Scattered Thoughts~UT Regents Flunk Psychology, Dagoberto's Latest Self-Righteous Rant, Brownsville Metro Board Disappoints, Brownsville Herald Ups Its Game

For the UT System Board of Regents to have included UT-Pan American in their list of final name possibilities for the new intervalley university betrays an extreme lack of empathy for Cameron County sensibilities.  Similar to merging Ford and General Motors as simply the Ford Motor Company or Jerry Jones naming his football team the Arlington Cowboys, the name UTPA acknowledges one school, one region, while disrespecting the other.  Of course by the time this story airs, the new name will likely be public knowledge(UT-RGV), but that doesn't take away from the lack of sensitivity and skill by the regents.

The Facebook page produced by faculty and/or students to protest the UTPA name proves one thing we may not have known:  UTB students can be motivated to participate.  UTB's Project

100% Vote never demonstrated that.  Even with Mary Rose Cardenas Hall made a polling location, only 151 votes were processed, despite a student population of 13,836 with 12,176 over 18, voting age.  Each successive Project 100% Vote Candidate Forum has been moved to a smaller venue; first the Gran Salon, then Salon Cassia, finally a tiny room where only 5 showed up, including one candidate's mother and a photographer, but no students.

Local orator Dagoberto Barrera, admired by some locals because of his spunk, but merely tolerated by the thoughtful, has another rant published in today's Brownsville Herald under "OTHER VIEWS."  In my last conversation with Barrera, it was obvious he was locked into a time warp, parroting values acquired from his father, who raised a family through the "Great Depression."  My grandfather, Adolf Joseph DeMan, had those same values.  In his wood shed, located on a homestead outside Kent, Washington in sight of Mount Rainier, he separated straightened nails pulled out of wooden boxes, according to size.  Rain barrels caught the roof "runoff" to provide "soft water" for washing clothes.  Gravel was sized by  shoveling it through screen sieves.  If a kid looked bored, he would be sent to split cedar into kindling.  I do understand the frugality, work ethic and self-reliance taught by that period.

After describing "170,000 veterans" as "on the dole," Barrera turns his attention to the school lunch program:  "The welfare rolls are increasing because these so-called 'poor'--many from Mexico(Matamoros)--reside here.  These children who were receiving school lunches; where are there parents?  Probably still asleep, figuring the rest of us hard-working Americans will foot the lunch programs.

The so-called 'poor' are not to blame; it's the lazy parents who are still asleep after a night out with their compadres and friends, drinking while the Barreras, frugal citizens, will foot the bill for these 'abandoned' schoolchildren."

Perhaps, not coincidentally, the Brownsville Herald published the same day(12/12/13) an editorial from the San Antonio Express-News entitled "Going Hungry," referencing a study by the Hamilton Project finding nearly "28% of Texas children are food insecure."

Our attempts to monitor the Brownsville Metro Advisory Board, the progress of the downtown parking garage, bus breakdowns, etc. are likely over.  We've tried to communicate to a board member and to Chairman Daniel Lenz that without a copy of the agenda or the handout being discussed it is very difficult to get the flow of information.  At the last meeting, the board was discussing the specifics of bus breakdowns while examining a printout detailing the routes effected, the nature of the problem, the frequency, etc.  That information was shared very guardedly by Brownsville Metro Assistant Director Andrew Munoz, as in:  "Notice column two. . .That run has had problems, etc."   Without the information sheet everyone else in the room was supplied(including visitors), we were clueless.  What is not totally understood is that this is a public meeting governed by the Public Information Act.  Shielding a reporter from that information violates the spirit and intent of the act.

We attended the Brownsville Metro Advisory Board again last night, having been assured things would be different:

11/24, 10:27am
Daniel Lenz

Hello Jim, I want transparency within our board and I am working to make that happen. In our future meetings, after our board discussion on any topic, I am going to recognize you or anybody else who wants to comment or ask questions. I will also try to make sure you get any handouts that we get. I appreciate your reporting and taking the time to attend our meetings. FYI, our next months meeting may be on the second Wednesday instead of the third, so it is not to close to the Christmas Holiday.

Hello Jim, I just want to inform you that the next TAC Meeting for Brownsville Metro will be next Wednesday December 11, 2013. We have moved it up one week so it is not to close to the Christmas Holiday. Hope to see you and Nena there. Have a good day! Daniel

Despite the gracious assurances, at last night's meeting we were still without a copy of the agenda or a copy of the maintenance handout available to the board members and Brownsville Metro employees at the meeting.  We were obviously wasting our time and left as the meeting went into the second agenda point. 

The Brownsville Herald has upped its game, utilizing social media to pursue stories missed in the past.  Today's published Herald story about the UTB protest over the inclusion of the name UTPA as a finalist among the names for the new university with its quotes was taken straight off the Facebook page produced by the faculty and students involved.  Two other stories, the candidate switching parties and the rescheduling of the Xmas parade used material from Facebook.  The blogs, twitter accounts and Facebook pages are obviously being monitored. 

Interestingly, after we ran a video of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis from a Brownsville event, the Brownsville Herald online edition ran an audio of Ms. Davis' conversation with students at UTB.