By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
BROWNSVILLE, Texas | And so out went the friendship that had lasted some 40 years, all because of sloppy news reporting by spiteful blogger El Jerry McHale. He is shown at left in photo above with that old friend, Tony Zavaleta, the Texas Southmost College trustee.
Much has happened in the last 24 hours in that just-can't-be-nailed-down tale of alleged wrongdoing in the college's welding program. McHale keeps typing and Zavaleta keeps saying he's dumb and dumber. Joining the fray somewhat is TSC Board Chair Adela Garza.
It seems walkabout McHale happened on Zavaleta and Garza at a popular eatery. What happened next has been interpreted in two ways: McHale angered by the diss he received from his friends, and another that said Zavaleta simply wanted no chat with the blogger he has known for all these years.
They asked him to get the Hell away, in so many more-sociable words.
The 73-year-old McHale did, however-stunned, leave. But then he took to his laptop computer and painted a blog story that had him as victim of cruel, unexplained disrespect. He full-well knew why Zavaleta and Garza (shown in photo at right) wanted no part of a social meeting. They were dining; McHale was reportedly out for a drink.
Ho hum. I know. It's a sad day in Brownsville again - the millionth one, at that.
Why McHale (shown goofin' in photo below) can't nail down the story he sees as a complete slam on the school's administration is the mystery. He has typed, well, a good 2,000 words on it and shared enough photos of the welding cast to, yeah, have his own scrapbook for those days of looking back at memories at the nursing home he always says are coming.
We don't blame heady Zavaleta or the conservative Garza for shunning McHale. He never called them for comment, never sought a sit-down interview. Not that we expect wire service journalism from him, but he had a taste of it during his one year of writing about local "sports" for The Brownsville Herald way back in the late-1970s.
Sadly, it is a common thing when the elderly purposely start losing friends, and perhaps that's what fast-aging McHale is doing here. He has nothing else to do but pump that laptop computer keyboard.
An intervention is in order.
Maybe that's what his former friend, Blogger Juan Montoya, is doing with his ever-biting counterattacks in defense of the little college...
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You should write a book about Brownsville. Who are those people? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteIt would be a good story, yes...
ReplyDeleteNo one would believe it. Brownsville is on drugs compared to other Valley cities and towns. You almost do not want to believe what you read about it. Que wild!
ReplyDeleteBlogger Jim Barton wasn't mentioned because he never leads in stories and always follows McHale or Montoya. Barton is a stooge, used by McHale to pad his blog and have an accomplice. Barton doesn't see it. Oh, and he's much older than McHale!
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty dead-on. Jimmy Barton has no journalism training, no college degree and no concept of what makes for news or a news story. He just types a few paragraphs and those always come after some other blogger has broken the story. Plus, he is seen as Blogger McHale's personal valet...
DeleteAnd he's 75!
DeleteBitching!
ReplyDeletePerhaps today is the day this blogger nails the story. ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteWhere are the Republicans debating tonight?
ReplyDeleteTonight's GOP Debate is being held in Simi Valley, California, roughly 40 miles from Los Angeles, at the Ronnie Reagan Library.
Deletei was wondering why these candidates keep going when Trump is far ahead, but maybe they think something big will happen and he'll be out.
ReplyDeleteLet us know what happened. McAllen does not have these cheap dramas.
ReplyDelete