El Paso safest large city: De verdad?? From the El Paso Times.com

By Diana Valdez-Washington, El Paso Times

El Paso is the safest city for in the nation for a city its size, according to the just-released CQ Press Safest Cities rankings.
This is the first time El Paso was ranked at the top of the yearly Safest Cities report. Since 1997, El Paso had ranked as second or third safest city by the independent study.
CQ Press named Honolulu as second safest and New York City as third safest city in the nation. Austin was No. 6 and Fort Worth was No. 10, the only other Texas cities to make the top ten.
Chief Greg Allen credited the achievement to community policing efforts and partnerships the El Paso Police Department developed with residents, other law enforcement agencies, city departments and civic groups.
He said the hard work and dedication of all El Paso Police Department employees also contributed to the success.
CQ Press is an independent research firm that conducts safety studies of cities, metropolitan areas, and states.
See more about CQ Press at http://www.cqpress.com/gethome.asp.
Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

Texas A&M study predicts higher temperatures for Texas

 

The McAllen Monitor had an article this morning that is bound to make people at CPL and other energy companies pretty happy. John Nielson-Gammon, professor of atmostpheric sciences at Texas A&M in college station, sees even hotter summers in store for Texas, especially South Texas. Nielson-Gammon was quoted as saying:

Texas is almost certain to get hotter in the next 20 to 50 years. Just how hot is the key question. The projections show that … by 2050 or 2060 we are likely to average 2 to 6 degrees warmer than temperatures back in 1981-2000. If that happens, tripledigit temperatures that Texans consider unusual today will become typical — not a happy proposition for South Texas, which already endures more than its share of heat

I guess that people from Laredo and from all around South Texas will start vacationing up North in the Summer.  Also, the Laredo Fire Department will probably have a change made to their job description. They might have to go around town dousing those brave enough to be outside.

Jamboozie: $10 at the door? Estan Locos !

I remember the first Jamboozie not that many years ago. The price to get in was then $5 at the door. As it got later, they weren't even enforcing the $5 fee to get in anymore. I think the people staging the first Jamboozie were half-way happy just to get people going out there. This year, the admission price has skyrocketed 100%, all the way up to $10.Actually, it depends on what information you go with. I had read that pre-sale tickets were going to be $10 and $15 at the gate.  That's just to go in;no complimentary drink or taco or anything. If you get thirsty and want a coke or beer, you're going to be forking over big bucks.
I don't know what it is about these events. The people staging them appear to get greedy in a hurry. It no longer is about just having a good turnout and organizing a good show. You have to realize that when the WBCA leaders were planning all this, someone conciously made a decision to jack up the prices.

I don't know if the food is going to be good or if the there will be any good bands playing that night. The only thing that is certain at this point, is that as far as the cost goes, we're all being Jamboozled.

Como se dice ?

Along the border, we are infamous for our hybrid Tex-Mex language. We are equally known (and criticized) for our "pocho" way of speaking Spanish. I am not speaking of the Anglicization of Spanish words, although of course we do that a lot. What's interesting is how we pronounce certain words because that's how we have heard them for years. Sometimes, either when we see a word written down, or when we hear someone else pronounce the word(s) correctly, we tend to go "ohhh, asi se dice?".

I used to say until I realized it was actually :

paimento                            pavimento
guelera                               hielera
pader                                 pared
sanoria                               zanahoria
pan tajao                            pan tajado
ahuelo/ahuela                     abuelo/abuela
el radio                              la radio
la agua                               el agua
mascar                              masticar
dewelada                          de volada

I think you get the idea. That's one thing about the border, many of us are continuosly re-discovering our language, make that languages.

Laredo Alexander 28, Weslaco 26

Weslaco Edged By Alexander At Alamo Stadium : Sports : ValleyCentral.com

Sunday Morning Barbacoa

If any of you grew up in West Laredo (west of La Sanbe), you might be familiar with the sound, every Sunday morning, of "Bar-ba-coooo-Ahhhhh". I really don't know if that's you spell it. In the 1970s and maybe into the 80s, a hard-working man from La Ladrillera known as "Chema" would walk down the streets of the West side, pushing a cart. In in, he had an ample supply of steaming hot barbacoa and packages of warm tortillas de maiz. He did this even in those rare "really cold" Laredo winter mornings. What was amazing is that his voice carried for blocks. I'm guessing that he started his morning around 5am in order to get everything ready. Before 7am, he was already well on his way. He certainly did his part for keeping the uniqueness of our Laredo/South Texas culture and traditons alive.

Recommended radio



Anyone know where I can get one of these?


I don't usually listen to the most popular radio talk shows. I don't have a survey in front of me but last time I remember hearing about "top shows" they included Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Sean Hannity. Not much to choose from there. There's probably hundreds of shows that people would recommend to each other that many people don't even hear about. There's two in particular that I find myself listening to semi-regularly. One of them is "Coast to Coast AM". This show has been around since about the 1980s.that probably says something about loyal listeners. Although the show usually has a Supernatural slant, there's a lot of shows that have to do with religion, Science, conspiracy theories and practically anything that you can think of. It can be listened to on XM 165 Nightly from 12:00am to 4:00am.

As far as a more political/current event type of show, I think "Stand up with Pete Dominick" on XM 130; POTUS radio. What's refreshing about it is that the host, Pete Dominick, actually asks people who disagree with him to call in and he often admits it if he's proven wrong. It's a rather unique show. It airs weekdays on XM 130 from 2pm-5pm central. Well, of course it goes without mentioning that I regularly listen to the notorious Tom Wade show. I really don't know why. It's one of those things that you can't explain. It's like so predictably bad that you sort of have to tune it. That one is on 1090AM from 7am to 8am, Monday through Friday. Believe it or not, someone does still listen to AM radio.