November 29, 2018 600 AM
Greetings Everyone!! This is the time of year when I ask for your help once again for our Blue Santa Program. Blue Santa is a program in which we as law enforcement officers seek help from our community to help our less fortunate families and children during the Holidays. PISD Police Officers will fundraise to purchase warm clothing, shoes, food and other basic necessities as well as X-mas Toys for the children. PISD Staff, Presidio County Sheriff’s Office, US Border Patrol and US Customs have been an excellent source of support for this program throughout the years. We would appreciate continued support from our community for our community. You can help by donating gifts such as shoes, shirts, jackets, sweaters, gloves, beanies, toys or other gifts. We will also be taking names of families or children that could benefit from this program. Our area of responsibility includes Presidio, Shafter, Ruidosa, Candelaria and Redford, Texas. If you would like to help or for more information and instructions on how to sponsor, please contact me or Officer Michelle Castillo at 432-229-1164. Once again, thank you in advance for all your help. Happy Holidays!!!
Joel Nuñez Jr. Police Chief, EMR Chief PISD Department of Public Safety Presidio
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Dear editor, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena had an ambition to make a difference by at least saving one person from the distribution of illegal drugs. Together, we continue his legacy nationwide and in our community. On behalf of Marfa ISD, the administration and I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who participated in this year’s Red Ribbon Week Campaign and making it successful for our own Marfa students. Starting with the school program demonstrations, we would like to recognize The United States National Guard, Presidio County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Sheriff and Presidio ISD Police Chief Joel Nuñez, Officer Michelle Castillo from the PISD Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Agency for providing drug-free accessories. We also thank The Texas Department of Public Safety, Marfa Police Department, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Big Bend Sector Border Patrol, U.S. Customs, DEA, and Teen’s In-Prevention Organization from Presidio ISD. Thank you to the following for making the Color Run event a success: Porter’s and Deputy Chief Joel Nuñez from the Presidio County Sheriff’s Department for contributions of hot dogs; Marfa Police Department for providing the color powder; Marfa Volunteer Fire Department, and The Department Of Public Safety. Appreciation also goes out to Lori Flores, Mark Cash, and Presidio County employees for donations as well as volunteers Glenn Marquez and Olga Martinez for helping out in every way. Last and not least, thank you to the Marfa ISD staff, parents and community for participating and encouraging our youth to “Travel Drug Free since Life is their Journey.”
Oscar Aguero, Marfa ISD Superintendent Dr. John Sherrill, Marfa High School Principal Amy White, Marfa Elementary School Principal Dina Jo Losoya-Marquez, Red Ribbon Coordinator Marfa
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Dear editor, Re: Intolerant about intolerance There is a virus affecting America’s body politic. It destabilizes our mental, emotional and spiritual well being spreading with each fear-based expression of neo-Nazi-White Supremacist attitudes. Symptoms include hearts and minds closed to violence against targeted racial, ethnic, religious or gender-based peoples. Additional indicators include a “Crazy Uncle” tirade, or friends insensitive, uncaring FaceBook posts. At that moment declare: “That IS NOT funny, but personally offensive and unpatriotic!” Manifesting, for example, once the President’s campaign embraced rightwing radicals Bannon, Miller and Gorka, thereafter bringing them into the people’s White House. An outbreak involved Miller’s cruel “Zero Tolerance” initiative advocating separating families seeking asylum at our southern border while caging their children! Recently the President unashamedly pronounced himself a Nationalist. White Supremacists don’t have a true commitment to the Bill of Rights, but as a tactic to undermine human rights. Exalting Confederate history’s pro-slavery origin or denying the Holocaust while their literature says the 3rd Reich “didn’t go far enough,” bites the hand holding Lady Liberty’s torch steadfast. Complicit is the moral compass silently looking away or possessed of the notion “it can’t happen here!” Then please explain hate crimes on the rise, black Christians, Unitarian Universalists and Jews murdered during worship or state and federal governments repealing equal rights protections institutionalizing bigotry! It takes practice to find our spine’s voice in the face of Evil’s often veiled innuendos. But find it we must! Understand that White Supremacists exploit our difficulty confronting incivility. Consider another’s racism as an angry, petulant child pushing boundaries. Good parents act immediately to reinforce established limits of acceptable behavior. Let us all be that good parent for each other and society. Inoculate ourselves against the disease. Prevent hatred from spreading. Be intolerant about intolerance!
Rev. Barry Abraham Zavah Alpine
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Dear editor, Beyond the typical doom and gloom of reports on global warming, the just released National Climate Assessment details much of what our children and grandchildren will have to deal with in the next few decades. One of the most striking predictions is that Phoenix, which now has about 80 days per year of 100 degrees or more, “could see 120-150 days over 100 degrees by the turn of the century.” Since temperatures in the lower Big Bend are often similar to those of Phoenix, that sounds like a problem for anyone still living here. But the real problem is that the old white men who control the Republican Party have buried their collective heads in the sand for, what, 20-30 years and to do anything about climate change now would be to admit they have been wrong. And with the denier-in-chief now controlling the brains of congressional Republicans, does anyone actually think facts make a difference to them? The good (?) part of all this from my perspective is that I won’t be around to see the fires, hurricanes, crop failures, flooded coastal areas, heat waves, etc., which are accelerating worldwide. And speaking of crop failures, the World Bank estimates nearly four million people in Central America will be displaced in the next three decades due to crop failures caused by global warming. Any guesses where many of those people will migrate? Those who are terrified at the thought of brown-skinned Central Americans “invading” white America may want to think about the actual causes of the migrations and ask their elected politicians to deal with the real issues rather than demonizing those people. The legacy you leave your children and grandchildren will depend on whether you vote for the same brain-dead politicians who continue to deny global warming or for those who have the courage to address this issue. Yeah, I know we just had an election so you have two more years to think about it. Think hard.
Fred Gossien Terlingua
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