Top Stories in Maverick County during 2016
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016
The top stories in Eagle Pass and Maverick County, Texas during the year of 2016 are diverse and expose challenges within the community according to Eagle Pass Business Journal loyal readers and followers.
The top story and most read in 2016 by Eagle Pass Business Journal readers was the sexual assault of a C. C. Winn High School female student by a fellow male student inside a class room during lunch time on February 29, 2016 and the lack of attention and professional assistance provided to the female student victim by the Eagle Pass Independent School District Administration while protecting itself from potential liability as a result of the tragic incident on campus.
The second most popular story in 2016 was the arrest and indictment of 24 individuals in Maverick and Zavala Counties by federal law enforcement authorities for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine during August 2016, including two Eagle Pass Independent School District female teachers who were suspended and later terminated or resigned from their public education teaching positions in Eagle Pass. One teacher was denied bond and remains in custody while another was granted pre-trial bond release while they and 22 co-defendants in the federal case await either a trial before a federal jury in the U. S. District Court in Del Rio, Texas or decide to plead guilty to one or more charges.
The third most read story in 2016 was the 18 Wheeler Commercial Truck loaded with Takata ammonium nitrate and air bag gas cylinders crashing in a single vehicle accident on an embankment off of U.S. Highway 277 North only one mile from Quemado, Texas and tragically killing one Maverick County citizen whose home was near the accident site and burned to death when the hazardous freight exploded in front of her home on August 22, 2016. At least four other people were injured in this fatal hazardous accident, including the driver and passenger in the Commercial truck who managed to run from the accident site before the huge explosion of the deadly cargo and two other individuals traveling on U.S. Highway 277 during the explosion. The federal government shut down the transportation company for several violations after an investigation as a result of the accident. One or more lawsuits have already been filed against Takata and other defendants arising from this fatal accident.
The fourth most popular story in 2016 was the Eagle Pass High School students walk-out from classes to protest the controversial reassignment of their esteemed School Principal Vale Moreno and march from school to the Eagle Pass Independent School District administrative offices and Board Room at Eidson Road, over two miles, in support of reinstating Principal Vale Moreno on January 26, 2016. The over 600 students protest and march fell on deaf ears at the Eagle Pass Independent School District as Superintendent Gilberto Gonzalez took responsibility for reassigning EPHS Principal Vale Moreno against the students wishes. Vale Moreno was reassigned from Eagle Pass High School to Ray Darr Elementary School within the Eagle Pass Independent School District. In addition to the students protest, hundreds of parents and community citizens protested the controversial decision to reassign EPHS Principal Vale Moreno at a community park.
The fifth most read story in 2016 was the arrest and indictment of former City of Eagle Pass City Manager Hector Chavez by federal agents for his role in a “Pay to Play” Bribery Scheme involving a Maverick County contract with the Maverick County Landfill on April 14, 2016. Chavez was denied bond in the case and remains detained in Del Rio, Texas awaiting a jury trial on four charges against him, including paying a $20,000 bribe to a Maverick County Commissioner to ensure a certain company received a contract at the Maverick County Landfill, falsification of records in a federal investigation, obstruction of justice, and making a false statement to a federal agent. Chavez denies the charges and has plead not guilty. He terminated his retained attorney from San Antonio, Texas and has received permission to represent himself pro se. Chavez has a federal court hearing on January 10, 2017 to advise U.S. District Judge Alia Moses if he plans to proceed with a jury trial or plead guilty. The City of Eagle Pass City Council appointed former City Manager and Eagle Pass Water Works Sewer System General Manager Roberto Gonzalez as Interim City Manager and nearly nine months later has failed to hire a permanent City Manager to replace Chavez.
The sixth most popular story in 2016 was the extraordinary high ad valorem property tax appraisals assessed against Maverick County residential property owners by the Maverick County Appraisal District for 2016 with increased values up to 100% according to taxpayers while decreasing the ad valorem property values of oil and gas properties in Maverick County. Taxpayers raised valid issues that older residential neighborhoods property values increased greater than more affluent neighborhoods, including higher values per square foot of a property among older neighborhoods than the wealthy neighborhoods in Eagle Pass. Some taxpayers filed protests with the Maverick County Appraisal District Board of Appeals, but an overwhelming majority did not and are now stuck with unconscionable high property ad valorem tax appraisals. Some real estate experts predict that many fixed-income and lower income taxpayers such as senior and disabled citizens will be unable to pay the higher property taxes and lead to increased delinquent tax rolls and foreclosures.
The seventh most read story in 2016 was the death of Eagle Passan Daniel Torres as a result of an altercation with four individuals at the Los Angeles Heights public housing project of the Eagle Pass Housing Authority on April 29, 2016. This was the second murder at an Eagle Pass Housing Authority public housing project within a six month period. The first was the shooting and killing of Loma De La Cruz public housing tenant, Maria E. Pesina, by her estranged husband on December 24, 2015.
The eighth most popular story in 2016 was the fatal rollover accident of a Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino Charter Bus in Webb County, Texas near Laredo resulting in the death of eight persons and 44 other being injured in the single vehicle accident on May 14, 2016. Several lawsuits have been filed against the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino arising from this fatal accident in the Rio Grande Valley.
The ninth most read story in 2016 was the historical high school football playoff run by the thundering Eagle Pass C.C. Winn High School Mavericks during 2016 resulting in the school’s first-ever District Co-Championship, Bi-District Championship, Area Championship, and Regional Semi-Finalist.
Tied for tenth place are two stories. The first is the sentencing of former Maverick County Justice of the Peace Cesar Iracheta to 94 months in federal prison for his role in a bribery and corruption kickback scheme involving Maverick County public construction contracts and former Maverick County Commissioner Jose Luis Rosales sentenced to 66 months in federal prison for his participation in a bribery and corruption kickback scheme involving Maverick County public construction contracts on May 24, 2016 by U.S. District Judge Alia Moses.
The second story is the Maverick County Concerned Taxpayers notifying Maverick County Commissioners Court that their adoption of the 2016 County Tax Rate was calculated wrong by Maverick County Tax-Assessor Collector Isamari S. Villarreal in alleged violation of the Truth-in-Taxation under the Texas Tax Code and the taxpayers filing a Tax Rollback Petition with the Maverick County Clerk’s Office on December 22, 2016.
