Corpus Christi takes a swing at eating Laredo's lunch: Opens 3 Wal-Marts in one day!

Opening ceremonies at one of three Wal-Mart Grand Openings Wednesday in Corpus Christi, Tx.

Not one, not two, but three, tres, trois, 3, III "Wal-Marrs" were all opened in Corpus Christi, Texas in one day.  It all happened a couple of days ago on Wednesday. Although the Gateway City announced the opening of it's 4th Wal-Mart on North Loop 20 a few months ago, I don't think construction has started yet. To be honest, if it has, I haven't noticed.

When I read about the Grand Opening of 3 Wal-Marts on the same day, in the same town and not even in a metropolis like Los Angeles or Chicago or New York City but in a mid-sized town like Corpus Christi, Texas instead had me looking at the calendar to make sure it wasn't April Fools' Day.

OK, so for now, we'll let McAllen go on a diet for a while and it will be Corpus Christi eating Laredo's lunch for a change. They are definitely the Wal-Mart Capitol of South Texas.

When the latest flavor of the month is done with, there's always Vanilla Mitt

"Corporations are people, just like all of you!"

The top of the ice cream case has recently been stocked with assorted flavors of the month. One by one, they have become all the rage only to soon melt away. And there, at the bottom of the refrigerated case is good ol' Vanilla Mitt somehow managing to find itself at the "top" again, for lack of a better word.

If it wasn't Michelle Bachman, it was Rick Perry. Then for a while, the self-described black walnut flavor, Herman Cain came into vogue. Well, after a week of zany commercials and repeated missteps, republicans are going back to the basics once again. Republicans have tried a variety of seasonal favorites but keep coming back to the current standard bearer, "Vanilla Mitt" Romney.

What are the chances the city goes with an "interested party" at new inspection facilities?

Instructions: to update, please replace Valdez with Vera, Thank You

You don't have to really know all the details of the developments at the city's two new refrigerated inspection facilities over at the World Trade Bridge, but be aware of at least one thing. The city council will soon be voting on who's going to manage the facilities and a local brokers' association is simply asking that they select someone who will be neutral, as in no conflict of interest. Is this so hard to expect?  Well, just please don't be shocked if the geniuses over at city hall find to way to come up with a shady deal on this as well.

From today's Laredo Morning Times

The City of Laredo could soon award the final contract for a set of bridge improvements designed to make the city more competitive with Texas ports.

Officials marked the expansion of seven new lanes at the World Trade Bridge in May and the completion of two 6,000-square-foot refrigeration facilities at the World Trade and Colombia-Solidarity bridges months later.

Bids for the management and operation of the buildings are due at the city by Friday, Nov. 4.

City staff told members of a blue ribbon trade committee Thursday that bids could be scored and a recommendation sent to the City Council within another 30 days.

The committee’s president said customs brokers in Laredo have expressed concern about a firm getting an advantage of winning the contract for operation of the facility.

“We want this to happen; we want this to be a positive impact,” Jose D. Gonzalez said at the meeting.

But Gonzalez, also president of the Laredo Licensed U.S. Customs Brokers Association, said members were concerned that if a broker were awarded management of the refrigeration facilities, it would have a competitive advantage.

He said in an interview that brokers would like to see an administrator who acts as a neutral third party.

OK, City council it seems like a pretty simple, common-sense thing to do. Will you manage to spin this in such a way that, when you select one broker over the others, you'll convince yourselves you were right?

Shenanigans back at Webb County via the tax assessor's office

We might have been remiss in not reporting on Webb lately, but they're still up to their old tricks!

When the county commissioners/CAA squandered nearly 1 Million dollars by mis-managing two programs, it was only a matter of time before they came up with a way to take it out on the taxpayer. Between the Community Action Agency and the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program, the county mis-spent nearly a Million bucks which the state of Texas said it would not reimburse them for.

Now, the Laredo Morning Times is reporting that anyone paying with a check, credit or debit card at the Webb county tax-assessor/collector's office is being slapped with a 3 % surcharge for simply registering their vehicles. Patricia Barrera, tax collector, claims that this is necessary to offset an increased number of "hot checks" being processed by her office.

While it might make sense to charge more for those paying with a check, it makes absolutely no sense to add that same surcharge to any credit and/or debit card transactions. What's worse is that there was essentially no advanced notification about this to the taxpayers.  Barrera claims (correctly) that this is not really news since the good ol' commissioner's court approved it. I guess she figures that Laredoans have nothing better to do than to watch the county commissioners' meetings which are held at 8am every other Monday.

This is another really bad move by this apparently inept commissioners' court (yes, that includes Judge Danny Valdez). The meetings need to be moved back to the evening so that it's a little bit harder for them to sneak all these tricks through. Most importantly, we need a brand spanking new commissioner's court. I know Garza's not running for re-election. I guess we need to start looking into when Judge Danny's term comes up.

While the rich play at la posada, over at Jarvis Plaza......

Blustery change a coming

Although it's still a balmy 80ish and it's nearly noontime, the weather should change considerably over the next 12-24 hours. A quick check showed that San Antonio and Austin are still in the 70s. However, El Paso, way out in West Texas is already registering 48 degrees. That's enough to get the lumbritas going in the Gateway City.

This is your chance to actually wear some sweaters, windbreakers and assorted chaquetas. I wouldn't necessarily suggest scarfs and earmuffs but if you keep your eyes open, you might even spot a few people wearing those. Those would be the Laredoans who classify themselves as "friolentos/friolentas". Yes, these are the same people who want to AC turned down when it's 105 degrees outside. Anyway, enjoy the coming cold front and tune in to Heatwave if you want to see him do some gyrations as he explains the movement of assorted weather systems.

Seven Bullets in a BackPack: luckily no one was hurt at LISD school

OK, make that ammunition at school

"Seven Bullets in a Backpack" might sound like a song title or even the name of a band but that's what Laredo Independent School District administrators found themselves grappling Monday morning. A teacher a JC Martin elementary found 7 bullets in a fourth grader's backpack.

The story, appearing in the LMT this morning says the LISD report does not state if any other students actually saw the bullets. My guess is that some student(s) did see them and that's what probably led to the teacher's finding them. Otherwise,we have to assume that either the student took it upon him/herself to disclose the bullets, OR, the teacher was going through the student's backpack and just happened to come across the ammunition.

Veronica Castillon sought to ease parents' concerns by reassuring them that guidelines are in place to prevent such occurrences.

From The Laredo Morning Times

The incident is the first of its kind this academic year for LISD, said Communications Director Veronica Castillon.

“This was an isolated incident,” Castillon said. “That campus continues to be (a) safe campus.”

Additionally, Castillon described the safety precautions taken districtwide.

“At every one of our campuses, we invest a lot of time and resources in the safety of our students,” she said.

“We have LISD police officers. Parents and visitors have to register when they come in and provide a valid

identification.”