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Saturday, May 10, 2008

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The Battle for Hondo - Dispatch 2

Battle for Hondo - Dispatch 2
May 10, 2008

12:45pm – With Rubén Solís in the Real People … Real Change! amplified truck making noise on the streets of Hondo, Texas.

Hay que salir a las casillas para votar!
Vamos haciendo un cambio para todo Hondo!
Ahorita el voto está carrado y no nos vamos a ganar sin tu participación!
Sálgan a votar!
Sálgan a votar!
Hoy es el día de la elección!
Hoy podemos ganar y hacer un cambio!

The sun has burned away the morning cloud cover and folks are guessing the temperature at around 99 degrees with high humidity. There are about thirty people out on the streets, at City Hall poll watching, in door-to-door teams getting out votes, barbequing at “La Tierra,” a piece of land in the middle of the barrio, or out front of City Hall giving information to voters and keeping a head count of folks going inside to cast their ballots.

The count is sitting at 125 to 92. It has stayed at about a thirty vote difference most of the morning, plus there were some votes that were missed very early in the morning.

It’s tight here in Hondo, Texas


1:50pm – the count is sitting at 153 to 124. The total turnout will be close to doubling the previous record in Hondo.

Hondo is an amazing place where southern Jim Crow was laid thick on top of the kind of occupation New Mexico experienced. There are dozens of towns like this in the middle Rio Grande Valley. You get a lot less of the demographic diversity that you kind of feel in northern and central New Mexico, and it is assumed that Mexicans simply will not bother to participate in elections. So what the folks here have done is generate a lot of activity, between mostly Chicanos getting behind the Real Change slate, and mostly anglos who have been stirred to action by the thought (or fear) of an active community of raza controlling the City budget.

In a memorable moment the other day, the Hondo Anvil Herald stated that
voting in the election, which has a record breaking early vote, is crucial if a fair representation of the city’s electorate is to decide to keep their current city council members, who by all reports and indications have been very productive, or to replace one, two of all three of them with their challengers. (My emphasis).
In other words, never mind the fact that, according to the same paper, “interest in the Hondo city elections is at an all time high.” It’s an interest being expressed by the wrong people.
So it gets translated kind of like this: “yo, YO, YO!!!!! You guys are about to get slammed if you don’t move on it."
The editorial line of the paper is merged with the “news” – they don’t bother to make any distinction. Who needs the pretense?

3:30pm – the count is 190 for us to 160 for the other guys. Folks are getting ready for the final stretch, the polls are open until 7:00.

# posted by elmolestoso @ 1:58 PM
Comments:
Would you like Hondo to turn into another Crystal City? You may get what you ask for - no tax base after the people you don't want to win the election leave, and little to no gov assistance. Will you be happy then? The real people will have an opportunity to lead then won't they?
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 8:19 PM
 
Please come to Roswell nm, we need your help, we have 10 city councilers who all vote Republican, 3 are Hispanic but they tow the line. we are almost 50% of the population, yet we have no voice on the council.

Thanks
keep up the good work
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 11:58 PM
 
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