HARLINGEN — The second annual Valley Walk in support of the National Hemophilia Foundation is set for tomorrow.

The Lone Star Chapter of the foundation will hold the walk from 9 a.m. to noon in an effort to raise awareness and advocate for youth and families diagnosed with this rare bleeding disorder.

Hemophilia is a disease in which the blood does not clot normally. The walk has become a critical program of the Lone Star Chapter, raising awareness in the general community. But the walk also has another purpose and result.

It brings together families who are dealing with bleeding disorders and through that, lifelong friendships have been made and families have realized they are not alone.

Money raised at the walk will support the foundation’s youth leadership programs and educational events for families. It also helps to find better treatments and cures for bleeding and clotting disorders and to prevent the complications of these disorders through awareness, education, advocacy and research.

Join in the cause for a morning of fun, snacks and fellowship with families that need support.

Ongoing refuge fragmentation continues unabated. LANWR (Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge) and its ocelot corridor is undergoing fragmentation due to pressures from heavy industry to the south on the Brownsville Ship Channel (BSC) and South Padre Island (SPI) real estate investors to the north.

Fragmentation can be illustrated if we think of LANWR as a loaf of your favorite banana nut bread. As private interests move into our area of Port Isabel/Laguna Vista/SPI for reasons of progress, the refuge area of the loaf is sliced off a piece at a time, or from one end or the other, or sliced down the middle for economic “advancement”.

Thus, instead of a continuous or contiguous LANWR, we have smaller separated tracks/slices of refuge with more edge. The increased edge/exposure will cause the banana bread loss of moistness and through crumbling will become unpalatable to all but the most separately hungry.

The ocelot corridor to the south of LANWR is threatened by Annova LNG. This prior environmental lease to the US Fish & Wildlife Service by the Brownsville Navigation District (BND) was denied and leased instead to Annova. Other proposed LNG export terminals (Texas LNG, Rio Grande LNG) across the BSC will also contribute to a noncontiguous ocelot corridor.

To the north, the ocelot corridor to LANWR will be severed due to a proposed toll road/bridge to access the island for more real estate development of SPI. So, LANWR a national refuge and one of the largest contiguous refuge areas in the U.S. is being diminished in its effectiveness and mission, and the ocelots have been doomed to extinction by “private interest” economic advancement.

Is the “pro-environment talk” easy until big money interests come to town promising new and better economic booms for the speculators to fill their pockets?

Diane Teter Laguna Vista

SAN BENITO — City streets continue to become smoother and better as time goes on.

City officials are dedicated to the continuation of repairing streets throughout the San Benito community.

They’re still working at it.

Among jobs under way or recently completed are those on South Travis, Williams Street, Palo Rosa, Centro, Ben Lora Lane, E. Rowson, W. Rowson, Rio Grande Bridge and Rio Grande Street, at a cost of $202,000.

A rough estimate for the pending 77 streets is $7.5 million.

Repairs to Rio Grande Street and the bridge are costing about $50,000. Another $668,000 was spent on Shaffer Road improvements, said Public Works Director Adan Gonzalez.

Recently-completed street projects and the 77 that remain for improvements will take as long as weeks, months and even years.

The list recently was presented to the city commission.

“Our plan of action is to find the best balance of need between commercial and residential areas in order to provide the best quality of life for our city.”

The focus of city administration and public works has been and will always be on the health of the streets, city official assure.

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HARLINGEN — Palms Behavioral Health has announced its initial phase of hiring to staff its new 94-bed facility.

The hospital, which is expected to open in late summer, will hire 55 health-care professionals in the first phase. When fully operational, the facility will employ 225 people.

“This state-of-the-art facility and the qualified employees it will hire underscores the company’s commitment to individuals and families seeking support and treatment with debilitating psychiatric concerns,” said Strategic Behavioral Health, the hospital’s parent company, in a statement.

The $13 million facility is yet another major addition in a city that is becoming a health care destination in the region. Valley Baptist Medical Center and Harlingen Medical Center are the major hospitals already in the city.

Strategic Behavioral Health, the Memphis-based parent company, was a major catch for the Harlingen Economic Development Corp.

“Once they get those people started, they’ll gauge what their workload is going to be and continue to hire from that point forward,” Raudel Garza, the CEO of the Harlingen economic development agency, said yesterday.

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HARLINGEN – “Hello, everyone, this is your action news reporter on the scene at the supermarket. Pardon me, sir, did you see what happened?”

People really did see what happened last week at the 5th Annual Student Film Awards where students were recognized for their work.

Elizabeth Castañeda’s video profiling the football team at Harlingen High School South won Best News Package.

Awards for “Best Cinematography,” “Best Editor” and “Best Director” invoked the energy and grandeur of Tinseltown.

“It was modeled after the Academy Awards,” said Shane Strubhart, spokesman for the school district.

“They had Best Actor, Best Music Video, Best Educational Video, Best Overall,” Strubhart said. “It’s incredible how much better the videos did this year.”

Strubhart also raved about the success of Colin GiIloon, a sophomore at Harlingen High School South who took home six awards.

“He did a phenomenal job,” Strubhart said. “He had the Best Overall.”

The awards were presented at the event April 19 to one recipient per video. However, Colin emphasized he couldn’t have accomplished his work without the film crew which assisted him.

“They give the award to the director or the leader kind of behind it,” said Colin, 16. “That would be me in this case. But there’s no possible way I would have been able to accomplish these if it had not been for the people who worked with me.”

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HARLINGEN – He cleaned house. Cleaned house? He’s a housekeeper?

No, he’s the next Steven Spielberg. That’s how Colin Gilloon sees it, especially after taking home six awards last week at the 5th Annual Student Film Awards of the Harlingen school district.

“I feel very grateful,” said Colin, 16, a sophomore at Harlingen High School South, who took home awards for his work in three different videos of very different genres. One video involved a mafia boss, another was about carnivorous aliens attacking the International Space Station, and still another was based on a video game about computer hackers.

“I enjoyed being a director and working with others,” he said.

He and the rest of the film crew filmed “Incognito” earlier this year before they had the proper supplies. So, they improvised and used iPads to create a film about a man who steals information from a mob boss.

Colin won “Best Drama” and “Best Overall Film” for that project.

The video “Contact” shows an astronaut releasing a virus onto the International Space Station when he clicks on an ad for a free $1,000 Wal-Mart gift card.

“When he realized he had brought the virus onto the ship, he tried to signal to NASA to tell them about the virus,” Colin said. “The signal ended up going to the ship of carnivorous aliens, which drew them to the International Space Station.”

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MERCEDES — City funds used to cover costs to complete the over-budgeted safedome’s $4.2 million price tag have been recaptured.

City Manager Richard Garcia said the city recently was awarded a FEMA grant worth more than $1 million to bridge the gap between the budget and overages in the construction of the new Saferoom/Recreation Center.

The facility was originally budgeted at the cost of construction, $3.8 million.

“We’re the first community that has actually been funded for any overages,” Garcia said. “We were funded at 100 percent to continue with the 75/25 percent split.”

The dome will be used as a shelter for Mercedes residents unable to evacuate in the event of a storm.

“It’s important to the City of Mercedes to have a safe haven to shelter our residents from the most violent of storms,” Garcia said.

The grant money came from the Texas Safe Shelter Initiative from the Texas Department of Emergency Management.

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HARLINGEN — If money means votes, incumbent Mayor Chris Boswell will win the May 7 election in a landslide.

Boswell’s war chest stands unrivaled among challengers running for the mayor’s seat.

Boswell amassed $25,800 in political contributions from Jan. 16 to April 6, overwhelmingly outraising and outspending his three opponents.

So far, Boswell has reported $16,308.23 in expenditures in the race in which he faces former City Commissioner Jerry Prepejchal, businessman Kenneth Benton and former Police Lt. Joe Rubio.

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Boswell’s expenditures included $100 to Residence Inn by Marriott, Harlingen; $13,526.97 to Meade Marketing, Harlingen; $500 to Voter’s Voice RGV Magazine; $304.34 to McCoy’s Building Supply, Harlingen; $173.08 to Allegra Printing, Harlingen; $1,050 to Ray Candia, of Santa Rosa and $653.84 to Golden Palms Retirement and Health Center, Harlingen.

Prepejchal reported $1,737.41 in contributions and $1,737.41 in expenditures from Feb. 22 to April 7.

For Prepejchal, contributions included $500 from Rudolph Martinez, $100 from Omar Villarreal, $800 from Valdo Gonzalez and $200 from Lonnie Davis. All are residents of Harlingen.

Prepejchal listed personal contributions of $137.41.

Expenditures included $1,637.41 to My World, Brownsville; and $100 to Gariel, Harlingen.

Benton, who reported no contributions, listed $5,000 in outstanding loans from March 17 to April 7.

Expenditures included $2,571 to the Valley Morning Star; $1,862.95 to RGV Website Design; $250 to My Harlingen News, Harlingen; and $50 to My Leader News, San Marcos.

Rubio, who reported no contributions, listed $436.77 in expenditures from Feb. 18 to April 7.

Expenditures included $600 to www.signdepotyardsigns, Orlando, Fla.; $73.54 to Home Depot, Harlingen; and $200 to www.mycampaignstore.com, Louisville, Ky.

But it is Boswell’s list of contributors that is long and impressive, utilizing several pages on the campaign finance reports filed with the city.

The report shows nearly all of Boswell’s contributions came from Harlingen, with some from Palm Valley, San Benito, Combes, Rio Hondo, Raymondville, McAllen and Dallas.

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