Soy de Duval

POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM NOVEMBER 27, 2016 Texas Attorney General John Ben Shepherd In the early 1950s, Attorney General John Ben Shepherd, with support of Governor Alan Shivers, went to Duval County with a host of investigators, mostly Texas Rangers, to investigate the Parr political machine. They spent months at the courthouse looking at the county’s books and when it was all over they came up with more than 300 criminal indictments. Shepherd said the ghost of George B. Parr would roam the halls of the Duval County Courthouse for a long time. In May 1952, the Freedom Party–an anti Parr party–held its convention in the Duval County Courthouse. Rangers, who had been called to investigate political goings on in the county, were on hand to guard against trouble. Parr held a press conference at Duval County Courthouse charging the district judge with padding grand jury with Freedom Party members. The Duval County Republicans also held their county convention at the courthouse on

TOPICS: Courthouse Duval County Texas George Parr Politics Texas POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   NOVEMBER 20, 2016 On May 18, 1912, three Anglos — C. K. Gravis, Frank Robinson, and Doc Roberts —gunned  down three Mexican American officials —Candelario Saenz, Antonio Anguiano, and Pedro Eznal — on grounds of Duval County Courthouse as an election to incorporate San Diego got underway. The three accused were acquitted in a change of venue to Richmond, Texas. Many historians and political observers point to this event as the genesis of the Parr political machine. In June 1914, W.W. Meek sought an injunction against tax collector A. W. Tobin to prevent him from collecting a tax for courthouse and jail purposes, which Meek and others claimed was illegal. State Representative J. T. Canales George B. Parr Circa 1934, George B. Parr reportedly assaulted State Representative J. T. Canales at the Duval County Courthouse forfeiting his probation from an earlier conviction. It was not the last

TOPICS: Duval County Courthouse James B. Wells James O. Luby John Williamson Moses Salvado De La Vega Stanley Welch POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   NOVEMBER 16, 2016 The Duval County Courthouse is, of course, primarily a judicial building. Many important cases have been heard and decided at the courthouse, some by important figures in Texas history. The courthouse is also a political structure where many public policy decisions have been made, elections have been held and eventful political actions have been hatched. The current Duval County Courthouse, as was the case with the previous courthouses, has also been the scene of many notable cases and political events. Among the more notable visitors included Congressman  Lyndon Baines Johnson , later president of the United States. The courthouse was frequently visited by Texas Rangers, Texas Attorney Generals, U.S. Attorneys, and FBI investigators. Like most public buildings in small towns, the Duval County Courthouse has been the c

TOPICS: Courthouse Duval County Jail POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   NOVEMBER 6, 2016 In April 1932 history repeated itself. On April 12, 1932 at 10 a.m., the Duval County Jail burned to the ground. Five prisoners were in the jail and were safely removed. The Alice fire department was called, but the lack of water prevented them from extinguishing the blaze. The jail was located on southwest corner on which the courthouse now stands, where the old courthouse had been located when it burned. After construction of new courthouse, the former building with 7-8 rooms was converted into jail. Prisoners were suspected as having set the fire. On May 26, 1938, the court approved notice for bids to be solicited for a remodeling of the courthouse to include an annex with a jail on the second floor. The annex was to be connected to the existing structure via an enclosed walkway. They hired the architectural firm of Page & Sutherland to design the new addition for a fee of 7 percent of the

Servando Cárdenas La Voz de Amor , released in September 2016, is a book of Spanish poetry written by Servando Cárdenas. The poet looks at love from a romantic, familial, patriotic, cultural, and spiritual perspective and provides great insights into Tejano culture. The book is also a labor of love for co-editor Alfredo E. Cárdenas, son of the poet. His co-editor, Javier Villarreal, Ph.D. is a recently retired professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM OCTOBER 23, 2016 TOPICS: Duval County Courthouse On August 25, 1883, the courthouse and jail narrowly escaped being burned to the ground. A fire of unknown origin broke out in the kitchen near the jail, razed the cook house, but through the “great effort of the citizens” failed to damage the courthouse or jail. Thirty-one years later, on August 11, 1914, the Courthouse did not escape this fate. A fire erupted at about 4 a.m. and the frame building, by then valued at $40,000, went up in flames. The first alarm came from the jailer at the nearby county jail who released a volley of shots to wake up the community. County Judge Frank Clarkson was sleeping in his office located at the jailhouse and was at the scene almost immediately and quickly assured residents that all records were safe in a steel fireproof vault. The judge spoke prematurely as the records needed for the audit were indeed lost in the fire. A year after the courthouse was heavily damaged

TOPICS: Courthouse Duval County Texas E.D. Sidbury Hugo Heldenfels James O. Luby Manuel Ancira N. G. Collins POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   OCTOBER 12, 2016 An election to organize Duval County, Texas was held on November 7, 1876. The newly elected Commissioners Court met at the store of James O. Luby in San Diego where they presented their election certificates to Nueces County Judge Joseph Fitzsimmons. This is the Manuel Ancira store circa 1876. It is not clear whether this was the courthouse since Ancira owned several lots adjacent to each other. The courthouse was in lot two, this building appears to be in lot one. One of the Court’s first order of business was the securing of a courthouse. In December 1876, the court agreed to offer Manuel Ancira $400 annually for the use of two houses located on Lot 2, Block 11 in San Diego to be paid $100 quarterly. The court also authorized Luby, who had been elected as county judge, to secure an “iron cage” for use as a jail. They also au