HARLINGEN — Claims of sexual harassment, romantic pursuit and the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District failing to notify the proper authorities of the situation to protect its students, have resulted in a lawsuit being filed.

The father of a local high school student is bringing a monetary action in federal court against HCISD on behalf of his daughter, who is said to have been repeatedly sexually assaulted on school grounds by one of the district’s teachers.

The suit, which was filed earlier this week, states the abuse occurred during a period of months in the 2014-15 school year when the girl was 15 and a student in the teacher’s class.

The claim names that teacher as Robert Amitrani, also an assistant coach for the girls volleyball and softball teams. He died on July 31, 2015.

Attorney Ricardo Garcia is representing the father in this matter and is suing on the basis the school district violated federal Title IX laws that protect students against sex discrimination.

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The parents of a spring breaker who disappeared on South Padre Island traveled to Matamoros on Thursday and identified the body of their missing son, according to Cameron County authorities.

The body of spring breaker Justin Kirby Walker was found Wednesday afternoon at Costa Azul in Matamoros , which is across the Rio Grande from Boca Chica Beach. The clothing on the body matched what Walker was last seen wearing.

According to Chief Horacio Zamora of the Cameron County Park Rangers, the body was identified at around 5 p.m. Thursday by Walker’s parents at the Ministerio Publico in Matamoros.

Authorities had hoped the body could be identified through its fingerprints, but Mexican authorities did not have the necessary equipment.

Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said Walker ‘s parents needed to provide Mexican officials with a copy of his birth certificate before the body would be released to Texas authorities.

Lucio said officials with the Mexican consulate traveled with the family to a Matamoros mortuary.

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RAYMONDVILLE — In the Rio Grande Valley, statistics show children take their first drink of alcohol when they are about 12.

But Elizabeth Urbina knows people who started drinking alcohol when they were 6.

“The younger they are when they start using alcohol, the higher the risk of them suffering from alcoholism later in life,” Urbina said yesterday.

Urbina, a drug prevention specialist with Communities Against Substance Abuse, or CASA, an anti-drug group in Willacy County, is preparing to launch her annual campaign as part of April’s Alcohol Awareness Month.

“In Willacy County, we have a very big problem when it comes to drinking alcohol,” she said.

On April 11, the group will hold a town hall meeting on the dangers of underage drinking in Raymondville, said Rosalie Tristan, CASA’s coordinator.

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HARLINGEN — Some workers in the oil industry from the Rio Grande Valley may soon be out of a job.

More than 400 workers are expected to be laid off in April.

The Texas Workforce Solutions is sending a message to the 416 workers being laid off from the oil and gas industry to help them find re-employment or to learn how to sign up for unemployment services.

“We see the unemployment of those companies affect the unemployment in our area,” said Laura Cavazos, communications specialist for Texas Workforce Solutions.

“We do serve the community here whether they (workers) were let go somewhere else.”

On March 14, the Texas Workforce Commission published a report stating the oil and gas industry would be laying off employees in the month of April.

“People who have lost their jobs can come to our office to pick up applications to file for unemployment,” Cavazos said.

Workers in Bexar, Nueces, Harris and Chambers County will be affected.

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The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request by Republican sheriff’s candidate John Chambers to have his name placed on the Republican ballot for the May 24 runoff election in CameronCounty.

Chambers had filed a writ of mandamus and a motion for injunctive relief against CameronCounty and the county’s Republican Party requesting that the county refrain from printing the ballots for the runoff election until the issue regarding his ineligibility had been resolved.

Chambers argued that his name should be on the ballot. The county’s Republican Party maintained he was ineligible because of his conviction of 14 counts of tampering with government records.

The Texas Supreme Court did not give a reason for denying Chambers request. It merely stated “motion for injunctive relief denied.”

Chambers’ attorney, Jesus Villalobos, said although his client’s quest for office is “temporarily halted,” Chambers will return “when the fabricated accusations against him are overturned on appeal.”

Villalobos said if the court overturns Chambers’ conviction he can petition for the reinstatement of his peace officer’s license.

Chambers was the top vote getter — out a field of four primary candidates — in the March 1 primary election for sheriff on the Republican ticket. Because he failed to get 50 percent plus one of the votes cast in the race, he was to be in a runoff election with Victor Cortez.

However, Republican Party Chair Morgan Graham informed Chambers earlier this month that he was ineligible to be on the ballot because of his January conviction on 14 counts of tampering with government records. According to state prosecutors, Chambers created false entries in governmental records concerning firearm qualification for some of his deputies.

As a result, his peace officer’s license was revoked.

Before removing Chambers from the ballot, Morgan sought a legal opinion from the Secretary of State’s Election Division, which stated it was the division’s opinion that a person who has a felony conviction is ineligible to serve as sheriff “regardless of whether or not that conviction is final.” Under the local government code, a person who wants to be sheriff needs to be a licensed peace officer. However, a person convicted of a felony cannot be licensed as a peace officer.

With Chambers being removed from the ballot, Robert Rodriguez, who had the third most votes in the election will be in the runoff election against Cortez.

The parents of a spring breaker who disappeared on South Padre Island have traveled to Matamoros this afternoon to identify a body they believe may be their son’s.

Authorities had hoped the body could be identified through its fingerprints, but Mexican authorities don’t have the necessary equipment to do that.

Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said Justin Kirby Walker’s parents needed to provide Mexican officials with a copy of his birth certificate to ID their son, before his body is released to local authorities.

He said officials with the Mexican consulate have traveled with the family to a Matamoros mortuary.

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The body was discovered Wednesday afternoon at Costa Azul in Matamoros, which is across from Boca Chica Beach. The clothing on the body matched the description of what Walker was last seen wearing, Lucio said.

Authorities estimate that body had been in the water three to four days.

Walker, 18, of Kendall, Texas was last seen on Saturday leaving the Ultimate Music Fest at the Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark on South Padre Island.

Staff writer Christina R. Garza contributed to this report.

SAN BENITO — The idea of a skate park has been a hot topic among city officials and the community.

But after last night, it doesn’t appear as if there will ever be one.

During last night’s city meeting, commissioners failed to approve any sort of plan of action regarding the building of a skate park.

The idea of a new skateboard park has been a topic in the community and among city officials for several years.

Mayor Celeste Sanchez has said from the very start she had hoped it could be built by summer. The skateboarders also hoped they could have a new place to call home soon.

However, city officials failed to reach any type of decision and turned their attention at times elsewhere.

At the recommendation of City Manager Manuel Del La Rosa, commissioners did approve his recommendation to move forward with sampling the land that the old pool currently sits on.

Parks and Recreation Director Art Garza said he is still waiting on the engineers to finish their assessment of the old pool structure to see if they can rebuild the old pool or if they need to build a completely new pool.

At one point in the meeting, after a long discussion, commissioners collectively agreed that a skate park could in fact be built on the existing pool and a new pool could be built on the adjacent property and use the old pool’s facilities.

Even though commissioners did not approve a plan, that didn’t stop Garza from telling city leaders what they could have in a skate park.

He said Tony Misiano offered to build San Benito’s skate park in phases for a little more than $75,000.

In 2012, Misiano designed Los Fresnos’ 8,000-square-foot skate park as a “flow plaza” park. He is currently in the process of building a skate park in Raymondville.

Reading “No more Veteran exploitation” in Friday’s paper reminds me of something I’ve been wondering since seeing the ads on TV for donating money to the Wounded Warriors fund.

How much of the money donated goes to pay these high profile actors who do the commercials for their “service” or do they volunteer their time?

I’d like to know.

Caroline Steele Harlingen