The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 24, 1987 Page: 1 of 10
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THE RIO GRANDE
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Specials
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Published in Rio Grande City, Texas, Every Thursday By The Rio Grande Publishing Co.
NO. 48 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24,1987
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FIFTEEN CgNTS
I
Vi
The large crowd of Ringgold Jr. High, Intermediate, and Elementary school students
are pictured above at Thursday afternoon's celebration of the 200th anniversary of
the U.S. Constitution. (See Page 5 for the story about the Constitutional Bicentennial
celebration at Rio High).
By KENNETH ROBERTS
Managing Editor
A storm of controversy has risen
and continues to grow concerning
just how great a percentage of
property within the confines of the
Rio Grande City CISD remains
unreappraised in the countywide
reappraisal.
On Friday afternoon, the
Appraisal Board of Review, after
legal counsel consulted with the
State Property Tax Board, reached
a consensus that the RGCCISD and
county rolls cannot be certified
until at least 95 percent of all
property within the district and
county lias been reappraised.
A computer recap requested by
the Board of Review, and com-
pleted last week, indicated that
$36,023,947 of RGCCISD property
remains unreappraised Chief
Appraiser Ricardo Diaz had earlier
given the board his estimate that
only $7 million within the district
Historic Site Chosen For Constitution Program
Historical Fort Ringgold was the
site last Thursday for a historical
program planned by Ringgold
Junior High School teacher Elia
Ramos and carried out by the
students of Ringgold Junior High,
with other schools, members of the
community, and various organiza-
tions. and the media present.
The occasion was Citizenship
Day, observed September 16 and
17, celebration of the signing of the
Constitution of the United States of
America two hundred years ago.
Walter Watson, principal, served
as commentator for the event,
which began shortly before 3:00
p.m., which is the hour when the
document was supposed to have
been signed. Watson welcomed the
schools and community guests
present and recognized Mrs.
Ramos.
Cindy Escobar recited the poem
"America" to kick off the pro-
gram, followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance by all present, led by
Robbie Vasquez, and the Preamble
recited by Ben Gomez.
Commissioners Discuss
Gas Grant Application
The County Commissioners spent
the bulk of their continued regular
meeting Friday discussing plans
for applying for an EDA grant to
expand and renovate the county's
Gas System.
Gas System Manager Ovidio
Pena, in his report, noted that "we
have a 10 percent loss (in leakage)
this year, which is eight percent
less than last year."
Federal Program Coordinator
Javier Margo said, "Mr Pablo
Pena (the engineer) ran into a
brick wall in Austin concerning
interest and sinking. We might be
able to get a good package deal on
this."
Margo added, "We're merely
going to submit a pre-application.
They will ask if the county can put
up 20 percent. If we haven't
acquired it (the 20 percent share),
we can hold back and not send an
application. None of the county
(contribution) would be on an
in kind basis."
Margo said the grant is essential
because "at peak times, they do
not have enough pressure," in such
areas of Rio Grande City as
Trevinos Subdivision.
Ovidio Pena said, "When this
system was first built in 1930, Rio
Grande City was very
small Three or four-inch lines on
Eisenhower Street would have a
two-way feed. The trunk line is
very small."
Commissioner Amando Pena
moved, seconded by Commissioner
"Chema" Alvarez, that the court
approve the pre-application for an
EDA 80-20 grant to modernize the
Gas System
Ted Miller of Pan-Tex, the
Edinburg firm overseeing the con-
struction management of the port
facilities project, told the court,
"We have done some investigation,
and we'll be returning and revising
the budgets for the county portion
of the port facilities expansion. "
Miller added, "We'll reduce the
County
Budget
Hearing
Thursday
A public hearing will be held at
10 a.m. this Thursday at the County
Courthouse to consider possible
adoption of the 1968 budget.
The County Commissioners will
consider adoption of a budget for
the fiscal year beginning Oct l,
1987 and ending Sept. 30.1988
design of the toll booth. We propose
to reduce from three to two toll
booths. We could add the third
booth later. We will be making
some roofing changes on the
canopy. We're interested in auto-
motive toll collection equipment."
Commissioner "Chema" Alvarez
noted a recent Texas Department
of Health letter recommending
additional equipment for use at the
landfill. He said, "When the loader
at the site is broken down, and the
Precinct One loader is broken
down, that's when we get in
trouble. Major repairs are re-
quired."
Alvarez added, "If we don't
completely close the old dump site
in the next 90 days, we could be
liable for a suit. If I had the best
equipment and more personnel, we
would have no complaints. In the
first six months of the year, we had
few problems."
At the beginning of the dis-
cussion, Judge J.M. Martinez, Jr.,
had said, "We have a problem at
the dumpsite. We have no problem
complying, but in coming up with
enough money."
Martinez said, "Commissioner
Alvarez is providing a service to
the whole county," and re-
mentioned the possibility of a user
fee. Alvarez commented, "Com-
missioner (Eloy) Garza has been
very helpful at the dump site. But
now, both our precinct loaders are
broken down."
Garza contended, "This is not
adequate type of equipment to do
this type of job." Martinez sug
gested, "Let's go out there one of
these days and study these pro-
blems." Alvarez stressed, "They
(TDH) will not accept it the way it
is now "
Activist Leonel R Lopez then
denounced a dump site in the La
Puerta area as "illegal", and a
hazard to health and property
Garza responded, "The loader is
(See APPLICATION. Page 5
Indictment Against
Rodriguez Dismissed
Defense motions to dismiss theft
and forgery indictments against El
Tanque Water Supply Manager
I>azaro Rodriguez were agreed to
by 229th District Court Judge
Ricardo H. Garcia on Tuesday,
Assistant District Attorney
Ricardo Carrillo said, "The in-
dictments as they read were
(ruled) defective because the
alleged theft was from the
employee as an individual, not the
water district."
Three weeks ago, the prosecu-
tion, in response to a defense
motion to quash the 83-count theft
indictment, and the 21-count forg-
ery indictment, asked Judge
Garcia for approval to amend the
indictments.
But Carrillo indicated • the
case may well be presented again
to the grand jury for possible
action.
Rodriguez told The Herald that
the fact that the indictment was
dismissed "speaks for itself." He
added, "Thank God that everything
came out all right."
"anillo said Tuesday, "An in
dirtment can be amended accord-
ing to the Code of Criminal
Procedures, but according to Arti-
cle 28.10 of the Code, an indictment
may be amended if it's a matter of
form or substance at any time
before the date of the trial. The
issue was whether changing the
alleged theft from the Water
District to the employee was a
matter of form or substance, and
the court ruled it was not.''
Carrillo contended that the mat-
ter boiled down to whether "the
indictment, if amended, would not
result in a substantial change in
the charge The case law showed
that it would in effect be a
substantial change in the charge."
Carrillo said the case may not be
closed, adding that "we'll examine
the witnesses again, talk to those
who have previously testified, and
based on those interviews, decide
whether to go back before the
grand jury. In all probability, we
will go back to the gra nd jury ''
The Herald attempted to contact
Rodriguez's attorney, Arnulfo
Guerra of Roma, late Tuesday
afternoon, but could not reach him
Two weeks ago, Guerra told The
Herald that "the motions state that
the indictments are not well
founded, and that the indictments
should be quashed because no
offense occurred for which an
action can be brought. No laws
were violated."
Om April 3, the Starr County
grand jury indicted Rodriguez on
83 counts of theft and 21 counts of
forgery
The theft indictment accused
Rodriguez of "then and there
{See DISMISSED, Page 4}
Mr Flores, choir director, sang
"The Star Spangled Banner", then
the throng, almost all dressed in
patriotic red, white, and blue,
celebrated by making noise for 200
seconds. They were assisted by the
Rio Grande City Volunteer Fire
Department sirens.
Two hundred seconds of respect-
M silence followed. Then 200 red,
white, and blue balloons bearing
messages about freedom were
released by the Junior High School
students. The Ringgold Junior High
Band played "America."
Watson introduced Alex Gabert,
County Court-At-Law Judge, as the
guest speaker. Gabert told the
crowd that this is a birthday, a
celebration of 200 years of freedom
provided us by the U.S. Constitu-
tion.
He made the crowd aware of
their historical surroundings and
said that Fort Ringgold is a place
where people were trained to
protect our people and our gov-
ernment. "Rio Grande City is a
part of Starr County and a part of
Texas, but most of all, it is a part
of the United States of America,"
he proclaimed.
He added that the constitution
gives us rights. We need to be
interested in this document and
aware of what it contains. "You
should know your rights and be
aware of the constitution and what
it does for us. You should practice
your rights and practice being a
good citizen!" he concluded
The Junior High Band played a
rousing rendition of "Grand Old
Flag" as the Boy Scouts Jake
Margo, Marc Piper, Lupe Pena,
and Guy Peterson lowered and
folded the flag.
Mr. Watson recognized the vet-
erans of the VFW Post and thanked
them for their participation. He
also thanked the RGC Volunteer
Fire Department and Elia Ramos
The grand finale was a recitation
of a patriotic "Creed" by sixth
grade members of the class of Mrs
Estelia Hernandez.
remained to be reappraised.
The situation has triggered
expressions of deep concern from
officials of Starr County, the Rio
Grande City CISD, and the Hospital
District, due to the fact that tax
statements will probably not be
mailed out until early 1988.
This is because the reappraisal is
not expected to be finished until
December at the earliest.
Officials of all three entities have
indicated that if the reappraisal
situation stays the same, all three
entities may be forced to borrow
money.
On Tuesday, Diaz insisted that
"a lot of these properties have been
reappraised, but some of them
came out in the recap because the
values did not change from last
year. I know the county is under
five percent; I don't think the Rio
Grande school district has $21
million in unreappraised proper-
ty."
Diaz told The Herald on Tuesday
that "my original estimate of $7
million may have been too low."
But Diaz said he based that
estimate on just over $4.5 million
unreappraised property remaining
in the La Grulla area, along with $2
million in Garciasville-La Casita,
and $1.7 million in rural ranchland
improvements.
The Chief Appraiser said,
"That's what I based my figures
on It turned out that the recaps
had a lot of duplications "
Diaz said, "There was no way on
the computer program of coming
up with the unreappraised property
total, not with exact figures. The
programmers gave us a printout
that had the same value as last
year. These properties were
assumed to not have beeti
reappraised, but many of them
were.''
On Tuesday afternoon, Diaz
discussed the situation with of-
ficials of the Rio Grande City
CISD.
A consensus was reached that
another meeting of the Review
Board would be called for 10 a.m.
Friday, and the Chief Appraiser
agreed to come up by that time
with a solia figure on the total
value of unreappraised property
To come up with such a figure,
said the Chief Appraiser, "we are
going with account-by-account
figuring."
On Tuesday, Diaz told RGCCISD
Superintendent Dr. A.E. Garcia,
Business Manager Romeo Lopez
and attorney Glenn Ramey that "I
disagree with that ($39 million)
figure 100 percent."
Legal counsel David Guerrero
said, "If you have the potential of
more than five percent protests,
the property was not certified
(under law). I had interpreted it to
be undisposed protests ''
Ramey commented, "Courts
have approved partial reapprais-
als, as long as you proceed and
complete the remainder."
Guerrero said, "The Review
Board has the final say-so. They
felt the $39 million figure was too
high, based on what the state told
them."
Lopez asked, "Who do you need
to convince that it is under five
percent?" Diaz responded, "I don't
know how much of the $39 million
is duplication. The code says
countywide."
Lopez stressed, "If you do not
come up with some kind of
alternative, we will not be receiv-
ing any tax monies until Febru-
ary."
Diaz said later in the discussion,
"I think the rolls should be
approved." Guerrero concluded,
"The kicker would be the distortion
of the rate, how much it would
vary. The figure presented on
Friday did not include minerals.
Richard (Diaz) has included the
mineral rolls, which now puts it
under five percent for the whole
county."
Early Friday afternoon, James
Peterson, chairman of the Ap-
praisal Review Board, said, "We
called the State Property Tax
Board, and they said we could not
certify the rolls until everyone had
been reappraised. About 13 percent
of Rio Grande City's values have
not been reappraised, and thus the
rolls cannot be certified."
Uncharted Waters
On Tuesday afternoon, attorney
David Guerrero told The Herald,
"We'll have to do a little more
research. This is uncharted waters.
We still don't know what figure (on
unreappraised property) we're
talking about."
Guerrero added, "We had been
looking at taxable value, not
appraised value. That (appraised
value) changes the percentages.
We need to nail down how much is
unreappraised."
Guerrero continued, "The state is
sure of the five percent (limit for
unreappraised property); the
question is how to apply the five
percent. The state is simply stating
the rule."
Diaz told The Herald on Tuesday,
"You would have to go with five
(See CONTROV ERSY. Pnge 81
Quarterback Club Starting
Contest
spirit
The Rio Grande City
Quarterback Club is organizing a
"Spirit Contest" to pump up
support for the Rio Grande City
Rattlers among area businesses
and schools.
The contest will begin on the day
of the McAlien Memorial game on
Friday, Oct. 2. From that time
forward, that contest will be
carried out on a weekly basis.
Plaques will ha warded weekly
by the Quarte bra k Club for the
best decorated has mess, and the
sc'.iool that shovs the most spirit.
The rotating plaques will be
presented every Friday of the
football season from Oct. 2
forward.
The first judging will be at l p.m.
on riday, Oct. 2
Reflection* store co-owners Thclma Garza (left) and Cynthia Clarke are pictured
above cutting the ribbon at the La Roslta store's ribbon cutting on Saturday. The
store features women's apparel.
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Roberts, Kenneth. The Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 24, 1987, newspaper, September 24, 1987; Edinburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth195099/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.