HARLINGEN — With a trip to the regional tournament in San Antonio hanging in the balance, the competition at the District 32-6A golf tournament was fierce during Monday’s opening round at Tony Butler Golf Course.

When the green grass finally settled after round 1, it was Brownsville Hanna that ruled the course.

On the girls’ side, sophomore sensation Julie Lucio shot a 70 to help lead the defending league champion Lady Golden Eagles to a team total 323 and take a commanding advantage over second-place Brownsville Veterans (347).

Harlingen South finished the day in third (373) behind a strong performance by Amanda Alvarez, who posted a 76. Alvarez has a good a shot at qualifying for regionals as an individual since the top two finishers not on the top two qualifying teams advance.

Los Fresnos’ Briana Garza also has a good chance at qualifying for regionals as she also posted a 76 on Monday to lead the Lady Falcons, who unfortunately head into today’s action in fifth place.

However, the individual girl to beat is Harlingen High’s Hannah Greer, who carded a 70 on Monday and is undoubtedly one of the most dominate female golfers in the Valley right now.

On the back nine, Greer hit a ball that landed behind a tree, forcing her to take a short chip shot in order to get the ball back on the fairway. Despite the obstacle, Greer composed herself and landed her next shot on the green to ultimately save par.

Meanwhile, on the boys’ side, Santiago Garcia shot an impressive 68 to help Hanna post a team total 305 and stay just ahead of second-place Harlingen High, which shot a 307.

The Cardinals were led by Dylan Martinez, who shot a 72, and Cole Chavart, who posted a 74.

Brownsville Veterans, who won the league crown last year, ended the day in third place at 321. The Chargers were led on Monday by Kevin Gomez, who shot a 79.

Harlingen South (355) and Los Fresnos (372), meanwhile, struggled to a fourth- and fifth-place finish, respectively.

Alex Pimentel led the Hawks with an 83, followed by Joel Huerta, who posted an 89, and Javier Lopez, who carded a 90.

For the Falcons, Josue Ibarra led the team with an 89, Nick Garza shot an 88 and J. Pineda finished with a 93.

Second-round action continues today at 8 a.m. at Tony Butler Golf Course.

The Region IV-6A tournament will be held this year at Republic Golf Course in San Antonio. The boys’ regional tourney gets underway April 11-12 followed by the girls on April 13-14.

McALLEN — The Edcouch police officer accused of helping a drug trafficking organization coordinate fake drug seizures made his initial appearance in federal court Monday.

Vicente Salinas, 41, of Elsa, stood inside the jury box inside U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter E. Ormsby’s courtroom Monday and heard the charge against him in connection with a drug trafficking organization operation that took place in the Rio Grande Valley.

Salinas, who responded with a quick “yes sir,” after he was asked if he understood the charge against him, conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 grams of cocaine, was arrested Friday by Homeland Security Investigations Agents.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) confirms they were working an enforcement action in the Edcouch Elsa, Texas, area that resulted in the arrest of one individual. No further details can be provided since the case remains ongoing,” according to a release from Homeland Security Investigations officials.

The charge stems from a March 18, 2013, seizure where Edcouch police officers took into their possession 15 bundles of cocaine weighing about 17 kilos from an abandoned taxi. The cocaine was transferred to the Edcouch police station where they remained in storage for about four days, according to the criminal complaint.

But when HIDTA officers received the bundles, they discovered four of the 15 bundles contained blocks of wood, leaving the remaining 11 bundles to weigh approximately 12.7 kilos, according to the complaint.

“A photographic comparison of the bundles initially seized by the Edcouch Police Department with those submitted to HITDA revealed that the four bundles that contained wood had been switched, made to look like the original bundles, but were not part of the March 18, 2013 seizure,” according to the complaint. “The four bundles that had been switched weighed more than 4 kilograms.”

Salinas’ arrest comes about a month after federal agents arrested four members of a drug trafficking organization accused of hiring corrupt law enforcement officers to help coordinate fake drug seizures in Edcouch and Houston and later sell the stolen drugs, court documents show.

Mario Alejandro Solis, 37, Dimas DeLeon, 41, Carmen Saldaña Meyer, 60, and Carlos Aaron Oyervides, 40, are all accused of working for a drug trafficking organization and are facing similar federal charges of possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine, according to court documents.

Oyervides, of Houston, was also arrested on March 4 in connection the redistribution of narcotics stolen by the drug trafficking organization. On April 26, 2013, police officers in Houston discovered 18 kilograms of cocaine inside a 1996 Mazda MVP that was abandoned with the engine still running in a ditch. Lab analysis indicated that the bundles contained less than one percent cocaine, according to court documents.

In May 2014, Oyervides admitted that he assisted co-conspirators of a drug trafficking organization to stage the April 26, 2013, drug seizure of sham cocaine in order to make the unwitting narcotics source of supply believe the cocaine had been seized by law enforcement which enabled them to steal the drug load and to sell the real cocaine, court documents show.

On March 24, 2015, Meyer admitted to investigators that she was one of the co-conspirators and her role was to provide a copy of the police report documenting the seizure to the owner of the cocaine. Meyer told investigators that she went to Reynosa, Mexico, and provided the owner with false documentation knowing the cocaine had been stolen during the April 26, 2013, seizure in Houston.

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HARLINGEN — The car show is a thing of the past.

Which is why they remain so very popular.

The 9th Annual Jackson Street Classic Car Show in historic downtown Harlingen will be held Saturday, and as always, those attending will ride memories of steel and chrome on a trip back in time.

The show is sponsored by the Antique Automobile Club of America-Rio Grande Valley Chapter along with the Downtown Harlingen Committee.

Whatever kind of car piques your imagination, or jogs your memory, the show will probably be displaying them.

They come in all shapes, sizes, models and classes, including classic, modified, antique, muscle, import, exotic, low rider, street rod and rat rod, among others.

“I personally have a 1926 Ford Model T original and also a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air,” Moses Mendoza, president of the RGV antique car club, said yesterday.

Mendoza said his only problem is that he’s the only one in his family who can drive the old Tin Lizzie, so he says it’s up to his daughter to drive the Bel Air to the show.

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HARLINGEN — About 10,000 books are overdue — some have been missing for years.

Next week, library patrons will have a chance to return overdue books without paying fines.

The Harlingen Public Library will offer amnesty to patrons with overdue books during National Library Week, which runs April 11 to 17.

“It’s an opportunity for us to show appreciation to our public and it’s an opportunity for us to recover items long overdue,” library Director Dauna Campbell said yesterday.

The program also will help bring some patrons back home.

“It’s a way to reach out to them and get them back in the library,” Assistant Director Joseph Muñiz said.

Muñiz said about 10 percent of the library’s 109,745 books are overdue.

“It goes back for years,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, some people move out of town and they don’t come back.”

Some books never come back.

Muñiz tells the story of a young man who checked out a paperback in the 1970s.

But the man lost the book.

“He said it was on his conscience. He said he wanted to get it off his chest,” Muñiz said. “He thought it was science fiction but it was a religious book. It so moved him that he became a minister.”

Muñiz said some books are overdue about 60 days.

“I don’t think it’s a very big problem,” Campbell said. “Our public does pretty good at turning things in on time and paying overdue fines.”

But it becomes a bigger problem when popular books like Harry Potter titles are overdue.

Then patrons have to wait for the books’ return.

“It becomes a concern when our most popular books are overdue because it puts everybody else back,” Muñiz said.

Last year, Campbell said, the library held its first amnesty program, giving patrons one day to return overdue books.

In one day, she said, the library recovered 85 books and waived more than $200 in late fees.

“We’re hoping to reach out to more people and give more people time to look for their items,” Campbell said.

For years, the library has charged 25 cents a day for overdue books, capping fines at $15.

“We don’t want it to go on until it becomes an unbearable burden,” Muñiz said.

But library officials also just want some of those long-term missing books back on the shelves.

WESLACO — A domestic dispute turned deadly yesterday morning when a 50-year-old man shot his wife in the head then fled the scene, according to police.

Yolanda De Anda, 49, was rushed to the hospital after police found her suffering from at least one gunshot wound about 8:30 a.m. in a home in the 110 block of Libertad Street, according to Weslaco Police Department spokesman Officer Bernie Garza.

Her husband, Daniel De Anda, was found about three blocks from the scene holding a handgun and taken into custody without further incident. Officers recovered a .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun they believe was used in the fatal shooting, Garza said.

The couple had been separated for about one year. Police were first alerted after neighbors reported hearing shots fired, Garza said.

Investigators said Daniel De Anda confessed to the shooting and is facing a first-degree murder charge, but had not been charged Monday afternoon.

HARLINGEN — A young Harlingen man died Sunday night after he lost control of his car and struck a utility pole, police said.

The driver, identified as Orlando Garcia, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Harlingen Police Department, along with the Harlingen Fire Department and EMS, responded to a one-vehicle crash at 25th Street and Grimes Avenue Sunday around 10:26 p.m.

Police said a blue Ford Mustang was traveling westbound on East Grimes at a high rate of speed when Garcia lost control of the vehicle and struck a utility pole at or near the 2200 block of East Grimes.

The Harlingen Highway Enforcement Unit currently is investigating the crash.

SAN BENITO — Six teenagers have been accused of vandalizing 50 to 60 cars, causing at least $50,000 in damage, over the weekend.

Police said the teens were riding through neighborhoods in a pickup truck and randomly spray painting cars Saturday night. In some cases, car windows were smashed.

Monday afternoon Derick Bujanos, 18, Abraham Cano, 18, Kristian Guzman, 19, and Johnathan Aranda, 18, all from San Benito, were arraigned on charges of criminal mischief, a third degree felony.

Guzman and Aranda have been charged with an additional state jail felony charges for criminal mischief. Their bonds were each set at $55,000. Bujanos and Cano were given bonds of $25,000 each.

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Two juveniles were cited and released to their legal guardians.

“They were driving around in the back of an open bed truck and they were kind of hiding. They were slowly driving through neighborhoods,” Interim Police Chief Michael Galvan said yesterday.

“Some of those houses, they jumped out of the back of the truck and they went through people’s driveways and spray painted their cars.

“The others, they actually drove down the street and they would literally hang off the side of the truck and spray paint the cars as they went by real slow.

“So if there were say, 20 cars on one street, you’ve got 20 cars that got spray painted.”

They also smashed some car windows in addition to spray painting them, Galvan said.

Galvan said a preliminary estimate is at least $39,000 in damage, but that total increased to at least $50,000 on Monday.

“We want to send a message out that we’re not going to tolerate this,” Galvan said.

“We are going to go for the highest charge possible. We are looking at felony criminal mischief charges.”

Asked why the teens were damaging cars, Galvan said, “We’re trying to figure that out. They just decided to come into town and do some damage…

“It was just a random act of stupidity.”

There are two major political parties in the U.S. today. We know them as the Democrat and Republican parties. Both have been in existence for more than 100 years.

The Democratic Party is represented by a donkey and the color blue on political maps. Democrats typically support more government programs and social services in their daily lives.

They are called liberals or leftleaning. They are against increased spending on the military.

Democrats support higher minimum wages, progressive taxes (higher taxes for those who earn more) and Social Security. They also favor more government regulation over businesses.

They are usually opposed to the death penalty and are pro choice (support a women’s right to an abortion.) Democrats generally support raising taxes to fund the government. They also support government provided universal health care.

The Republican Party is represented by an elephant and the color red on political maps. It is also called the GOP (Grand Old Party).

Republicans usually oppose more government programs and less governmental influence in their daily lives. They are called conservatives or right-leaning. They support more spending on the military.

Some programs Republicans support are wages being set by the free market, a flat tax (same tax rate regardless of income) and the growth of private businesses.

They favor less government regulations over businesses. They usually support the death penalty and are pro-life (anti-abortion).

Republicans generally oppose raising taxes to fund more government. They also oppose government- supported universal health care services.

The independent parties are usually a combination of both Democrat and Republican political philosophies.

Hopefully, all eligible citizens will exercise their civic duty and cast their vote for their choice of candidates in the upcoming general election in November.

Silvestre Morena Jr. Mercedes

HARLINGEN — A young man died last night after he lost control of his car and struck a utility pole.

Orlando Garcia, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Harlingen police Department, fire department and EMS responded to the accident on the 2200 block of East Grimes Sunday night around 10:30 p.m.

Police say Garcia was speeding when he was driving a blue Ford Mustang westbound on East Grimes, lost control of the car and slammed into the utility pole.

Police continue to investigate the accident.