HARLINGEN — Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and key player in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

He served a major role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the mid 1950s and the March on Washington in 1963. These events are credited with promoting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus. A boycott of the city’s busses ensued for 381 days.

The coordinators chose King as their leader and spokesperson. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in November 1956 that segregated seating on public buses was unconstitutional. In the midst of this, King became a proponent of organized, non-violent resistance, influenced by Mahatma Gandhi.

The following year, he and other activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The organization’s purpose was to achieve equality for African Americans through nonviolence.

Birmingham, Alabama, at this time was one of the most racially-divided cities in the country. Activists decided to protest this in what became known as the Birmingham campaign of 1963. They held a boycott, sit-ins and marches to protest segregation and unfair hiring practices. King was arrested for his involvement on April 12. From the Birmingham jail, he wrote eloquently about civil disobedience.

Later that year, King and several other groups organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This march is best remembered for King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Later that year Time Magazine named him Man of the Year. In 1964, He became the youngest person at that time to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In early 1965, several attempts were made to march from Selma to Montgomery to protest efforts to prevent black people from voting. Alabama state troopers attacked the marchers with whips and tear gas. The marchers were turned back several times before President Lyndon Johnson intervened and provided them protection. At least two people were killed.

HARLINGEN — When Sessia Wyche thinks of Black History Month, a broad range of sentiments, experiences and heroes come to mind.

“It reminds me how much I have learned, how much I have been blessed by the Lord by going through difficult times,” said Wyche, 70, who teaches algebra 2 and calculus 3 at Texas State Technical College.

Black History Month reminds Wyche, a married father of four children, of what has been accomplished in the United States in the past 60 years in the struggle for civil rights.

He has been an educator throughout his life. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics in 1970 from Texas A&I University in Kingsville (now Texas A&M). He immediately began teaching there while working on his master’s in mathematics and computer science, which he completed in 1972.

As a scientist and mathematician, it only stands to reason that one of Wyche’s favorite people in African American history is George Washington Carver.

“He created so many products from a peanut,” Wyche said enthusiastically. “He was a true scientist. Matter-of-fact, when I started college I would read about some of these black heroes that I didn’t know anything about.”

He’s saddened by the fact the segregated school he attended didn’t even teach black history. He didn’t learn it at home, either, but that was because his father preferred to talk about more positive things.

“He didn’t want to talk about anything that happened in the past, because he didn’t want his children growing up with a negative attitude, and I thank him for that,” he said.

Once he graduated from high school, though, he took the initiative himself to read up on black history. Another mover and shaker that caught his attention was Martin Luther King, Jr.

“When I saw the way Martin Luther King was doing things, that impressed me and that’s what has really helped me also,” he said. “For the last 12 years, I’ve really been reading and studying the Bible.”

Wyche is now heavily involved in prison ministry, all the while still teaching.

His first teaching gig in Kingsville lasted until 1978, and then he worked for Southwestern Bell. He taught at the University of Texas at Brownsville for 22 years and has been at TSTC for six years.

Acquiring his education, of course, was fraught with difficulties even before he finished public school. He spent 12 years in a segregated school with no white classmates, and when he began college at Wharton Junior College in 1964, he was the only black man there.

“It was culture shock for me,” he said.

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HARLINGEN — Unless you’re a dedicated food label reader, you probably don’t know that cottonseed oil is a common ingredient in salad dressings and mayonnaise.

Or that the oil is used extensively for frying in the snack food and restaurant industries.

Where it’s not popular, at least these days, is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said this month that USDA didn’t have the authority under the 2014 Farm Bill to designate cottonseed as an “other oilseed” instead of a byproduct of cotton processing.

That may not seem like much of a distinction, but it’s a very big deal to cotton growers in the Valley and elsewhere.

The reason is simple.

If cottonseed oil is designated an oilseed, cotton growers will be eligible for federal programs that could help farmers in the event of catastrophic weather, or provide protection from losses due to commodity price drops. Canola oil and flax seed oil producers already have that safety net.

Without those federal guarantees, and with cotton prices bottoming out below 60 cents a pound, some growers are worried they won’t be able to obtain financing to plant this spring.

“The cotton industry is now confronting yet another potential disaster,” said U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, in a recent statement. “U.S. cotton acres in 2015 were at their lowest level since 1983, representing a 42 percent decrease since the high set in 2011.

“I am currently involved in leading an effort amongst members of Congress requesting that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack use his authority to designate cottonseed as an oilseed. Labeling cottonseed as an oilseed will allow farmers that produce cottonseed to be eligible for the same farm bill resources as other oilseed farmers,” said Vela, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture.

Cottonseed is not why farmers grow the crop. The most valuable part of the plant is the silky-soft fiber used for textiles to make clothing. The seeds are separated from the cotton fibers during the process of releasing the cotton fiber. The seeds are then processed to extract the oil.

The USDA’s Vilsack has his interpretation of his limits, but Texas lawmakers like Vela and U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, believe he does have authority to rule cottonseed an oilseed. Conaway is chairman of the House ag committee.

“I respectfully disagree with your conclusion and assure you that your authority to designate cottonseed as an ‘other oilseed’ stands on firm legal ground,” Conaway said in a letter to Vilsack this month.

There’s a lot at stake in the Valley and Texas over a decision on the cottonseed issue. Agriculture, according to an economic study released in 2011, means $19.2 billion annually to Texas and $1.6 billion to the Valley. In the state, cotton is the No. 2 crop behind beef production.

In the Valley, it’s No. 1.

Jeff Nunley of Victoria is executive director of the South Texas Cotton and Grain Association. With prices for cotton down significantly, he says Vilsack not only has the authority to act on cottonseed oil but it’s critical for the future of American cotton growers to do it quickly.

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HARLINGEN — The popular hunting season at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge may be in for some big changes.

Federal officials met with hunters this past week at Bass Pro Shop, and outlined their proposals for refuge hunting for the 2016/17 season at a public meeting.

They include:

H Moving applications for hunting to the state permit system (handled by the refuge now)

H Allocating all hunts on a lottery system (currently first-come, first-served)

H All hunts would be three- or five-day hunts (archery hunts all are five days now, firearms hunts three days)

H Pricing would be $80 for a three-day hunt and $130 for the five-day (all hunts are $80 now)

H Limiting hunters to one firearm and one archery hunt per season (one firearm, two archery now)

H Implementing an application fee of $2.50 (no application fee now)

H Allowing up to four hunters to apply as a group

Refuge officials said the changes were needed because of a lack of resources and staffing to continue administering the permitting program. They said the changes would provide better customer service.

Some hunters at the meeting remain unconvinced that the proposals would improve the hunting experience at Laguna Atascosa.

“They may think it’s a great thing, but we don’t,” said Dann Gracia, a Harlingen resident who says he has hunted the refuge often.

Gracia voiced his concerns that hunts were becoming shorter, but prices weren’t being lowered to match.

“A few years back, an eight-day hunt was $60,” he added.

Money and hunting are age-old issues of contention in Texas. With so little public land available for hunting, most hunters resort to paying for leases for property on which to hunt.

Rudy Garza of Eagles Nest Archery in Sebastian is one of South Texas’ best-known archery instructors. Like Gracia, he was concerned that Valley residents who can’t afford to lease hunting land now may be priced out of the refuge hunt at Laguna Atascosa.

“Around here, you probably would have the lowest-income people,” Garza said, “and they want to raise the price to $130 (for a five-day hunt). It’s hard for anybody who doesn’t have that kind of money.”

Robert Jess, senior manager for the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, is project leader on the changes.

“I told Rob, ‘Look, bro. You make six figures,’” Gracia said he told Jess at the meeting. “I don’t. I can’t travel to California or Alaska … he has a big moose on his Facebook page. You can afford it, I can’t.”

Jess did not return a call seeking comment.

Garza said he was concerned about shortening the archery hunts from five days to three. He said it puts a bowhunter at a disadvantage.

He said archery hunting is different than firearms hunting, and he believes bowhunters need more time to absorb a hunting area in order to increase their odds of success.

“With a hunter paying so much money for three days, I don’t think that 50 percent of archers would have a chance to harvest an animal in just a couple days,” Garza said. “It’s going to hurt the bow hunter.”

Bag limits last season were two white-tailed deer, one doe and one buck, or two does. Unlimited bag limits are the rule for nilgai antelope and feral hogs, both of which are invasive species. Those regulations are expected to remain the same.

Hunting dates are expected to remain approximately the same, from late November to mid-December for bowhunters, and from mid-December to mid-January for firearms hunters.

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the federal refuges, has not made any final decision about the changes at Laguna Atascosa.

But Garza, for one, thinks the deal is done.

“The rules are the rules,” he said, “and they’re the ones running the program.”

HARLINGEN — A body found in an irrigation canal yesterday morning is a case of murder, police said.

The victim, an adult male, appears to have been shot at least once. Police have a possible identity, but they haven’t confirmed it.

Today, three suspects are in custody, two of them expected to be charged with murder.

The case started about 4 a.m. Friday when witnesses heard people arguing inside a late model Ford pickup truck in the parking lot of the Best Western Hotel at 4317 S. Expressway 77.

As the truck was leaving the lot, the witnesses heard a gunshot and saw a muzzle flash.

About four hours later, a pickup matching the description of the suspect vehicle was found burning on a canal bank in a farm field off of Wilson Road, just west of Bass Boulevard. It was a late model Ford F150 four-door truck.

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HARLINGEN — A body found in an irrigation canal Sunday morning is a case of murder, police said.

The victim, an adult male, appears to have been shot at least once. Police have a possible identity, but they haven’t confirmed it.

Today, three suspects are in custody, two of them expected to be charged with murder.

The case started about 4 a.m. Friday morning when witnesses heard people arguing inside a late model Ford pickup truck in the parking lot of the Best Western Hotel at 4317 S. Expressway 77.

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As the truck was leaving the lot, the witnesses heard a gunshot and saw a muzzle flash.

About four hours later, a pickup matching the description of the suspect vehicle was found burning on a canal bank in a farm field off of Wilson Road, just west of Bass Boulevard. It was a late model Ford F150 four-door truck.

An intensive investigation ensued involving Harlingen police, sheriff’s deputies and state and federal law enforcement officers, Police Chief Jeffry Adickes said.

That led to the arrest of three people Saturday night, two men from Primera and a woman from Brownsville.

My sister sent me the following a short time ago.

I wonder how someone in the early 1900s had the foresight to predict the following. H.L. Mencken, German/American Journalist, wrote this quote for the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920, in an article entitled “Bayard vs Lionheart.”

He was a writer on topics of liberty in the first part of the 20th century.

Here goes – “On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Is this our future?

Do we want to be the plain folks?

Wake up and listen, do not let a few dictate you and your family’s future. Listen and vote. It’s our voice, please do not take the chance and lose it because we are willing to leave it up to someone else.

Study the issues and vote.

Kay Voshell Harlingen

I am no fan of Ted Cruz, I believe this man will say anything just to get a votes. I have seen him and his wife making speeches, proclaiming to be Christians. One could ague that Mr.Cruz does not represent Christians or Christian churches in his political views.

Anyone with scripture knowledge knows that Jesus of Nazareth, spoke against religious groups in particular the Pharisees. These group of people set up a complex system of religious requirements, which they were only able to abide by, thus making themselves appear to be “righteous.”

They had to compassion with people whom had their own ideals or standards, in fact they condemn such people. This behavior contradicted Jesus of Nazareth teachings.

Ted Cruz actions and comments is that of a modern day Pharisee. He is a calculating idealist who lacks compassion for anyone who doesn’t agree with his frightful set of ideals.

He can wrap himself in 1,000 bibles, he can around proclaiming his religious believes. But to me, he is a clever, sleazy politician, who will say anything to make himself look saintly. Ted Cruz a Christian, not in this lifetime.

Frank Garcia Harlingen

BY LORI MURRAY

February’s flower is the violet. They are associated with spiritual wisdom, humility, and faithfulness.

This month’s flowers also include the primrose which has connotations of courage and youthfulness. This is the ideal time to complete projects you have put off. There is little of major consequence to plant, but lots to get ready for. (Examples: Build a raised bed, set up rainwater harvesting, order seeds and bulbs and seedlings, amend soil in certain locations, order a yard of soil to spread in low places, generally get ready for the upcoming business of planting and growing that produces a beautiful yard)

POINSETTIAS: Continue January care. It will be April before any other action needs to be taken.

PLANT: (But be prepared to protect if the weather turns very cold)*Amaryllis, caladium, dahlia, coleus, geranium, daylilies, gladiolas, hibiscus, lily, marigold, petunia, phlox, portulaca, roses, snapdragon, trees (including citrus) Plant Bluebonnet seedlings around Valentine’s Day.

*Beets, cantaloupe, cucumbers, okra, peppers, potatoes, radishes, tomatoes *Some tender vegetables and ornamentals can be started in flats and containers for early season production

PRUNE: Roses, especially if there is any dead wood. (Associate this with Valentine’s Day.) Prune chrysanthemums because they are fall bloomers. You will thin and separate chrysanthemums next month. Just before spring growth begins, prune perennial flowers, trees, shrubs, roses, citrus, and other trees, but take care and do not prune spring flowering trees and shrubs such as Texas Mountain Laurel, Indian Hawthorne, viburnum, and climbing roses.

Peach trees can be pruned enough so you can harvest fruit while standing on the ground or on a short ladder. You may also want to thin out some of the limbs.

FERTILIZE: Begin fertilizing existing plants mid month with 16-20-0. Fertilize fruit trees that were not fertilized in January.

TRANSPLANT: Those plants that need to be moved at this time.

HARVEST: Continue harvesting winter green crops and root crops and citrus.

PEST: Spray and dust as needed; be alert to fungus problems

WEATHER PROTECTION: Keep plants in good conditioning by watering. Keep an eye on the forecasts and be ready to protect as necessary if the weather turns cold.

POSSIBLE BLOOM: Azaleas, camellias, geranium, gerbera daisies, hibiscus, nasturtium, pansies, pinks, poinsettia, snapdragons, sweetpeas, alyssum, and many other cool weather bloomers.

MULCH: Check the condition of the mulch in your beds. It protects against extreme temperatures and conserves moisture.

BY NORMAN ROZEFF

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the latest installment in an ongoing series on San Benito’s Sam Robertson. Find the previous parts at www.valleystar.com.

Development

Company Formed

Following this February 1905 trip, Mr. Yoakum placed quite a sum of money at my disposal and instructed me to get up further data on the irrigation project. He caused options to be taken on about 45,000 acres which Lon Hill, Sr. owned at Lonsboro and where Mercedes is now located, and they continued to option or purchase several more tracts including the Llano Grande or Withers Tract.

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They organized the American Rio Grande Land & Irrigation Company and elected Mr. Tom Carter president and Judge S. Silver, General Manager. Judge Silver came down in March, 1905 and I showed him over the project.

Early in 1905 I completed the preliminary data Mr. Yoakum desired and I got out as engineer and was promised contract for canal construction for the first unit of the American Rio Grande canal, which contract I started in April, 1906 and finished in November, 1906.

Lavishes All On Bessie

In 1905 Mr. Yoakum told me to drop the Bessie or Landrum land and I told him I would put that project through on my own “hardness”. In 1905 I built as a contractor, Santa Maria Canal and took a Railroad contract on Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad and early in 1906 I got started on the Mercedes Canal contract. Mr. Chester B. Davis was the chief engineer for the Land Company and had offices in a boxcar at Lonsboro, but later he laid out Mercedes and moved his headquarters there. He built a large power house, installed a large power plant, built a transmission line to the River and operated pumps with electrical current.

I finished my canal contracts at Mercedes by November 10th, 1906 and moved my construction outfit to Bessie and started what is now the San Benito, or Cameron County Water District No. 2 project. I had picked up about $40,000 in 1905 and 1906 on the Mercedes and Santa Maria contracts and my Railroad contract on Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad, and I jumped into this new canal and land promotion which eventually consumed over $2,500,000. I merely bet $40,000 that I could raise the balance needed by April, 1907. My last centavo was spent; but by that time I got O. W., Alba, and Scott Heywood; R. L. Batts and Ed. Rowson; Bill Stenger and A. C. Swanson interested and we formed the San Benito Land and Water Co. paid for by Hix Landen (sic) land; bought 10,000 more acres from Combe Bros. and about 19,000 from Mrs. Agnes Browne and others.

“Had a Good Time Losing It”

We sold $105,000 of bonds, land and town lots and soaked it all in the San Benito Project. I personally made much money on the construction contracts on other canals, drainage, ditches, railroads, flood levees, and dumped it all into San Benito AND lost it all, but have no regrets on account of financial loss for I had a good time losing it.

We had to have a Railroad icing plant to ice cars at San Benito, Harlingen and Bay City, and built plant at each town. I took the contract for car icing from the Railroad Company.

The Mexican Revolution starting in 1910 eventually caused the Gulf Coast Line to go into the hands of receiver and canceled our car icing contract. This lost us plenty of money. We had thousands of acres of sugar cane at San Benito, so we had to have a sugar mill costing about $350,000. We built and operated it, but instead of getting 350 pounds of sugar from a ton of cane we got 87 pounds, so the mill went into bankruptcy and the C. P. & L. Company bought the sugar company’s boilers, buildings, etc. for $30,000. These sugar mill buildings now house the C. P. & L. Company’s splendid electric plant. Sugar mills and plantations at Harlingen, Brownsville and Donna went the same way as the rice and the sugar, and the experiences are now almost forgotten.

Spider Webb R. R., 1909

The San Benito Project is only about four and one-half miles wide along the railroad; about twenty-five miles long from the River northeast to the Arroyo Colorado. By 1909 our San Benito land sales force had sold nearly all company lands within five miles of the railroad. One night our land salesmen, Messrs. Frazier, Martin and others, broke the sad news to me that they could not sell land over five miles from the railroad track, so we held a council of war. The salesmen said they could get at least $25.00 per acre more for land if it was from one to three miles off a railroad track, so by midnight I agreed to build a Railroad from San Benito to La Paloma, thence up the Rio Grande parallel to Military Road to San Benito pumping plant near Los Indios, thence looping back towards San Benito to a junction two and one-half miles south of San Benito with a loop branching off the Los Indios line on to Santa Maria via Rangerville, with another line from San Benito north to Rio Hondo, on to Fernando, 8 miles northeast of Rio Hondo.

The full Board of Directors of San Benito Land & Water Company were at San Benito to discuss our troubles when I proposed to the Board to build this above mentioned railroad, if the Land and Water Company would give me a lien on all the unsold land of $10.00 per acre for land within one mile of railroad track and $5.00 per acre for land less than two miles from track. I was to get my lien notes when the Railroad was built and in operation. The Board of Directors quickly called my bet; James Landrum and Lon Hill and other property owners came in on same basis. I started grading on the Spider Web Railroad, as we called it, within twenty-four hours after promising the land salesmen to build the Railroad. I jumped on the train and went to Palestine, Texas and arranged to purchase the necessary steel, ties, and junk locomotives and cars from George M. Dilley and son, entirely “on jaw bone”. However, Mr. Dilley was quite sure I could unload on either the Frisco or Southern Pacific. We also built at this time on same land bonus plan, from the Rio Grand through Mission to Monte Christo. Later most of the lines I showed on the Spider Web were built, including Brownsville street railways, since torn up.

“$150 In My Pocket,” 1917

Mr. Dilley’s guess was okay and he got his money and I made a nice little profit and proceeded to blow the profit in on the San Benito project.

Mexico was overthrown and conditions remained bad for over 20 years. The Yoakum-Frisco-Rock Island crowd went to broke because of conditions in Mexico. Bandits raided the border until 1916. Over 500 families left San Benito tract during bandit trouble, but many stayed on out in the brush. I cannot remember any land promoters during the above mentioned time who made any money. I managed to get away to France with the United States Army with about $150 in my pocket and left my wife at home with the same amount and a nice mortgage on our home, but from 1903 to 1917, I had a grand time in the Valley working an average of twenty hours a day, seven days a week. There was not a dull minute so to H—- with money if you have interesting work.”