Friday, November 28, 2014
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TXDOT HEARS CONCERNS ON SHARY EXPANSION
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By Lea Victoria Juarez
esidents along Shary Road will start seeing the expansion of their two-lane rural road into a five-lane thoroughfare as early as 2018. The proposed project consists of constructing a 5-lane urban roadway on Farm-to-Market 494 (Shary) between State Highway 107 and FM 676 (Mile 3), including a continuous left turn lane, shoulders, sidewalks in various locations, an underground storm drainage system and drainage structures. Representatives with the Texas Department of Trans-
portation met with residents in the area to explain the proposal and get feedback at a public hearing last week. Because the expansion will eat away at landowners’ property, Aida and Onesimo Flores, were concerned with getting their money’s worth for the property they’ve lived on since 1978. “We know the county is growing and things have to change. They are going to have drainage all the way to Pioneer. It’s important for that to happen,” said Aida Flores, who resides on the corner of Shary and Mile 3. “But nobody ever wants to give up their land, especially
“The congestion is hazardous and stressful for everyone concerned, so having more room for everyone to move in a timely manner is beneficial.” --Filomena Leo
not for free.” Shary Road would be widened to an 84-foot-wide urban gutter roadway, consisting of four, 20-foot wide travel lanes, a 16-foot-wide continuous left turn lane, 10 foot-wide shoulders and a six-foot sidewalk where needed, within the proposed 120 foot-wide right-of-way. However, the amount of land TxDOT acquires will not be uniform throughout, mean-
ing they may need to take 40 feet on one side and less on the other. Out of the five alternatives considered for the project, the proposal is the only alternative that didn’t require resident or business relocations. In addition, the recommended alternative would not impact an existing cemetery. However, TxDOT does help property owners relocate if they need to.
“When there’s displacement of the actual home, the right-of-way personnel is actually not just give them money for their home and their land, but actually help them relocate to a place that is to their liking,” said TxDOT Public Information Officer Octavio Saenz. “We do not leave people to fend for themselves. We help them to the very end of the process.” Phase I of the project consists of the roadway between SH 107 and FM 676 (Mile 5). Phase II is between FM 676 to FM 1924 (Mile 3). The Texas Department of Transportation only has funding for Phase 1, which
could start construction in 2022 or as early as 2018 if they receive funding sooner. The road will be built with the proposed 120-foot wide right-of-way, which would require 23.9 acres of additional right-of-way. The total construction cost of the project is estimated to be approximately $10.1 million for Phase 1 and $8 million dollars for Phase 2. When school started at Pioneer High School in August, residents along Shary Road began to see more traffic than usual, especially in the morning. The two-lane
See SHARY EXPANSION 11 Photo by Luciano Guerra
Mission aims to protect butterflies
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By Julie Silva
Buckner Care Center hosts community Thanksgiving
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By Lea Victoria Juarez aria Hernandez and her family don’t always get to sit down with a warm-cooked meal for the Thanksgiving holiday. Depending how much money they have, the six-piece family from Peñitas may not have a meal at all. But for the last three years they gathered around the table with the traditional turkey dish and celebrated their time together. About 1,000 people attended the Buckner Family Hope Care Center’s third annual Community Thanksgiving on Nov. 21. The
non-profit organization provides support for families living in colonias, such as Pueblo Palmas, and the dinner is just one of the events held for the residents. Hernandez, her two children and three grandchildren adopted the Thanksgiving tradition when they moved to Peñitas from Tampico seven years ago. Although she doesn’t work steadily, she picks up odd jobs here and there to provide for her family, such as making piñatas, childcare and house maintenance. “To go out to work, we struggle because we don’t
have a car,” Hernandez said in Spanish. “We don’t have a car to go out to work, so we make tamales. But (we) give thanks to God for what he has given us – first for our life and then for everything else.” The Hernandez family also volunteers at the Buckner Hope Center, where they offer classes such as bow making and coupon finance. After residents complete a leadership class, then they themselves can become leaders at the facility and volunteer by offering classes to others. Jana Henriquez, the Buck-
ner community coordinator, said that the center has built rapport with the community since it’s establishment in 2011 and gains volunteers by word of mouth. Additionally, the organization has relations with the school district and a lot of the social workers refer the families to Buckner, she said. Henriquez was the sole organizer for the Thanksgiving dinner, but relied heavily on the volunteers of the families and other organizations such as Crime Stoppers and First Baptist Church San
See PEÑITAS 12
INSIDE
Mission grants K-9 retirement
Tiko is being adopted by his handler, a member of the police department, and a German shepherd is being trained to take the dog’s place. See story page 3
INDEX
Entertainment | pg. 2
Lifestyle | pg. 5
Uncle faces murder charge
Authorities arrested a family member they believe shot a man at a family celebration over the weekend. See story page 10
Opinion | pg. 4
Sports | pg. 8
he Mission City Council has passed an ordinance establishing the city as a butterfly conservation area. Collecting or purposely harming butterflies on public property now is a misdemeanor crime in the same way birds are protected in the city, according to the ordinance approved in October. There are exceptions allowed for educational purposes with permission of the city manager. Deputy City Manager Aida Lerma said creating the ordinance was important to her because, with her past working for the chamber of commerce, she knows how hard the city’s worked to establish itself as an eco-tourism destination. “We are in an area that is so rich in the species that are here that tourists do come for that,” Lerma said. “When there are some rare species that are down here, we didn’t want somebody to catch it and have other people come to look at it and, ‘Oh, it’s in the palm of someone’s hand.’
That’s just really awful.” Marianna Treviño-Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, said the center did not sponsor the ordinance, but she sees it as a good thing for the area. Before it was approved, Lerma sent a draft of the ordinance to Treviño-Wright who sent it to the National American Butterfly Center for suggestions. The National Butterfly Center has rules, but it had no legal protection against people who capture butterflies on the property, Treviño-Wright said. “For collectors, specifically people who want to possess those butterflies and kill them, pin them, put them under glass in their garage or something like that, they come to this region because they know that their odds of finding beautiful specimens, new specimens, unusual or stray specimens – even U.S. records – that can be done in the Rio Grande Valley,” Treviño-Wright said. “It can be done in areas of public lands, like the Mission
See BUTTERFLIES 9
people poll President Barack Obama Issues Executive Order on Immigration
President Barack Obama recently acted on his own, without approval of Congress, issuing an executive order granting amnesty to an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants. In response to the President’s action, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said, “This is a legal issue, not a political issue, and President Obama has crossed a serious legal line with his proposed unilateral immigration executive action. The President’s action violates his constitutional duty to faithfully enforce immigration laws that were duly enacted by Congress, circumvents the will of the American people and is an affront to the families and individuals who follow our laws to legally immigrate to the United States.” People Poll Question: Do you approve of President Obama’s executive order granting amnesty to an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants? To answer the People Poll question, go online at www.ptrgv.com to cast your vote. Or, email us “yes” or “no” at survey@ptrgv.com.
Obituaries | pg. 9
Classifieds | pg. 11