A.D. Ibarra

-Eagle Pass

Newly appointed Commissioner of Precinct 4, Robert Ruiz, in an exclusive interview with the Eagle Pass News Gram, introduced us to the new Parks and Recreation Director for Precinct 4, Sergio Angulo.

Angulo, a former coach and lifelong enthusiast of local athletics who competes on the national level in track and field, having attended the National Championships in Landover, Maryland just last week, will come on board to coordinate activities and maintain existing facilities within Precinct 4 which includes the Nick Carr Sports Complex.

Commissioner Ruiz, a former Texas and US History teacher himself, gave us a short history lesson of what the complex was before it became a major gathering place for local athletes and families in the Loma Bonita area.  He said that it used to be a small pond or lake which was drained around the time that he served as commissioner 20 years ago, a large retaining wall which was adjacent to the pond was torn down and the existing parking lot and street was lain down as you could actually drive on the retaining wall back then as it would be another access to the residential area which has since grown.

The new facility now houses a softball field, a Little League baseball field, a soccer field, a pavillion/basketball court, a children's play area, a walking track and even a boxing facility.

Coach Angulo has been called upon to oversee the operations and to supervise the maintenance of these existing facilities.  He also has some ideas as to how the area can be improved. 

"I'd like to take this opportunity to invite the representatives of all local softball teams to come by our offices and visit with me in order to begin organizing activities for men and women's programs and even for veterans," added the new Precinct 4 Parks Supervisor.

A.D. Ibarra

-Eagle Pass

When one sees road construction or in this case, the closing of El Indio Highway, you may think to yourself, 'What an inconvenience' before taking the customary detour.

What you may not know is that projects such as this begin as a gleam in the eye of a TxDoT Director or the futuristic vision of an engineer or architect.

The designs which are visible at the new overpasses on the outer loop, the eagles and Texas Star designs came to fruition at meetings back in the 1990's under Mayor Raul Treviño's administration when present TxDoT Eagle Pass Maintenance Supervisor Celestino Hernandez was Planning Director for the city.

"The aesthetics of projects such as these are usually ironed out in meetings and organizational planning sessions between city officials and TxDoT at times many years before the projects are carried out," stated Hernandez who informed The News Gram of all the exciting plans for the new overpass, "The aesthetics of this new project will have very impressive 3-dimensional designs which depict the history of Eagle Pass in the cattle trade in the 1800's and early 1900's."

Hernandez let us in on the design which will be embossed and de bossed images of wagons, horses and cattle on the cattle drives which Eagle Pass cattlemen and cowboys would undertake many years ago, an interesting conceptual design which highlights our history while touching the future with civil engineering, asphalt, concrete and rebar.

The new super-structure will begin to form and be visible to the public within the next thirty days as crews are in the process of drilling 40-60 foot holes in the ground to anchor the massive pillars which will hold up the new overpass.

"The closure of the highway is mostly for public safety purposes, but thanks to the garrison St. overpass and the advent of the Cardona Unit on El Indio, this closure will not impact the fire department," added Hernandez.

Hernandez along with Antonio Perea, P.E., Area Engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation have been on top of the progress of the new super-structure while still maintaining our existing highways and byways as it is their job to insure the upkeep of these as well as looking to the future as much as they possibly can.

“The project is well underway and within 30 days you will actually start seeing the above ground construction”, commented Perea.

"As of the beginning of the month, the project was about 15% complete. Currently the contractor is installing the remaining storm sewer items like pipes and inlets.  Also, the contractor has started the  overpass work by constructing the drill shaft foundations."

As with any TxDOT project the public is encouraged to drive with caution in any construction zone, obey all warnings, and to be safe.

So next time you drive by the construction, rest assured that it'll be very soon that we will all be enjoying the newly designed overpass and reaping the benefits of a lot of work and logistics which needed to be in place in order to see a project of this magnitude come to fruition.

A.D. Ibarra

-Austin, TX

Eagle Pass will be proudly represented in this year's Clyde Littlefield's Texas Relays at Meyer Memorial Stadium on the campus of The University of Texas competing in the Distance Medley Relay and the 4X800 meter relay. 

Coach Juan Gonzalez and Frank Vielma along with Coach Roger Olivas are very proud of these two groups which were able to qualify for this prestigious event.

Historically, the Texas Relays signal the beginning of the iconic outdoor track season, and beginning Wednesday high schools, universities and colleges from across the country are filing into Austin to compete at Myers Stadium, which is traditionally packed to its 20,000 capacity.

"It's truly an honor for our kids to be invited to this event and to be able to display their skills in front of a crowd such as the ones who come out to the Texas Relays," stated Coach Juan Gonzalez, "Last year Christian Garcia was invited in the shot put, but we've never had runners compete here.  Only the top 18 teams in the state get an invitation in the 4 x 800 meter relay and the top 24 teams in the distance medley get to compete."

The first of the relay groups that qualified is the 4 X 800 meter relay consisting of senior Saul Vasquez, senior Carlos Elizondo, sophomore Victor Garcia, and senior Jorge Ortiz. The second group is the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) which is ran by sophomore Martin Lopez, junior Louis Cortez, senior Carlos Elizondo, and sophomore Hector Alvarez. Alternates for this relay include junior Jesus Teran and sophomore Javier Guevara. 

"Our kids have worked hard to get here and the majority are seniors, but our sophomores and juniors have earned their right to compete as well," closed Gonzalez.

The Eagle Pass News Gram salutes these fine athletes, their parents and their coaches as they descend on the State Capital in search of gold and glory.  Godspeed and good luck.  Represent!