Free Republic

Federal officials said they have arrested four people and seized more than 586 pounds of cocaine after learning that a City of La Grulla truck was being used to smuggle drugs. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said an anonymous tip led investigators to follow the city truck last week. Authorities followed a truck with City of La Grulla decals make an alleged delivery to a home at 828 3rd Street in Rio Grande City last Thursday. Investigators found several bundles of cocaine inside the garage of the house. Court records show that information...

Law enforcers ineffective in thwarting thieves, says local farmer LA GRULLA — A vividly colored watermelon, cut open and abandoned on a narrow trail leading to the Rio Grande, already was attracting a cloud of gnats in the early morning heat. It was all the evidence Javier Perez needed that someone other than his workers was paying attention to his 160 acres of watermelons. Perez, 51, said the visitors usually are Mexicans who float or swim across the river, raiding his land and taking the produce back to Mexico to sell. The problem is not an old one along the...

Former mayor pleads innocent to psychic charge BY LYNN BREZOSKY Associated Press Writer McALLEN, Texas - The former mayor and bookkeeper of the tiny city of La Grulla pleaded innocent Friday to charges they used federal grant money to pay for tens of thousands of dollars in psychic consultations. Diana Cortez, the former mayor, and Sandra Lopez, the former bookkeeper, stood silently in casual street clothes as public defender Norman Mcinnis waived a reading of the indictment and entered innocent pleas. "She understands what she's accused of," Mcinnis said. "She doesn't want the indictment read in court." U.S. Magistrate Judge...