A.D. Ibarra

-City Hall

In a long special meeting which began at 5:00 PM going directly into executive session until 11:30 PM, Eagle Pass City Council, with an overwhelming 4-1 majority, voted to suspend City Manager Gloria Barrientos from her duties as City Manager of Eagle Pass.

   Maverick County Commissioner's Court met on Monday to discuss the 2015 tax rate.  The question is will the county choose to lower taxes, keep them the same or increase them for 2015?

   "You have already received the copies of the proposed 2015 effective tax rate," said Izamari Villarreal, Tax Assessor Collector, "Item 24 is your proposed tax rate and Item 28 is your rollback rate."

A public hearing was held Monday August 10, 2015 at the International Center for Trade to present information to the community as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepare a Regional Environmental Impact Statement to analyze potential impacts within the region for future surface coal mining and/or lignite mining. 

Over 150 community members as well as others from extending outlying areas attended the meeting ready to voice their concerns about the environmental affects that an open surface coal mine can have on our community. 

Darvin Messer, Project Manager for the Regional EIS  for Coal Mining in Texas with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was present at the the hearing and clarified that they were not here to approve any type of mining or anything specific to Dos Republicas but were indeed giving the public an opportunity to voice their concerns and give input in the process for the way they evaluate permits for coal mining in the state of Texas. 

Over 25 speakers addressed the panel of representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers led by hearing officer Commander Clay Morgan of the Fort Worth Region of the Corps of Engineers including Mayor Ramsey English Cantú who expressed the serious concerns that the City of Eagle Pass has in regards to the Dos Republicas mine. 

Harry Nimso of the Comanche Tribal Council of Lawton, Oklahoma also spoke against the mine and explained of the sacred archeological sites that exist within the region. Helen Martinez, Representative to Sen. Carlos Uresti, was also on hand to stress the detrimental environmental impacts that can result from the Dos Republicas coal mine project. 

Maverick County Commissioner Jerry Morales also spoke and expressed to the panel the seriousness of the situation as there are many households and residential areas within the expansion of the area proposed by Dos Republics. 

He further asked why their was no consultation with Maverick County with relation to the scope of the survey area. “The people of Maverick County overwhelmingly oppose this mine. More than 8,000 citizens of the county have signed a petition against the mine”, stated Morales.  

This continues the process which will further impede or will finally result in the expansion of production for the multi-million dollar investment in the surface mining of coal and lignite in Maverick County.

An appeal will be heard on the matter of the flood plain permit which was denied late last year in Maverick County which will be heard by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in November.

Adrián Ibarra

-UMC

Asistente del Director General de los Centros Médicos, Humberto Durán, así como  el Administrador Auxiliar Mario Pola dieron la bienvenida a los ciudadanos de Eagle Pass, así como los dignatarios que asistieron a la celebración  del Centro Nacional de Salud en UMC  en su ubicación en  el Loop de Veteranos en la ausencia de CEO George Kypuros.

Mayor Ramsey English-Cantú estaba allí para leer una proclama y bocadillos saludables  se sirvieron para los asistentes.

"Toda esta semana estaremos celebrando Community Health Centers ", dijo Pola, "Centros Comunitarios de Salud son una iniciativa importante por el gobierno federal.  Hay 1.200 centros de salud calificados a nivel federal como UMC en todo el país."

Clínicas como éste están proporcionando servicios de salud a más de 8.000 comunidades en todo el país. Más de 20 millones de personas son atendidas por los centros de salud comunitarios.

UMC proporciona atención primaria de salud integral para más de 30.000 personas en los tres condados de Maverick, Val Verde y Kinney donde UMC tiene siete clínicas que generan más de 110.000 visitas médicas cada año.

"Por lo tanto, el impacto del centro de salud de la comunidad es importante. Es un recurso muy importante para nuestra comunidad", agregó el administrador adjunto, "Si no tuviéramos centros de salud comunitarios como estos, las salas de urgencias de nuestros hospitales serían abrumado. Tratamos de proporcionar atención primaria para que las personas no tengan que ir a la sala de emergencias. Tratamos de controlar la hipertensión y la diabetes antes de que cause un problema mayor ".

Este es el tipo de medicina preventiva que no sólo ayuda a la población a ser más saludables, pero al mismo tiempo mantiene la carga fuera de nuestras entidades médicas más grandes.

"Estamos especialmente afortunados que tenemos apoyo bipartidista. CHC de son apoyados por republicanos y demócratas, que es muy raro en el panorama político de hoy", cerró el Sr. Pola, "Queremos ganar este apoyo mediante la prestación de servicios a la comunidad."

Sus centros se rigen por once personas que representan a las poblaciones que se sirven.

"¿Quién más podría saber qué cuestiones y problemas  tenemos?"

 UMC cuenta con más de 300 empleados, que es un impacto económico importante en Eagle Pass y tienen más de 30 médicos y proveedores de nivel medio.