So, What Do You Think Of Ben Neece Now?...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | The chirpy dude's been gone from City Hall long enough for local residents to frame his public service in some sort of historical way. Do they do that here, here in the warm crotch of the mighty Rio Grande as it finishes its piss into the Gulf of Mexico?

I say they do.

Brownsville's people are critics at heart. All of them. Yes, every single one of them. You can spot them a drink at a bar and what you'll hear next is, ". . . .Can I keep the change, too?" They're nasty and they're annoying and they're often wrong, but they're entertaining.

The city's politicians take that topical characterization and magnify it tenfold. You ever see a Brownsville public servant with his hands in his pockets? Uh, no. They're there at the end of the outstretched arms. Gimme some, man. Gimme some more.

We come to one Ben Neece, shown in dusty, file photo above.

Old Ben served this community as a smart municipal judge for more years than even he would claim on a glossy Xerox paper resume. Judging losers takes a toll, Baby. Neece handled it. Neece even took cases involving his good friends. The swift justice he dispensed, he will tell you, was by the book. Well, even Judge Roy Bean would say that out in scurrilous West Texas. You take things with a grain of salt here, however. Little is as it seems, goes the line at the fabled Palm Lounge downtown. When a local asks you about the weather, well, what he wants is a few bucks, for a few beers.

Neece is now being mentioned as a possible candidate for the Texas Southmost College's Board of Trustees, an entity where public servants go to fade away. Like really fast. Does the name Ruben Herrera strike fear or respect in you students? Or, how about Eva Alejandro, who may be 80 by the time she leaves her trustee seat. And don't even ask about Adela Garza and Tony Zavaleta. They may as well be the Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII of junior college policy.

TSC is nowheresville. It should be shut down by Brownsville and tax monies returned to the property owners. Why offer a school for those who can't make it over at the local UT-RGV campus? Its history! Oh, history is soooooooo-oh yesterday. Sell the real estate. Leave college for the brainy kids. Someone's gotta do the oil changes, the dry-cleaning, the car washing.

Neece is perhaps spent as a politician. His time as a city commissioner was hardly memorable. Hey, Rube, name one major accomplishment on Ben Neece's City Hall resume. Take your time, lad. Think it over. Settle it well in your brain. Hey, hey...why are you running away?!

One thing Neece could show college kids is where the African country of Togo is located. Oh, and Lome is its capital.

Neece no doubt recalls his tourist adventure in that northwestern part of Dark Africa. He went there before he became a city commissioner, was allegedly kidnapped by some mean Black Cats, managed to fire off messages back home for help, was released, and then flew home, totally relieved.

As we recall, Neece balked at talking specifics about the abduction, telling us at the time that he was talking with the FBI and that the case was an open investigation prohibiting him from talking. Okay. Sure.

But he hasn't ever talked about it now going on - what - six, seven, eight years.

What happened over there, Ben? It sounds like a great "Survival-Under-Great-Pressure" story, a certain winner for HBO, if written properly by a pro, not a local blogger.

As for Neece seeking that TSC trustee seat, we say, "Why bother, Ben?"

Enjoy your current stage in life. Stay with the electric guitar and the occasional downtown gigs. Play for the piggies, as Lennon might say about here. We can almost hear your usual stock answer: "Solid!"

Hey, blogger, find someone else for that TSC trustee seat.

Ever cross your mind to one day do what you always want others to do?...

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