SANTA ROSA — Mark J. Chairez Jr., known by friends and family as Markj, recently competed for the first time at this year’s Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and Rodeo in Mercedes.

For a full week, Markj, a 12-year-old who attends Jo Nelson Middle school in Santa Rosa, walked around the show pens dressed in snazzy western wear as he showed off his 265-pound hog, Shrek, in front of hundreds of spectators.

When the dust finally settled, Markj and Shrek finished in 12th place.

“But even if he had finished in dead last, it didn’t matter,” said Markj’s father, Mark J. Chairez Sr.

“It was the best day ever,” exclaimed Markj’s mother, Amie. “I got very emotional and even cried a little.”

Mark and Amie’s reaction toward their son’s achievement might seem a bit extreme, but considering that Markj is autistic and not accustomed to participating in such a social event, their feelings are understandable.

“To be honest, I really didn’t think he could do it and I was sick to my stomach when I thought about him having to go out there with Shrek,” said Amie. “I mean, Markj is used to a certain daily routine and having things a certain way, and being at the stock show threw all that off.

“Also, he’s not very social and used to being around lots of people. But despite the crowds and everything, he did wonderfully.”

Despite their initial concerns, Amie and Mark decided to get Markj involved in the stock show because of his love of animals.

“Our younger son, Zachary, had been involved in the stock show before and we just thought that maybe it would be a good idea to involve Markj,” said Mark. “However, we never imagined he would do as well as he did. We’ll definitely be back next year.”

Amie and Mark credit several people for helping Markj throughout the event, especially officials at the RGV Livestock Show.

“They did everything they could to help Markj along the way,” Amie said. “There were times when I felt they could have told us to get lost, but they never did that. They were very accommodating.”

“Also, the Law Office of Celeste Vasquez was instrumental in securing us an air conditioned trailer that Markj could spend time in when he wasn’t showing,” Mark said. “For someone like Markj, being outside in the heat can be very uncomfortable, but thanks to the trailer he was able to deal with that.”

Finally, Markj’s parents are very grateful to the entire Santa Rosa community.

“They backed Markj throughout the whole process,” Amie said. “From the Santa Rosa 4-H Club and FFA, to the Santa Rosa school district, to everyone in the town, they encouraged Markj and cheered him along the way. They made the event one of the best things to ever happen to our family.”

SEBASTIAN — Rudy Garza has a thing about strings, and they weave their way through his life.

Garza, 85, was a musician playing the 12-string bajo sexto with the father of Tex-Mex conjunto, Narciso Martinez, and other top performers.

In fact, he says, perhaps the pinnacle of his music career was being invited to play at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to showcase conjunto music, the toe-tapping, accordion-driven sound that was born in north Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley.

“They didn’t know what a bajo sexto was,” Garza recalled yesterday at his shop, Eagles Nest Archery. “It looks like a guitar, but it’s two instruments in one. It’s a guitar and a bass in one.

“We had a guy from Japan over here. He came down and wanted to know about it,” Garza recalled. “I explained this to him, and that, and he said ‘there are too many strings’ and he left.”

Like that Japanese visitor, Garza also said goodbye to 12 strings.

Now he obsesses on just one string, and its sharp “thwickk!” as it powers an arrow downrange.

“My dad was an avid hunter, but with a rifle. We went hunting, but I got to the point that you don’t feel the excitement to take an animal at 200 to 300 yards,” Garza said.

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Texas is one of 20 states that still refuse to take advantage of billions in federal dollars for Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act.

A study released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers further evidence that those states are doing their economies and their neediest residents a major disservice, according to HHS.

This time the focus is on missed opportunities for mental health and substance abuse treatment.

When signed into law by President Obama in 2010, Obamacare as it’s commonly known included a provision designed to cover Americans who weren’t eligible for Medicaid and couldn’t afford health insurance under ACA.

In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that ACA was constitutional, but left it up to the states whether to expand Medicaid. Former Gov. Rick Perry said in 2012 that taking part in expansion would mean putting Texans at the mercy of a “broken system,” referring to Obamacare, whose provisions he argued represented “brazen intrusions into the sovereignty of our state.”

Gov. Greg Abbott’s stance is essentially the same. While a few states, including Arizona and now Louisiana, have reversed course and pursued expansion after all, Texas leaders’ anti-expansion attitude hasn’t changed.

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RAYMONDVILLE — For decades, area leaders have searched for ways to curb flooding in this low-lying area.

Now, city officials have a plan to help drain any floodwaters from Raymondville and northwestern Willacy County.

Officials will apply for a grant under the Restore Act to improve the area’s drainage system, City Manager Eleazar Garcia said yesterday.

Engineer Joe Muñoz is working to determine the amount of money for which the city will apply.

The city plans to build a pipeline to tie into the regional floodway, or Raymondville drain, located just north of town, said Troy Allen, general manager of the Delta Lake irrigation district.

Garcia said the project also would widen and clean two main lateral drainage canals that flow into the regional floodway.

The improvements would more rapidly drain floodwaters from Raymondville and western parts of Willacy County, Allen said.

“It will alleviate flooding,” Garcia said. “It will get the water out faster.”

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Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson will be the keynote speaker at the 2016 All-Valley Sports Awards Banquet on June 14 at the DoubleTree Suites in McAllen.

Pearson, who was inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor in 2011 after a standout career defined by his performances in the clutch, will highlight the function hosted by RGVSports.com in conjunction with the RGV Sports Hall of Fame.

The awards banquet will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will recognize team and individual standouts in multiple sports during the 2015-16 Rio Grande Valley high school sports season.

“We are excited about celebrating the best and brightest varsity athletes in the Rio Grande Valley,” said Stephan Wingert, publisher at AIM Media. “Our student athletes are an inspiration to our community and deserve to be recognized for their achievements. Please join us as we congratulate them on a job well done.”

For tickets, log on to ValleyStar.com, TheMonitor.com or BrownsvilleHerald.com and click on the rgvsports_banquet link on the toolbar on the home page of each web site.

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RIO HONDO — Students and teachers were dressed in their favorite basketball jersey yesterday.

But it wasn’t necessarily to celebrate the NCAA’s Final Four.

Instead, it was meant to help the students to get their game face on for today’s Texas standardized tests.

“The kids looked great and the staff was very excited about it,” said Dr. Sylvia Atkinson, assistant superintendent for the Rio Hondo school district.

The district superintendent’s March Madness challenge was the last day teachers could meet with the students before the STAAR test.

District campuses competed against each other in the district’s first March Madness fashion spirit challenge.

The activity was a play off the hoopla of college basketball’s March Madness 64-team tournament.

“It’s pretty cool,” Atkinson said. “We wanted an activity to generate some excitement and extra motivation to be here the day before testing.”

Atkinson said they needed an activity to make sure students came to school prepared and excited after coming off a four-day holiday weekend.

The plan worked.

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SAN BENITO — In 1998 Maggie Dittman was a little girl from Harlingen who died from abusive head trauma at the hands of her babysitter.

She was only 2 years old.

Her babysitter was charged with murder and served 10 years in prison.

After seeing the need to expand its services and prevent a tragedy like this from happening to anyone else, the Cameron County Children’s Advocacy Centers opened Maggie’s House in 2001.

Prior to that, they opened Monica’s House in Brownsville in 1998.

The house is named after Monica Castillo, 4, who also died due to severe physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her caregiver.

Tomorrow, Maggie’s House will host the 20th annual candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. on the front lawn of the center.

The aim of the event is to raise awareness in the community about child abuse prevention.

Elsa Garcia, volunteer coordinator and community educator for the center, said child abuse is a growing problem that robs children of their innocence.

“It’s a silent issue and we need to unite the community,” she said.

The numbers don’t lie; child abuse is a growing issue in Cameron and Willacy counties.

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RAYMONDVILLE — After more than a year, the search for a contractor is over.

Harlingen-based Pietra Construction will take on the $80,000 project to renovate the L.E. Franks Tourist Center.

City officials have requested construction bids for more than a year for the project.

But none came in within budget.

“Everybody was overbidding,” said Catalina Ozuna, executive director of the Raymondville Economic Development Corporation. “The bids were coming in too high.”

The renovation project will include replacement of the center’s roof and restrooms as well as the building’s paint, Ozuna said.

EDC money will fund the project while the Raymondville Chamber of Commerce will oversee construction.

Last week, city commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding between the city and the Raymondville Chamber to allow the chamber to issue payments.

“This is so the city doesn’t have to manage the money,” Ozuna said.

PALM VALLEY — Ashlynn Elliff loves to be creative and she’s really good at it.

Now, the Primera resident will be able to see her skills and abilities on more than just business cards and polo shirts.

The graphic design minor’s work will likely be on police cars and other vehicles in a city near you.

Elliff’s own city of Palm Valley logo was chosen by the commission as the winner of the logo contest and officially is the new logo.

Late last year, Palm Valley officials agreed to hold a contest to create the city’s new logo. After a few months, which included opening the contest up to those outside the city, Elliff’s design was selected out of a handful of concepts. She received a $250 prize for her creation and was presented the certificate earlier this month at the City Council meeting.

“I am excited to see what they use the logo for,” Elliff said.

However, if it weren’t for a friend, who emailed her the link about the contest, she would never have entered.

At first, she researched logos of other communities, “to see what others are doing.”

“I took the palm trees and came up with a couple different ideas and played around before I came up with a few designs.”

She incorporated a larger letter and similar colors of green and yellow the city had used before.

“You want something easy to recognize from a long way away,” she said.

It was clear, Elliff had found the crisp, simple, modern look City Council members and the mayor were looking for. However, the one they liked the most was missing something — a “V” as part of the Palm Valley.

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Federal agents in south Texas have arrested 36 gang members since February suspected of drug trafficking, human smuggling and other criminal acts, according to a news release.

The arrests were part of a nationwide operation dubbed Project Shadowfire which resulted in more than 1,100 arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The five week operation, which concluded March 21, landed 25 alleged gang members in jail from San Antonio and 11 from the Rio Grande Valley. Of the total 1,133 arrests 915 were gang members and associates, 1,001 were charged with criminal offenses and 132 were arrested administratively for immigration violations, the release states.

The majority of arrestees were affiliated with MS-13, Sureños, Norteños, Bloods, and several prison-based gangs. The 25 arrested in south Texas are members of Tango Orejon, Sureno 13, Paisa, Barrio La Colonia, Lincoln Court Kings, Rigsby Court Gangsters/Bloods, Denver Heights Bloods, Aryan Brotherhood, Valluco, Mexican Mafia, and Gulfo del Cartel, the release states.

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HSI special agents also seized firearms and narcotics while making these arrests.

“This operation is the latest example of ICE’s ongoing efforts, begun more than a decade ago under Operation Community Shield, to target violent gang members and their associates, to eradicate the violence they inflict upon our communities and to stop the cash flow to transnational organized crime groups operating overseas,” wrote ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña in the release.

Since the inception of Operation Community Shield in February 2005, HSI special agents, working in conjunction with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, have made more than 40,000 gang-related arrests and seized more than 8,000 firearms, the release states.