D O N ’ T M I S S O U T O N O U R T E XA S C I T R U S F I E S TA 2018 SOUVENIR EDITION COMING NEXT WEEK. Friday, January 12, 2018
Queen Citrianna LXXXI
Sarah Elizabeth Forthuber
www.ptrgv.com | 50 Cents
Vol. 46 No. 22
Upcoming events to be moved due to renovation of La Placita By Kathy Olivarez In a report to City Council by Robert Rosell of the Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce, Council was told that due to the upcoming renovation of Leo Pena “La Placita” Park two upcoming events would have to be moved. The first is the Texas Citrus Fiesta Fun Fair, which will be held at the Market Square next to the Chamber of Commerce building on Tom Landry on Saturday, January 27. The second event is the Mega Winter Texan Welcome which will now be held Thursday, February 8 at City Hall. Deputy City Manager Aida Lerma later explained that 8th Street would be blocked off and entertainment would be set up outside on the lawn. Vendors would be located along the street and parking would be available at the CEED building, the police station and the Housing Authority. The Mexican Artisan Show, meanwhile, would be held in the Parks and Recreation building. When asked when reconstruction on La Placita would begin, City Manager Martin Garza told the Progress Times the project was on the agenda for the second week in January. If approved, work on the project would begin the next day, making it impossible to hold either of these two large events at La Placita. The City of Mission Ambulance Board Recommended council approved 12 ambulance company permit applications. The companies approved were Absolute EMS, Ambu-Med LLC, Ameristar EMS, ATS EMS, Bravo EMS, Lifeline RGV, Med-Life EMS, Medical & Trauma Specialist, Quest EMS, Rescue EMS, Scripture EMS, and Calvary EMS. The Ambulance Board determined that all companies had met required specifications for permits. A contract awarded to First Vehicle Services, Inc. for fleet maintenance was rescinded due to failure to comply with the proposal as submitted. Temporary service for the city’s fleet was awarded to Superior Oil to avoid disruption of services. Authorization to solicit bids for street improvements for Kika De la Garza Loop were approved. Under board appointments Mario Lizcano, Kane
See EVENTS MOVED Pg. 5
Local business awarded $20,000 financial services company, Synchrony Financial. The small business grant award was given to 10 small businesses who won an essay writing contest where business owners must answer how they would improve their business with $10,000 and how they planned to make a difference in their
community with an additional $10,000. Cavazos’ business, MAE, chose to donate the additional $10,000 to the Mission Boys and Girls Club for new computer equipment and software. Jen Robinson, a spokeswoman for Synchrony Financial, said MAE was the only business in the Valley to be awarded this grant. A total of 1,500 businesses across the country applied to the contest. “[Cavazos’] ability to operate a small business for so long and impact so many came through very clearly in his essay,” Robinson said. “MAE has evolved with the times without losing sight of who they are. They’ve grown from a small space into this huge footprint. It’s impressive to see a small business survive for so long. In his essay, co-written by Cavazos, his son Oscar and a family friend, Cavazos wrote on his business competing
Members of the community attend a check presentation for MAE Power Equipment Tuesday. Progress Times photo by Jose De Leon III
See BUSINESS AWARDED Pg. 9
By Jose De Leon III When Ben Cavazos opened MAE Power Equipment in 1954, he had no idea his business would be standing today. Cavzaos opened the business when he was 24 years old. He got started with a $4,000 loan and rented a
900-square foot building, he said. 64 years later, the shop is a multi-million power equipment dealership that occupies a two-building facility totaling 12,000 square feet with 360 customers, he said. On Tuesday, the company was awarded with a $20,000 small business grant by the
Beto O’Rourke praises border in first visit to Mission By Jose De Leon III
With debate still raging on President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, thinks the opinion of a certain group of people should be included to the conversation of the need for a border wall: Valley residents. “At this moment, with a serious proposal to build a wall, where the president describes the press as an enemy of the world, where we are one tweet away from the brink of war, I can think of no better people than those of the border to lead the way,” he said to a crowd of supporters Saturday in Mission. In his fourth visit to the Valley in a year, O’Rourke held town halls in San Benito, Weslaco and Mission while squeezing in a visit to
the National Butterfly Center Saturday. His visit concluded with a 5K jog at Fireman’s Park in McAllen the following day. The Democratic senate hopeful is running against incumbent Ted Cruz in the November election as the Republican finishes his first term in office. The town halls are part of O’Rourke’s campaign where he has traveled to nearly 200 counties in Texas to engage in open dialogues with citizens from every part of the state about concerns across the spectrum. The border wall was a heavily discussed issue during Saturday’s visit. As reported by multiple outlets, Republicans have proposed legislation that would provide a resolution for the DREAMers, 800,000 young people at risk for deportation, in exchange for
funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall that has yet to be allocated. “In order for them to stay here, the President has proposed $18 billion of your money to build a wall we don’t need at a time of record peace and safety,” O’Rourke said. “We should replace the wall with immigration laws. You who live here in the border should be writing our immigration laws as you understand issues of the border more than those in Washington D.C.” O’Rourke argued that the border has never been safer. Instead of fear of the border, he said that people should embrace it. “We would lose so much and lose who we are as a people and country with the wall,” he said “There’s so much out there to be proud
Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, answers questions during a town hall meeting held at the Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce Saturday. Courtesy photo by Jose De Leon III
INSIDE History In The Making
Small Business Soars
Juarez-Lincoln boy’s basketball team is on the hunt for the first playoff berth in school history.
Palmview business owner looks back on 20 years of sucess.
Entertainment | pg.2
W A II A N A H PIRATE ADVENTURES
See Pg. 6
See Pg. 4
INDEX
of and celebrate. I’ve lived in El Paso my whole life, I’m raising my three kids there and I’ve never felt so secure, so proud, so grateful to be a citizen of the border, a fronterizo like everyone here.” Border residents, O’Rourke stressed, know and understand U.S. relations with Mexico better than most of the citizens in the country, O’Rourke is known for negotiating with Republicans, something he brought up Saturday when he discussed a bill that was approved last November that expanded mental health care access to veterans in El Paso that he worked with Republicans. “Before then, we were rated as the city with the worst VA waiting time for mental health patients to having an expansion in access of mental health for our veterans,” he said. “We still have thousands of veterans unable to get an appointment at the VA to see a doctor, or alarmingly a therapist across the state. We need to fix that.” Ultimately, O’Rourke said that despite the issues our country faces, citizens must work hard to overcome that fear. “At the meeting in Weslaco, people talked of fear. Fear of losing their health insurance, kids of being afraid to be deported or losing their parents, fear about us losing our dignity, or democracy,” he said. “We are not people who should be afraid. We are big, bold and courageous. That’s what distinguishes us as Texans. We have to meet these challenges with that courage and that shared vision that we all have to be united.”
Lifestyle | pg.3
Sports | pg. 6
Peñitas and La Joya settle sexual assault lawsuit for $220,000 By Dave Hendricks
Faced with a federal lawsuit, attorneys for Peñitas and La Joya approved a $220,000 settlement during December. A 38-year-old Mission woman — assigned the pseudonym “Autumn Renee” by the Texas Rangers — filed the lawsuit after a dispatcher sexually assaulted her at the La Joya Police Department. Autumn Renee accepted the $220,000 settlement on Dec. 4. U.S. District Judge Randy Crane dismissed the lawsuit ten days later. “She just wants to put all of this behind her,” said attorney Reginald E. McKamie Sr. of Houston, who represented Autumn Renee. “She went forward with this because she did not want this to happen to anyone else.” Questions about how La Joya handled the sexual assault allegations became particularly thorny because the police dispatcher, Felipe Santiago Peralez, 27, of La Joya dated Jordan Alexandra Garcia, the granddaughter of La Joya Mayor Jose A. “Fito” Salinas and City Commissioner Mary Salinas. Peralez lived at the Salinas family home from 2011 to 2013, according to city records. He listed Mary Salinas as a reference when he applied for the dispatcher job. Mayor Salinas denied that Peralez ever lived at his home, but acknowledged that Peralez may have dated his granddaughter. The Texas Municipal League, which provides insurance for local governments, will pay the settlement. Neither Peñitas nor La Joya admitted any liability. “We were at fault because the employee should not have done what he did,” said
Felipe Santiago Peralez. Courtesy photo
See LAWSUIT Pg. 5
Texas Citrus Fiesta Texas Citrus Fiesta begins their annual celebration “Hawaiian Pirate Adventures” with Product Costume Show, Shoebox Float competition and Grapefruit Pie Contest tomorrow. Kathy has the dietails
See Pg. 8
Obituaries | pg. 9
Classifieds | pg. 11