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Cesar Flores to contest charges; Court date set for July 9

 
 
A.D. Ibarra
-Del Rio, TX
 
 
     Dozens of prosecutors, court reporters, attorneys and US Marshals awaited the 9:00 A.M. re-arraignment/docket call on Tuesday in The Honorable Alia Moses' Western District of Texas Courtroom 1 at the United States Federal Court House in Del Rio.
     Two cases stemming from Maverick County's list of five a few weeks ago which included those for Eliaz Maldonado, David Gelacio and Javier Gonzalez were not on the docket, however those for former County Auditor's Office employee Juan Carlos Moncada and former County Commissioner Cesar Flores were.
     One by one cases for those in custody were called to appear before Eagle Pass' Moses while an eery sound interference mechanism, something reminiscent of the noise emitted from a television with no reception filled the large room as attorneys deliberated at her desk.  Judge Moses would have the mechanism shut off periodically to inform the defendants and their counsel of either their plea date or their trial date.
     At 9:46, Moses called for those attorneys in the case of Juan Carlos Moncada to step forward and Michael Galdo announced himself to the judge on behalf of the United States followed by Gregory Torres for the defense.
     It took the three a total of three minutes to hear out Torres motion to dismiss the case without a set date for Judge Moses to make a ruling, however, it is speculated that this is what transpired as The Honorable Judge called out the next case number of Marco Antonio Cervantes, the next case on the docket which resulted in the defendant not appearing in court.  A warrant was issued for failure to appear in court and bond was rescinded.
     When Cesar Flores' case number was called at 9:51, again Galdo rose on behalf of the US and attorney Roy Barrera did the same for Flores.  The former commissioner stood stoically behind what could be considered gates which allow one entry to the confines of the courtroom itself while counsel asked to approach the bench.
     The deliberation in this case took significantly longer than Moncada's as, prior to the attorneys approaching the judge's bench, Judge Moses asked the defense attorney if May 21st would be enough time for him to prepare his case to which he responded 'No'.  When asked why, Barrera quickly and steadfastly responded negatively citing that he had not yet received what he termed the 'Discovery' in this case. 
     What this is is the evidence gathered by the Federal Government against the defendant which must, however not in all cases, as we saw in the case of Rodolfo Heredia where transcripts of recorder telephone conversations were not released to his attorneys.
     Whatever the case may be in this matter, it took Judge Moses a little over five minutes to set a July 9th court date for Flores who will indeed be contesting the charges before him before a jury.

     Immediately after this announcement, Flores and his attorney were excused and exited the courtroom together. 

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Event held to kickoff facade uplift at Bridge I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
A.D. Ibarra
-Eagle Pass
     The groundbreaking, if you will, was held to officially commence what will be the new facade of the first International Bridge Port of Entry which as eloquently informed by Mayor Ramsey English-Cantu, got its last official makeover in 1968 following the devastation of the Flood of 1954 which called for the reconstruction of the EP-PN Bridge which was built in 1927 and was built by Francisco Estrada and managed by Manuel Olivares.
     In 1947, the bridge was purchased by the City of Eagle Pass for $320,000.00 with government bonds.
     When the bridge was damaged by the flood, the Uastin Bridge Company out of Dallas and Collins Construction out of San Antonio took on the project which was completed in 1968 including the new bridge and administrative offices.
     In 1999, the Bridge Enterprise System became an official department under the City of Eagle Pass City Council.
     "Now we come together 45 years later to incorporate the original dome-shaped feature of the original facade in this new design (Which appeared in Sunday's issue of your Eagle Pass News Gram)  from the 1920's."
     Cantu added that the project would take approximately 75 days to complete and will not interfere with the day to day operations of the bridge.
     Mario Diaz International Bridge System Director, informed The News Gram that this is an extension of what the Main Street Project has been trying to accomplish with their facade improvement program, "This project goes along with the facade program downtown.  We took this design to the Texas Historical Commission and they were pleased with the results so we are moving forward."

     Diaz also informed us that this project involves only aesthetics which will in no way improve the function of the system or affect positively or negatively the flow of traffic.      City Manager Gloria Barrientos thanked the media for their support and provided insight as to the significance of both bridges to the  City's financial standing, "The bridges are a great support for general  revenue and allows us to maintain our low tax rates."      When asked how the project would be paid for, Barrientos  mentioned that it would be taken care of through bonds approved by City  Council which were rated high due to the fact that we have two bridges  which provide a steady source of income, a luxury not many other  municipalities in the country can count on.

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EP Water Works laying out plans for big undertakings with $8.2 million grant


 

A.D. Ibarra

-Eagle Pass

 

Jorge Barrera, Director of Eagle Pass Water Works, informed The News Gram of a two-pronged project which stems from an $8.2 million grant which will greatly improve the system by which Eagle Pass water users receive the life-giving resource.

The first, Barrera said, will be the installation of a new type of radio read meter which will be able to be read by remote control in a drive-by setting.

The new technology is the latest trend in municipal water operation equipment which will vastly modernize our existing system.

The other measure will be the design, planning and changing out of the cast iron pipelines underneath our city and to replace them with the more practical, longer-lasting PVC type pipes which will be installed in phases this year.

The cast iron pipes, which have been in place for almost a hundred years have served their purpose and will be replaced by the more practical PVC pipe as the EPWW System have been called upon to repair broken pipelines which both run at an expensive rate and force workers to break into paved roads to access the broken lines.

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