CANDELARIA – A couple summers ago, as we were patrolling our Candelaria properties, we had a report of suspicious activity in a building.
Apparently, someone had been sneaking in the school house. The day we went inside the shuttered school house to see what was happening, and the same day we were able to catch the burglars: two small children, a boy and a girl, who sneaked in through an open window. The children looked so afraid of getting caught. We asked what they were doing and they replied, “We just wanted to read.” They said that was the only place to get books. We let them pick a book and then they ran along. The Candelaria school house, which has been closed for several years, has two classrooms which still have some old books. Kids were going in through the window to sit and read. We don”t know how many others were doing the same. We were so amused by the story that we circulated the word around the law enforcement community. Dina Jo Losoya, the former Juvenile Probation Officer in Marfa, wanted to help and as a result, the Marfa Public Library donated more than 100 books to be given to Candelaria. So, on Wednesday, May 22, we will be in Candelaria by the time the bus arrives with the children attending school in Presidio to have the first Candelaria Summer Book Fair. We will give away books and hot dogs to the children so they can happily read all summer long. The book fair begins at 5:30pm. The ladies from the Marfa Public Library need to get credit for all their help, thank you.
Joel Nuñez Jr. is the Presidio ISD Department of Public Safety Chief of Police and EMR Services director.