Free Republic

Gregg and Rusk county reps on a regional transportation board aren’t happy with the lack of progress, reporting and marketing for Toll 49 on which traffic and revenues have slowed.Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority directors hope a new on-ramp that opened Tuesday plus the addition of 6 more miles that open Nov. 1 — two months ahead of schedule — can resurrect sluggish toll revenue.Board member Dave Spurrier raised questions, however, about why more hasn’t been done to attract new drivers, especially from Interstate 20.“I’d just like to see an aggressive marketing plan,” Spurrier, who represents Gregg County, said soon...

Superintendent Rick Albritton with Gilmer ISD says the idea is to expose students to the Bible as literature, its influence on culture, and on society. Monday, trustees with the district unanimously approved offering the Bible as a social studies elective for juniors and seniors in the fall. "It's not to proselytize. It's not an evangelical course," said Albritton. "It's strictly from the historical perspective." And the district wants to make that clear. The description for the course in 2008-2009 course guide states the Bible course is academic and not devotional. Nor does it sponsor the practice of religion. As a...

The Border: Just like imprisoned Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, jailed Texas Sheriff's Deputy Gilmer Hernandez is being sued by the illegal aliens he tried to catch. There seems to be a pattern developing on our border. Illegal aliens, sometimes smuggling drugs, sometimes just smuggling each other, are caught sneaking into the U.S. They resist, flee and, with the help of a cooperative U.S. attorney, file criminal charges against the law enforcement officers who caught them. Top it all off, they file a lawsuit for civil rights violations. Last week, Hernandez was sentenced to one year and...

In a case eerily reminiscent of the controversial jailing of Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos while the illegal-alien drug-smuggler they wounded went free, two illegal aliens are now suing imprisoned Texas Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez for injuries from shell fragments that struck them as the officer shot at the tires of a van in which they escaped from a routine traffic stop. Maricela Rodriguez-Garcia and Candido Garcia-Perez are preparing to file a civil lawsuit against Hernandez and Sheriff Don G. Letsinger, possibly seeking millions of dollars in damages for alleged violation of their civil rights. Jimmy Parks,...

DEL RIO — A federal judge sentenced former Edwards County Sheriff Deputy Guillermo (Gilmer) F. Hernandez to a year and a day in jail this morning for shooting at a fleeing vehicle transporting undocumented immigrants and injuring one of its passengers. Although U.S. District Judge Robert T. Dawson denied pleas from Hernandez and his lawyer for probation, the judge did deviate from federal sentencing guidelines that made the former deputy eligible to be sentenced to up to 9 years in prison. Hernandez’s attorney Jimmy Parks Jr. expressed mixed emotions afterward. “I’m so appreciative of that,” Parks said of the judge’s...

The federal government has recommended a seven-year prison term for Gilmer Hernandez, a Texas deputy sheriff who drew grass-roots support after he was convicted for violating the civil rights of a fleeing illegal alien, WND has learned. In a case prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in El Paso, who also led the high-profile prosecution of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, Hernandez was charged after stopping a van full of illegals for running a stop sign April 14, 2005, in Rocksprings, Texas. The driver attempted to run over Hernandez, prompting the officer to fire his weapon...

Investigators had no plans to bring charges against Texas Sheriff's Deputy Gilmer Hernandez until the Mexican government intervened and demanded it, the officer's supervisor told WND. Sheriff Don Letsinger of Rocksprings, Texas, said the Texas Rangers were not going to recommend prosecution, but federal law enforcement took over the case in response to the Mexican government's intervention. Also, in the high-profile case of border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, the Department of Homeland Security investigation was opened March 4, 2005, the same date the Mexican Consulate demanded prosecution for the shooting of drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, according to numerous...

A Texas deputy sheriff who fired shots at a fleeing vehicle after the driver tried to run him down faces 10 years in prison for injuring one of the passengers, a Mexican national being smuggled illegally into the United States. The U.S. attorney, who won lengthy prison terms last year for two U.S. Border Patrol agents in the shooting of a drug-smuggling suspect, also prosecuted Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez, who is to be sentenced next month. The deputy's boss, Sheriff Donald G. Letsinger, said his officer -- who had been on the job for a year --...

We're not talking about Ramos and Compean. This is another agent that was railroaded out of years of his life.  But the similarities are astounding!   After the article is some of the decision to grant another trial and some information about the Asst. Atty General in the case ,R. Alexander Acosta,  who handles the "civil rights" division of the justice department.    He's bragged before congress about how many suits they've brought against small counties because they didn't have enough Spanish language poll workers!  They have quite a foreigner protection racket going in the DC 'justice' department!   At the end...