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A must read

“A healthy government” by Erol A Stone, is an awesome letter that both conservatives and liberals should read more than once.

Especially the liberal “talking heads” and reporters at KRGV Ch 5 (ABC News is owned by Disney) as well as those at KGBT, KFTV, and KVEO.

As for the Spanish speaking anchors and reporters, I have no clue which ones can read or speak English.

I do know that all the Spanish speaking networks are for an “open” border and for illegals in the U.S. having the the same rights and benefits as U.S. ciitizens.

Cross the border illegally into Mexico and see what kind of rights you’ll have. Or see what it would take to beome a Mexican citizen.

But, like Mr Stone pointed out to us, our top government officials, be it Democrats or RINOS (Republicans in name only) along with the billionaires that own the media, all have the same agenda, open borders and a One World order.

They also want to keep things exactly as they are and have been since who knows when.

Since last week, Republicans like the Bush “clan,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senators John McCAin and Lindsey Graham, etc. etc., not endorsing Donald Trump has been repeated in the news over and over and over.

What the media executives and their talking heads fail to understand is that many of us see their failure to endorse Donald Trump as a good thing.

Both Paul Ryan and John McCain may not even be able to win reelection. We, the people are truly fed up with the status quo and the failure of our elected officials to do what’s best for America and Americans.

America and Americans first. And first means first.

The people of Mexico have made Mexico what it is today.

Wake up people. The U.S. is slowly becoming exactly like Mexico, a Socialist third world country.

N. Rodriguez Harlingen

Wells Fargo bank robbed by man claiming to be Zetas cartel member

McAllen — Police are investigating a bank robbery that occurred about 11 a.m. Monday in the Wells Fargo on 1100 E. Jackson Ave, according to Lt. Joel Morales.

McAllen — Police are investigating a bank robbery that occurred about 11 a.m. Monday in the Wells Fargo on 1100 E. Jackson Ave, according to Lt. Joel Morales.

According to preliminary reports, the suspect fled on foot south toward the Walmart on 1200 E. Jackson Ave. wearing a white lab coat, dark sunglasses and carrying a brown bag.

The unidentified man said he was part of the Zetas Cartel and no weapons were displayed at the time of the robbery, according to police.

Check back for more details.

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Thunderstorms in the forecast

HARLINGEN – The thunderstorms that chugged across the Valley for several hours Sunday left wildly divergent rainfall totals depending on location.

At Valley International Airport in Harlingen, the official rain gauge reading was 1.29 inches.

But areas to the west received much more, said Mike Castillo, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville.

About 5 miles southwest of Harlingen, an unofficial volunteer weather observer recorded 4.06 inches of rainfall Sunday. And about a half-mile north of the city, another volunteer recorded 2.45 inches.

Most of the rain and severe weather was up the Valley from the Gulf of Mexico.

McAllen Miller International Airport reported 2.91 inches of rain, a record for the date. The previous rainfall record for the day was 1.95 inches set in 1970.

A rare tornado warning was issued for Hidalgo County on Sunday but there was no official confirmation of a funnel cloud. Castillo said there was one unconfirmed report of a tornado in the Hargill area, although “we did have quite a bit of wind damage reports.”

Castillo said tornado warnings were very rare in the Valley.

“We don’t get the classic-type tornadic thunderstom like North Texas, Oklahoma or the Central Plains,” he said. “Not that it can’t happen but they’re very small and very short-lived.”

Those that do occur are mostly byproducts of hurricanes or tropical storms, he said.

More rain is expected this week, as atmospheric conditions are expected to continue to be unstable.

“The next couple of days kind of hinges on a couple of things,” Castillo said. “There’s a large upper-level trough over the western U.S. and it’s going to be sending us some upper-level disturbances over the week.

“There’s also a weak cold front trying to take itself southward across Central Texas this week,” he added. “Typically this time of year it’s hard for us to get any kind of cold front in the Valley. They usually stall up toward Corpus Christi and the Houston area.

“That’s how we get those heavy rainfalls,” he concluded.

RAIN THIS WEEK

Tuesday: 20 percent chance thunderstorms, some severe

Wednesday: 30 percent chance thunderstorms

Thursday: 50 percent chance thunderstorms

Friday: 40 percent chance thunderstorms

Saturday: 30 percent chance thunderstorms

— National Weather Service

For breaking news alerts, download the Valley Morning Star free mobile app for iPhone or Android

Official rainfall totals

Brownsville: Under 1 inch

Harlingen: 1.29 inches

McAllen: 2.91 inches (record)

Mission: 1.68 inches

Rancho Vieojo: 1.62 inches

La Jolla: 1.20 inches

San Benito: 0.91 inches

— National Weather Service

Rubio House demolished 13 years after murders

Rubio-House-2.jpg

For 13 years it stood as a reminder of one of the most horrific crimes in the Rio Grande Valley.

For 13 years it stood as a reminder of one of the most horrific crimes in the Rio Grande Valley.

This morning it took only a few minutes to knock down those memories when crews began demolishing the Rubio House in Brownsville.

A small ceremony was held to remember the three children killed by John Allen Rubio in March 2003.

Rubio was convicted of capital murder for the slayings of his common-law wife Angela Camacho’s three children — Julissa Quesada, 3; John Esteban Rubio, 14 months; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months. Rubio is the biological father of one of the children.

City of Brownsville crews brought in heavy machinery today to knock down the building at the corner of East Tyler and 8th Street.

Busy Beaches: Island park visits booming in wake of fees being doubled

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Some will say they remember when it cost only $1. But those days are long gone.

As the Memorial Day weekend approaches, families planning a visit to a Cameron County beach park should be aware they will be paying more for access this year.

In January, the entrance fee jumped from $5 to $10.

However, so far, the fee hike hasn’t stopped visitors from paying to enter Cameron County’s coastal parks.

“As a mater of fact, for the first quarter, January to March, there was an increase in visitors to our coastal parks,” said Joe Vega, Cameron County Parks director.

“We raised the fee to be able to pay for park improvements.”

A little more than 64,000 vehicles paid to enter the coastal parks during the first three months of the year. That compares to about 45,000 vehicles during the same period last year.

According to the county’s vehicle entrance report, the price hike generated more than half a million dollars in the first quarter of the year.

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Entrance Fees

Fees for Isla Blanca Park, Andy Bowie Park, E.K. Atwood Park and Adolph Thomae Jr. Park

 Daily Use Fee: $10

30-Day Pass: $25

Annual Pass: $100

Veterans Daily Use Fee: $5

Veterans 30-Day Pass: $12

Veterans Annual Pass: $50

Bus Pass: $25

Tag Fee/Recovery Fee:$6

Rain on the radar again

HARLINGEN — Be prepared for more rain — possibly a lot of it.

That’s what forecasters said yesterday after weekend thunderstorms flooded streets and low-lying areas here and caused wind damage in Hidalgo County.

“For Monday, strong to severe thunderstorms can’t be ruled out,” National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Speece said at the Brownsville station.

“We’re concerned about locally heavy rainfall. We can’t rule out some additional isolated severe thunderstorms for (today).

“But it would basically be maybe some isolated severe thunderstorms.”

The chances for rain today range from 30 to 50 percent.

The storms arrived Saturday but caused few problems in the Harlingen area. It was northern Hidalgo County, in the area of Edinburg and Hargill, that received some damage.

Speece said there were reports of downed trees, downed power lines and roof damage from wind in those areas.

A tornado warning went into effect for southeastern Hidalgo County and west central Cameron County Saturday evening.

Then yesterday, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Cameron County.

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

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Runoff early voting begins

The voters of Cameron County still have a few important decisions to make before November‘s general election.

Early voting begins today in key runoff elections for party nominees.

County Judge, County Commissioner Pct. 1, County Court-at-Law No. 4 and No. 5, and Constable Pct. 2 are all races that still need to be decided on the Democratic ballot.

On the Republican ballot, voters will choose their nominee for sheriff and Constable Pct. 1.

On the Democratic Party side, the race for county judge will be a showdown between former Brownsville mayor Eddie Treviño Jr. and former county commissioner Pct. 4 Dan Sanchez.

Residents of Pct. 1 will choose between incumbent County Commissioner Sofia Benavides and challenger Beatrice Rosenbaum.

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.

Mothers accused of smuggling drugs said children’s lives at risk

Two mothers caught trying to smuggle methamphetamine Thursday said men threatened to kill their children if they did not cross the drugs into the United States, according to criminal complaints filed in federal court.

Sarahi Cruz, 20, was trying to cross the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge on Thursday with more than a pound of methamphetamine in her undergarments when a K-9 alerted U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers of a positive narcotics odor emanating from Cruz.

Officers found two clear plastic heat sealed packages containing an off-white crystalline substance that tested positive for meth. One of the packages was hidden in her underwear, and the other was underneath a compression undergarment at her lower abdomen, the complaint states.

On May 2, officers received an anonymous call identifying Cruz as a possible drug smuggler, according to the complaint. Cruz said a man in Mexico known only as “Guero” threatened to take her 1-year-old son and harm her parents in Mexico if she did not smuggle the drugs into the United States.

Cruz also said she would be paid $300 after dropping off the drugs with a man at a Whataburger in Hidalgo.

That same day, officers at the Anzalduas-Reynosa International Bridge stopped the driver of a 2008 Dodge Avenger car loaded with more than 5 kilos of methamphetamine, according to a criminal complaint.

Andrea Aracely Reyna-Rodriguez, 26, said she knew something was in the vehicle because she was told by a known member of the Gulf Cartel named “El Rana” that if she crossed the car into the United States to purchase auto parts, he would forgive a debt that her father owed him for protection, the complaint states.

“Reyna-Rodriguez stated that ‘El Rana’ pointed a small pistol at her chest in Mexico and told her not to be ‘stupid’ and to transport the narcotics into the U.S. or he would kill her family,” the complaint states.

She told investigators she did not know what kinds of drugs were in the vehicle and was instructed to park at an Auto Zone store near 10th Street in McAllen and leave it there for two hours, states the complaint. Reyna-Rodriguez said she was to drive the vehicle back to Mexico and was not going to be compensated for bringing the drugs into the United States other than “El Rana” forgiving her father’s debt.

‘Conjunto Nites’: Jaime Gonzalez ready for the stage

SAN BENITO — The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center will host bajo sexto artist Jaime Gonzalez of Conjunto Delta Boyz for its 3rd Thursday Conjunto Nites at the Chicho.

At 31 years of age, Jaime glows with enthusiasm as he talks about his emergence with one of the best young conjunto bands in Texas, the Delta Boyz.

For him, it all began when he was a youngster and his father, Jesus Gonzalez, who was not a musician but who knew a little music, taught his son “primera, segunda, y tercera” on the bajo sexto.

It was from these first moments that Jaime began his musical career that has spanned more than 20 years.

Ten of those years were spent with the diabolical, explosive accordionist, Albert Zamora and Talento.

Jaime describes the experience with Zamora as a challenge in performing a show that included singing, playing and dancing all at the same time.

Jaime lives in Elsa and graduated from Edcouch Elsa High School in 2003.

He was a student of the late Bennie Layton who created the best and one of the few high school conjunto programs in Texas.

Alongside the foundation of Los Laytons, Jaime acknowledges the abundance of conjunto talent in the Delta area, for example, Ruben De La Cruz y Su Conjunto, Los Badd Boyz Del Valle and Los Frijoles Romanticos.

In 2012 and after playing with Alberto Zamora, Jaime and his brother Javier, who had about 15 years of conjunto experience with the late pioneering accordionist Ruben Vela, decided to form Los Delta Boyz.

That same year the Delta Boyz were named Upcoming Conjunto Band by the South Texas Conjunto Association.

They have played throughout Texas and performed at the 22nd Annual Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center Conjunto Festival and were scheduled to perform at the 35th Annual Conjunto Festival in San Antonio May 12-15.

When Jaime is not performing he stays busy as a truck driver with his own rig and raising his four children.

Harlingen South’s Gonzalez talks about being up for sports award, state tennis tourney

For four years, Harlingen South’s Jeremiah Gonzalez has made a name for himself as one of the Valley’s best tennis players.

As a freshman in 2013, Gonzalez qualified for the UIL state tennis tournament in Austin as part of a doubles squad. A year later, he returned to Austin as part of a mixed doubles team and last year, as a junior, Gonzalez once again made it to state, this time as an individual qualifier.

Today, Gonzalez returns for his final time at state and his quest for state gold begins at 8 a.m. when he takes on Nick Ryniak of Southlake Carroll in a Class 6A singles quarterfinals match.

Regardless of what transpires in Austin, Gonzalez had an outstanding season, including winning the District 32-6A title as well as the Region IV-6A championship.

For his efforts, Gonzalez is one of three Valley tennis players up for the Boys Tennis Player of the Year award, which will be presented at the 2016 All-Valley Sports Awards Banquet on June 14 in McAllen.

In addition to Gonzalez, Sebastian Arizola of Sharyland and Jack Wang of McAllen High, who Gonzalez beat in the Region IV-6A finals, are up for the award.

Gonzalez sat down with the Valley Morning Star recently to talk about his nomination as well as discuss his past, present and future.

Q: How does it feel being nominated for the Boys Tennis Player of the Year award?

A: I feel extremely honored to be nominated for this award. I feel it’s a very prestigious award and I’m glad to be one of the few athletes that were nominated.

Full story at RGVSports.com