BROWNSVILLE OBSERVER EDITORIAL STAFF NO LONGER HEADQUARTERED AT PAUL'S RV PARK

Sunset Palms Sign Shadowed by old Paul's RV Park Sign

With some nostalgia we report that the Brownsville Observer no longer emanates from the deep recesses of Paul's RV Park.

As county judge candidate Carlos Cascos might say, were he in our situation:  

"It's not that we've physically left the park as much as the park has left us."

Paul's RV Park is no more, replaced by Sunset Palms RV & Mobile Home Park.  New name.  New owners.

It's not like there ever was any actual owner named Paul during the eight years the Brownsville Observer has been irreverently launched into the cyberspace blogosphere from 25.9290° N latitide, 97.4330° W longitude.  Even those here twenty years don't seem to remember the guy.

We do remember Mario and Tuula Perzan from Ontario, Canada, who bought the park just as Nena and I moved in.  

Mario, a minister/logger, owner of one of the largest private logging enterprises in Canada, seemed to be a natural showman/entertainment director, always organizing, coordinating the park's parties, dances, exercises, crafts, golf scrambles, bingo, card games and barbecues and preaching on Sunday.  

Mario Perzan

Mario, who died in 2015,  wrote, directed and acted in plays, skits, extravaganzas put on by residents at the park's recreational hall.  One skit called for every male resident named "Don" to wear a fedora and trenchcoat, all six guys calling themselves "The Dons."

The psychology of a successful Winter Texan park goes beyond merely escaping the cold, living in a subtropical climate November through April.  It is the bond, reinforced year after year between snow and ice escapees from the provinces of Canada and the rust belt U.S.  Park residents maintain contact all summer via email with their winter neighbors, sharing gossip, including health problems and news of those falling asleep in death.

Annually, these retirees flock to cities in the RGV, Florida and Arizona to see their friends, like-minded folk from Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario, Saskatchewan and, yes, even Newfoundland.

Many, while here among us, seldom venture outside the gated community, except to go to Walmart, Home Depot and various golf courses.  It's not as if they typically interact with the residents of the valley and that's a net loss for both groups. 

So, now, Mario's wife Tuula, has transferred, apparently selling, this and two other RV parks to daughter and son-in-law Nancy and Kevin.  The kids, I'm told, have already sold one of the three parks to help pay for the other two.

There's been a flurry of activity this summer, trimming trees, major plumbing work, fencing, painting, breaking up old concrete pads and pouring new ones.  Locals Pancho and Gilbert have been here daily, with Pancho doing landscaping, and Gilbert, a master of many trades, working on big projects.  

Much of the tree trimming was done on the lot of "Pony Tail Bill," the previous owner of a trucking firm in Thunder Bay, Ontario, who seems never satisfied with the landscaping around his place.

In a few days, Bill will be up on his roof with a tree saw, shaking his head, motioning me over:

"Jim, can you believe this?  And, they call that trimming!"

The park benefits annually from old men with advanced skill sets and indefatigable work ethic, who can't just sit around watching Judge Judy.  They almost fight over projects.

Two years ago, a widow mentioned her sewer line was backing up.  Almost immediately, I witnessed two golf carts speeding from opposite ends of the park, meeting at the woman's sewer line.  In minutes, everything was operational.  

Passing by the motor home of one of the eager beavers, owner of a heating and air-conditioning firm in Tulsa, I saw the storage bay of his motor home left open, with the underbelly packed with seemingly every tool known to man, perfectly organized.

I'm told the park is reverting back to its 55 and older policy after a couple years of parking welders, pipeliners and a couple SpaceX workers.(The fact that these pipeline companies totally used outside crews, men from Arkansas, Oklahoma, north Texas and as far away as Wyoming, all with supersized diesel trucks with welders, cutters and other equipment in the bed, shows me the LNG companies will do the same.)

The name and ownership of the park will not improve the quality of the Brownsville Observer nor increase its overhead.  The Observer functions without a brick and mortar edifice, two ton printing press or circulation department.  Not a single tree has ever been destroyed to produce its articles.

But, the park's almost inconsequential name change was not the Observer's most challenging obstacle this year.  The blog lost half of its editorial staff and its entire art department.  Most days, the surviving editor feels like discontinuing the operation all together.