New Stadium for PSJA Update...well, sort of...we'll need to keep digging...

It's Friday, and I know I let some people know that I'd keep them updated on the PSJA New Stadium article that ran in Sunday's edition of The Monitor. Please refer to my post written on the article Sunday April 23, 2006. One anonymous commentator wrote, "rumors running around that the board is split right now", referring to the vote the school board had taken on Saturday morning concerning the addition of constructing a new stadium with some of the funds that would be made available through the $70 million bond proposal set for election in May. I sent Wade Baker, Deputy Sports Editor and author of the original report, an email asking for any clarification regarding some of the rumors going around in PSJA. Here is what I sent him:

"Mr. Wade Baker,

my name is Hector Gomez, author of the blog site RGV Politics and contributor to the East Texas political blog site Capitol Annex authored by Vince Leibowitz.

I'm writing in regards to your article "PSJA looking at new stadium" which ran in Sunday's edition of The Monitor.

As authors of blog sites around the country, the main source of our material comes from the mainstream media outlets, newspapers, television, radio, etc. For the most part, many bloggers seem to take great liberties with the details provided in such reports. Mine, nor the one I contribute to, do that. Sites like ours depend on facts that are printed, or presented to the public. We give credit where credit is due, at least speaking for my own blog site, and the one's I'm affiliated with or link to.

Being as such, your article that I referenced to on Sunday, has garnered some attention from the citizen's of PSJA. There are rumors to the effect that call into question some of the quotes and facts presented in the report. I'm not here to question whether you provided accurate information, as you would not be in the position you're in, if you had not. I'm writing in hopes to clarify any questions the readers of RGV Politics may have.

To be fair, some of the rumors abound include:

No one from The Monitor was present at Saturday's meeting.

Superintendent Guajardo was misquoted.

The vote taken was to renovate the existing stadium. No new stadium was discussed.

A discussion of building a new stadium was left in the context of purchasing land for the "possibility" of a new stadium some time in the future. A future that at this point did not include the details of a new stadium.

Please note that even though these are some of the rumors, many of the claims have been made by reliable sources in the PSJA community. This is why I find it necessary to clear up any confusion the citizen's of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo may have. The very few of us in the blogging world have taken a serious stance in using these outlets as tools to provide the public with information they may not otherwise get. And by the looks of the reaction we've received, it seems to be working.

So please, let me know about any clarifications you might have regarding your article, or stand by it "as is". The main concern of the citizens of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo isn't so much whether we've been presented the facts by your report, as much as we fear that some leaders in our community would like to make it seem that you didn't.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Sincerely,

Hector Gomez"

-email sent 4/25/06 11:47 a.m.

Subsequent emails sent were to ask whether they had received this email, and whether they had any clarifications. I have not received any response.

For the citizen's of the community, I assume we'll have to take someone's word for it, once the bond election comes around. Who's word depends on whether or not we do our homework on this one. Get some additional knowledge on the bond proposal. I'll continue to look into any information regarding the issue. As for the rest of the PSJA community, consider the floor yours via the comment section. Let me, and the rest of us know some facts, if you find out before we do.