IS BROWNSVILLE LOSING ITS QUARTERBACK?

Patricio Ahumada

Pat Ahumada or Patricio as he now prefers, seems to be at a crossroads.

At 71, he's put his house on Alan A Dale Street and business, Golden Paws Grooming, on the market.

It could have been a quick decision.

On July 9 he put out a notice to hire a dog groomer, a "responsible person," he said he wanted.

On July 13 he said his grooming business was "for sale."

Besides dog groomer, Ahumada's been a lot of things; shrimp boat captain, gambling parlor owner, real estate appraiser, builder and twice, Mayor of the City of Brownsville.

In his role as mayor, he described himself as the "quarterback" and the city commissioners as "blocking lineman," which might explain why he could never create consensus on the city commission.

Certainly, as shrimp boat captain, he expected no back talk from the deck hands and he ran the city the same way.

That explains why Ahumada, despite good ideas like the Weir Dam or remodeling El Jardin Hotel, could never get any support from the commission because his name was attached to those concepts and yes, he was hated.

Although he might have thought it was City Commissioner Charlie Atkinson, who he wrangled with during commission meetings, it was Pat himself that was his own worst enemy.

Just before a podcast a few years ago, Ahumada leaned over toward me to ask:  "Jim, do you remember those long arguments we had till 3:00 AM about Fly Frontera?"

I do remember when Ahumada was insistant on the city funding an airline, just 4 days old, headed a convicted con artist, Carlos Quintanilla. who had a RICO felony conviction under his belt for bilking G. Heileman Brewing Company of $800,000, besides significant other baggage; an alleged arrearance of $85,000 in child support, $12,000 worth of hot checks and liens for "theft of property" attached to his residence at 421 S. Dwight in Dallas.

Ahumada may have been fooled, but the city was not, as dozens of citizens of various walks of life joined together to block the one-sided, desperate proposal, but not before the feisty Ahumada staged a dramatic showdown at the Event Center.

Ahumada has lived a very public life in this city with a number of public embarrassments including several DWI's, the shutting down of his 8-liner gambling establishment by District Attorney Luis Saenz, and depositing a $26,000 check made out to the city into his own personal account. 

Indeed, a colorful life,  and just like the words Paul Anka wrote for Sinatra, Ahumada can say "I've done it my way."