Dear Politician “for the people,” I am writing with concern about the long and arduous discussions on the West Rail Trail movement.

I am in favor of the benefits of a hike and bike trail instead of more concrete and noise.

I grew up in Port Isabel living near the Laguna Atacosa Park where having open areas are enjoyed and green space is protected and seen as a benefit to health and to planet.

The Valley has always suffered from major health ailments because infrastructure took precedence over providing areas for movement and being out in nature.

I know I am one of thousands of voices that are not being taken seriously and getting the run around with constant meeting after meeting regarding this issue. It’s as if the proponents of the “concrete” keep stringing this along hoping the citizen tax payers who “need” this green space will go away.

This is a shame. When is politics really going to listen to the people instead of their own political interests?

Sincerely, Shannon McKeown, MS, LDN Brownsville

Whether its orchestra, band, choir, or visual art, fine arts programs can have a positive impact on a student’s life and are a key component in improving learning throughout all academic areas.

Take, for instance, Nihanna Vega, an eighth-grade student at Memorial Middle School.

“In fifth grade, I did some research and found that playing a musical instrument helps with brain development, school, and just helps you see the world a little differently,” says Vega.

She says her experience playing the double bass in her school’s orchestra has contributed to her success as a student and musician, all while teaching her a thing or two about self-discipline.

“It takes hard work. Outside of school, I practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays for about three about hours.”

This year she earned first chair in the All-Region band, and taking advantage of every opportunity, Vega recently joined the UTB orchestra after her being referred by her private tutor.

“I think I’ve advanced a lot. I recently joined the UTB orchestra, and it’s great because I get to play music with college students.”

Just like with a sports team, for any musical group to be effective, all players must work harmoniously towards a single goal.

Christian Cavazos, an eightgrade band student, has learned that it is critical for all members of the group to support each other and be in sync when playing a piece of music.

“Keeping time is crucial, or else one section might come in too late, or part of the band might come in too early,” he says. “It’s hard to fix a mistake like that when you have 50-plus students each playing an instrument.”

The fine arts also provide learners with added benefits such as promoting self-esteem, motivation, aesthetic awareness, cultural exposure, creativity, as well as social harmony and appreciation of diversity.

Although students in the fine arts are sometimes part of a larger unit, participating in these programs often helps them find their voice and gives them the opportunity to make something their own.

Kayla Atkinson, an eighth grader at Memorial, has always enjoyed singing and was happy to learn that she could join a group where she could share and grow in her vocal abilities.

“I love choir. It’s a place where I get to express my emotions through my voice,” says Atkinson. “Sometimes if I’m having a stressful day, I could just sing, and it makes me feel better.”

For eighth-grade student Heaven Macias, the path to self-expression is a little different. She is learning to perfect her drawing skills in art class.

“I’m learning about lines, shading, and perspective,” she says. “My favorite thing to do in art is Zentangle, an abstract, patterned drawing method because I’ve always liked to doodle.”

Macias says art is something she can’t get enough of.

“I draw a lot during my free time, and I can’t wait to change my wall into a blackboard so I can draw on it and surround myself with art.”

RAYMONDVILLE — Voters are coming out in strong numbers to cast early ballots in the March 1 primary election in which Willacy County District Attorney Bernard Ammerman faces former longtime District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra and attorney Annette Hinojosa.

Ammerman is vying for his third term while Guerra seeks to return to the office he lost eight years ago.

Hinojosa, a longtime Raymondville attorney, has served as a public defender in state district court.

Elections Administrator Mary Hope Barrera said the district attorney’s race is driving many voters to the polls.

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“It’s pretty steady. It’s a steady flow,” Barrera said yesterday. “We haven’t had a slow day.”

Ammerman said he is running on his record as a prosecutor who helped bring down the county’s crime rate to a 10-year low, slashing violent crime by 43 percent.

“I’m proud of my record of seeking justice for victims of crime,” said Ammerman, who was elected president of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association this year. “It’s up to the voters if they want law enforcement in this county. The voters have a choice but they’ve got to turn out to vote.”

Guerra, who was first appointed to office in the early 1990s, won election in 1997, going on to serve through 2008, when he lost a primary election.

“I’m just giving the public another option,” Guerra said.

Hinojosa, who has worked as a lawyer for 15 years, has served as a public defender for 13 years, representing clients prosecuted by Ammerman and Guerra.

“People are ready for a change,” Hinojosa said.

Ammerman disputed claims that his prosecution is too tough.

“I think long and hard before I prosecute a case,” Ammerman said. “Before I go forward, I look at all the evidence. I don’t send anyone to prison. A jury or a judge does that.”

Ammerman said he is not lenient on criminals to win supporters in this small, tight-knit community.

“I’m not here to let people walk out the front door to win votes,” Ammerman said. “I don’t play the compadre system. I put taxpayers and this office higher than friendship.”

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HARLINGEN — Economic development in the Rio Grande Valley and the role of retail in that effort is the subject of a Harlingen conference Thursday.

The Rio South Texas Economic Council and the International Council of Shopping Centers are sponsoring the forum at the University Center at Texas State Technical College-Harlingen, 2424 Boxwood.

The main events of the 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. forum will be a regional leaders’ panel followed by a local retail panel.

Panelists at the conference will cover the expansion of commercial businesses over the past 10 years in the RGV, including Simon’s Palms Crossing, Rio Grande Premium Outlets, Bass Pro Shops, Space X and most recently the Texas LNG project, event organizers say.

This program will showcase the strengths and weaknesses of the Rio Grande Valley when it comes to economic development and growth of the retail sector, organizers say.

Those interested in attending still may register on-site for the forum beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday. Cost is $40 for an ICSC member, $55 for a non-member, and $15 for an ICSC student member.

HARLINGEN — After six months of negotiations, the city will slash its electric bill in half.

Lower oil prices will help the city save more than $1 million on electricity that powers city offices, WaterWorks and Valley International Airport.

The Texas Coalition for Affordable Power, which represents 171 Texas cities, negotiated with three electric companies to set lower rates that go into effect January 2018, Assistant City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said yesterday.

Gonzalez said the new rates will remain in effect for five years.

“We were able to negotiate lower rates,” Gonzales said.

He said the negotiations yielded the biggest savings he can remember.

“A million dollars — that’s substantial,” he said.

Last year, Gonzalez said, the city spent $2.1 million on 28.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity that powered the city’s public buildings.

But next year, the city’s electric bill will drop to about $1.1 million, Gonzalez said.

He said the city will save $392,613, WaterWorks will save $499,732 while the airport will save $151,596.

City Commissioner Michael Mezmar told Gonzalez in a City Commission meeting last week that is sounds like a good deal.

BY Carol Lutsinger is a NASA/JPL Solar System educator and ambassador Texas Space Grant Consortium collaborator and American Astronomical Society resource agent [email protected] Newspaper in Education

It is good to know that astronomy is being taught in classrooms across the Valley. This past week students in Los Fresnos ISD’s Liberty Memorial MS enjoyed learning more from UTRGV Physics and Astronomy students who shared telescope views of the waxing gibbous moon and other celestial objects. The science teachers organized a fun evening of a variety of activities related to the subject; former students even returned to assist in the presentations. Perhaps one day we will again have an active astronomy club organized in the area.

The lineup of planets in the predawn sky has been intriguing early risers all month. By 8:00 PM Jupiter has risen so is in the predawn sky near the meridian in the south. Mars follows, having risen around midnight, then Saturn and Venus. The planets are in a gentle arc across the sky about an hour before dawn. If you rise early, walk out and enjoy the fresh air, the waking birds’ calls, and the quiet neighborhood. S-h-h-h, unless you want to wake up the dogs in the area.

Speaking of gentle arcs of planets, that arc marks the ecliptic, and imaginary plane line like the equator, along which the planets, the Sun, and the Moon appear. As we enter a new month a day later than usual for February, we can thank the Leap Year math catch-up day. Because Earth takes about 365.25 days to make a complete orbit around our star, we have to make the calendar year match the solar year, so we add a day in February every four years. It helps to remember that time is an arbitrary thing that is determined by the motion of the Sun seeming to move across the sky. Our planet is a sphere, so the apparent path is a circle, which measures 360°. As Earth rotates an average of 1000 mph on its axis, the Sun in that span of time the west-to-east rotation causes the Sun to rise 15° along the ecliptic each hour. How many hours in a day? How many degrees in a circle? Multiply hours by degrees. Did you get 360? Oh, no. She is talking math again. I thought this was a science based column.

Keeping on with the math theme, are you ready for the clock face locations of the planets? Mercury is 3:00; Venus 5:00; Earth almost 9:00; Mars 8:00; Ceres, one of the “dwarf planets recently included as part of our solar system members, is at about 3:30, Jupiter is far out and about 9:30; Saturn about 6:30, Uranus 2:00, Neptune 4:00, and let’s include Pluto at 5:00.

If you have a good telescope, a dark viewing site, and clear skies, this is a good time to observe Saturn because of its tilt the rings are at a great angle to see gaps between the ring system and the planet itself. I hope you have a friend to share the view with you if you don’t have your own telescope. It will knock your socks off.

It surprises me how many students have no knowledge of the International Space Station that is orbiting Earth with six astronauts from different nations conducting science experiments. If you haven’t shared this information with your children/students, this would be a good time to go online and access the ISS website. Real science is going on all the time. One of the astronauts on board, Scott Kelly, is a twin whose brother Mark has remained on earth. When the ISS brother returns all the information gathered about changes to his various body systems can be compared to his stay-at-home brother. The information from this science experiment will be extremely valuable for future long-duration space missions.

Until next week, KLU.

HARLINGEN — History was made in Dallas on Saturday when the Malibu Minis cheer team from South Texas Extreme Cheerleading captured the NCA National Cheerleading Championship.

With the win, the group of 5- to 8-year-old girls became the first team from Cameron Country to win such a prestigious competition.

“We are very proud of the girls and all they accomplished,” said Scott Kimak, who owns South Texas Extreme Cheer along with his wife, Diana.

“This team of incredible girls has been destroying their competitors at all events across Texas this year and now they have won the biggest one in the world. No team in the history of Cameron County has ever won at this event.

They worked extremely hard all year long and deserve to be recognized for their determination and teamwork.”

The Malibu Minis actually competed against 1,000 other teams from across the country and scored a nearly perfect 95.81 in their final routine.

“This was the second year that we competed at the NCA Nationals,” Kimak said. “Last year we finished in eighth place, which is pretty amazing. But this year, we just felt that they had what it took to win it all. We were right!”

The 20 members of the team are: Amber Perez, Mia Trevino, Madelyn Trevino, Miranda Trevino, Mia Perez, Aubrey Rodriguez, Jolene Salazar, Carlie Rodriguez, Melanie Rios, Karina Salinas, Alaynah Farias, Aundrea Mora, Haylee Leal, Lanie Leal, Giselle Juarez, Railyn Garcia, Madison Manson, Victoria Garza, Lauren Lopez and Kassandra Larios.

HARLINGEN — Christian Espinosa scored 14 points, KobePatterson hit 13 and Ubaldo Pequeno contributed 11, as Edinburg North defeated Harlingen South 48-37 Tuesday night in a Class 6A bi-district playoff game at the Hawks gymnasium.

After the halftime break, Edinburg North’s Brandon De La Cruz scored six consecutive points as the Cougars outscored the Hawks 16-2 in the quarter, to open up a 14-point lead.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” said Edinburg North head coach Rudy Garcia. “We’re good and they’re good, so I knew we were going to have to change it up a bit, but we switched from man to zone and it seemed to slow them down a bit, and gave us some opportunities to score also.”

Full story at RGVSports.com

WESLACO — On Tuesday, the Weslaco Panthers cut to the basket, penetrated the paint at will and sank the outside shots.

And when they weren’t doing that, they were feeding the ball down low to center Justice Free.

In the end, it became too much for the Harlingen Cardinals as the Panthers rolled to an 81-64 Class 6A bi-district win at Weslaco High School.

Free led the Panthers with 22 points and had his way against the Harlingen bigs underneath the basket, opening up the floor and giving their guards open shots and easy cutting lanes to the basket.

“We played a good game and I have a good squad. They keep getting better everyday and they do the little things; today was a good day for them,” said Weslaco head coach Gabe Valdez. “Justice is a big part of our structure, but we have good guards that can hit the shot if they collapse on Justice. They’ve all done a great job and I hope we can go forward from here.”

Full story at RGVSports.com

SANTA ROSA — After two months, the Santa Rosa Warriors athletics program has found its new chief.

After being approved by the Santa Rosa school board last Thursday, former PSJA Memorial and Rio Hondo head football coach Gus Cavazos signed his contract Monday to become the Warriors’ new athletic director/head football coach.

For Cavazos, taking this opportunity was a no-brainer as it offered him the chance to get back on the sidelines.

“I live about four miles away from Santa RosaHigh School, so I’ve always kept an eye on Santa Rosa,” Cavazos said. “At this stage in my career, I think it’s a good fit. I missed coaching quite a bit.

“I really enjoyed my job at PSJA (Memorial) and I appreciated the opportunity, but when you get an opportunity to coach in your front yard, so to speak, it’s just too great an opportunity for me to pass up.”

Full story at RGVSports.com