HARLINGEN — Orlando Delgado shined a flashlight into the holes in the dashboard.

“The air conditioner was not blowing to the front,” said Delgado, 32, as he worked on the Grand Marquis.

“The ducts are in the back,” he said. “To get to them, you have to remove the dash.”

Delgado, a graduate of the automotive program at Texas State Technical College, has worked at the Midas shop at 1150 S. Commerce St. about a year. He started out as a “general service technician,” changing oil and checking fluids, and then he worked his way up.

His four fellow mechanics also have taken the same TSTC program. They moved steadily about the shop as they changed oil, performed tune-ups and tried to figure out why an engine was overheating.

One mechanic with a red rag dangling from his pocket peered closely at a spark plug as he scraped it clean. A car hood slammed shut and the clicking of ratchets cut the air.

Manager Jose Batres knew exactly what he was getting when he hired the TSTC graduates. Aspiring mechanics in that program receive plenty of hands-on training along with their book studies.

That’s not always the case when mechanics from other backgrounds approach him for employment.

“Believe me, we get master mechanics sometimes and they can answer any question you ask,” Batres said with a trace of disbelief. “But when you put him on the floor, the difference is like he’s speaking Chinese and you’re speaking Spanish.”

Sometimes people complete automotive programs but they still don’t have the necessary skills to succeed as a mechanic, Jon Kerry Stutz, owner of the shop on S. Commerce.

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SAN BENITO — Bajo sexto artist Ruben Garza of Ruben Garza y La Nueva Era Musical will be the highlighted performer at the 3rd Thursday Conjunto Nites at the Chicho on April 21.

Garza is a local, with a long history in the area.

Ruben has played the bajo sexto professionally for more than 50 years, has recorded more than 30 albums, and has been inducted into the Tejano Roots Hall of Fame in Alice, and the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame in San Benito.

His roots are deep in the Rio Grande Valley. He was born in Harlingen on July 8, 1948.

Looking at Ruben’s evolution as one of the most recognized artists in conjunto music is like traveling through the historical development of the Mexican origin community in Harlingen and San Benito.

The aficionados (amateur nights) at the teatros Ruenes, Palacio, Azteca, and Grande were Mexican theatres in San Benito and Harlingen and were located in the barrios of Mexiquito (the neighborhoods where Mexicans and Mexican Americans resided).

That’s where Ruben competed with other artists when he was just 6 years old.

At the time, Ruben lived with his grandmother in San Benito and attended Fred Booth Elementary School in his early youth.

When she passed away, he moved back to Harlingen to live with his mother.

Growing up, he listened to Los Alegres de Teran, Lydia Mendoza, Valerio Longoria and other conjunto pioneers.

He listened to these artists on the KGBT radio station, the premier Spanish language station in Harlingen that began in late 1952.

As a teenager, he began playing with Conjunto Hermanos Ramos and would also jam with other conjunto artists like Chuy Villegas, Martin Zapata and Issac Villegas.

As many other conjunto musicians, Ruben also followed the migrant stream and traveled to Lubbock to pick cotton and Traverse City, Michigan, to pick cherries.

It was in Traverse City that he met Cali Carranza and would play on weekends with the Carranzas.

At 19, that dream he had was fulfilled when the great conjunto artist Ruben Vela asked him to join his conjunto as the bajo sexto player.

Vela was at the peak of a great career and Ruben at a young age was going to play and tour the U.S. alongside Ruben Vela.

It was during these formative years that Ruben met and learned from other master bajo sexto players like Eloy Bernal, Adan de la Rosa and Amadeo Flores.

From them, Ruben learned “pizaditas” musical riffs that would improve his musical talent.

Ruben played with Ruben Vela until 1978. He became friends with the late Gilberto Garcia of Los Dos Gilbertos, because “everywhere we played, he would greet us.”

Garza told Garcia if he ever needed a bajo sexto player and vocalist to give him a call.

There came a time when Garcia needed a bajo sexto player, and Garcia invited him to be a part of Los Dos Gilbertos. Despite not having the “Gilberto” name, he became an honorary “Gilberto.”

In 1978 Garza joined Los Dos Gilbertos and it was Garza who would become the other major face of “Los Dos Gilbertos” as the bajo sexto player and first voice.

Garcia and Garza were now known as Los Dos Gilbertos, as a new duo their first hit was “El Rosalito.”

The style of music the duo produced has been referred to as “Conjunto Fino” for its refined sound, not only for dancing, but for listening.

Together the duo won two Tejano Music Awards and garnered a Grammy nomination.

Ruben continued to play with Los Dos Gilbertos until September 2015, when his longtime musical partner Gilberto Garcia suddenly passed away.

Ruben has now started his own conjunto, Ruben Garza y La Nueva Era Musical and feels they will soon continue with success he had with Ruben Vela and Gilberto Garcia.

His motto is simple and sincere and passionately lives by it, “Cunado le metes el corazon y el alma a la melodia todo va a salir bien” (when you put your heart and soul into the melody it will always come good).

The band released their first album, entitled “Porque Nosotros No” in the fall of 2015. The band is expected to release their follow up album in the spring of 2016, which will include a tribute to Ruben Vela and Gilberto Garcia.

The Educational Results Partnership and the Institute for Educational Productivity have recognized Early College High School, Bowie Elementary School, and Long Elementary School on their 2015 Honor Roll, a national effort to identify higher-performing schools and highlight successful practices that improve outcomes for students.

“I am proud and honored that ECHS has been recognized for consistently demonstrating high levels of student academic achievement,” said Dr. Pamela Flores ECHS principal. “Setting high expectations for students, our teachers ensure a rigorous curriculum that is relevant for all students. Our alliance with Texas State Technical College is key not only in providing our students concurrent college courses but ensuring a seamless transition to post-secondary education. It is a team effort from all parties involved, and I am humbled to be a member of such a great learning community.”

Schools receiving this award have demonstrated consistently high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations. For high schools, the Honor Roll recognition also includes measures of college readiness.

“We are so proud to be recognized by education and business leaders in Texas for our Honor Roll schools,” said Superintendent Dr. Art Cavazos. “Our teachers and administrators work tirelessly to keep the focus on high expectations and student academic achievement while also continuously improving our practices. This award is a testament to their hard work and dedication to our students.”

Schools can be awarded in one of two categories – Star Schools or Scholar Schools.

ECHS, Bowie, and Long are all recognized as Star Schools. Additionally, Bowie received the distinction of STEM School, a recognition reserved for schools scoring in the top 10 percent among Star Schools in the areas of math and science.

Star Schools are those with significant populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students that have shown a significant increase in grade-level proficiency over time. Scholar Schools are schools that are showing significant levels of academic achievement but do not have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student population.

Lacing up a brand new pair of jet blue Saucony running shoes, Joseph Ramirez could not take the smile off his face.

“I’m excited about these shoes. I just like running,” the Lee Means Elementary third grader said. “It’s fun to feel the wind on me as I go.”

Joseph is one of 120 elementary students from across HCISD to not only receive a pair of shoes but also participate in a six-week running program aimed to teach children healthy habits at a young age.

Between hourly exercises and classes on health and wellness, the Fit to Run program was organized through a $10,000 grant from the Saucony athletic company.

Grants and Special Projects Manager Jessica Hruska says the funds not only paid for the shoes but provided certificates, healthy snacks and the means to carry out this wellness initiative.

“Bonham Elementary, Dishman Elementary, Lee Means Elementary, Stuart Elementary, and Travis Elementary were all participants,” Hruska said. “This project was great because it not only taught the students various life skills but allowed them to have new shoes just in time for the Saturday, April 16, Kid Fit event.

Since 2011, Junior League of Harlingen has put on Kid Fit for the city. Aligned with the League’s mission, this group of community leaders supports overall wellness in Harlingen.

“Kid Fit is a free event for our community,” Tuli Villegas said. “We want to promote the importance of having a ‘fit mind.’ By providing a day where parents and students can have fun being active and learning about healthy foods, it creates reasons to make habits out of exercising and eating well together.”

The students and their parents impacted by the grant, all gathered in the Harlingen Aquatic Center on Thursday to receive their shoes and register for the free event.

HCISD thanks Junior League of Harlingen for organizing Kid Fit and Saucony for putting shoes on student’s feet and smiles on their faces.

In “Be part of the process,” Mr Zendenjas lists a number of publications for us to read that will make us “more aware and knowledgeable of affairs outside of the RGV.”

He further states, “Trust me on this one …” My response is, Sir, I would trust a rattlesnake more than I would trust you and your advice.

All the publications he lists have a liberal left wing agenda.

The sole reason I write to the VMS is to “try” and counter the daily dose of liberal propaganda we are fed.

When news is one-sided or full of half truths, it is propaganda, The following stats are from US National Debt Clock.org real time and from www US Treasury which I earnestly encourage everyone to look up.

Our nation’s debt is $19.25 trillion. The taxpayers, not the government, paid $415 billion in 2013, $430 billion in 2014, and $402 billion in 2015 in interest on that mountain of debt.

The government only spends, it produces zero income.

As any bill-paying person knows, money paid on interest for the most part is a huge waste. The exceptions being a mortgage and maybe a loan to purchase an automobile.

We’re told the unemployment rate is 5 percent. The true numbers are: workforce, 151.4 million; official unemployed 7.9 million; actual unemployed 15.5 million; not in labor force 93.4 million.

The total US population is 323.3 million. The total number of US taxpayers is 119.6 million. The total number of citizens receiving benefits is 161.4 million.

I know, “the truth hurts.” But if the “truth” we are told is sugar coated, then it is useless.

N. Rodriguez Harlingen

The U.S. Constitution gives the president the power to carry out the laws passed by Congress (Art. 2, Sect. 1) When the framers were writing the Constitution, they decided how the president was going to be elected.

The framers decided the people were going to elect the president. They established the Electoral College for this reason. It allowed a group of people (electors) chosen by the voters of each state to officially elect the president every four years. (Art. 2, Sect. 2) Under this system, voters don’t directly elect the presidential candidates. Instead, they vote for the electors who pledge their vote for a particular candidate.

Each state is given a certain number of electors. There are a total of 538 electors (435 representatives and 100 senators, plus three for the District of Columbia).

California has the most electors with 55, while Texas has 38. The least number of electors is in Alaska, with three. This is based on the number of Congressional members in each state. Therefore, Texas has 36 members in the house of representatives and two senators in the Senate.

The candidate who receives 270 electoral votes becomes president. If no candidate receives a majority (more than 50 percent) the House of Representatives will select the president.

Silvestre Moreno Jr. Mercedes

BY NORMAN ROZEFF

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is next installment in an ongoing series on San Benito’s Sam Robertson. Read previous parts online at www.ValleyStar.com

To celebrate the Fourth of July in 1929, a San Benito committee conceived the idea of inviting the Gulf Coast Lines to participate. It was, after all, the 25th Anniversary of the arrival of the first passenger train into the Valley. The committee asked Col. Sam to suggest the names of individuals who might be honored.

In a letter to the committee, Sam responded with information on the line and a colorful description of the work, trials, and triumphs of the men and women he had come to love “for their fitness, courage, hardiness, and spirit.”

Among the people Sam suggested inviting was Mrs. May Lott-Stegman of Brownsville. She was the daughter of railroad visionary Uriah Lott.

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Living contributors to the bonus that made the railroad to the Valley possible were, as Sam noted, Robert Driscoll, Mrs. Clara Driscoll-Seviere, Robert and Cesar Kleburg, John G. Kenedy, Jim Dishman, Lon C. Hill, John Closner, Oliver Hicks, Mrs Agnes Browne, James Landrum, A. A. Browne, Dr. Fred Combe, and especially Benjamin F. Yoakum of New York.

Sam continued his long list with the name of Col. F. G. Jonah, then chief engineer of the Frisco Line, but who had been an engineer during construction. Walter Ampter, then of La Feria, was noted to be the locating engineer on the job.

Sam included the living members of his Southern Construction Co. staff and made an effort to list the many individuals who actually did the physical labor as well as the women who left their comfortable homes to live in boxcars and support them.

He described the appearances of the many Mexican children in the camps and stated that he had located 20 of the construction crew children that he would like to include in the festivities.

He singled out Enedina Hernandez as a prominent member of the boomer outfit and who lived near the ice plant in San Benito.

Among the earth movers were Gene Hilary, John Hill, and Bill Dersett of Brownsville, Tom Lovett of San Juan, and John Ratcliffe of San Benito.

He mentioned Signora Marruetta Esparza de Rodriguez along with her husband as forty year settlers in the San Benito area and the builders of the first store and boarding house in San Benito with windows.

Senite Montalbo was pointed out as the first child born in San Benito after its settlement by Americans.

Sam then related that “Rafael Moreno, a cook with the engineers, lives in La Paloma and is the man who suggested the name of San Benito in honor of his former patron, Mr. Benjamin Hicks, who for many years owned Cipres Ranch, a part of the old San Benito tract.” Rafael was by then an “old patriarch”.

Robertson went on to tell of the first cars on the road carrying notables. The very first “varnished” car was that of Ben Johnston, a semi-invalid for many year. Sam characterized Ben as “one of the greatest contractors of his day.” The next “varnished” cars were six in number. They carried Frisco investor Benjamin Yoakum, Willie Kissam Vanderbilt, railroad speculator Sam Fordyce, St. Louis investors Tom West and W. K. Bixby, John Hays Hammond (famed railroad engineer), and others.

In an amusing sidelight, Sam recounted that on the 6th of June, 1904 the rails had reached Olmito and construction was delayed a day to cross the Brownsville Canal. The first commercial freight for Brownsville came to that point. It consisted of three loads of XXX Beer consigned to Teofilo Crixwell. This beer was then hauled by other means into Brownsville.

Lastly, Sam proudly relates that the steel reached Brownsville about June 10 and 5,000 people came out to see “our negoes lay track. With such an audience, and on the last day, the negroes put on a great show and threw down and spiked up two miles in about seven hours. This is a great record, but we laid 40 miles of the main line and 4 3/10 miles of side lines from April 1st to April 30th through the sand hills below Sarita. Sam concluded by giving credit to Lon C. Hill, John Closner, and Tom Hooks for guaranteeing the financing of the Hidalgo Branch by securing a 12,000 acre bonus.

The Gulf Coast Lines of the Missouri Pacific System printed a commemorative brochure with Robertson’s remarks. On its cover it paid tribute to all involved in the project to bring the outside world to the Valley. Its two paragraphs read:

“Honor to These Pioneers in the vital work of bringing transportation facilities to the Lower Rio Grande Valley and aiding materially thereby the development of this magic land’s wonderful possibilities.

Dedicated to those hardy souls whose foresight and labor in constructing the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway struck the fire and fanned the flames of service which has served hundredfold until now the original 141 miles from Robstown to Brownsville are a part of the Missouri Pacific System with its 14,254 miles of public-serving rails.”

Ever the futurist, Col. Sam envisioned a vehicle highway from Corpus Christi to the south tip of Padre Island. This was before the Port Mansfield cut had been made. It would be a toll road. This never came to fruition as the shifting nature of Padre Island as effected by periodic storms and wind-drifted sands were too problematical. [Readers at this point are reminded that even in 1926 the King Ranch interests had not allowed a road to be constructed across the majority of its property.

A road map of this year shows that the road south from Corpus Christi ended at Riviera where it turned west to Falfurrias. At this city it resumed its way south to Encino, Delfina, Edinburg, and Pharr. Just south of Delfina there was a secondary road east to Raymondville, where it continued south to Harlingen via Lyford, and Sebastian.] Robertson did however commence the project as the Berta Cabeza website relates: “Starting at [Flour Bluff] Aransas Pass on the Texas mainland, he constructed a causeway consisting of wooden troughs to accommodate the wheels of Model T’s. The span terminated on Mustang Island across the bay. Ferry service for the cars was provided from Mustang across a pass that no longer exists to Padre Island. Here began-or ended-Robertson’s Ocean Beach Toll Road.

The beach near the shoreline served as the roadbed. At dangerously soft spots and at the Old Shell Bank the route was reinforced with chicken wire and cement. The toll included ferry service for transporting cars between

South Padre Island was also to be built up with all manner of resort amenities. Robertson opened ferries at Port Aransas and at the south end of Padre Island. The latter was run by the Brazos de Santiago Pass Ferry Company organized by Sam. It docked at a rickety pier jutting from the extreme southern end of the island.

He did build a hotel, known as the Twenty-five Mile Hotel and later as the Surf Side Hotel about one-quarter mile north of the island’s tip. He built five houses about 45 north of the southern end of the island and a fifth house three miles from the causeway on the north. Although the unusual trough causeway boasted 1,800 cars the first month and 2,500 cars the second, interest began waning, after the 1929 Stock Market Crash.

By the next year, Robertson’s dream appeared doomed; he could not pay his debts. He sold his interest in the development and must have watched in horror as the 1933 hurricane destroyed all the structures on and leading to Padre Island. The purchasers on July 26, 1928 were the Jones Brothers and Parker, millionaires from Kansas City.

Recent reports from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) sounds the alarm over increase in cognitive and behavioral harms that widespread cannabis use may unmask.

A clinical review by NIDA Director Nora Volkow, MD, points out that as legalization of the drug for recreational and medical use spreads, vulnerable populations, especially adolescents, are exposed to toxic effects of the drug.

“This is not a problem that is specific to marijuana,” Dr. Volkow explains. “Young brains and drugs shouldn’t mix. Period.”

Dr. Volkow goes on to say, “Young brains are engaged in a protracted period of “brain programming,” in which everything an adolescent does or is exposed to can affect the final architecture and network connectivity of the brain.”

“Drugs are powerful disruptors of brain programming because they can directly interfere with the process of neural pruning and interregional brain connectivity,” she added. In the short term, she said, “this kind of interference can negatively affect academic performance. However, long-term use can impair behavioral adaptability.”

Currently, four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska — as well as the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for recreational use among adults. Twenty-three states (to include our own state), plus the District of Columbia, also regulate cannabis use for medical purposes, without the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) but with the other proven ingredients to treat certain specific diseases.

As a result of this rising tide of legalized marijuana, Dr. Volkow and colleagues believed a more focused and in-depth study of its use and consequences was urgently needed.

The investigators write, “Emerging evidence suggests that adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of cannabis use.” That’s really an understatement, as we have all been aware of this for many years.

Several studies, for example, have shown that individuals who use cannabis at an earlier age have greater neuropsychological impairment and that persistent use of cannabis from adolescence was associated with neuropsychological decline from the age of 13 to 38 years.

RI studies have also pointed to changes in neural activity among cannabis users, including inefficient processing during a working memory task.

“There are both preclinical and clinical evidence supporting the view that cannabis use is associated with an “amotivational state,” said Dr. Volkow. The term “cannabis amotivational syndrome” is distinguished by apathy and difficulty with concentration created primarily as a result of diminished brain chemicals, primarily Dopamine, that occurs with long-term or heavy cannabis use. Dr. Volkow also noted that “long-term, heavy cannabis use has been associated with underachievement in terms of educational pursuits. On the other hand, it is also likely that diminished motivation could impair learning as well, she adds, inasmuch as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, has been shown to disrupt reward-based learning.”

“Amotivation in chronic heavy users may also reflect the fact that cannabis itself has become a major motivator,” Dr. Volkow writes, “so other activities (eg. schoolwork) become demoted in the individual’s reward hierarchy.”

Dr. Volkow goes on to say, “Science has shown us that marijuana is not a benign drug. The morbidity and mortality from legal drugs is much greater than that for illegal drugs, not because the drugs are more dangerous but because their legal status makes them more accessible and a larger percentage of the population is exposed them on a regular basis. The current “normalization” movement presses on with complete disregard for the evidence of marijuana’s negative health consequences, and this bias is likely to erode our prevention efforts by decreasing the perception of harm and increasing use among young people, which is the population most vulnerable to the deleterious effects of regular marijuana use.”

An extremely extensive study of thousands of subjects by Dr. Bridget Grant, Ph.D., and colleagues of the National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biometry; concluded that “The urgency of identifying and implementing effective prevention and treatment for marijuana use disorder. And with ongoing changes in the drug’s legal status at the state level and the shift in beliefs about the risks associated with its use, public education about the dangers associated with marijuana use will be increasingly important to address public beliefs that marijuana use is harmless.”

Studies on Cannabis, such as those conducted by NIDA researchers have been collaborated with thousands of scientific studies conducted by The National Institutes of Health and other independent organizations over the years. All of the studies conclude that there are a myriad of negative consequences resulting from the use of marijuana, and most vulnerable to these consequences are our youth experimenting and using cannabis; affecting their mental and physical health. I strongly urge parents and others in our community to go to the NIH/NIDA/NIAAA websites, read the facts about the use of cannabis, and impart them to our youth.

Until next time, Stay Healthy my Friends!