By Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian 

Two empty seats were seen at this morning’s Monday, February 12th Uvalde County Commissioners Court meeting held on the third floor of the Uvalde County Courthouse.

Among the agenda items discussed were extending the contract for Servpro for fire damage remediation services for the 2923 arson fire contained in the Uvalde County Tax office located on the 1st floor of the Courthouse. 

It was stated at the meeting the flooring of the offices contains asbestos.

A second Servepro contract for the Uvalde County Justice Center was approved to remediate leaks which are preventing the Grand Jury from holding meetings at the courtroom located at the Center. Currently, the grand jury is meeting at another location nearby at the Uvalde County FairPlex.

Commissioners also approved the purchase of a new sound system for the Uvalde County Fairplex. Fairplex Director Wendy Speers presented the purchase request stating the new system was needed for sound to reach the entire arena. 

Commissioners also approved a bid of $1500 for the sale of a small plot of land located in a residential area near Oppenheimer Street. The bid which was placed at a courthouse steps property sale  was lower than the minimum bid price. According to a source,  the  property was so small it would not be suitable to build anything on but would only be of value to expand the size a neighboring property effectively putting the property back on the tax rolls.

The mother of a Robb School student injured during the May 24th, 2922 tragedy spoke to the Court stating that Comissioner Pargas  should not receive payment for his position on the Court going on ti say he can’t make meetings and is incapable of leading.

Picture and article submitted by Eddie Cantu

Tonight Uvalde All Stars baseball won 3 championships in Pleasanton.

    Last week was busy for the Uvalde Community. it  began on Thursday as Uvalde High School alum, Roland Ramirez, the Director of Player Care and Sports Medicine  for the Houston Texans along with owners Cal and Hannah McNair, Head Coach Lovie Smith, players Kamu Grugier-Hill and Christian Kirksey, and many others surprised the Uvalde Coyote Varsity Football team during the weekly team dinner. The following day, the Coyotes were presented with all new gear and box seats for the Texans season opener against the Indianapolis Colts on September 11th courtesy of the McNair family and HEB. The halftime ceremony honored the 1972 State Championship. The Coyotes ended the night with a gutsy and emotional victory. 

   Saturday began with the Labor Day weekend grand parade with the theme of “Uvalde Strong ”, the crowd fell silent as the families of  the victims of May 24th walked with the pictures of their child in their hands. Later that day, the Class of ’72 met for their 50th reunion. Rain could not stop the fun and the live entertainment at the Palomino Festival where this year all proceeds from the event will be distributed to the victims and survivors of May 24th.

   The  first day of school for Uvalde was Tuesday amidst trepidation, anxiety, and excitement. UCISD evoked new security measures, but more improvements need to be made. Uvalde surely felt the love as hundreds of Texas school districts  flooded Facebook with pictures as they traded in their school colors for one day for maroon. In the picture Laredo United South High School is showing their love

   Uvalde County Fairplex Director Wendy Speer announced to the Uvalde County Commissioner’s Court the county was awarded a Walmart Community Grant totalling $4,500. 

   According to information about the Walmart Community Grants program on the Walmart.org website, it states: 

  “Our local community grants are awarded through an open application process and provide funding directly from Walmart and Sam’s Club facilities to local organizations in the U.S.”

   Additionally, the website  states “The Local Community grants range from a minimum of $250 to a maximum of $5,000 and Eligible nonprofit organizations must operate on the local level (or be an affiliate/chapter of a larger organization that operates locally) and directly benefit the service area of the facility from which they are requesting funding.”

  Those organizations eligible to receive the Walmart Community Grant can be “a recognized government entity: state, county or city agency, including law enforcement or fire departments, that are requesting funds exclusively for public purposes and CyberGrants FrontDoor verified.: according to the Walmart Community Grant website.”

  According to Speer, the $4,500 awarded. $2000 came from the Walmart store based in Uvalde with additional $500 amounts from Walmart stores located in Del Rio, Hondo, Laredo, and the Bob Bullock and Highway 83 South Walmart stores. 

The Uvalde County Commissioners approved a 2022 Inter-governmental Agreement with the U.S. Marshall which will increase reimbursement rates for holding federal inmates at the Uvalde County Jail from $56.70 per day to $73.00 per day. Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco addressed the commissioners and laid out the details of the new agreement. According to Sheriff Nolasco, the UC Jail currently has 81 federal inmates but can hold up to  96 inmates.

Additionally, under this 36 month agreement, deputies will receive reimbursement of $26 per hour while transporting federal inmates.

  Several dozen people assembled outside of the Uvalde Leader-News office on North Front Street in Downtown Uvalde tonight to see the local vote tallies posted on the bulletin board  to three contested local primary races. 

  On the Republican Primary ballot for Justice of the Peace Precinct 2, Cynthia N. Casburn won with 311 votes to Monica Saiz-Martinez with 97 votes. 

  On the Democratic Primary ballot there were two contested local primary races: County Commissioner Precinct 2 and Justice of the Peace Precinct 6,

  For the County Commissioners Precinct 2 race, Mariano Pargas Jr. won with 289 votes to Sergio Porras with 210 votes.

  There was a three way contest for Justice of the Peace Precinct 6 race. Neto Luna carried 203 votes for 39.65% of the total votes; Roland Sanchez had 212 votes for 41.41% of the total votes and Mario Valdez had 97 votes or 18.95% of the total votes. Because no candidate had over 50% of the votes this race will likely go into a run-off race between Luna and Sanchez.

Vote data from the Uvalde County Elections Office.