By Brian M. Cuaron
Posted on 12/19/2011 at 8:06 p.m.
If you got a problem with illegal trash dumping, Rey Herrera feels your pain.
The Democratic challenger for Victoria County's Precinct 3 commissioner said that it "hurts" him every time he sees discarded couches, leaves and tree limbs along his route home from work.
Herrera so far faces no competition for his party's nomination. The filing deadline was Monday and the primary is scheduled for April 3.
However, Herrera could still face a primary opponent since a U.S. District Court recently announced that it had set a new filing period that would end on Feb. 1. The hope is that the U.S. Supreme Court will settle the issue of the state's redistricting plans after a hearing on January 9, according to George Matthews, the county's elections administrator.
Republican Gary Burns also has filed to keep his job as Precinct 3 commissioner. No other Republican has filed for the position, according to Michael Cloud, chair of the Victoria County Republican Party.
Burns won the position in 2004 with 54.7 percent of the vote out of 5,476 votes. He followed that up with a re-election victory in 2008 with 63.2 percent of the vote out of 5,467 votes.
Herrera said he wanted to work with the sheriff's office and constables to do frequent patrols of illegal dump sites at odd hours. This would save taxpayer money since illegal dumping forces the county to pay for clean-ups, he said.
In May, the Victoria Advocate reported on an illegal dump site in Precinct 2 near River and Tibiletti roads. Residents there were so fed up with outsiders dumping their trash near their homes that they periodically cleaned around the site. One man even chased away some would-be violators.
The county had used cameras as a means to catch some of the violators in 2009. Burns called the effort a "home run," according to the Advocate's article.
The tough part about fining violators is that one must film a violation, or law enforcement must catch them in the act, according to Precinct 2 Constable James Calaway, quoted in the article.
Herrera's plan would attempt to catch violators red-handed. He looked forward to sitting near known illegal dump sites at odd hours with his cell phone, waiting for violators to make their move. He hoped such patrolling could be a deterrence.
The Democratic candidate liked the idea of having cameras, but didn't include that in his plans.
Patrolling back roads, maintaining infrastructure
Herrera also wanted to use increased patrols to combat drug-smuggling activity in the county. In reference to media reports about smugglers using the county's back roads, he said funding needed to be provided for extra patrols along those roads.
"Let's patrol our back roads. Let's do frequent patrols," he said.
Herrera added that the area's oil activity meant that the roads would take a beating. In order to maintain roads and service other county needs, Herrera said the county needed to plan for short-term and long-term maintenance.
Background: Law enforcement and maintenance
As a deputy, the 62-year-old said he was not one to sit down at home.
Herrera's law-enforcement experience began with the Port Lavaca Police Department, where he served as a reserve officer for 14 1/2 years.
After retiring from the Alcoa refinery, Herrera went to a police academy and got full certification. He joined the Victoria County Sheriff's Office in 2006. He has served as a school resource officer for about five years in Bloomington ISD schools.
His maintenance experience came from his 37 years with the Alcoa refinery, where he was a supervisor. During his last 18 years, Herrera said that he had to account for a multi-million dollar budget in the refinery's machine shop.
"You name it. Anything that has to do with maintenance, I was involved with it," Herrera said.
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