The swindling of the Harlingen taxpayer continues with the unrelenting fervor on projects that will eventually collapse.

The latest folly to be pursued is the proposed rehabilitation of the 9-story slum tower known lately as the Baxter tower. In my opinion, this building should have never been bought by the city.

The building should have been condemned years ago and demolished. I did express this opinion at that time that it became vacant. I remember that a commission in Harlingen bought the building and the scam began.

Now, another person who has also been closely involved in the inner manipulation of public funds is aligned with a group intending to siphon more funds for this endeavor. Please spare me the shell game in trying to convince me that no funds will come from Harlingen taxpayers.

Whether they originate from Federal tax credits, federal grants, state grants, CDC grants, Section 8 or any other fancy title you choose, they are all derived from the precious incomes of working people.

We are the money tree for the ravenous politicians. Our family treasure roots of our life are drying up and the fruits intended for our grandchildren are quickly withering on the branches.

I note in the news article, that the proposal is for rental apartments for so-called young professionals.

Who in their right mind is going to rent next to a railway with locomotive horns sounding in the middle of the night as they do now?

By the way, what happened to the $18 million bond monies passed years ago to move the rails? The trains still block all of us at the most inopportune times. Section 8 also was mentioned. If this is true, this building will again be slum.

It has been rumored the dumpster tower is haunted. I can guarantee that it is. It is haunted by the ghosts of George Washington dollars floating, in the basement, hallways and elevator shafts of this building. They are howling in despair in the purgatory of waste and greed into which they were dumped by our elected officials.

May I put forth two recommendations to hopefully cut our losses? One is to hire a pyro firecracker demolition company to blow this monstrosity to rubble and haul it away. The second is to hire Pancho demolition co. (cheap) from Mexico which will salvage every brick and nail in 30 days and not break a single one. They will rebuild a palace in Mexico for their alcalde (mayor) with the materials.

Preserve history with pictures and stories in the archive of the city library and save our tax dollars or replace deteriorating basic infrastructure such as sewer, water lines, etc.

Elias Torres Harlingen

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) scientists have detected gravitational waves, ripples through the fabric of spacetime, experimentally verifying Albert Einstein’s last prediction of general relativity made a century ago. Months of social media rumors were confirmed during a Thursday press conference, introducing a new way to observe the universe.

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley physicists, some who’ve worked decades on the project, are among more than 1,000 of LIGO’s international collaborators.

Last September, LIGO completed an upgrade to its pair of gravitational wave detectors located near Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington. Each contains state-of-the-art laser systems built specifically to observe gravitational wave length fluctuations the diameter of an atom.

“You can’t buy low-noise, high-power devices,” said UTRGV assistant professor of physics, Volker Quetschke, adding LIGO was defining state-of-the-art in the field. “The universities basically take the development role of the project. It is not a turn-key project. You don’t go to Radioshack and say, ‘I want a $1,000,000,000 gravitational wave detector. There are a lot of small aspects.”

Development of LIGO technologies were research projects for professors and students, said Quetschke said.

The Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy was made possible by a NASA grant in 2003, and has since brought research in cutting-edge technologies to the Valley, according to CGWA director, Mario Diaz.

“I thought it was important to develop something more applied. That’s the way we constructed the optics lab and we opened a line of research into lasers, optics (and) photonics — that is precisely the technology being used at LIGO.”

While the discovery is likely contribute to a Nobel prize, Diaz said the university’s investment in this research has already been rewarded.

“In 2006, we hired a new faculty member to come into our center, who is a radio astronomer,” said Diaz, referring to Fredrick Jenet. “This same faculty member is the same one that lead an initiative that attracted SpaceX to the Valley … because he’s going to be developing radio tracking systems for SpaceX spacecraft.”

“I think this is a good example of things that are unforeseeable, but are based in the knowledge that you generate and develop.”

HARLINGEN – When you suffer heart failure or a heart attack, there is a slight possibility that you may require further treat-ment of the heart after the episode. For some, the heart may be too weak to undergo further treat-ment. The good news is there’s a clinically ad-vanced device that is help-ing cardiologists offer you further treatment – by maintaining your heart in good condition while they further address heart problems. They are doing that with the help of the world’s smallest heart pump, the Impella® 2.5 Catheter, available at the nationally recognized and award-winning, Harlingen Medical Center.

The Impella® 2.5 Cathe-ter is considered a great clinical advancement for heart patients who have an immediate need for fur-ther cardiac care after suffering an episode, such as a heart attack.

“The Impella® 2.5 Catheter is benefitting heart patients by perform-ing the function of the heart muscle, allowing for further treatment, such as an angioplasty or stenting procedure to open blocked coronary arteries,” said Dr. Eduardo Flores, Cardiolo-gist at Harlingen Medical Center. “This highly ad-vanced device is helping us save lives by providing our patients the temporary cardiac support needed to ensure optimal care.”

The Impella® 2.5 Cathe-ter, the temporary cardiac support it offers, and the optimal care available, at The Cardiovascular Center at Harlingen Medical Center, will all be topics of conversation Thursday, February 11, 2016, when Dr. Flores hosts “The World’s Smallest Heart Pump” Doc Talk Lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the hospital’s Medical Office Building (MOB) Conference Room.

Harlingen Medical Cen-ter is hosting a month-long series of Doc Talk Lectures as they relate to heart-topics, in conjunc-tion with National Heart Month, this February. In addition to hosting the Doc Talk Lecture series, the hospital is also featur-ing valuable screenings at minimal costs. These screenings include the HeartSaver CT Scan and the Stroke Prevention Vascular Screening.

HeartSaver CT Scan

If you want to know whether you are at risk for a heart attack or heart failure, then you may want to invest 45-minutes of your time and have a HeartSaver CT Scan per-formed. This is a non-invasive screening that performed exclusively at the Harlingen Medical Center Imaging Center, located at 512 Victoria Lane, Suite 5, in Harlingen.

The HeartSaver CT Scan is the only one of its kind in Cameron County. It is considered to be one of the finest ultimate heart disease risk assessment tools available today. It can identify calcium or plaque build-up in the coronary arteries and it can disclose heart disease, at all stages, making it easier for your cardiologist to treat.

he HeartSaver CT Scan is a unique risk-assessment tool that only costs $50.00. If you would like to register for a Heart-Saver CT Scan, please contact the Scheduling Department at (956) 365-1839 to schedule your appointment.

Stroke Prevention Vas-cular Screening

The Stroke Prevention: Vascular Screening is a limited special engage-ment that will be offered during the month of Feb-ruary, again, in conjunc-tion with National Heart Month. The screening will allow allow our MRI Tech-nologists to perform a simple, but highly effective analysis on the Carotid Artery, Abdominal Aorta, and Peripheral Arteries. The analysis will help identify any issue that needs to be addressed, giving us the opportunity to care for the patient, in advance, before the issue develops into an urgent medical condition, or worse.

During the Stroke Pre-vention: Vascular Screen-ing, the technologist will first screen the carotid artery for buildup of fatty plaque. Left untreated, the fatty plaque may lead to a stroke, also known as a brain attack. A stroke occurs when plaque stops the flow of blood to the brain or when a blood vessel in or around the brain bursts.

The technologist will then screen the abdominal aorta. This will search the aortic artery for the pres-ence of an aneurysm, also known as an enlargement, which occurs when part of the artery wall weakens and widens abnormally, or balloons out. Left un-treated, a ruptured aneu-rysm may lead to instant death.

Finally, the technologist will screen the peripheral arteries for plaque buildup in the lower extremities (legs). Left untreated, plaque may lead to the development of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), also known as atheroscle-rosis. PAD is also known to cause and possibly more serious health complica-tions.

The Stroke Prevention: Vascular Screening is quick and easy. It is a non-invasive screening, which means it is completed by scanning the skin in the respective areas. All three vascular screenings are performed at the Radiol-ogy and Imaging Depart-ment at Harlingen Medical Center, located at 5501 S. Expressway 77 in Har-lingen. The cost of the vascular screening is a nominal $139.00.

To learn more about the Doc Talk Lecture, featur-ing Dr. Flores, the Heart-Saver CT Scan, or the Stroke Prevention: Vascu-lar Screening, please call the Business Development and Marketing Depart-ment at (956) 365-1848.

About the Cardiovascu-lar Center

The Cardiovascular Cen-ter at Harlingen Medical Center is paving the way for progressive treatment of patients from across South Texas, and beyond. We specialize in the diag-nosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Our top-ranked heart team provides minimally-invasive diagnostic testing and treatment, as well as advanced cardiac and vascular interventions, such as angioplasty, stent-ing, cardiac ablation, open heart surgery, minimally invasive heart valve repair and replacement, and coronary artery bypass graft.

To learn more about this program and Harlingen Medical Center, log on to our website at www.harlingenmedicalcenter.com.

HARLINGEN – There are many different kinds of warning signs posted along streets, roads and highways. No passing zone, railroad crossing, merging traffic, divided highway, school zone, animal crossing, construc-tion ahead, curves and corners, narrow bridge – the list goes on. Similar to these recognizable yellow and black traffic signs are warning signs for heart attacks. Becoming familiar with them could save your life, just like paying atten-tion to warning signs when you are driving.

A heart attack occurs when there is a blockage in the flow of blood in an artery that leads to the heart. Part of the heart muscle is then damaged or destroyed because it does not receive enough oxy-gen. More than one mil-lion Americans have a heart attack, also known as a myocardial infarction, every year. The key to surviving a heart attack is knowing the warning signs so you can get emergency medical treatment.

If you think you are hav-ing a heart attack, call 9-1-1 immediately for an am-bulance to take you to the hospital. Do not try to drive yourself. Some of the early warning signs of a heart attack include:

• Chest pain or dis-comfort that lasts longer than a few minutes or goes away and then comes back. This pain may be severe and feel like un-comfortable pressure, squeezing or fullness that is not relieved by changing positions or resting.

• Pain that extends to other areas of the body, such as the shoulder, arm, back, neck, jaw or stom-ach.

• Shortness of breath as well as light-headedness, sweating, fatigue, fainting, nausea or vomiting.

It is important to re-member that not all peo-ple who have heart attacks experience the same symptoms or to the same degree. The warning signs of a heart attack for women may be slightly different than those for men. While both com-monly experience chest pain or discomfort, women may be more likely to have shortness of breath, nausea and vomit-ing, and back or jaw pain. Some people may not have any symptoms at all, espe-cially diabetics because that chronic condition can affect the nerves.

Warning signs of a heart attack can appear at any time, at rest or in motion, and at work or play. A heart attack may strike suddenly, but most people have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks beforehand. One of the earliest warning signs of an impending heart attack is chest pain, or angina, that occurs re-peatedly because of exer-tion and is then eased by rest.

Early intervention for a heart attack is imperative to reduce damage to heart muscle. Clot-busting drugs can be administered and special procedures can be done to open up blood vessels. However, treat-ment works best when administered within an hour of the first symptoms of a heart attack. Survival will ultimately depend on how rapidly you receive treatment, how much damage there is to the heart, and the location of the damage. For more information about early warning signs of heart attack, talk with your doc-tor or call 1-866-608-2273 for a free referral to a car-diologist near you. And, to learn more about heart disease and cardiovascular surgery, reserve your space at the Valley Baptist “Dinner with the Doc” on Monday, February 23, 2016 at that same number. To “know your numbers,” reserve your spot at our “Healthy Heart” morning on February 20 for important screenings.

Below find some additional Valley Baptist phone numbers for heart health resources:

Heart and Vascular (cardiac testing) 389-6281

Outpatient Services Registration 389-5186

Community Reference Lab (VBMC-H location) 389-3800

Diabetes Education Center 389-1119

Cardio-Pulmonary Rehabilitation 389-1116

Surgical and Medical Weight Loss Program 389-6896

There is no time like the present to take care of your heart. Take the Heart Health Profiler to quantify your risk factors, then know that Valley Baptist is there for you should you need care.

Go to www.valleybaptist.net/HealthyHearts to take your Cardiac Risk Assessments today.

HARLINGEN – The number of lumber yards in the city has dropped by one.

Zarsky Lumber Co., located at 502 N. First St., shut down suddenly last week about a year after the 10 Zarsky Lumber locations in Texas were bought by a Colorado company.

Workers at the lumber yard were clearing out inventory yesterday, running lift trucks and loading two-by-fours and other material into trucks that were headed out of town.

“We actually are merging two locations together, we’re not abandoning the Harlingen market,” Phillip Steffy, president of Zarsky Lumber Co., said yesterday. “We’ll be serving Harlingen out of Los Fresnos.”

“We’re taking some of the employees out to Los Fresnos with us,” he added. “We’ve given a nice severance package to the ones who didn’t stay with us.”

Harlingen business executives were disappointed at news of the lumber yard’s closing.

“Any time a business closes is unfortunate,” said Chris Gonzales, president and CEO of the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, who said his organization was ready to reach out to Zarsky employees who lost jobs.

The Harlingen franchise is the only one of the Texas Zarsky locations that was closed, Zarsky workers in other Texas locations said yesterday. Zarsky Lumber Co. has ongoing operations in Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Los Fresnos, Laredo, McAllen, Rio Grande City, Port Aransas, Victoria and Wharton.

Zarsky, originally based in Victoria, was founded in 1928.

“The market will dictate what product is sold and produced,” said Raudel Garza, CEO of the Harlingen Economic Development Corp. “The closing of one business or the opening of a new business in a competitive capitalistic economy is something that will happen from time to time.”

Garza noted the closing of two Wal-Mart locations in the Valley already this year has jolted some people in the area, and he said his concerns are with the employees who lost their jobs.

“In a billion-dollar plus retail economy, that (Zarsky) store won’t have a huge impact on city coffers, but it does impact those seven families, and that, to us, is what counts.

“We’ve reached out to the former employees and have been helping them with transitions where we can,” Garza said. “Some of their skills are highly transferable and desired by other employers here locally.”

Privately held Kodiak Building Partners purchased Zarsky Lumber last year. The parent company operates a broad range of construction-related businesses in Colorado, Texas, Michigan, Massachusetts and Delaware.

HARLINGEN – Among all the kudos and laurels extended toward Verna Young were two formal recognitions.

One of those recognitions came from the Harlingen school board.

Dr. Nolan Perez, president of the school board, read an impassioned recognition from the board which listed numerous recognitions and honors.

“Tonight we honor a long-time member of our HCISD Board of Trustees, Mrs. Verna Young,” he said. “Serving on the board for 15 years, she has left a lasting impression on our Harlingen public schools. Mrs. Young was a key figure in promoting and helping pass the 2010 Bond. She has been instrumental in our district’s ongoing transformation.”

Perez added she had most recently helped secure passage of the Tax Ratification Election, which increased the property tax rate to purchase more supplies and fund upgrades.

“She has demonstrated time and time again her unwavering commitment to provide educational excellence for all students,” he said. “As a symbol of our gratitude, we present her with a plaque commemorating her 15 years of service to our board.”

He gestured toward a large bouquet of roses sitting a few feet away from Young. The bouquet contained 29 roses, one for each the district’s campuses, “to express the board’s deepest appreciation for her passion and sacrifice in creating world-class schools for our students.”

State Rep. Eddie Lucio III read a resolution honoring Young.

“Verna Young has dedicated a life time to equipping students with skills that will help them build fulfilling and productive lives, and her many valuable contributions to the Harlingen CISD will be appreciated for years to come,” Lucio said. “Be it resolved that Verna Young be honored on the occasion of her retirement from the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees and that she be extended sincere best wishes for the future.”

HARLINGEN — The city of Harlingen and a developer would split the profits generated by a proposed $14 million convention center.

A memorandum of understanding between the city and developer BC LYND Capital reveals details behind the deal to build the 43,700-square-foot convention center.

The non-binding agreement was signed Dec. 17 by Jesse Robles, chairman of the Harlingen Community Improvement Board, and Brandon Raney, manager of the San Antonio-based developer.

The agreement states the city would issue certificates of obligation to fund the design, construction and furnishing of the convention center to include meeting rooms and one or more large ballrooms.

Meanwhile, the agreement states BC LYND would fund construction of an adjacent 150-room upscale hotel to feature food and beverage service while preparing at least three meals a day.

The agreement calls for a hotel such as a Hilton Garden Inn, a Marriott, Starwood or Hyatt.

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HARLINGEN — Their faces are plastered on signs all over the city and county.

Now, with only five days until the start of early voting, the Cameron County Judge’s race finance reports are available to show who’s raised the most money and where it’s come from.

The latest report details the contributions, expenditures, campaign fund and outstanding loans for one month prior to the Primary election on March 1. This is one race that appears to have captured significant interest and one candidate has outraised his opponents quickly and easily.

Current Cameron County Commissioner Dan Sanchez is leading the trio of hopefuls for the county’s top office from a standpoint of who has the most money.

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In one month’s time, Sanchez supporters contributed $63,850 to fund his campaign for county judge.

Eddie Trevino, a former Brownsville mayor, pulled in $3,300 in contributions.

Elizabeth Garza, a Brownsville attorney, has zero contributions.

“I don’t have the money or the name recognition,” Garza said.

But, she was quick to point out that signs don’t vote and she has met people who have spent thousands on campaigns and still lost.

Sanchez is banking on that not happening.

“I feel great about my campaign,” Sanchez said yesterday. “This is my fifth time running for public office.”

Sanchez noted he has more than 600 volunteers who have contributed to what he called his “grassroots” campaign, one way or another to help him reach out to the voters with a personal touch.

“In order to run an effective campaign, you need to spend a good amount of money,” Sanchez said. “You need to raise it by reaching out to your supporters, family, friends or you can just go out and get a loan.”

Sanchez’s campaign reports show contributions from contractors, developers, engineers, attorneys, judges, Hidalgo County commissioners and consultants. Many of the contributors are from McAllen and Mission. One, who listed themselves as an engineer even has an address in Houston.

His contributions started at the minimum of $100 and go up to $5,000 mulitple times.

Sanchez received three $5,000, six $2,500 and 16 $1,000 campaign contributions.

He has expended more than $18,040 of those contributions.

Multiple attempts were made to contact Trevino about his campaign report.

Trevino’s showed he had collected $3,300 in contributions. He spent $48,698 and ended the month with $4,017 going into the election.

Trevino also listed an outstanding loan to his campaign totaling $100,000.

“When people contribute to my campaign it’s a testament of what they believe as their candidate for public office,” Sanchez said. “I think what they see is a public servant who is committed and they know by supporting me they are going to have someone who is serving the county well.”

Garza said the courthouse is like high school and when she heard only Sanchez and Trevino were running, she wanted to give the voters another choice.

Garza has never held an elected position but she said she is spending a lot of time block walking and with her volunteers.

“I feel exhausted, but it’s been an awesome experience,” Garza said. “I feel good about what my campaign has done and I have received nothing but positive responses.”