STRUCK ON THE DIAMOND: REMEMBERING JODY RAMSEY by Rene Torres, Bronc Center Fielder (1966-69)

Jody Ramsey

Although his life was cut short by tragedy, former Pan American University centerfielder Jody Ramsey symbolized the best of baseball and life, capturing our imagination with his exploits on and off the field.

Recruited from San Jacinto College by Coach Al Ogletree, who coached from 1968-1997, Freeport's Ramsey was among the finest athletes and human beings to ever compete as a Bronc since Edinburg Junior College established its first baseball team in 1927.

Unfortunately, Jody left us before his time.

The 1973 Bronc season was scheduled to begin Friday, February 23, but rain forced the game to be postponed until Saturday.

Jody, who'd been hired that summer as a construction worker on the new ball park, was working along with teammate Tommy Simpson from McAllen to get the field ready when the pair picked up an irrigation pipe, accidentally striking a power line.

Ramsey was killed instantly, while Simpson, who was taken to the hospital and treated for burns, survived, but with emotional scars.

Coach Alfred Ogletree

As Coach Ogletree told the McAllen Monitor:

"He was the American kid.  He put his heart and soul into this team.  Having to call his parents and tell them he had died was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

(I’d be remiss if I did not mention that Tommy was an exceptional athlete at McAllen High School, earning All-District honors in baseball, eventually a second-team selection to the Rio Grande Valley All- Millenium squad. 

Simpson was inducted into the UTRGV Hall of Fame in 2015 following Jody in 2013.)

UTRGV had this to say about Jody Ramsey: “While he was very impressive on the field, Ramsey was equally outstanding in his character and standards of living.”

Ramsey was a proponent of the Pan American University chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, twice elected as president.  

In his honor, the university will reinstate the Jody Ramsey Memorial Award, given to a Bronc senior baseball player “who best follows the standards set by the late Jody Ramsey.”

His name will forever be etched in Bronc baseball history.  He will never be forgotten, especially by his teammates, and the legions of friends he left behind.

So, if you want to keep Jody’s dream alive, play catch with your kid!

As I always say:  "Once a Bronc, always a Bronc!!"

NOTE: On February 24, 2023, will mark the 50th anniversary of his death. On February 17, 2023, UTRGV will retire his number 6 jersey before a home game against Houston Christian (formerly Houston Baptist)

Excerpts were taken from the McAllen monitor, Pan Am baseball programs, USPS stamp collection publication and research by Piky Rodriguez.

BROWNSVILLE'S MAYORAL FIELD GETS CROWDED QUICKLY

 It's tempting to lead this article with a political cartoon featuring a "crowded field," because there are many such cartoons.

But, it's not that we already have a field of five in the Brownsville mayor's race, but that each of the candidates seems deeply flawed.

Former Mayor Pat Ahumada

The "blast from the past," Pat Ahumada, is certainly a known quantity, the self-described "quarterback" who views the city commissioners as merely his "blocking lineman."

Pat is not without ideas, like the Brownsville/Matamoros reservoir project and was one of the few who saw through the Tenaska and United Brownsville scams early on, but his abrasiveness is hard to navigate and ends up crippling and sabotaging the possible good he could accomplish.

Then, there's the matter of his depositing a $26,139 check intended for a vendor into his own account, then spending roughly $6,000 of those monies before being confronted by Police Chief Garcia.

Ahumada was also on the verge of signing on to a phony airlines deal proposed by convicted RICO con artist Carlos Quintanilla, an upside down deal the City of Brownsville almost fell for, but for the brave opposition of citizens Craig Grove, Dino Chavez, Teresa Saldivar and others.  

District 2 City Commissioner Jessica Tetreau is also a known quantity, originally replacing the disqualified Zeke Silva to run against the abrasive Charlie Atkinson.  Tetreau won as a write-in candidate with the help of the Brownsville Cheezmeh group.  

Since that initial victory, Tetreau has garnered enough support to win the seat two additional times against strongish candidates like Sergio Zarate, Pat Ahumada and "Caty" Presas-Garcia.  

Now, after 12 years as City Commissioner, the City Charter seems to prohibit another run at that position, something Bobby Wightman-Cervantes disputes.  That leaves a run for mayor as Tetreau's only option if she wants to stay in city office.

Honestly, Tetreau has actually worked as commissioner, some say having "grown into" the role, but is she someone the voters will decide should represent the entire city?

Self-awareness, that is seeing ourselves as others perceive us, comes into play here and we'll leave it at that.

Another, almost perennial candidate, is Erasmo Castro.  Erasmo is in William Garza territory in terms of running for office.

If you applauded Erasmo's service as BISD trustee, then perhaps you support him as mayor.

My most recent interaction with Erasmo was sitting alongside him for a year or two on his podcast.  

Those "interview" sessions with local candidates and office holders were frustrated by Erasmo's need to dominate the microphone.

Would a Mayor Castro be a good enough listener to incorporate the ideas and support of the entire City Commission?  

That's something I would question.

Uncle Ralph Cowen Introducing John Cowen at Cobbleheads

Ralph Cowen told me a couple years ago that his nephew John Cowen had done a "wonderful" job managing the family business.

"He's made us all a lot of money," explained the elder Cowen.

I have no reason to doubt that, but what always worried by about John Cowen is his timidity, his seeming lack of assertiveness in public.

Now, I've been out of the loop for a while, not even observing John's chairmanship of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, the 4A entity entrusted with spending 1/4 cent of every dollar of sales tax revenue on economic development.

Of course, I've long maintained that politicians, city commissioners should NEVER serve on such a board.  The whole point of creating 4A and 4B boards was to SEPARATE economic development support monies from politics.  

Anyway, the coming candidate forums will give me a chance to observe John to see if he's developed the assertiveness to lead our city as mayor.

Jay Nagy

Twenty-six year old Jay Nagy, a SpaceX employee, has taken to social media to announce his candidacy for mayor, careful to separate himself from the "other candidates."

The lad promises to "fix the potholes," something he says previous mayors have been totally inept at doing.

We'll see how the young man presents himself at candidate forums.

JUAN MONTOYA'S EL RRUN RRUN UPGRADES FROM BLOG TO VLOG

 

Vlogger Juan Montoya 

Longtime local blogger Juan Montoya has moved recently into the vlogging world, that is, utilizing videos in addition to the written word.

We'll be listening in shortly to his recent interview with mayoral candidate Jessica Tetreau to see what information we can glean.

Actually, bloggers and vloggers are sometimes referred to as influencers, as in those who help shape public opinion on matters.

Erasmo Castro, who recently described himself as the "King of Local Media," appears twice daily on YouTube, where he presents his view on local issues and plugs his current campaign for mayor.

Meeting of Bloggers in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines in 2018

Of course, blogging and vlogging are worldwide pastimes.  I was shocked in 2018 when I became aware of the large number of bloggers operating in just the city of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.  

DESANTIS DUMBS DOWN FLORIDA SCHOOLS

 

TINY CHINESE CAMERA ATTACHED TO KITE CATCHES DRAMATIC PHOTOS OF MATAMOROS

 

JOHN BRUCIAK GETS ONE LAST LAUGH AT BROWNSVILLE

 

HISTORIC GRAPHIC ART FROM BROWNSVILLE'S DIEGO LEE ROT

 From the editor: For 50+ years I've unsuccessfully tried to peek into the mindset of my son, artist/musician Diego Lee Rot.

The child of two oppressively restrictive parents, Diego, like a long-compressed spring, expanded his consciousness at the first sign of freedom.

We repost just a sampling of his graphic art minus the captions:

SOME IN OUR MIDST WHO COMMAND RESPECT

 

The hardest working men in Brownsville are Mexican Nationals, likely past the U.S. retirement age, who comb through our city's alleys looking for anything of value they can salvage for income.

These men are the ultimate recyclers, scrounging for cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic, paper, anything that can be reused in some way.

How can you not respect men who survive on sheer will and work ethic?

HOW FORMER MAYOR TONY MARTINEZ BETRAYED BROWNSVILLE WITH THE TENASKA SCAM

 

Former Mayor Tony Martinez

In 2011 former Mayor Tony Martinez asked residents to "Believe in Brownsville," although most of us learned later to never believe in Tony Martinez.

Now, the Executive Review of an audit conducted by Carr, Riggs and Ingram, CPAs from Metairie, LA, shows that Martinez and the arrogant slimeball CEO of the Brownsville Public Utilities Board, John Bruciak, repeatedly lied to Brownsville citizens about the feasibility and progress of the 800 MW Tenaska Power Plant resulting in a $125,000,000 windfall for P.U.B. from tax increases for a power plant never built.

The audit shows that Martinez and Bruciak repeatedly manipulated the information fed Brownsville's City Commission, first of all to hide the fact that Brownsville had no need for the increased input of the power plant, then hid the fact that the project had been shelved by Tenaska because they couldn't find takers for the extra 600 MW of power.

Max Yzaguirre

There were other players, including Max Yzaguirre, a former Enron executive hired by BPUB at a $35,000 per month salary paid for by Brownsville ratepayers.

In a clear conflict of interest Yzaguirre was later hired by the Tenaska Corporation to find electrical customers in Mexico.

John Bruciak

Brownsville's Public Utility Board, led by CEO John Bruciak, joined Brownsville's City Commission for two information sessions in November 2015 and April 2017, both times using false data concerning the need for and the development of the power plant.

Mayor Tony Martinez participated in both sessions, betraying his constituents with lies and falsehoods.

Addendum:  Ana and I were out of state for nearly a year and just became aware of this audit released in October 2021.  

FOREGONE CONCLUSION BECOMES REALITY~ HELEN RAMIREZ NAMED CITY MANAGER

 

Helen Ramirez

HOW KEVIN MCCARTHY COULD BECOME SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

 

Representative Kevin McCarthy

In his so far unsuccessful striving for Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy has tried to appease the right-wing nut jobs of the Republican Party, agreeing to various concessions.

That has still not put him over the top, largely because many in the so-called "Sedition Caucus" still don't want McCarthy as speaker despite the concessions made.

There is another possible approach.

McCarthy could reject the requests being made by the right fringe of the Republican Party for rule changes, committee assignments, etc. and seek enough crossover Democrat votes to make him speaker.

At least the House of Representatives could have a Speaker and the normal installation of the newly elected could proceed.

Anyway, for the next two years Congress is destined to be ineffective.

The Republicans have no policy issues to recommend, but, even if they did get something past the House of Representatives, it would die in the Senate.

The next two years in the House of Representatives will be all about investigations into the Biden administration and those investigations will likely go nowhere.

Nothing will get done.

So far, the Republicans can't even decide on a Speaker.

HAVE REPUBLICANS FOUND A MINI-TRUMP IN REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE SANTOS?

 

Representative George Santos, NY

While politicians are generally not known for honesty and truthfulness, former President Donald Trump was almost unmatched in the Art of the Fib.  

The Washington Post chronicled 30,573 lies during Trump's four year term of office.

Now, it seems, Republicans have discovered a near mini-Trump.

Freshman New York congressman, Representative George Santos, it seems, has lied about nearly everything.

Santos claimed he went to a New York City private school, graduated from college, that his parents survived the holocaust, that his mother was a "White immigrant from Belgium," etc.

All lies.

Almost daily new untruths mouthed by Santos are revealed.

Two days ago, a former boyfriend of Santos, Pedro Vilarva, came forward to report more fabrications from Santos.

Vilarva met Santos in 2014, when he was 18 and Santos was 26. They moved in together, but Vilarva claimed he found himself paying for everything.

"He used to say he worked for Citigroup, was an investor," Vilarva stated.

When Santos surprised him with tickets to Hawaii, they turned out to be fake and when Vilarva's cell phone went missing, he later learned that Santos had pawned it.

Santos will fit right in with the Trump faction of Republicans.

MR. AMIGO ASSOCIATION SELECTS COSTA RICA WOMAN AS MR. AMIGO 2023

 

WHAT WOULD ELECTION SEASON BE WITHOUT A WILLIAM GARZA SIGHTING?

 

William Garza, likely the only local whose run for office more often than Erasmo Castro, is once again throwing his proverbial hat into the ring.

His campaign sign above states that's he's running for "City Commissioner At Large," without specifying "A" or "B," but since Rose Gowen has "A" locked down until 2025, we'll assume William is running for "B," a seat current occupied by John Cowen, Jr.

Garza's pursuit of that particular office may have something to do with foreknowledge that  young Cowen is running for mayor, but we will see.

A William Garza sighting usually signifies the swift approach of campaign season.

Since his one term on the city commission ended in 1991, William Garza has run for public office eleven times, losing each race.  

Not particularly keen on introspection, William trudges on, perhaps not even aware that his incredible explanation for being discovered by police totally nude in 1998 at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and South Padre Island Highway lacks credibility, although many voters were not even alive then.

Anyway, good luck Mr. Garza!