2011 Top Ten Events in Laredo, Or as I like to call it, the list of things most discussed by my coffee group at Starbucks last year.

Del Mar and McPherson Starbucks (Photo by TW)

Honorable mentions:  Rick Perry crashing and burning so far in the presidential race.  Loud music in too many places.  Why Republicans are better than Democrats.  Why Democrats are better than Republicans.  Why people from New York city should not shoot guns.  Obama (enough said). 


10  Consumer Prices/UT Network/A&M Leaves Big 12  (Three-way tie)

        Discussed how everything is going up in price.  Food, fuel and utilities.  No breaks in the near future.  UT has it’s own network, UT Alums love, non-alums hate.  A&M leaves Big 12, UT Alums love, non-alums hate.

9    Very Little Rainfall

        A dry year to say the least.

8    Baseball Team Named Lemurs

        I never knew what a Lemur was until I came to Laredo.  Go figure?  There should be a rule:  No monkeys in baseball.

7    Crazy City Ordinances

        Crime surely has been decreased by the implementation of the “Beer Run Ordinance,”  you       know, no more skimpy clothing to be worn by those advertising beer sales.  So, no more Miller Lite, or Bud Light girls, right?  Of course not, another un-enforceable (able to get a conviction to                hold up in appellate court if tested) law, like the texting ban.  Time wasters for the police               department.

6    Murder/Suicide at Welfare Office

        This is number 5 only because it just occurred.  Did lead to lots of discussion on welfare in general and who needs help.

5    Bordertown Laredo - Laredo Bigtime TV Show

        Has to be the biggest joke ever played on the city leaders (?) who approved the venture.  It       makes Laredo and it’s police department look like some banana republic.  However, one episode did pretty much describe the Laredo I know.  That is the one where the officer showed up for                work 2 hours late because he had to stop for breakfast.  Can’t get any better than that.

4    CAA Fraud Border

        Still waiting for indictments to come down.  This brought all the reasons to surface why we need to limit government and the waste that excessive spending causes.

3    School Funding Complaints

        Still waiting to see the downside to the school spending cuts.  Teachers and administrators still got a raise and maybe a bonus to boot, plus kids still will not pass the STARs, so where is the     impact?

2    Eagleford Shale Play and Frack-A-Phobia

        The local “Safe Fracking Coalition” is doing everything they can, as are the big US Environmental lobbyist to kill/downplay/stop/interfere with anything not solar or wind.  The Frack-A-Phobes will not look at real facts and real science that proves fracking is safe and a means to help the US reduce it’s dependency on foreign sources of energy.  They even got the EPA to release an error filled report on water well contamination from Utah in an attempt to halt the process of     hydraulic fracturing.  How sad.  PS, the Eagleford Shale thing may tie back to school funding as   the windfall taxes will make the Texas state budget look much better next year.

1        Violence in Nuevo Laredo

Again, the top discussion item at Starbucks….and in Laredo.  When will Mexico wake up and end the corruption that has lead to this situation?  PS, Operation Fast and Furious, while not a Laredo issue garnered a lot of discussion under this headline, as did Homeland Security’s attempt to make the United States a police state (And yes, I agree this one is/has been caused by Republicans.

Please feel free to add to this list.

Stop the Insanity-----Quit Arresting Parents

Over the last few months it seems that several parents have been arrested and charged with a form of child abandonment.  Some of the arrest may have been warrented, but I doubt they all are actual abandonment cases.  I remember one, a grandmother was charged when her, I believe it was also a three year old, grandchild wander off from the home, and a passerby called police.  When the police arrived, the grandmother came down the street and told officers the child was missing.  It was then when the officer arrested grandma and charged her with child abandonment.

You will see that in Missouri, it is not a crime for a small child to escape from their parents and wander off.  In Laredo it is a crime that will get the parent(s) arrested and stuck with a criminal record.  At least the police there are allowed to use common sense and make judgment calls on these types of issues. 

If only Laredo was as advanced.

Part of the story from the Kansas City Star:

The 3-year-old made it two blocks at about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday before an alert passerby put an end to his madcap.

 “He had good identification,” said Liberty Police Lieutenant Andy Hedrick. “They used the dog tag and mother’s purse to determine where the little boy lived.”

The situation — sure to be a legendary family story for years to come — could have turned out much worse. He had already made it two blocks, but still needed to cover another three blocks before arriving at his grandmother’s, Hedrick said.

The passerby cared enough to pull over and call police.

“She didn’t think that looked right,” he said. “She lived nearby and was driving by and saw him walking with the purse and the dog.”

When the officers located the boy’s home they were greeted at the door by a distraught mother.

“Mom had the phone in her hand and was about to frantically call police,” Hedrick said. “She was thankful to have him returned.”

The officers left the boy with his mother after they were assured it had all been an isolated incident.

“The officers talked to the mom and they didn’t find anything else at the home to cause concern,” he said.

His mother told police she had stayed up late. He was gone when she woke up.

“Three-year-olds are tough because they’re old enough to be mobile and really make some good time,” Hedrick said.

It really is time to end this nanny state idea that a child who is not in the immediate area of the parent is an abandoned child.  Kids are kids and thank God they are curious.  So Laredo, if you agree, let your city council person know how you feel.

I'm Back....

With the new year almost upon us, I have decided to resume the blog.  So, I start with a story that has driven me crazy everytime I read one of these...


Happy New Year, and a belated Merry Christmas to all