HARLINGEN — Who’s that?

Where?

The guy with the glasses and the clothes people wore in the 1700s … Wait a minute. That’s Benjamin Franklin.

And standing over there is Mother Teresa.

But they didn’t even live in the same century. How can they both be here?

They’re both here as part of the Bonham PTA Literacy Night. Actually, this is just a sample of what the public will see at the event Feb. 11. This walk through history will take place at 6 p.m. in the cafeteria of BonhamElementary School at 2400 E. Jefferson Ave.

Laura Juarez, a fourth-grade teacher and secretary of the Bonham PTA, said fourth graders have been researching historical figures. Those people have included former South African President Nelson Mandela, Apple, Inc. founder Steve Jobs and pilot Amelia Earhart. William B. Travis, who died at The Alamo, also will be represented.

“It’s a project with our students involving social studies and language arts,” Juarez said. “We are doing a living biography museum.”

The project at the literacy night will be called “FourthGradeLivingMuseum.”

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HARLINGEN — The children sprawled joyfully across the grass, laughing with boundless enthusiasm as they considered the vegetable garden they would soon build there.

“I’m excited because it’s going to be really fun and going to be educational,” said Abigail Garza, a third grader at Travis Elementary.

“We can do a little bit of reading,” said Abigail, 9, who declared herself the “Ultimate Harry Potter Fan.”

She and several other members of the Travis Elementary Student Council had just been talking about the campus reading garden, which they and their classmates will soon begin building. The “Vegetable Literacy Garden Project” will contain raised beds where students will plant carrots, lettuce, onions, peppers and other vegetables this spring. The students will plant other vegetables in the fall.

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SAN BENITO – The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating a fatal two vehicle accident that occurred this morning at 8:20 a.m. on FM 2520 south of FM 800 south of San Benito.

Troopers say a Silver 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe, occupied by a man and woman and two-year-old boy was traveling southbound behind a Red 2005 Kenworth semitrailer.

DPS said the driver of the Hyundai failed to control its speed and struck the back end of the tractor-trailer rig. Both drivers and the toddler were transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen with minor injuries.

The passenger of the Hyundai, identified as Arely Vidal, 25, of San Benito sustained major injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

DPS troopers remain at the scene investigating the crash.

It all hinges on the worker bees.

The worker bees work to stay alive and to please the Queen Bee plus for buying things they need and want. If they earn just enough to buy food and pay rent or mortgages, fulfilling just their needs, (less honey) then there are worker bees that don’t have work because the ones that are working can’t buy the wants they have.

So if the worker bees that are working and earning enough to fulfill their needs and wants, then many more worker bees will have the where with all to provide for their needs and wants. Oh, you ask, where is the Queen Bee, she is the government collecting taxes.

If there are fewer worker bees, less taxes (honey). Yes the worker bees that aren’t working drain a bunch of honey from the system (the hive), those working worker bees have to provide enough to keep the non worker bees from death and off the streets, cause if they were out on the streets it would make our bee hive look depressing and if we let them die the working worker bees would have to take time off for the burials.

That would affect GDP. Isn’t it interesting how it all works.

Tony Bos, Harlingen

McAllen Memorial senior running back Trevor Speights was named to the 2016 Parade Magazine All-America First Team, one of just three players from Texas to earn the honor.

Speights, who signed Wednesday to play football at Stanford, was one of 10 finalists for Parade’s All-America Player of the Year award, which went to Chazz Surratt of East Lincoln High School in Denver, N.C. Speights was one of only 25 players named to the Parade first team, which has been selected annually by the magazine’s editors since 1963.

Speights ran for 3,195 yards — the second-best season in Valley history — and a Valley-record 50 touchdowns in 2015. For his career, Speights amassed 9,868 yards and 116 rushing touchdowns. The yardage total is the fourth all-time in Texas and seventh all-time nationally, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

His touchdown total of 120 ranks tied for ninth in state history.

Speights was a three-time AP first-team All-State pick, two-time All-Valley Player of the Year, and The Monitor’s All-Area Player of the Year for 2015. Speights was courted by numerous top-tier Division I colleges before verbally committing to Stanford in late December.

McAllen Memorial went 32-13 during Speights’ four-year varsity stint, winning the first playoff game of his career last year with a 27-24 bi-district win against Laredo United South.

“I came in wanting to be the best, and I’m exiting as one of the best,” Speights said in December of his high school career. “So I definitely fulfilled what I wanted to do and accomplished what I wanted to coming in.”

The only other valley player to land on the team was Bradely Stevens in 2006. Stevens also played for McAllen Memorial.

McAllen Memorial senior running back Trevor Speights was named to the 2016 Parade Magazine All-America First Team, one of just three players from Texas to earn the honor.

Speights, who signed Wednesday to play football at Stanford, was one of 10 finalists for Parade’s All-America Player of the Year award, which went to Chazz Surratt of East Lincoln High School in Denver, N.C. Speights was one of only 25 players named to the Parade first team, which has been selected annually by the magazine’s editors since 1963.

Speights ran for 3,195 yards — the second-best season in Valley history — and a Valley-record 50 touchdowns in 2015. For his career, Speights amassed 9,868 yards and 116 rushing touchdowns. The yardage total is the fourth all-time in Texas and seventh all-time nationally, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

His touchdown total of 120 ranks tied for ninth in state history.

Speights was a three-time AP first-team All-State pick, two-time All-Valley Player of the Year, and The Monitor’s All-Area Player of the Year for 2015. Speights was courted by numerous top-tier Division I colleges before verbally committing to Stanford in late December.

McAllen Memorial went 32-13 during Speights’ four-year varsity stint, winning the first playoff game of his career last year with a 27-24 bi-district win against Laredo United South.

“I came in wanting to be the best, and I’m exiting as one of the best,” Speights said in December of his high school career. “So I definitely fulfilled what I wanted to do and accomplished what I wanted to coming in.”

The only other valley player to land on the team was Bradely Stevens in 2006. Stevens also played for McAllen Memorial.

HARLINGEN — The numbers stare up at the young student, menacing, frightening, fighting to send fear down his spine.

However, the test taker firmly grips a pencil, the student’s most lethal weapon against math problems. He quickly defeats the numbers as his pencil banishes the question with an answer.

The student will do well on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR), the end-of-course exams or any other test because he’s come prepared.

Preparation is key, said Jose Luis Cavazos, director of the district’s Parental Involvement/Dropout Prevention Office. Parents can learn how to prepare their children for tests tomorrow by attending a workshop called, “Test Taking Tips for Parents.”

“It’s for parents from middle school to high school,” Cavazos said. “We will be going over exams. We’ll talk about tips and how to prepare for these tests.”

The workshop will take place at the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District Administration Office at 407 N. 77 Sunshine Strip. It will begin at 9 a.m. and should last between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, Cavazos said. The workshop is free.

At the workshop, parents will learn how to prepare their children by showing them clever test-taking tips, Cavazos said.

“We’ll teach them what to do to prepare for multiple choice questions through the process of elimination,” he said.

Parents also will learn strategies for answering questions about passages their children are reading in the test.

“When they read passages, they want to make sure they look for key words,” Cavazos said.

Test takers solving math problem must pay close attention to place values such as 1000s, 100s, and 10s. These place values can sometimes end up in the wrong place while solving problems. Therefore, students must remain vigilant about their proper placement.

Another thing Cavazos will tell parents is the importance of copying a problem onto scratch paper exactly as it’s written in the test.

The evening before the test, students should make sure they get plenty of sleep followed by a good breakfast the next morning.

“Think positive,” he said.

For more information, call the Parental Involvement/Dropout Prevention Office at 427-3515.

If you go

What: Test Taking Tips for Parents

Workshop to show parents of middle school and high school students how to prepare their children for

tests.

When: Feb. 6, 2016

Time: 9 a.m.

Where: Harlingen school district Administration Office

407 N. 77 Sunshine Strip.

Harlingen, Texas

For more information: 427-3515

HARLINGEN — Get ready to microchip your dogs and cats.

City commissioners have approved the ordinance requiring dog and pet owners to microchip their pets by Jan. 1, 2017, or face $266 fines.

The ordinance also sets hefty fines for pet owners who let their dogs or cats run loose.

It’s all part of a push to cut the number of stray dogs and cats euthanized at the Humane Society’s animal shelter, officials said.

Last year, the animal shelter euthanized 6,299 dogs and cats.

The ordinance requires dog and cat owners to install a microchip in their pet that allows the animal shelter to identify the pet owner.

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SAN BENITO — They were from New York, Boston and Colorado.

Two of the Teach for America instructors were white, and the other two were Asian.

All four had just graduated from Harvard. They were young, in their early 20s, and had plenty to share about their lives.

For Hector Galindo, who was growing up in Raymondville, having these four young teachers in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades opened his eyes to a larger world.

“Their life experiences were completely different from ours, in terms of income, quality of education, the access that they had,” said Galindo, 27, who went on to become a Teach for America instructor himself.

Galindo, who now teaches at Rising Scholars Academy of South Texas in San Benito, has remained involved with Teach for America the past six years while promoting the STEM professions. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Galindo has now been asked to speak at the Teach for America’s 25th Anniversary Summit in Washington, D.C. this weekend. He will speak at the “Building Robust Networks to Support Diversity, Equity and Access in STEM and Computer Science Education” sub session.

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SAN BENITO — Sister Zita Telkamp is very proud of the children who are taught at La Posada Providencia.

As the shelter’s program director, it’s her job they are cared for.

After breaking ground on an estimated $8,500 outdoor screened pavilion yesterday afternoon, provided by several local organizations, Telkamp was joined in front of guests and the media in attendance by three children from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

They broke out into a chorus of the ABC’s.

The serenade elicited collective “awes” and “giggles” from the crowd of onlookers. Telkamp had the biggest smile on her face.

These children and their families traveled hundreds of miles, and it is through the kindness of strangers, like those at the groundbreaking, who have donated funds so they are able to survive.

As a safe haven, La Posada has relied heavily on the kindness of the community and sought refuge in its warmth as they have many times before.

Yesterday, the shelter celebrated the groundbreaking of the $8,500 pavilion.

The value of this donated effort comes from a collection of entities, including Sunburst Rotary Club, District 5930 of Rotary International, Boggus Ford, Carpenter Jimmy Vasquez, Sam Uribe Electric, and Casa Engineering.

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