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Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Ingleside: Just Another Enron In The Making According To The Baen Principle? Is That The Goal of Redevelopment
Paul Baen This is Me
Financial Consultant
The Ingleside City CouncilPlease Note:
This profile was automatically generated using 5 references found on the Internet. This information has not been verified. Learn more...
Web References
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1. Texas Government Insider by Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
www.spartnerships.com/newslett - [Cached]Published on: 9/17/2007 Last Visited: 1/29/2008
Paul Baen The Ingleside City Council this week hired its financial consultant, Paul Baen, to replace interim City Manager Albert Uresti when his contract expires next month.
...
Baen, a certified public accountant, was hired as a consultant by the city in September. He has served as the chief financial officer for the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation for some 20 years.
Ingleside has been without a permanent city manager since last summer. Baen will begin his duties as interim city manager April 16. -
2. Texas Government Insider by Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
www.spartnerships.com/newslett - [Cached]Published on: 9/17/2007 Last Visited: 1/29/2008
During the interim, the city's former financial consultant, Paul Baen, has been serving as city manager. -
3. City of Ingleside Texas
www.inglesidetx.org/employeedi - [Cached]Published on: 7/5/2007 Last Visited: 7/5/2007
Paul Baen Acting City Manager 361-776-2517 -
4. www2.caller.com
www2.caller.com/ccct/local_new - [Cached]Last Visited: 4/21/2007
In March, the council decided not to renew the 90-day contract of interim City Manager Albert Uresti and hired Paul Baen to serve as acting city manager.
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Baen, a certified public accountant, was hired by the city in September 2006 as a financial consultant. After taking personal leave he began his managerial duties this week.
"It's going to be a process," Baen said of cutting the deficit. "It's not going to be an overnight thing."
Baen said since last year the city has made many positive changes. Most of the 21 recommendations from the audit have been implemented, he said. -
5. www1.caller.com
www1.caller.com/ccct/local_new - [Cached]Last Visited: 4/21/2007
In March, the council decided not to renew the 90-day contract of interim City Manager Albert Uresti and hired Paul Baen to serve as acting city manager.
...
Baen, a certified public accountant, was hired by the city in September 2006 as a financial consultant. After taking personal leave he began his managerial duties this week.
"It's going to be a process," Baen said of cutting the deficit. "It's not going to be an overnight thing."
Baen said since last year the city has made many positive changes. Most of the 21 recommendations from the audit have been implemented, he said.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Corpus Christi: The dividing line between North and South Chaparral, and North and South Water
Town built between arroyo, Hall's Bayou
By Murphy Givens (Contact)
Originally published 05:26 p.m., August 12, 2008
Updated 05:26 p.m., August 12, 2008
When Henry Kinney, Corpus Christi's founder, arrived in 1839, some believe he landed at the mouth of an arroyo, later called Blucher's Creek. It emptied into the bay near where Cooper's Alley intersects with Water Street.
In the early years, this arroyo was called Chatham's ravine. It was dammed to form a reservoir. Hogs wallowing in the town's water supply was a persistent problem in the 1840s and '50s (maybe they had boil-water alerts back then).
As the town grew, the dividing line between North and South Chaparral, and North and South Water, was the arroyo, or Blucher's Creek. The distinction between north and south street addresses downtown doesn't make sense unless you know that the arroyo was between Laguna and Cooper's Alley. It was covered and built over, and now is concealed under the growth of the city.
There were about three blocks south of the arroyo, and much of it dominated by E.D. Sidbury's lumber yard. That part of town where Shook's Garage is located once was called South Beach.
Where the arroyo emptied into the bay had the deepest water off the shoreline. That deep water explains why major piers were built there. One of the first was built by William Mann, in 1848. The Central Wharf, built in 1853, was enlarged in the 1870s to become the city's main wharf. In 1914, the Municipal Wharf was built just south of where the arroyo emptied into the bay.
On the north end of the downtown was another inlet, this one a slough called Hall's Bayou. It separated Corpus Christi from North Beach.
Once in the 1840s, horse wranglers on North Beach, working for Henry Kinney, were killing and skinning mustangs when they saw a party of Comanches ride up to the slough. They hid and watched as the braves threw buffalo robes into the shallow slough so their ponies wouldn't bog down in the mud.
In the 1870s, John Hall, an Englishman, built a beef packing house there. Discarded meat was dumped on the salt flats. Around the turn of the 20th Century, Hall's Bayou was a favorite place for boys to go crabbing; restaurants like that at the Seaside Hotel would buy the crabs for a nickel each. In the 1920s, it was dredged to become the entrance to the port. When you cross Harbor Bridge, you're crossing over Hall's Bayou.
Just as the arroyo separated north from south on the city's downtown street addresses, Hall's Bayou separated "The Beach" section of the city from North Beach. No one today calls the area around American Bank Plaza and Whataburger Field "The Beach," but that is what it was known as. Anything north and east of the 1914 courthouse was called "The Beach." Corpus Christi had South Beach, The Beach, and North Beach. All three suffered the most destruction in the 1919 storm, no doubt because these areas are on low ground, sure, but perhaps also because the storm surge followed the course of those natural inlets to the bay.
A mile west of town was the Salt Lake, between Winnebago Street and where the port turning basin is today. During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers butchered cattle on the Salt Lake. At that time, Rosalie Priour's husband had a big vegetable farm there. The Salt Lake dried up in the terrible drought that began in 1863.
The Salt Lake, Hall's Bayou and the arroyo exist now only on old maps and history books.
Ferries on the Nueces
The first act of Nueces County in 1847 was to set ferry tolls on the Nueces River and Rio Grande, since Nueces County took in all the territory in between. Tolls were 25 cents for a pair of oxen; 25 cents for a horse; 25 cents for every wheel on a wagon.
The main ferry on the lower Nueces was at the Santa Margarita crossing below the village of San Patricio. This was an ancient crossing, going back to the 1700s. The Paso de Santa Margarita was a good place to ford; the river was wide there and shallow, with a rocky bottom that provided good footing for teams.
In the 1850s, Samuel Reed Miller opened a store and established a ferry at Santa Margarita. In 1857, Robert Love, a rancher on the Nueces, planned to build a toll bridge across the river to compete with Miller's Ferry, but the plans fell through.
During the Civil War, Miller's Ferry was a major stopping place on the Cotton Road. The big wagons loaded with cotton were too heavy for the little ferry barge. When the river was high, the drivers would camp and wait until it was fordable.
The main stage road from Corpus Christi to San Antonio crossed the river at Miller's Ferry.
After the Civil War, rancher Sylvanus Gerard Miller began his own ferry at Lagarto. For a few years, there were two Miller's Ferries on the Nueces. By the 1870s, Samuel Reed Miller's grandson, Alonzo Quinn, took over the ferry and it became known as Quinn's Ferry.
Borden's Ferry was above Nuecestown (near where Calallen is today), a half-mile from Sharpsburg. Judge Sidney Borden, a cousin to canned-milk inventor Gail Borden, owned the ferry and a store.
O.H. Hearn established a ferry in 1867 at Nuecestown. If Borden's Ferry was the best route to Sharpsburg, Hearn's was the best way to Meansville. The road leading to the ferry was called Hearn's Ferry Road. Below that was A.L. Bitterman's Ferry, at the mouth of the Nueces. It was operated, while it lasted, to make it easier for the Rachal family of White Point to travel to Nuecestown.
Borden's Ferry was the last still in use, until 1913. By that time, bridges had been built across the river.
Murphy Givens is Viewpoints Editor of the Caller-Times. Phone 886-4315; e-mail: givensm@caller.com.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Bryan Smith? Mauricio Cellis?: It's not beyond the real of possibilities for two types of justice in Nueces County. En la tarifa de dos por un níquel
En la tarifa de dos por un níquel cuántos se nickels Manuel Banales pagar para mantener en su puesto de trabajo?
Judge Bañales in traffic accident
George Gongora/Caller-Times file
105th District Court Judge J. Manuel Bañales
CORPUS CHRISTI — A 34-year-old Texas Department of Transportation worker is in critical condition Thursday afternoon with what police described as head-to-toe injuries after a local judge's car hit his parked work truck.
The accident occurred about 3:20 p.m. Thursday on an exit ramp from Padre Island Drive to Interstate 37, police at the scene said. 105th District Court Judge J. Manuel Bañales was driving a Cadillac Deville and spun out on the ramp, slid off the road and hit the pickup. The truck was parked as the employee was doing sign work nearby.
The worker was kneeling outside the truck and was hit directly by the Cadillac, police said. The truck was pushed about 50 yards from the point of impact.
Bañales' was taken to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial with injuries that are not believed to be life threatening, police said.
The 34-year-old was also taken to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial and is undergoing emergency surgery, police said. Police remain at the scene.
Judge's car slams into transportation worker
Man on ventilator; Banales' injuries not life-threatening
George Gongora/Caller-Times Law enforcement officers inspect a car belonging to 105th District Court Judge J. Manuel Bañales on Thursday near the Interstate 37/Padre Island Drive interchange. Rescuers had to cut the roof and doors off the Cadillac DeVille to free Bañales, who, along with the transportation worker struck, was taken to the Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial.
A local judge's car hit a transportation department worker crouching near his truck about to fix a sign Thursday afternoon, sending the worker to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
A Texas Department of Transportation heavy-duty pickup with a cherry-picker lift was parked near a ramp connecting Padre Island Drive to southbound Interstate 37 when J. Manuel Bañales, 105th District Court judge and presiding judge of the Fifth Judicial Administrative District, entered the ramp. His gold Cadillac Deville slid off the pavement and struck the truck parked a few feet away on the grass.
Two workers had just pulled over to fix a small, directional black and yellow sign about 2:45 p.m., said police Capt. John Houston, when one worker spotted the Cadillac heading straight for the truck and jumped out of the way. Another worker, 34 years old, wasn't able to move.
"He was hit with the full force of the vehicle," Houston said. "He's injured head to toe."
That worker was rushed to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial with life-threatening injuries. Late Thursday he was in emergency surgery and on a ventilator. Bañales' injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, police said. He was taken to the same hospital.
The ramp was closed until about 6 p.m. as Corpus Christi police and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers cataloged the accident.
Houston said officers responded to the accident just like any other of the same severity, and state troopers were called in to help re-create the accident.
It wasn't clear Thursday afternoon how fast the Cadillac was going or what caused the accident, Houston said.
The Cadillac came to rest in the wrong direction, with its roof and doors removed with the Jaws of Life. The truck was some 50 yards away, pushed halfway up an embankment to another ramp by the force of impact.
As officers combed the road and car, a yellow grate from the pickup with three orange cones and a water cooler sat a few feet away from the car's front bumper. The worker who jumped out of the way was just about to set up the cones when the car struck, a transportation department spokesman said.
Bañales has been a district judge for 21 years. As presiding judge of the Fifth Judicial Administrative District, he assigns judges to cases when the regular judge is unavailable.
Contact David Kassabian at 886-3778 or kassabiand@caller.com
(32) User Comments:
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related links Posted by 389468 on June 6, 2008 at 5:04 a.m.
How horrible!
Was alcohol involved?
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related links Posted by 240665 on June 6, 2008 at 5:27 a.m.
Sad Times Judge...... Sad Sad Times Bro........
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related links Posted by 232854 on June 6, 2008 at 5:57 a.m.
was he drinking, thats the first question everyone else is asked.........
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related links Posted by 401467 on June 6, 2008 at 6:10 a.m.
He'll probably show up for court. He loves to send people to prison for drinking.
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related links Posted by 712045 on June 6, 2008 at 6:26 a.m.
First, prayers for the young man seriously injured. May God be with him and his family. Second, I am glad Banales was not seriously injured but I wonder if Banales was speeding or perhaps on his cell phone and not paying attention. I hope DPS does a full investigation and does not form a biased opinion based on the fact that he is a judge.
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related links Posted by 240803 on June 6, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
My prayers for the injured state employee and his family.
All you people care about is for the judge to be intoxicated.
I can't believe the heartless and non compassionate souls that exist in this world.
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related links Posted by 449075 on June 6, 2008 at 6:33 a.m.
Being a judge should be secondary in this situation. He is not in control of the investigation. I hope he was not on his cell phone, maybe this is a good example of what happens when you try to multitask while driving. May God be with the injuried man and his family. A full investigation should be performed and being a judge is no excuse for failure to CONTROL you vehicle.
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related links Posted by 412890 on June 6, 2008 at 6:35 a.m.
sounds like one of our law biding officials was carring some excess speed going into that ramp. He had to have to knock that TDOT truck the distance TV news said.
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related links Posted by 389468 on June 6, 2008 at 6:35 a.m.
We don't know if alcohol was involved or if the Judge was preoccupied or if it was merely a bad patch of road, but it's not beyond the real of possibilities for two types of justice in Nueces County . . . Bryan Smith? Mauricio Cellis?
Let's just hope a REAL investigation takes place and that the public is informed, both these men are public servants.
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related links Posted by 711681 on June 6, 2008 at 6:37 a.m.
I can't guess on whether or not he was drinking, but in my estimation: Judge Banales was probably speeding. In order for a mid-size car to send a much larger parked truck "approximately 50 yards" and "up an embankment" after impact, I would assume a high rate of speed. I would guess since he's on a ramp with advisory speeds (probably at 40MPH), that he was going much faster than that and that's how he also probably lost control.
I wish the report would state which ramp exactly Judge Banales was entering. There's one flyover ramp that heads towards Calallen and another ramp that heads towards Downtown. I'd like to know where the TxDOT truck was parked, and where Banales veered off the pavement.
I saw the accident yesterday when I was leaving work, and it looked horrible. The entire roof of the mid-size car was destroyed, and I was thinking that driver was seriously injured or killed.
My prayers go out to the TxDOT worker,. I hope he recovers fully. I also hope Judge Banales is doing well.
Curtis Rock
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related links Posted by 712601 on June 6, 2008 at 6:45 a.m.
The Judge probably feels IMMUNE from the law!!!!!!!!!!!! He probably refuse to take a blood alcohol test - SLOW down, if the man dies (wish i hope he doesn't) then the judge should be charged for manslaughter. RIGHT???????????? U R not IMMUNE from the law - u idiot.
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related links Posted by 259150 on June 6, 2008 at 6:51 a.m.
Maybe now the Judge will know that accidents CAN happen. Hope the TxDot workers pulls out of this with no long-term effects. Because of the media attention I'm sure the Judge will be citing for "failure to control" his vehicle and/or "driver inattention".
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related links Posted by 240803 on June 6, 2008 at 6:59 a.m.
in response to 401467
I believe sending people to prison for drinking is Judge Banales job. If they don't get punished then it's the "judges are too soft on criminals" complaint.
Wheather he loves to send people to prison I would'nt know.
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related links Posted by 233106 on June 6, 2008 at 7:11 a.m.
37 accidents now in the past 15 months for county employees?
Sounds reckless. Will a full investigation checking for drugs and alcohol be done?
Wasn't there a court manager a few years ago charged with a felony because of a cell phone and an accident?
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related links Posted by 239123 on June 6, 2008 at 7:25 a.m.
Post 233106, I believe it was because of make up. She was putting on her makeup that caused an accident.
My prayers go out to the TXDot employee. Also to Judge Banales.
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related links Posted by 240803 on June 6, 2008 at 7:39 a.m.
Yes, accidents do happen. However when a person makes the choice to get in the drivers seat of a vehicle, while under the influence of alcohol or drugs then thats no accident.
I am sure for all of you anxiously awaiting toxicology reports on the judge, maybe you won't be disappointed. Seems some of you are wishing for the worst
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related links Posted by 240354 on June 6, 2008 at 7:44 a.m.
so many of you jump to conclusions on what happend. maybe you should be out there doing the investigation. Maybe he had a heart attack and lost control? you never know, but so many of you are sure that it was alcohol related. your minds are filled with so much negativity and so many people hate to live here because of you.
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related links Posted by 246492 on June 6, 2008 at 7:46 a.m.
in response to 240354
Well said and painfully true.
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related links Posted by 389468 on June 6, 2008 at 7:50 a.m.
We weren't the ones driving the car.
We weren't the ones who hit that poor TXDOT worker.
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related links Posted by 245928 on June 6, 2008 at 7:52 a.m.
omg, bloggeristas !!! Posting privileges removed yesterday have been restored and here we go with speculations, such as faulty tires on the Cadillac. Sheesh, to survive after being slammed that hard and trapped that badly. God bless the TxDOT employee and Judge Banales and all the families and friends.
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related links Posted by 236331 on June 6, 2008 at 8:06 a.m.
Well, how bout that! I feel sorry for the worker that was hit and Judge Banales. I'm just glad it wasn't me, if the judge is guilty of manslaughter then he'll be in a cell soon saying to his room-mate, "Wanna grill cheese ese?"
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related links Posted by 699448 on June 6, 2008 at 8:06 a.m.
My prayers go out to Judge Banales AND the TXDOT worker as well as their families.
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related links Posted by 592398 on June 6, 2008 at 8:12 a.m.
May God be with all involved. I am sure that Judge Banales and his family feel horrible. Come on folks, accidents happen and we have no idea why this one happened.
Maybe he was headed back to work, maybe this or maybe that, but lets wait until the investigation is done.
My son went to school with his daugter and I personally think Judge Banales is a awesome individual. And no I am not hispanic so don't go there. He was very involved with his kids and I think as a judge he is fair.
Keeping everyone involved in my prayers.
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related links Posted by 699733 on June 6, 2008 at 8:16 a.m.
Some of you all are so stupid. Judge Banales is a fair judge and you all need to give him the benefit of the doubt. He could have been having trouble breathing, having a heart attack or even having a stroke. You all don't know that but you all are just assuming that he was drunk. Instead of being so narrowed minded you all should pray for the TXDOT worker and for Judge Banales as we don't know what actually happened. My prayers got out to Judge Banales and for the TXDOT worker and the families.
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related links Posted by 233517 on June 6, 2008 at 8:17 a.m.
I like Judge Banales.
I wish this young TX Dot worker well and hopefully a full and speedy recovery.
Maybe the Judge just lost control of his car when he noticed the parked vehicle. Did anyone ever think about that? Remember, Banales is the Judge who is trying to keep your kids safe from sex offenders, so before you go bashing him without knowing the facts, remember, he is a good judge.
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related links Posted by 263127 on June 6, 2008 at 8:18 a.m.
Surely authorities administered a breathilizer test to theJudge to allay any future questions by the public about his sobriety. There is no question that a high rate of speed was involved, and there are strict laws regarding caution in work or construction zones. The Judge clearly was the at-fault party to the accident. Judges and Law Enforcement are held to a higher standard than those they serve, so the public will expect a thorough and fair review of his case. In the meantime our wish is for a full and complete recovery by both parties. God be with them.
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related links Posted by 238309 on June 6, 2008 at 8:20 a.m.
Time to retire; in jail, maybe?
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related links Posted by 712812 on June 6, 2008 at 8:26 a.m.
i hope judge banales ok. what bothers me is how the news reported the story. to me, it seems the main part of the story was all about judge banales being in a car accident. the story should focus on the fact that a person (txdot worker) was almost killed. my heart goes out to the worker's family. it seems that the judge was driving at an unsafe speed. judge banales will have to live the rest of his life knowing he almost killed someone....and that is heavy.
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related links Posted by 237538 on June 6, 2008 at 8:28 a.m.
this is pompous judge..it is mandatory to DPS to take a blood draw if there is a death or possiblity of a death in an auto accident..
lets see fit they did.
Watt is Embellishment?
and
Where is the Truth?
Thursday, June 5, 2008
BANALES IS GETTING AWAY WITH A THIRD CRIME?
Today Maximum Manuel is again trying to slither his way out of yet anothe crime. As we have reported before it is not the first time Banales has been protected. He reportedly failed to control speed while exiting off 37 and hit a young man (34) and knocked he and the vehicle 50 feet. Banales had previously hit a homeless person according to police sources and he refused to exit the vehicle a few years ago, was rumored to have been under the influence of alcohol, called Carlos Valdez to come and rescue him and no charges were filed against him and the homeless man received a civil settlement. In another arrest Banales was reported to have solicited a prostitute and was handcuffed but later released.
Now in the most outrageous coverup the mainstream media was showing him in neckbrace, minimizing the poor young man's serious injury, in fact which may lead to death.
IS BANALES ABOVE THE LAW?
Banales has had a questionable past including representing Biker's on drug charges. Reportedly after getting them off he was given women as presents. Unbelievable. He lost judge elections 3 times and was about to be run out of town until his controller DARREL BARGER a defense attorney who employs all of his children and who has told many an attorney that he controls judge Banales and reportedly Banales pushes all cases aside when this man enters the courtroom. Now he has hit a young man, exiting at a high rate of speed and hit the car and knocked it 50 feet. Can you imagine the high rate of speed that Maximum Manuel Banales was doing? Reportedly, one of the workers had time to move out of the way and the other one didn't have a chance. The media is already circling the wagons and even SHERIFF KAELIN is on message to want people to feel sorry for this man.
How many hispanics have been victim to his maximum treatment and sentencing after he has broken the law now at least 3 times and gotten away with it? The Defenzor consulted with an accident reconstructionist and that expert believes that the look of the vehicles and the high rate of speed well over 50mph that pushed the truck over 50 feet is very suspicious. If they do not charge him with excessive speed, failure to control vehicle and negligent homicide if the boy dies is an injustice and a coverup.
WHY ARE THE WAGONS BEING CIRCLED ALREADY?
Banales is the administrative judge in control of many courts and appointed by Perry (one of the few Democrats, but he also has licked the boots of the King Ranch and Armstrongs for so long (see the Fernandez battle for legitimizing the doctor as the heir of Miflin Kenedy) that he shut down with his good friends Jorge Rangel and Tony Canales. Now Judge Maximum Banales has hit and seriously hurt and possibly murdered a young man and TxDot employee. Justice must finally be served. But, unfortunately, and predictably the Defenzor predicts that the powers that be here will cover and coddle Banales once again. 1) Homeless man seriously hurt 2) hooker solicited 3) and now a reckless driver.
GET THE EVIDENCE FROM BANALES' CADILLAC?
With his fancy Cadillac where is the blackbox on the Cadillac? It can calculate how fast he was going! He was traveling at a high rate of speed, there is no doubt by the look of both vehicles. He was driving reckless and if the boy dies it is a homicide according to one local criminal attorney who wishes to remain nameless and also who corroborated that Darrel Barger bragged about controlling and having influence over Banales.
INDICT BANALES! He is not the victim! The poor man who was working needs to be heard! Where is DPS investigating? This is not his first accident? Where is the D.A. investigation? DO NOT LET A COVERUP OCCUR. THE DEFENZOR feels for the family of the poor man. How dare the mainstream media make Banales the victim here when he caused an accident and was careless and has hurt an innocent man!
STAY TUNED FOR MORE. BE REST ASSURED THE DEFENZOR WILL NOT REST UNTIL A COMPLETE INVESTIGATION SHOWS WHETHER OR NOT BANALES "MAXIMUM MANUEL" WAS RECKLESS DRIVING AND MAY HAVE KILLED SOMEONE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
FORMAL ARTICLE IN DEFENZOR TO FOLLOW. STAY TUNED.
Now in the most outrageous coverup the mainstream media was showing him in neckbrace, minimizing the poor young man's serious injury, in fact which may lead to death.
IS BANALES ABOVE THE LAW?
Banales has had a questionable past including representing Biker's on drug charges. Reportedly after getting them off he was given women as presents. Unbelievable. He lost judge elections 3 times and was about to be run out of town until his controller DARREL BARGER a defense attorney who employs all of his children and who has told many an attorney that he controls judge Banales and reportedly Banales pushes all cases aside when this man enters the courtroom. Now he has hit a young man, exiting at a high rate of speed and hit the car and knocked it 50 feet. Can you imagine the high rate of speed that Maximum Manuel Banales was doing? Reportedly, one of the workers had time to move out of the way and the other one didn't have a chance. The media is already circling the wagons and even SHERIFF KAELIN is on message to want people to feel sorry for this man.
How many hispanics have been victim to his maximum treatment and sentencing after he has broken the law now at least 3 times and gotten away with it? The Defenzor consulted with an accident reconstructionist and that expert believes that the look of the vehicles and the high rate of speed well over 50mph that pushed the truck over 50 feet is very suspicious. If they do not charge him with excessive speed, failure to control vehicle and negligent homicide if the boy dies is an injustice and a coverup.
WHY ARE THE WAGONS BEING CIRCLED ALREADY?
Banales is the administrative judge in control of many courts and appointed by Perry (one of the few Democrats, but he also has licked the boots of the King Ranch and Armstrongs for so long (see the Fernandez battle for legitimizing the doctor as the heir of Miflin Kenedy) that he shut down with his good friends Jorge Rangel and Tony Canales. Now Judge Maximum Banales has hit and seriously hurt and possibly murdered a young man and TxDot employee. Justice must finally be served. But, unfortunately, and predictably the Defenzor predicts that the powers that be here will cover and coddle Banales once again. 1) Homeless man seriously hurt 2) hooker solicited 3) and now a reckless driver.
GET THE EVIDENCE FROM BANALES' CADILLAC?
With his fancy Cadillac where is the blackbox on the Cadillac? It can calculate how fast he was going! He was traveling at a high rate of speed, there is no doubt by the look of both vehicles. He was driving reckless and if the boy dies it is a homicide according to one local criminal attorney who wishes to remain nameless and also who corroborated that Darrel Barger bragged about controlling and having influence over Banales.
INDICT BANALES! He is not the victim! The poor man who was working needs to be heard! Where is DPS investigating? This is not his first accident? Where is the D.A. investigation? DO NOT LET A COVERUP OCCUR. THE DEFENZOR feels for the family of the poor man. How dare the mainstream media make Banales the victim here when he caused an accident and was careless and has hurt an innocent man!
STAY TUNED FOR MORE. BE REST ASSURED THE DEFENZOR WILL NOT REST UNTIL A COMPLETE INVESTIGATION SHOWS WHETHER OR NOT BANALES "MAXIMUM MANUEL" WAS RECKLESS DRIVING AND MAY HAVE KILLED SOMEONE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
FORMAL ARTICLE IN DEFENZOR TO FOLLOW. STAY TUNED.
Monday, May 26, 2008
"My understanding is we can now pursue the case on behalf of my mom, for her honor and her memory," said Dr. Ray Fernandez
Fight for South Texas fortune renewed with ruling
The Associated Press
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The case of an elderly Corpus Christi woman seeking to prove she is the unrecognized daughter John G. Kenedy and heir to a South Texas fortune got a boost with a ruling by the 13th Court of Appeals.
The appellate court overturned a state district judge's ruling that had blocked Ann Fernandez's suit against the two nonprofit organizations that control the 400,000-acre Kenedy Ranch and its considerable mineral assets, the San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday.
"My understanding is we can now pursue the case on behalf of my mom, for her honor and her memory," said Dr. Ray Fernandez, son of Ann Fernandez, 82, who is in a nursing home.
The estate's estimated value is between $500 million and $1 billion.
"They ruled that Ann Fernandez has not had her day in court. Now we will get to demonstrate she was the heir to John G. Kenedy," said Marcos Ronquillo, who represents the Fernandez family.
Lawyers for the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation and the John G. Kenedy Jr. Charitable Trust, which are fighting Fernandez's efforts to prove she is Kenedy's sole heir, did not return calls to the Express-News.
They have said Kenedy's estate was legally closed many decades ago, leaving the parentage issue moot.
When Kenedy died in 1948, he was believed to be sterile and had no known heirs. Fernandez claims he had at least one child with Mary Rowland, a household maid.
Ronquillo expects this ruling to revive a bid to exhume Kenedy's body at the family's La Parra Ranch. The request has been pending at the Texas Supreme Court since it was blocked three years ago.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz makes public statement Border Stand
‘A right to fight’
City signs for border land surveys, adds fuel to fence fire
January 16, 2008 - 11:36PM
G. Daniel Lopez/The Brownsville Herald
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey markers were placed in Hope Park several months ago. Without the mayor'c consent, the city has granted permission for the government to survey it's land for the border fence.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers survey markers were placed in Hope Park several months ago. Without the mayor'c consent, the city has granted permission for the government to survey it's land for the border fence.
The government’s demand for permission to conduct their initial surveys had been held at bay for months by organized resistance movements led by border mayors, residents and other elected officials.
That is until last week when city officials signed on the dotted line and stepped aside, allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to access public land, including city parks near the Rio Grande.
“We didn’t want to risk our relationship with the Corps,” Commissioner Ricardo Longoria said Wednesday. “We’re depending on them for our resaca restoration project. ”
On Jan. 8, the city signed an agreement issued by the Department of Homeland Security allowing the Corps of Engineers onto city properties.
In an Oct. 16 meeting, the City Commission denied Mayor Pat Ahumada’s proposal to refuse access to government surveyors. According to Longoria, this denial constituted a vote to grant consent to the surveyors.
But between the October meeting and the signing of the DHS document, no public vote took place on the issue. City Manager Charlie Cabler said he signed the form in executive session, behind closed doors.
“It is the first I hear of it," City Attorney Jim Goza said Wednesday. "I wasn’t aware that a form had been signed or sent out.”
Goza could not recall a vote to allow access for land surveys and added that officials cannot vote in executive session.
“As far as Charlie (Cabler) signing the form,” Commissioner Leo Garza said, “I don’t remember us voting or authorizing him (to do that).”
The Department of Homeland Security sent a letter on Dec. 7 asking the city for its consent to survey land, but according to city officials, the letter was sent to the wrong address. As a result, officials say, the city didn’t respond until after DHS’ Jan. 6 deadline.
Although the form of consent was only recently signed, commissioners discussed the issue at several commission meetings in late 2007. They claim to have considered the expertise of federal representatives, including U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi.
“We were told that there wasn’t much we could do,” Longoria said. “It was out of our control.”
However, Ortiz claims he offered no such insight. "If I was a landowner I wouldn’t give consent,” he said.
“The city commissioners will have to make the decision on their own.”
Mayor Ahumada was not present at the Jan. 8 closed-door meeting. On Wednesday, he was incensed by the City Commission’s decision. Surveyors will now have access to property at Hope Park, Impala Park, and several other stretches of land that lie in the path of a proposed fence stretching 17 miles in Brownsville.
“We’re only making it easier for them to start this project,” Ahumada said. “Citizens will now be able to blame the commission if they don’t support the fence … We live in a divided city.”
Ahumada is an active member of the Texas Border Coalition, an organization composed largely of elected officials from border communities. The coalition offered to donate $25,000 toward the city’s legal defense, but now that commissioners have given their consent to DHS, Ahumada doubts that the funds will be available.
The Brownsville Public Utilities Board received the same letter from DHS asking for consent, but the board refused. PUB owns 300 acres of land on West 13th Street and another 130 acres in the Southmost area. The 13th Street property is the site of a river pumping station, a power plant, and a water reservoir.
PUB could become a defendant in one of the 102 lawsuits expected to be filed in the fight over a border fence.
On Monday, the Justice Department filed the first of such suits against the city of Eagle Pass. A day later, the judge ordered the city to temporarily turn over land to the federal government.
After land is surveyed, the federal government will begin the process of purchasing property that lies along the path of the fence. If landowners refuse to sell, they will be sued again.
“They have a right to fight the fence,” Congressman Ortiz said, “and that’s what they’re doing.”
Herald reporter Emma Perez-Trevino contributed to this story.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Unapologetic wartime profiteers, they got rich moving troops and munitions during the U.S. war with Mexico and running Confederate cotton during the
Kent Biffle: Rancher Kenedy's known as more than just a pretty face
09:24 AM CST on Sunday, January 6, 2008
As historic figures go, Petra's must have been terrific. Her looks stunned frontiersmen.
And after researching her for years, biographers Jane Clements Monday and Frances Brannen Vick concluded that Petra (1825-1885) was beautiful not merely physically, but spiritually as well. Forever helping friends, kin and her Catholic church, she gave away a wagonload of money to charities way before such acts earned tax credits.
Historian John Henry Brown called her "a woman of superior accomplishments and great natural intelligence." He noted, "She was considered one of the handsomest women of her day."
Indian warriors killed her father, ex-governor of Spanish Texas, and carried off three of her sisters, one of whom was never rescued. After marrying a Mexican army colonel, Petra Vela de Vidal had six children. Widowed, she then married steamboat tycoon Mifflin Kenedy and had six more children. She helped the captain build a ranching empire whose tall bunchgrasses and mesquites adorned oil deposits unknown to them that today are worth untold millions.
A Pennsylvania Quaker who, as a boy, shipped before the mast, Captain Kenedy and another Yankee steamboat captain, Richard King, partnered as tight as bark on a Gulf Coast scrub oak. And, after profitably plying the Rio Grande with their fleet of steamboats, they amicably divvied up the proceeds in 1868.
Mifflin Kenedy had 400,000 acres (in present Kenedy County), next to the 900,000-acre King Ranch. Both captains were business majors of the buccaneer school. Unapologetic wartime profiteers, they got rich moving troops and munitions during the U.S. war with Mexico and running Confederate cotton during the Civil War.
If it weren't footnoted, Petra's Legacy: The South Texas Ranching Empire of Petra Vela and Mifflin Kenedy (Texas A&M Press) might be mistaken for soaring fiction. It is chockablock with crooked politics, cattle rustlers, land fraud, warfare, and enough illicit sex to populate South Texas courtrooms for generations. There were once about 300 claimants to the Kenedy estate.
Mifflin and Petra's aggressive son, James "Spike" Kenedy, drove herds to railheads in Kansas, where he proved a poor loser at the gambling tables.
On July 20, 1872, in Ellsworth, Kan., a gambling dispute erupted into a gunfight between Spike and Print Olive, a Texas rancher and gunman. Both shot-up combatants recovered.
In August 1878, the quarrelsome cards set Spike at odds with Mayor Jim Kelley of Dodge City, Kan. Spike tried to murder him, shooting into his house. His Honor was out, but his sleeping roommate, Dora Hand, a popular singer at the Lady Gay Theater, caught a fatal slug. Maybe being the son of the second-richest cowman in Texas had something to do with Spike's beating the rap.
In April 1884, Spike shot to death a disagreeable, vagrant vaquero at the La Parra Ranch. It was ruled accidental.
Much earlier, Petra's son (Spike's half-brother), Adrian Vidal, who had deserted both the U.S. and Confederate armies, was executed by Imperialists in Mexico, where he had been captured while fighting Emperor Maximilian's troops. The Kenedys' firstborn son, Tom, 35, was killed from ambush in 1888 while campaigning for sheriff in Cameron County.
When the Texas State Historical Association gathers March 5 in Corpus Christi, Petra's biographers will talk about her and the problems facing researchers of women in her time and place. Fran Vick is the association's new president, and former Huntsville Mayor Jane Monday is on the executive board. Historians will find the Kenedys' old La Parra Ranch a short drive down U.S. 77 from Corpus Christi.
kbiffle@sbcglobal.net
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