Staff

-Eagle Pass

In Del Rio this morning, former Maverick County employee Alejandra Garcia, age 26, surrendered to federal authorities after a federal grand jury indicted her this week in connection with an alleged bribery scheme announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and FBI Special Agent in Charge Armando Fernandez.

A federal grand jury indictment, returned on Wednesday, charges Garcia with one count of receiving bribes.

According to the indictment, Garcia’s duties included issuing checks to Maverick County contractors. The indictment alleges that from January 2011 until October 2011, Garcia accepted bribes to be influenced and rewarded in connection with a series of contracts worth more than $5,000 in Maverick County funds.

Upon conviction, Garcia faces up to ten years in federal prison. Garcia is scheduled to have her Initial

Garcia appeared at 1:30pm on Friday in Del Rio before U.S. Magistrate Judge Collis White.

This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Individuals who have first-hand information about corruption, fraud, or bribery related to Maverick County are urged to contact the FBI at (210) 225-6741.

Assistant United States Attorney Michael Galdo is prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government.

An indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. The defendant is

presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

A.D. Ibarra

-Eagle Pass

Thomas "T.C." Kincaid was in Eagle Pass on Tuesday carrying his message out to the voters of the 74th District of Texas as he is running for State Representative of the largest voting district of its kind in Texas.

Kincaid who hails from Fort Stockton and says that West Texas is vast and sparingly populated and he feels a need for a West Texas voice to be heard in Texas.

"I feel we have not been well represented in the past and hopefully I can change that.  I'm a conservative businessman, not a carer politician, I feel we have too many of those," he stated in a candid exclusive interview with The Eagle Pass News Gram, ""Our founders envisioned citizen legislators who would serve a term and return to work under the laws set forth."

When asked what hope a medium-sized school district has in terms of meeting the rigorous education standards with limited funding by the state, Kincaid had the following to say, "Funding has been limited in the last biennium, but Susan Combs (State Comptroller) told me that sales tax revenue is up so the coming biennium should not be as bad, but as far as education goes, the quality is lacking.  We need to elevate the quality," reiterated Kincaid, "Throwing money at it does not solve anything it exacerbates it.  Take washington DC for instance.  They spend more per student, yet have the poorest educated kids.  I think an effective use of money is the key."

When asked about the new assessment, he had the following to say, "I think the assessment is probably better, but we need not teach to the test, but we need to teach at a higher level, if we did, the test would be inconsequential."

Kincaid is squaring off with local attorney Alfonso Nevarez for State Representative of District 74 and asks that all voters come out and execute their right to vote, "Come out and vote.  Voting is not only a right, but a duty because it's the way our government is set up.  People choose their leaders.  The only way we can keep this right is to stay informed and for people to execute their right to vote."