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El
Paso County
Attorney José R. Rodríguez announced today the sentencing of a Landscaping
Contractor accused of 3 charges of Deceptive Business Practices.
On Thursday November 16th
in County Criminal Court #1 Gerardo Rangel, doing business as “Rangel General
Construction and Landscaping,” pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to
one year probation, to serve 450 hours of community service, and to pay $4,850
in restitution to the victims. The judge also assessed a $6,000 fine, which was
probated.
According to the criminal
complaints, between March 24 and August 27, 2006, Rangel received $6,400 in
advance to do landscaping work at 3 residences in East El
Paso, but failed to complete the work.
Rangel had previously pled guilty to
5 charges of Deceptive Business Practices in June, 2005 and sentenced to 1 year
in prison but granted ‘work release’ privileges. However he was re-arrested
after failing to comply with the “work release” order and served approximately
10 months in jail.
El Paso County
Attorney José R.
Rodríguez said consumers should always check the background on contractors
before giving them their hard earned money.
“In
these cases, had the consumers checked Mr. Rangel’s background, they would have
found that he had been previously convicted of Deceptive Business practices,”
said Rodríguez.
“Consumers
should always check the reputation of the vendor with agencies such as the
Better Business Bureau, the Texas Attorney General, or our office” said
Rodríguez.
For more information please contact
Assistant County Attorney Kent Sutton at 546-2050.
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Rangel Convicted Press Release.pdf
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El Paso County Attorney José R.
Rodríguez announced today the sentencing of a local swimming pool contractor accused
of 4 criminal charges of Deceptive Business Practices and one additional charge
of Theft by Check.
On Thursday
November 16th at County
Criminal Court #2, Archie
Castañón pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to one year probation,
and to serve 400 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay $48,000
in restitution to the victims of Deceptive Business Practices, and to pay an
additional restitution of $14,393 to cover 46 hot checks that Castañón gave to
local merchants.
According to the
criminal complaints Castañón, doing business as “Shimmering Pools and Spas” and
“Rainbow Pools and Spas,” received thousands of dollars for the construction of
4 swimming pools at several homes in East and West El Paso, but never finished
the jobs. According to one of the complainants, Castañón also falsely
represented himself as being a member of the Better Business Bureau, the El
Paso Association of Builders and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Margaret
Perez, Director of the local Better Business Bureau, stated “Archie Castañón,
or any name under which he did business, were never members of the Better
Business Bureau. Unscrupulous operators sometimes falsely claim to be members
of our organization to gain the confidence of consumers.”
Ms. Perez
warned, “Check them out. Call our office ask if they are current members and
ask if we have any complaints against their company. It is better to find out before you turn over
your money than after you’ve put it in their hands.”
County Attorney
José R. Rodríguez said consumers should be careful when hiring individuals to
do construction work in their homes.
“Consumers must
be very cautious when it comes to giving money up front to contractors. Pay the
complete amount of the contract only after the job is finished, and after
corroborating the quality of the goods or services.” said José R. Rodríguez,
For
more information about the case, please contact Clinton
Cross at 546-2050.
-30-
Pool Contractor Press Release.pdf
El Paso County Attorney José R.
Rodríguez announced today the sentencing of an individual found guilty of dumping
restaurant grease into a storm drain located next to El Paso City Hall.
On
November 6, 2006 Lorenzo Chavez, Jr., employed by Chavez Plumbing and Sons,
pled guilty to one charge of unauthorized discharge of waste or pollutant in
violation of the Texas Water Code. Mr. Chavez was sentenced to 12 months
probation, pay a $5,000 fine, serve 80 hours of community service, and ordered
to pay court costs.
The
offense occurred in December 2004, when a citizen leaving City Hall observed a
man dumping an oily thick substance from a container into the storm drain on Durango Street, in
front of City Hall. The citizen wrote
down the license plate number of the truck used by the defendant and reported
the incident to her City Representative, who then referred the matter to the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Upon further investigation, the defendant
admitted dumping waste from a grease trap he, his father and brother were
installing at a restaurant in City Hall.
The
prosecution of the case was possible due to the coordinated efforts of the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, El Paso Police Dept., El Paso Water
Utilities, and the Environmental Services Code Compliance Office.
"The unauthorized discharge of waste or
pollutants into waters of the state is a very serious environmental crime which
we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," said County Attorney José
R. Rodríguez.
"Dumping
anything but clean water into the storm drain is especially bad for the
environment because the contaminant goes directly into the underground water or
into the river, its ultimate destination.
It is unfair for the victims of this type of illegal dumping, namely those
of us who pay for water, to have to pay for the decontamination of water polluted
by unscrupulous merchants who try to save a few dollars by illegally disposing
of their waste." Rodríguez added.
Unauthorized
discharge is an on-going problem in the county
of El Paso, and the County Attorney's
Office will continue to prosecute such offenders. The penalty for unauthorized discharge ranges
from a fine of note less than $1,000 but not more than $50,000 for an
individual, or up to 1 year in jail, or both.
For an association or corporation, the fine is up to $100,000. To
report illegal dumping or other environmental crime, call your local law
enforcement agency: The Environmental
Hotline at 1-888-6EL-PASO, El Paso
Police Dept. at 832-4400, or El Paso Sheriff's Dept. at 546-2280.
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Illegal Dumping Sentencing Press Release.pdf
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Today at 4:30 PM El
Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez will hold an emergency press
conference to inform about an investigation into allegations of malfunctioning
of several Diebold electronic voting machines in El Paso County.
Both the
Office of the Texas Secretary of State and the County Elections Department have
been informed about complaints received by this office regarding alleged
problems encountered by several citizens who went to cast their votes during
the early voting period for the November 7 election.
More details will be released during
the press conference.
WHO: El Paso County Attorney
José Rodríguez
WHAT: Investigation
into Complaints from voters
WHEN: Friday (TODAY!!!) November 3, 2006 at 4:30
PM
WHERE: Comissioner's Court
Chambers
500 E. San Antonio,
3rd Floor, Room 303
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Voting Machines Press Release.pdf
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Members
of the El Paso County Attorney's Domestic Violence Unit will offer an
educational awareness seminar about dating violence to more than 600 Americas High School students.
The seminar called "Dating Violence: Awareness, Prevention
and Reporting" is offered through out the year to hundreds of local middle and
high school students to raise awareness about this social problem. Teenagers
can choose healthier relationships when they learn to identify the early
warning signs of an abusive relationship, understand that they have choices,
and know that they are valuable individuals who deserve to be treated with
respect.
According to a nation-wide study conducted in 2000 by the Bureau
of Justice, one third of all high school students have been or will be involved
in an abusive relationship. Other statistics also reveal the seriousness of the
problem. For example, in1995 seven
percent of all murder victims were young women who were killed by their
boyfriends.
"Some teenagers
are surprised when they hear that dating violence is a serious problem in our
community. They assume that because El
Paso is a small, mostly Hispanic community, the
problem is not as serious as in other parts of the country. In reality about 20
% of all the domestic violence victims that request protective orders in our
office, are teenagers," said El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez.
The dating violence seminar will be offered to three groups
of students on November 1, from 8:45 AM until 4:00 PM at Americas High School,
12101 Pellicano. Although the event is not open to the public, school officials
will allow the members of the media to be present.
WHO: County Attorney's Office-Family Violence Unit
WHAT: Seminar on Preventing Dating Violence
WHEN: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 at 8:45 AM
WHERE: Americas
High School
12101 Pellicano
INFO: Christina Rodriguez (High School
Counselor) 937-2842
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Dating Violence Seminar Press Release.pdf
"I am very concerned about the problem of teens trying to
bring drugs into the U.S.
I believe the best way to fight this problem is to balance
education, through community outreach programs, with vigorous prosecution of
serious juvenile cases. This is why our office has made strong efforts to
educate the teens in their schools about the consequences of getting involved
with drug trafficking. We have distributed to many of the local schools a
15-minute documentary, produced by our office, on the consequences of getting
involved with drug trafficking; we have done public presentations about the
issue, and we have been talking to parents in community meetings. If we don't
do these things, we might as well entrust the future of our kids to the drug
cartels."
"Since 2002 we have seen a downward trend in the number of
juveniles accused of transporting illegal drugs at the ports of entry. However,
we cannot let down our guard and relax our efforts which, I believe,
contributed to the reduction of this type of crime."
"It is not appropriate or ethical to speculate about the
severity of possible sentences in cases that have not even gone to trial
because the accused juveniles have not yet been found delinquent. Furthermore,
in any juvenile case the severity of the punishment is not decided by our
office, but by either a jury or the court."
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16-year-old girl Case Statements 10-27-2006.pdf
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The lack of sufficient, good quality,
and affordable long-term housing in El
Paso for people suffering from severe mental illness,
along with the limited access to crisis centers, intermediate care facilities, and
outpatient services, is creating a public
health crisis in our community. However, not enough people and organizations
seem to be concerned about the issue.
To
raise awareness about the needs of the mentally ill in our community, El Paso
County Attorney José R. Rodríguez will join members of the El Paso chapter of the National Alliance on
Mental Illness (NAMI), and local residents, in the annual Bipolar Disorder
Awareness Candlelight Vigil. The event is scheduled for tomorrow October 5,
2006 at 7 pm outside the El Paso
Psychiatric Center,
4615 Alameda Ave.
County Attorney
José R. Rodríguez says that the lack of services for the mentally ill in our
community is merely shifting costs from the state to the local level. In April he
filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of State Health Services, the El Paso Psychiatric Center,
and El Paso MHMR alleging they are failing to timely and adequately assess and
treat mentally ill individuals who are in crisis.
“Emergency
room visits and hospitalizations of mental patients have been increasing in El Paso during the last
couple of years. Also, police and sheriff’s officers have been responding to a
greater number of psychiatric crises, and many of these patients end up in the Texas criminal justice
system”, explained Rodríguez.
“We
all need to unite to find a solution to this problem. A community, who does not
take care of its mentally ill citizens, is not a healthy community” finalized
Rodríguez.
About
the National Mental Illness Awareness Week: Established in 1990 by Congress, the first week of October is
designated as "Mental Illness Awareness Week" (MIAW) in recognition
of NAMI’s efforts to raise mental illness awareness. "Bipolar
Disorder Awareness Day" (BDAD) is held each year on the Thursday of MIAW
to encourage further understanding and promote early intervention and treatment
for this mental illness. MIAW and BDAD are NAMI’s premiere public awareness and
public education campaigns that link the organization nationally to the
organization’s over 1100 local affiliates across the country.
WHO: El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez
WHAT: NAMI’s Bipolar
Disorder Awareness Candlelight Vigil
WHEN: Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: El Paso Psychiatric Center
4615 Alameda Ave.
-
30 -
For more information about
the vigil and other events planned for tomorrow, please call Leo DiValentino,
Executive Director NAMI – El Paso Chapter at 534-5476, or Victor Ortíz,
President of El Paso NAMI at 534-5478.
NAMI Vigil Press Release.pdf
Members
of the Texas Border Coalition approved this morning in San Antonio the 2007-2008 Border Health
Legislative Agenda drafted by El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez, as
Chair of the TBC's Border Health Committee.
The
legislative agenda includes dozens of recommendations for solving the most
serious health care problems along the Texas/Mexico border. A document that
includes all the recommendations will be presented to the Texas Governor and leaders of the legislature
during a special meeting in December.
The
2007-2008 Border Health Legislative Agenda requests the State to restore CHIP
and Medicaid funding to the levels that existed in 2003, prior to the cuts
approved by the State Legislature. It also asks the legislature to do away with
the changes implemented the same year that make it difficult for citizens to
receive services, like the 90-day waiting period for new CHIP enrollments and
the reduction of the coverage period from 12 months to six.
To
solve the shortage of health care professionals in the border area, the
legislative agenda asks, among other things, to increase the number of
guaranteed admissions of border applicants to state supported medical schools,
to provide scholarships to financially disadvantaged border students, and to
fix the Medicaid and CHIP reimbursement rate disparities.
"The
shortage of doctors and nurses in the border area is in reality a serious
problem of access to health care. In most cases, patients need to wait weeks to
see a doctor, and frequently they have to go to other cities to consult a
specialist. Border residents have the most limited health care services in the
state of Texas, and to a certain extent, the problem exists because the
Medicaid and CHIP reimbursement rates in the border area are much lower than in
the rest of the state," said County Attorney José Rodríguez.
With
regard to mental health crisis services, the agenda calls for the legislature
to appropriate $222.13 million dollars per biennium as recommended by DSHS
Crisis Services Redesign Committee. The proposed agenda also calls for the
creation of a housing program for the mentally ill.
"With its
current funding, the Department of State Health Services has only been able to serve
about 28% of the adults and children with serious mental problems in the state
of Texas. The
mental health crisis is even worse in the border area, because those
communities lack the resources and health care institutions to close the gap in
services not offered by the state. As a result, in border communities like El
Paso, most mental patients are not receiving the appropriate services, and many
end up in the emergency rooms of local hospitals or in jail after suffering a
mental crisis," Rodríguez explained.
The
Texas Border Coalition is comprised of mayors, county judges, and Chambers of
Commerce from all the communities along the Texas/Mexico border, from El Paso to Brownsville.
Its mission is to make legislative recommendations to help the Texas border region grow
and prosper economically. The current Chairman of the Coalition is Eagle Pass
Mayor Chad Foster.
WHO: Texas
Border Coalition
WHAT: Border
Health Legislative Agenda
WHEN: Monday October 23, 2006 at 9:00 AM
WHERE: IBC Bank Community
Suite (5th Floor)
130 E. Travis Street, Suite 300
San Antonio, TX
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Health Legislative Agenda Press Release.pdf
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The Texas Senate Committee on
International Relations and Trade will conduct hearings aimed at strengthening
state law that prevents the creation of new colonias lacking basic
water/wastewater infrastructure. The hearings come in response to recent
proposals to water down existing colonias legislation.
The
legislation, known as Economically Distressed Areas Program ("EDAP"), was originally
enacted in 1989 and made it illegal for land owners to create residential
sub-divisions without water and sewage service in the outlying areas of the
counties. Among other requirements, land owners had to comply with a "build-it
or bond-it" provision, which required them to either build the necessary
infrastructure before the sale of the plots, or post a financial assurance to guarantee
that they would build it within the time declared in their plans.
Last
year a bill was filed which would have limited developers' financial
responsibility to install water supply or sewer facilities to no more than
three years.
El Paso
County Attorney José Rodríguez believes the proposed amendment would have opened
the door for the development of new colonias, creating new problems that will
later have to be resolved by the intervention of individual homeowners and
taxpayers' money.
"The
Model Rules and the EDAP program have efficiently stopped the development of
new colonias in El Paso
County for over a decade.
The State needs to be informed that the proposed changes will endanger the
viability of the program", said County Attorney José Rodríguez.
"The State
needs to not only continue with the current program, but to also approve new
legislation which gives county government legal authority to regulate land
development and enact basic plumbing, fire and building codes".
Under
current Texas
law, county governments do not have land use powers to secure the orderly and
healthy development of residential areas outside city limits.
"Some of
the most severe problems El Paso County residents suffer, like flooding in the Mowad and
Sparks sub-divisions, and the establishment of
environmentally dangerous businesses next to residential areas, arise from the County Commissioner's
inability to enact appropriate rules", explained Rodríguez.
"I will
request that the Texas Legislature give county government more legal powers to
guarantee its residents the quality of life that every citizen in the United
States deserves", concluded Rodríguez.
El Paso
County Attorney José Rodríguez, along with Assistant County Attorney Erich Morales, will testify in front of the Senate
Committee on International Relations and Trade in Austin on Tuesday October 24, 2006 at 9:00
AM.
WHO: El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez
WHAT: Colonias Regulation Testimony
WHEN: Tuesday October 24, 2006 at 9:00 AM
WHERE: Capitol Extension, Room
E1.012
Austin, TX.
- 30 -
For those interested members
of the media, County
Attorney José Rodríguez
will be available for interviews all day Friday October 20, 2006. He will be
out of town next week until Wednesday. To schedule an interview, please call Elhiu Dominguez at 546-2016.
Colonias Regulation Revised Press Release.pdf
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High-tech trash, including old computers, televisions and
cellular phones, might be causing environmental problems in El Paso. According to the EPA, circuit boards
and batteries contain toxic materials such as mercury and hexavalent chromium.
Despite that, there are very few federal and state regulations regarding the
disposal of household electronic equipment, and because of that, much of it is
improperly dumped in municipal landfills, creating a danger of contaminating
the soil and the water underneath the site.
With the
purpose of teaching students from elementary to high school about the dangers
of hi-tech trash and how to protect the environment in general, El Paso County
Attorney's Office is helping Keep El Paso Beautiful to organize the Border City
Recycles Day on November 15, 2006 at Tobin
Park Recreation
Center, 8831 Railroad Drive.
This year the recycling theme is "E-Waste".
This daylong
event is sort of a fair with over 25 environmental educational booths, recycled
materials fashion show contests for middle and high school students, recycled
materials toy contests for elementary students, and a recycling relay game
contest for a class prize. County Attorney
José R. Rodríguez will give the opening remarks and explain the rules of the
game.
More than
2,000 students are expected to participate, along with several agencies and
organizations, among them the City Environmental Services, the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality, the El Paso Water Utilities, Fort Bliss Department of
Environment, and the Environmental Prosecutor for the El Paso County Attorney's
Office.
WHO: County Attorney's Environmental Unit
WHAT: Border City Recycles Day "E-Waste"
WHEN: Wednesday November 15, 2006 from 9 AM to 2
PM
WHERE: Nations
Tobin Park
Recreation Center
8831 Railroad Drive
INFO: Cristina Viesca-Santos 546-2050 Ext. 3054
Cristina.viesca@ca.epcounty.com
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30 -
Members of the media interested
in finding out more about high-tech waste in the El Paso
area, please call the Clint Landfill Superintendent for the City of El Paso Environmental Services,
Richards Adams, at 851-0089.
Border City Recycles Day Press Release.pdf
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STATEMENTS
FROM EL PASO COUNTY ATTORNEY
JOSÉ R. RODRÍGUEZ REGARDING THE VOTING MACHINES COMPLAINTS
"Up until this moment, all we have
are allegations of voting problems. We are investigating the complaints our
office received to determine if indeed there is a problem with the Diebold
electronic voting machines. At this time there is no reason to believe the
election has been compromised in any way."
"El Paso residents should not feel discouraged
by these complaints. They should go out and vote on Tuesday. Our community
needs high voter participation. Just be extra-careful when voting to make sure
the ballot reflects your candidate choices.
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Voting Machines Statements.pdf
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The circumstances surrounding the death of Terri Schiavo in Florida in 2005 have
raised awareness among the elderly about the need for living wills.
Unfortunately, many in El Paso
do not have the financial means to obtain legal advice regarding end-of-life
decisions. A living will is a written, legal document
that spells out the types of medical treatments and life-sustaining measures
you do and do not want, such as artificial respiration and tube feeding.
To educate seniors
regarding legal matters affecting them and inform them about the services
available to improve their lives, El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez has
organized the second "Annual Legal Day for the Elderly".
The
free event will take place on Tuesday, October 3, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00
p.m. at the El Paso Community College Administrative Services Building located
at 9050 Viscount.
The
event will include a "living wills clinic", where seniors will be provided
legal assistance in executing living wills and long-term legal planning. Other
activities include a "safety" fashion show that will highlight the uniforms of employees
with companies or agencies that may have a legitimate need to enter a senior's
home and ask for personal information.
The Visiting Nurses
Association (VNA) will be providing free flu shot to seniors with Medicare and
Medicaid, and will be providing them to the public for $30.
In addition, attorneys with the County Attorney's
Office will also offer seminars on abuse, neglect, and exploitation of the
elderly, deceptive business practices and fraud prevention. Many fraud schemes,
while not always directed at seniors, take their toll on the elderly population
because they are not able to protect themselves against smooth con artists and
technically complicated schemes. According to the Council of Better Business
Bureaus, in 2005 almost 9 million Americans were victim of identity theft and
they lost more than $56.6 billion to telemarketing fraud. While the senior
population has to deal with these threats to their bank accounts, they also are
susceptible to unique scams such as home-care worker fraud.
The event
is open to the public and free of
charge. There will be simultaneous Spanish translation and free refreshments.
For more information, or to register,
please call the Elder Protection Unit of the El Paso County Attorney's Office
at (915) 546-2239.
WHAT: 2nd
Annual Legal Day for the Elderly
WHO: El Paso County Attorney's Office
WHEN: Tuesday October 3, 2006 from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00
p.m.
WHERE: El Paso Community
College Administrative Services Building,
at 9050 Viscount.
INFO: Elder
Protection Unit at (915) 546-2239
- 30 -
Legal Day For the Elderly Press Release.pdf
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El Paso County Attorney's Juvenile
Division Chief Mark Burtner will be
the keynote speaker at tomorrow's "Gang Awareness Workshop" organized by the Socorro Independent
School District at El Dorado High School.
The
purpose of the daylong event is to raise awareness about gang activity in east El Paso, how to prevent
youth violence, and to reduce the risk of students becoming involved with gangs.
Some
of the presenters include members of the El Paso Police Department Gang Task
Force, the Juvenile Probation Department, and the Graffiti Removal Program.
More
than 200 administrators and teachers are expected to attend the workshop from
8:00 AM until 4:00 PM at the El
Dorado High School,
at 12401 Edgemere Blvd.
For more information, call the SISD Communications Department at 937-0281.
WHAT: Gang Awareness
Workshop
WHEN: Wednesday September 27, 2006 from 8 AM-4 PM
WHERE: El
Dorado High School
12401 Edgemere (East El Paso)
-
30 -
Gang Awareness Press Release.pdf
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-
What is the "determinate
sentencing" statute?
It is a special statute in the Texas
Juvenile Code that allows for the possibility of a juvenile serving a sentence
beyond the age of 21. It specifically covers certain violent offenses and drug
cases, like murder, capital murder, sexual assault, and indecency with a child.
Aggravated controlled substances cases are also covered.
-
What are the
differences in the possible punishment of a "determinate sentencing"
case and a non-determining sentencing case?
In a determinate sentencing case, a
punishment might be assessed for a term of up to 40 years, which would be
served either incarcerated, on probation, or on parole. The actual length of
time to be served is determined by the jury or the judge.
In a non-determinate sentencing case, the
length of stay at the Texas Youth Commission would be, at the most, until the
age of 21. After the age of 21, the juvenile is released regardless of whether
the juvenile has been rehabilitated or not.
In a determinate sentencing case, the
sentence handed down by the jury must be served regardless of the age of the
juvenile. However, while the determinate sentencing statute provides for the
possibility of a harsher sentence, it is not mandatory, not even likely, that
the jury would hand down a more severe sentence than they would if the case was
tried under the "regular" process.
-
Who makes the
decision about the sentence of the juvenile?
The jury, comprised of members of the
community, takes into consideration all of the facts of the case including, but
not limited to, the age of the child, his family situation, his mental health,
the nature and circumstances of the crime, the criminal history and the like
hood of his rehabilitation,
-
Does the decision
to seek a determinate sentencing in a case mean that the County Attorney believes that the accused minor cannot be
rehabilitated?
No. It only means that the severity of the
crime speaks to the need for the possibility of a greater punishment. It is
quite possible that the juvenile will still be rehabilitated if he takes
advantage of the services afforded to him.
It is important to mention that the
juvenile court judge or jury can hand down a sentence of incarceration or
probation, thus the juvenile, even under the determinate sentencing statute,
might never be incarcerated.
-
What
factors does the County Attorney consider when deciding to seek a determinate sentence?
He considers the egregious nature of the
alleged crime, the type of crime, and whether or not it is a significant
problem in our community. The past criminal history of the juvenile is also
considered in some cases.
-
30 -
Determinate Sentencing Case Press Release.pdf
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The President of the United States
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Michael Barrera, will present the region III “Government
Hispanic Business Advocate Award” to El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez,
during a ceremony to be held on Thursday September 21, 2006 in Philadelphia, PA.
Every
year, throughout its six national regions, the United States Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce honors corporate and government advocates for their contributions
to the excellence and growth of Hispanic entrepreneurs.
This
year 3 El Pasoans are being honored as winners in Region III, which includes
the states of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas.
They
are:
-
County Attorney José R.
Rodríguez, recipient of the “Government Business Advocate” award.
-
Cecilia Lavine,
recipient of the “Business Woman of the Year” award.
-
Steve Sambrano,
recipient of the “Hispanic Businessman of the Year” award.
The El
Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is also being recognized as the Region III
“Large Hispanic Chamber of the Year”.
In its
monthly official publication, the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce explains
that County Attorney José Rodríguez is being recognized for “his many
contributions to promote new businesses in El Paso, including protecting the
interests of small business by creating a public awareness campaign around hot
check issues, and actually increasing collections for the business community
from $588,319 in 1993, to $1,863,319 annually”
The
publication also states that, “through Mr. Rodriguez’s direct personal
involvement in the El Paso Fair Lending Coalition, access to capital has been
recognized, as our business community’s #1 need.”
Mr.
Rodriguez currently serves on the El Paso Mayor’s Medical Cabinet and is Chairman
of the Texas Border Coalition’s Health Committee, in an effort to develop El Paso’s healthcare
industry.
About
the award he is receiving, Mr. Rodriguez said “to be recognized at the national
level is a great honor; I am convinced all local public officials have an
obligation to promote business development to help El Paso growth”.
The regional award winners are
finalists for the National Hispanic Leadership & Business Excellence Awards
and will be recognized at the USHCC 27th Annual Convention &
Business Expo at the Town Hall event on Thursday, Sept. 21.
The national winners will be
announced at the Awards Gala on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7:00 PM at the Pennsylvania
Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.
- 30 -
Rodriguez Business Advocate Winner.pdf
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