RAYMONDVILLE — The police department is receiving a boost to upgrade its body cams.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s Criminal Justice Division has awarded the city a $39,000 grant to improve its system of body cameras.

The department could use the grant to buy as many as five or six cameras, City Manager Eleazar Garcia said, noting each camera costs about $600.

Currently, Garcia said, the department has 10 body cameras to equip its 10 patrol officers.

So officials have not determined how to best use the money to improve the program, he said.

Police Chief Uvaldo Zamora has said the cameras “protect officers and citizens from any false allegations.”

Zamora has refuted some residents’ concerns that officers could delete data from the cameras.

The city’s policy prohibits officers from altering data.

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HARLINGEN — Voters came out in some of the highest numbers in years for the first day of early voting in city and school elections.

Outside City Hall yesterday, candidates’ supporters waved signs, barking into loud speakers to rally voters.

By the time the polls closed at 5 p.m., 238 voters had cast ballots in the city election while 234 had voted in the school election, City Secretary Amanda Elizondo said.

“I think this is the highest turnout I’ve gotten in one day,” said Elizondo, who has served as city secretary since June 2011. “They were coming in gradually at times or in fours or fives.”

Job creation and economic development were among the issues that brought voters to the polls in the city election in which Mayor Chris Boswell faces three challengers.

Rosalinda Mercado-Garza faces Eladio Jaimez in the race for Harlingen school board, where the big issues include improving education for children and upgrading schools and athletic facilities.

Many voters appeared interested in the race in which Boswell faces former City Commissioner Jerry Prepejchal, retired police Lt. Joe Rubio and businessman Kenneth Benton.

In the race for the District 2 City Commission seat, incumbent Tudor Uhlhorn faces former City Commissioner Frank Puente.

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BROWNSVILLE — Annova LNG has agreed to relocate its planned project in response to concerns that the proposed liquefied natural gas plant at the Port of Brownsville would prevent wildlife from moving between the Boca Chica area south of the Brownsville Ship Channel and Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge to the north.

BND Chairman Ralph Cowen said Annova agreed to relocate slightly in order to preserve animals’ access to a wildlife-crossing culvert under state Highway 48 that leads to the Bahia Grande wetland, which is part of the Laguna Atascosa refuge.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and BND, which oversees the port, announced the plan on April 22.

“This project was going to infringe on the existing wildlife corridor, so we’re going to move everything over,” Cowen said. “Annova has agreed to lease a few more acres. It’s going to cost them money, but they’ve agreed to move their project over to the southwest. That will keep that wildlife corridor intact.”

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HARLINGEN — Chris Elliott is a master machinist who became a youth minister who became the chaplain at Marine Military Academy.

But that’s not all.

He’s also the MMA athletics director and the announcer at the academy’s football, baseball and basketball games.

As he says, he’s combining his two great passions – ministry and sports.

Among his duties as chaplain, Elliott holds Bible studies and other classes and chapel services.

“I’m just trying to get a pulse of not only the cadets, but the faculty and staff here on campus,” he said.

He was asked, what is the most challenging part of being a chaplain for a military academy?

His answer pretty much describes how he sees his job – helping the cadets grow and be prepared for life.

“Learning how to do ministry in such a unique environment,” he answered.

“It’s unique in the sense that ministry is not really the priority, but it undergirds the effectiveness of everything that we do from the military department, to the athletic department to the academic department, of taking a look at the whole man and trying to grow him and mature him and prepare him for life.”

He’s been chaplain for 12 years. Then six years ago, he took on the added role as athletic director when that position opened up.

As athletic director, he has every sport you’d find at a typical public high school, plus more.

“We’ve got some that make us rather unique,” he said. “We have an aerospace program where a young cadet can come and learn how to fly a plane.

“We’ve got an in-house boxing program and an in-house jiu-jitsu program. And we’ve got a rifle team.”

He describes himself as “a jack of all trades,” because he’s also announcing sporting events, including field events that are held at the end of MMA’s 28-day summer camp, where the cadets demonstrate everything they learned during camp.

When it comes to announcing football games, that’s also unique.

He is not only announcing for fans in the stands, but also for parents around the world.

“Understand that most of our families are not local,” he said. “We’ve got kids that come to us from all over the world.”

So the academy records all of the games and posts the video to the academy’s athletic web channel, “so that our parents can plug in and watch what’s going on in the athletic department at a time of their convenience all over the world.”

He also understands some parents may not know a lot about American football.

“So I’m describing what’s happening on the field. I’m giving them an education about why number 13 is throwing the ball and who the receiver is,” he said.

“So, I’m helping them understand what’s going on.”

Elliott is a former master machinist for a NASA contractor at Johnson Space Center in Houston. He also was youth minister for Fellowship Bible Church in Pearland, a suburb of Houston.

But he felt God was calling him to full-time ministry.

He thought he might pursue a ministry in a church, but then he heard MMA needed a chaplain.

“I forwarded over my resume and philosophy of ministry and those things,” he said.

“They flew my wife and I down and as soon as we stepped on campus, we knew immediately this is where God was calling us to minister.

“And we’ve been here 12 years.”

SAN BENITO — The committee is focused and productive.

That’s how Superintendent Dr. Adrian Vega described the work done during the second meeting of the district’s five-year strategic planning process.

“The individuals at the second meeting were truly committed,” Vega said. “People worked; there was no down time. Everyone was engaged.”

Saturday, officials held the second of five meetings for the Re-Imagine 2021 Strategic Plan.

Individuals from the district and community, including staff, parents, students, religious leaders, business leaders and members of the media, were broken up into five groups.

This time, more than 100 people participated in the meeting.

Earlier this month more than 140 people attended the Re-Imagine kickoff event.

Prior to the second session, the same group of people gathered to first identify the main areas of concern: curriculum, finance, facilities, early childhood to college, and communications.

The real work began in the most recent session, Vega said.

With the information gathered from the first session at the beginning of the month, the groups were tasked with coming up with five major priorities within each group.

For example, Vega said in the area of curriculum, a priority would be that curriculum should be aligned with the district and managed curriculum and professional development should match curriculum.

With that information, Vega said the groups can then come up with the priority statements.

HARLINGEN — They collect quarters and dollars at a time, maybe pulling in $25 to $30 on game nights.

The Le Moyne Gardens Torch Club members for years have worked the concession stand there for Boys & Girls Club competitions, selling cupcakes, popcorn, candy and more. Those efforts have paid off.

But, these kids ages 10 to 14, who live in this low-income housing project area near the Harlingen airport, aren’t raising money to buy iPhones, clothes or cool new athletic shoes.

They’re collecting money to give back to the community.

During last week’s 50th anniversary of the Harlingen Boys & Girls Club event, the kids stunned leaders of the Harlingen Police Department with one of the many donations they have made over the years.

The club, which is made up of kids learning how to be leaders, handed over a $300 check to Harlingen Police Chief Jeffry Adickes and his team in what Adickes called an “emotional presentation.”

The check was given to support injured SWAT officer Charles Duhamel, who suffered injuries to his right hand and arm following a March 31 raid in which he was trying to protect members of his team.

While some may say the dollar figure isn’t impressive, others know it’s all about the gesture and effort to give back to the community.

“These kids on their own raised money for our injured SWAT officer and his family,” Adickes stated on his Facebook page just minutes after the presentation. “In some communities in our nation today, there are children that would harm an officer if afforded an opportunity. In Harlingen, these kids are very rich in heart and love, that some may never understand.”

Hilda Gathright, the director of the Le Moyne Gardens unit, never doubted her kids and showed excitement and pride for the youth and their efforts.

“They are from public housing, but we talk about refusing to accept they have to live that way forever,” Hilda said.

That’s why work such as being involved in the community and giving back is so important.

“These kids are just awesome and they feel that when they give back, they say they are so blessed in return,” Hilda said.

Harlingen Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Gerald Gathright explained how the project was started.

He said a few years ago, some of the kids asked if the group could sell cupcakes at the sports games held there in Le Moyne Gardens.

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The City of Harlingen will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday to reveal renovations at the Lon C. Hill Aquatic Center.

The ceremony will take place at 9:30 a.m., Friday, April 29 at the pool which is located in Fair Park at 605 S. “L” Street.

The project was budgeted for $217,000, and funded via community development block grants.

The pool, originally built in the 1950s, previously was renovated in the 1960s. City officials estimate 3,000 to 4,000 swimmers use the pool each summer.

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The renovation included adding new filters, new pump, brand new skimmers, and brand new plumbing line.

New tile was also added around the pool.

Valley Morning Star reporter Rick Kelley contributed to this report.

A representative from the White House will be a guest speaker at Texas Southmost College on Tuesday to talk to students about furthering their education.

The Reach Higher initiative is one of First Lady Michelle Obama’s efforts to inspire to continue their education beyond high school whether a training program, community college or four-year university.

The program will take beginning at 11 a.m., Tuesday, April 26 in the north and south courtyard at TSC.

SAN BENITO — From above, the museum is supposed to look like a guitar, an instrument routinely played in conjunto music.

After three years of back and forth talks, the City Commission has settled on a design for the San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum.

The new museum is expected to be an exciting venture and after three years of hype, it should be.

Earlier this week, commissioners approved a design proposal from architect Steve Tillotson from Munoz and Company, an engineering firm out of San Antonio.

The designs were presented by Meg Jorn, architect and president of Megamorphosis Design.

One can expect a sleek guitar-shaped entrance that faces Heywood Street. The museum will be located at the corner of East Heywood Street and North Crockett Street.

The site of the facility that will house the San Benito History Museum, the Freddie Fender Museum and the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Museum is expected to be part of a much larger cultural plaza.

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HARLINGEN — Mayor Chris Boswell faces three challengers in the May 7 election in which early voting begins tomorrow.

Early voting runs through May 3 in the election in which Boswell faces former City Commissioner Jerry Prepejchal, retired police Lt. Joe Rubio and businessman Kenneth Benton.

Boswell, an attorney, is running for his fourth term as mayor.

First elected to the City Commission in 1998, Boswell served as a city commissioner until 2007, when he won the mayor’s seat.

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“I love serving the community and helping to lead the progress and I want to do that for a little while longer,” Boswell said.

Boswell, 58, said he is running on his record of economic development and job creation.

Prepejchal, retired single copy sales manager for The Brownsville Herald, served as District 4’s city commissioner from 2009 to 2012 before losing his re-election bid to Basilio “Chino” Sanchez.

Prepejchal points to his record as a city commis-sioner.

“If you take a look at my record, I was a leader,” Prepejchal said. “I did a lot for my district and the city. You have to be account-able to the public. You have to listen to the public. You have to do what the public wants. I would help everyone. My house was my office, and so was my carport.”

Prepejchal said he pushed for federal funds to improve drainage in the Fair Park area and the west side areas along Buchanan and Lincoln Avenues.

Rubio, 55, a private in-vestigator who retired as a police lieutenant in 2001, lost to Boswell in 2010.

Rubio said his work on city boards that include the Planning & Zoning Commission and the Har-lingen Community Devel-opment Board has given him insight into city poli-tics.

“The main goal is to fix Harlingen. We have to change the entrenched leadership, the overall philosophy,” Rubio said. “I’ve always been outspo-ken. I always look at issues. I’ve been reading the budget since 1994.”

If elected, Rubio said he would evaluate funding and staffing, call for an audit to prevent theft and seek more public input into decision-making.

Benton, 63, owner of NorCAM Community Development, lost to Bos-well in 2007.

“I think I have the most skills and knowledge of economic development to take Harlingen in the direction it needs to go,” Benton said.

“Our community needs new direction, new leadership,” he said. “We’re headed in the wrong direction. Our economic development policy is all wrong.”

Benton said he opposed the use of taxpayer money to lure big retail companies to town.

“You don’t incent low-wage retail jobs such as Bass Pro,” Benton said. “We spend money rather than invest it.”

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