Soy de Duval

Today I want to take a point of personal privilege and write about a family member of whom we are all rightfully proud. Just to keep myself honest, this has to do with history in the making and it certainly has a tie to Duval County. Our nephew Eric Chapa is the grandson of Mrs. Lupe Chapa, who many of you know simply as “Miss Chapa” who had a long and illustrious career as a teacher in Duval County schools. His father is G.R. Chapa of San Diego and his mother is Priscilla Ibanez Chapa (my wife’s sister) of Alice. He is a seminarian for the Diocese of Corpus Christi at the North American College in Rome. Currently, he is doing his pastoral year at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Parish in Corpus Christi. A seminarian’s pastoral year gives him the opportunity to experience life in a parish before he completes his studies and is ordained a priest. One of the experiences is that of doing a reflection on the Sunday readings so that he can gain experience as a future homil...

(Since my birthday is around the corner, I thought it would be fun to share this information with you.) After reading my columns on the history of newspapering in Duval County, Alice reader Jeorge Garza sent me a 1948 copy of the Duval County Facts . I found it particularly interesting because 1948 is the year I was born and wondered what my parents were observing and experiencing during that time. The newspaper is for the week of April 9. Before reviewing the news of the day, it is noteworthy to point out some facts about the Facts . This issue indicates that it is volume 23 of the newspaper. This would mean that the Duval County Facts started publication in 1925. The “sole owner” in 1948 was J. L. C. Beaman. I remember Mr. Beaman as a colleague of my father’s. He would bring us bags full of apples and oranges during Christmas season. At first glance, it appears that 1948 was a rather uneventful time for the politically charged Duval County atmosphere. It may have been, as the saying...

A note that appeared in the Corpus Christi newspaper of July 9, 1887 reveals much about attitudes in Duval County at the time regarding race (ethnic) relations. Although today, Duval County has an overwhelming Mexican-American population, in those days there was a considerable Anglo presence in the county. I, of course, use these terms loosely. The facts are that while many “Mexican-Americans” were in fact born here and were “Americans”, many others were Mexican nationals who were not born locally or obtained citizenship. The same was true of “Anglos”, which of course is a further generalization since many of the “white” residents were not of Anglo descent. A few were native born, but many came from other parts of the state, country, or world. They descended of Slavic, Hebrew, Irish, French, Russian, Arab, and other nationalities. It seems that a “Mexican” went on trial in Benavides in what the newspaper’s correspondent described as an all-Mexican event. The journalism of that day was ...

When I started this blog I said that from time to time I would comment on current issues that affected the history of Duval County. One such issue, the Pan De Campo , is currently being heatedly debated on Facebook. Via Facebook my dear friend and classmate José Lauriano Hinojosa asked for my opinion on the subject–as a former mayor of San Diego, which prompted Delia Ibáñez to add her desire to hear from the man who made “Telling It Like It Is” a popular column in the Duval County Picture . To which Carmelinda García added the Duval County Picture would be all over this story. My initial inclination was to stay out of the fray. As the old saying goes, I don’t have a dog in this hunt or as our ancestors may have said, “ no tengo vela en este entierró .” But, alas, I will venture a few comments in deference to my friends’ request. But I will do it my way–which is to say not on Facebook, which I do not believe is the best venue for serious public policy discussions. Instead I will ...

Not all news is breaking news (Since I ran two blogs on newspapering in Duval County, I thought it appropriate to run a column I wrote in 2006, which gives my approach to news reporting. Brought back fond memories of my days reporting the news of Duval County.) Thankfully the silliness over Vice-President Cheney’s accidental shooting of a friend did not get legs, as they say in the business, but it certainly created a stir for a week. It brought back to this writer memories of the days when getting the news was work done by news reporters and not provided in a silver platter by spokesman. Besides, no reporter worth his pay would trust a spokesman as far as he could throw him. What the President’s spokesman should have said to David Gregory of NBC News and his fellow White House press corps was to go do their job. More importantly, Gregory’s editor as well as the other editors that lay claim to Washington news should have told their reporters to do their job. It is not the President’s s...

  In June 1958, Clarence Schroeder, another Freedom Party supporter, began publication of the Duval County Maverick . Like Marroquin’s New Duval , it lasted only several months in business before suspending publication in November of the same year. Schroeder also doubled as the Republican County Chairman in Duval County. Like Marroquin, Schroeder served a healthy dose of political fare. Unlike Marroquin, Schroeder, made an effort to keep his opinion in the editorial rather than the news columns. Besides the Facts and the Picture , the only other newspapers in Duval County to publish for an extended period were La Libertad , a Spanish language weekly started circa 1903, the Freer Enterprise and the Freer Press . Records of other publications are sketchy but it shows a number of other newspapers attempted to make it a go in Duval County. The earliest mention of a newspaper is of The Bell Punch in 1882. Other newspapers of the early era included Eco Liberal (also owned by La Lib...

  The journalistic profession has not always been a safe one in Duval County. Neither has it been boring. Newspapermen and women covering Duval County over the years have won a Pulitzer Prize and a pass to the graveyard. At least one reporter has lost his life while in pursuit of the truth of Duval County corruption. Such was the volatility of the county’s political history, especially in the 1950s. In 1952, returning World War II and Korean War veterans launched their own assault against the decidedly undemocratic Parr regime. It made for a decade-long struggle, making the 1950s tense times in Duval County. While the Duval County Facts was a newspaper of longstanding in Duval County, it had never been an activist organ. The Facts , which began publication in the 1920s and seized printing in the mid 1960s, reported information that did not make waves. It served an important function as the chronicler of the weekly affairs of the community but it shied away from the political contr...