City should invest in more facilities

Editor:

I travel back and forth to work every day on Paredes Line Road. Subsequently, I pass the Event Center every day. I was a member the City Commission when this property was purchased. I believed then and still believe it was a good decision.

The purpose of the Event Center and the Brownsville Tennis Center was to replace the only two public tennis courts in our city, the Jacob Brown Auditorium and International Friendship Garden. My point is that this area was to be become a public event facility and raise the quality of life for our citizens.

Recently, I noticed that the five acres in. front of the Events Center are for sale. I also noticed that the property adjacent to the Events Center called the Playground is also for sale. My first thought was the city should purchase both these pieces of property in order to expand the public recreation and education areas for our citizens.

The five acres could be used for a police substation for Northeast Brownsville. The Playground site could complement the picnic area and the resaca area north of the Events Center. The building could be converted into a library annex for the Northeast side of Brownsville. This facility would attract kids from the Cameron Park area and potentially students all the way from the Rivera High School area. This research lab and computer center would greatly enhance the quality of life for all the children who live in that area.

It seems that for $48 million we could have built a new convention center and a sports park. It is time to focus on the neighborhoods and the issues that affect people every day. The 4B money was to be used to enhance public facilities in all parts of our city, not just for one project. These properties on Paredes Line Road should be a top priority for the continued development of public facilities.

Our sales tax numbers are way up and our property taxes continue to rise. If you are going to raise taxes then you need to turn around and reinvest this windfall back into our city.

I hope this letter has been informative and serves as an eye opener. I hope all of the City Commission is convinced that something has to be done quickly or is angry at me for interfering. Regardless, I hope to have accomplished something that has not happened in a very long time. That all of you stand united to pursue this endeavor.

This is a golden opportunity to extend more police presence to this part of our city. A branch library facility in Northeast Brownsville would open up all kinds of learning opportunities for the thousands off students who live in this area.

Ernie Hernandez Jr.

Brownsville

Alzheimer's care proves expensive

Editor:

I believe middle-income and low-income families and elder citizens cannot afford to get Alzheimer's due to the cost of care and the cost of obtaining legal guardianship.

My 89-year-old mother was diagnosed with dementia (Alzheimer's disease). I experienced complex problems gaining legal authority to care for her. I experienced the frustration of finding a reasonably priced care facility. Home care for Alzheimer's patients is 24 hours a day, devastating to caregivers and often insufficient.

Unable to get mother's cooperation to move her to a care facility, I talked to her bank, health insurance, government pensions and care facilities. They said I needed legal guardianship. So I hired an attorney. The legal process took almost six months; I have spent $15,000 in legal fees and was required to post a bond.

After obtaining guardianship, the required court reports and record keeping are complicated and expensive. The process for a $10,000 estate is the same process as for someone with a multimillion-dollar estate.

The court must give prior approval for all transactions that use the ward's estate. Annual reports on income, expenditures and disposition of all assets are required. Most of these activities require legal documents and an attorney. Why should the guardian of a person whose estate is valued at less than $10,000 need to spend $15,000 for legal fees and follow the same court requirements as guardians handling millions of dollars?

Our courts are overrun with serious cases. While I can understand why the court should verify a guardian's qualifications and evaluate the extent of the ward's incapacity, there could be a more reasonable process that would not require all this legal action and expense for the small estates. Why is the guardianship process so complicated, and why does it require the court to review and approve all transaction for an estate valued at less than $10,000?

Many nursing homes in Texas do not have Alzheimer's care facilities and cannot provide security for those who tend to wander. Even though most accept state Medicaid subsidies they are not required to have secured environments. In fact, they are not allowed to lock their doors.

There are inexpensive ways to protect the patients who tend to wander off without locking doors. Why can't all nursing homes in Texas be required to secure their patients and keep them from wandering off the property?

Private-pay care facilities for Alzheimer's starts at $4,000 per month and escalates based on the level of care required, up to $6,000. These facilities are not required to accept any patients on Medicaid. They also are not "nursing homes." They send patients doctors, emergency care, hospital, or local "nursing" homes for any other treatment. Couldn't there be a requirement for private-pay facilities to accept a minimal number of Medicaid-approved Alzheimer's patients to obtain a state or federal certification?

Alzheimer's is becoming a crisis that will eventually affect all citizens. Regulations are in place for the quality of care for nursing home facilities, which is very helpful.

However, there is little regulation with respect to the type and cost of care for the average person with this devastating disease.

Anyone who has experienced similar problems or would like to help should contact their state representatives about fixing this problem. Their addresses are available on the Internet at www.capitol.state.tx.us.

Carole Baker

Blanco, Texas

Many U.S. citizens born with midwives

Editor:

Today, the issue of citizenship affects U.S. citizens born through midwives who are applying to get a passport that will allow them to travel in and out of the country. Tomorrow, it could affect those same U.S. citizens when applying for Social Security benefits, retirement benefits, Medicare or Medicaid benefits, those buying insurance, buying or selling property and who knows what else. It could also affect U.S. citizens who are descendents of these people who were born at home delivered by midwives.

The federal government is currently requiring people born through a midwife to provide additional proof that they were born in this country. I wonder if the State Department is aware of the hundreds of people working as U.S. Border Patrol agents, law enforcement officers, judges and other important positions that call for them to be citizens of the United States of America who were delivered into this world by "parteras" or midwives.

I bet no one questioned the birth certificates of thousands of our soldiers who were delivered by midwives yet served and gave their lives believing they were fighting for freedom during the wars and conflicts the United States has been and is now involved in.

Is the Government asking this of Quakers, Amish and native Americans throughout the country who were brought into the world by midwives? Will these people also have to prove they were born here when they apply to become naturalized citizens? I wonder if George Washington and Abe Lincoln were born in a hospital.

It is time for U.S. citizens to start taking action to put a stop to these idiotic actions. It should not matter whether we came into the world in a home with the help of a partera or in a hospital.

Some people might think they "don't have a dog in this fight," but they might be surprised!

Jimmy Paz

Brownsville

Via the Internet

Meeting the needs of distressed and rural areas of Texas

Addressing the needs of rural and distressed communities in Texas should be a high priority this upcoming legislative session.

The International Relations and Trade Committee I chair recently held a fact-finding hearing on these matters.

Under the leadership of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, one of many directives assigned the committee was to develop legislative recommendations that would better provide border and rural communities access to state and federal resources. We were instructed to review programs by other states to increase the competitiveness of rural communities, engender critical development, provide affordable housing, identify community assets and retain and create wealth and jobs.

Texas has the nation's largest rural population. One in seven Texans works in agriculture. Between 1990 and 2000, the state's rural population grew rapidly, behine only Georgia and North Carolina.

A comprehensive solution is needed since many of the state's predominantly rural counties face poverty rates of 20 percent, compared to 16.5 percent for more metropolitan areas. Border counties have an alarming 46 percent poverty rate. Though the average age of South Texans is 25, their low education and job skills training creates poverty and unemployment like rural communities with older residents.

The demographics of rural Texas will help drive our economic and community development solution.

According to State Demographer Karl Eschbach, rural communities tend to have an excess of older people and relatively few working age individuals compared to metropolitan regions. The lack of jobs fails to attract young workers and the lack of young workers fails to attract businesses to the area. Entrepreneurship is stymied even for existing business owners, because of the lack of a work force.

Last legislative session we worked on several initiatives to begin addressing rural communities' needs. One bill gave the Office of Rural Community Affairs a charge to serve as a clearinghouse for information and resources on all state and federal programs affecting rural communities.

At our hearing, Executive Director Charlie Stone reported ORCA's Grants and Funding Clearinghouse Web site, www.orca.state.tx.us/index.php/Home/Grants+Clearinghouse, is in operation and provides rural communities extensive information, including funding opportunities, and tools for writing and seeking grants.

However, Mr. Stone asked that the comprehensive rural development bill that my committee recommended last interim and that I authored last session, Senate Bill 1485, be reintroduced during the upcoming session.

These sentiments were echoed by many officials and activists from across the state who participated in our hearing because my bill incorporated the best practices and latest reforms in rural development from across the nation.

"Legislation of this type would certainly provide ORCA with the toolkit needed to address longstanding challenges facing rural and border communities and help those communities to increase their competitiveness," Mr. Stone stated.

Director of State Policy Programs for Rural Policy Research Institute Bobby Gierisch offered assistance. He said, "A successor to SB 1485 is very necessary, and I look forward to working with you, your staff, ORCA and others on creating the very best programs possible."

My committee is currently drafting our interim report in which we will present a strong case for a comprehensive solution, such as SB 1485, to the state's rural needs.

I plan to reintroduce this legislation and work with my colleagues to establish the Texas Rural Development Fund to improve the state's current rural-focused activities. We aim to provide the resources that address the critical needs of capacity or leadership enhancement and community asset identification. Regional planning and partnership information would be additional components.

Through this initiative, we could provide the funding to support youth and leadership development to stem the tide of youth emigration and dropout rates. We could also enhance wealth creation, rural entrepreneurship, business innovation and job creation.

The Texas Comptroller's Office reports that to increase economic development in rural areas, we should focus on workforce training and infrastructure development. While communities should recruit businesses, they should also encourage entrepreneurship, since almost 80 percent of new job creation is by existing community businesses.

The Association for Rural Communities in Texas has identified the need for job creation and retention; youth retention through workforce development; and promotion of regional economic development as our three top rural needs. All of these, reported ARCIT's Executive Director Donna Chatham, would be covered in SB 1485.

With the support of those who testified at our IRT hearing, we will develop initiatives, such as those envisioned in my SB 1485, to adopt the programs from across the country that would truly create comprehensive rural community development and growth.

Eddie Lucio Jr. represents Texas Senate District 27, which includes Cameron County.