Saying Goodbye to Chuy Terrazas

El Paso and Newman Park has lost a great one.  Jesus “Chuy” Terrazas passed away on Wednesday.  Newmanista and El Paso Democratic Party icon and maven, Ramona “Monchie” Torres remembers Chuy’s first campaign for City Council. Her husband, Alfred, was Chuy’s campaign manager. “We made signs from cardboard and painted them ourselves and Alfred made the buttons by hand,” Monchie told me. “Chuy was a wonderful, hard-working man.” Our block owes it to him for the street light on the opposite corner from our home here on Frankfort. Although he was ill for a number of years, Chuy was a regular at many of our Newman Park events. He particularly loved the concerts.  All of us in the Newman Park Neighborhood Association send our love and condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace and light perpetual shine upon him.

Mark your calendars now for our first two big events of 2012: our Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Fire Safety Outreach both on Saturday, March 31^st.

The Easter Egg Hunt will be at Newman Park from 10 a.m. until Noon. The event coordinator, Christina Estrada, is asking for volunteers to help her stuff the eggs.  If you can do this, please contact Christina at 497-4913.

Also on March 31^st from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., the El Paso Fire Department will conduct home safety surveys in the neighborhood. This year’s surveys will target our elderly neighbors. “The Park will be the Command Center and representatives from the Fire Department and the Austin High School Fire Academy will go to pre-identified homes and meet with the elderly occupants and provide the service of a home safety survey and smoke detector installation,” explained Fire Marshall Orlando Arriola who is also the Vice-President of our Neighborhood Association. “There have been two fires in just the last couple of months in our extended neighborhood that have struck the homes occupied by elderly persons,” he explained.

The event will be sponsored by the Fire Department, District Two Office of Representative Susie Byrd, and your Newman Park Neighborhood Association.  Please help us to identify your elderly neighbors who will appreciate this service. Many of them do not have email and so we need your help. You can respond to this email or email Fire Marshall Arriola at orlandoarriola@yahoo.com.

Mark your calendars also for the Annual Poppy Fest also on March 31^st.

On Sunday March 18^th, "El Paso's Hueco Tanks" TV documentary premiere and fundraiser begins at 2 p.m. at  the Scottish Rite Theater, 301 W. Missouri. You will tour Hueco Tanks like never before on TV and see El Paso's oldest and  largest art gallery.  A $3 minimum donation at the door will go to Hueco Tanks Legacy Fund,  Scottish Rite Theater, and the El Paso County Historical Society.   Filmed over 8 years, this 52-minute TV documentary is called "El Paso's Hueco Tanks."  This film takes a new approach to the many groups, such as hikers, Native Americans, rock climbers, the picnic and party set, and the State of Texas, who all claim Hueco Tanks as theirs.  A professional artist looks at the 3,000 rock images, and artist Debra Cool-Flowers draws new conclusions that impress Ph.D. anthropologists who welcome her findings.  For more information, call 533-3603. By the way, the documentary is the work of Newman Park Legacy, Jackson Polk. This film will also be shown for free at the Poppy Fest on March 31, 2012 at the Archaeology Museum at 1:15 p.m.

Get out and walk, hike or bicycle. There’s a new El Paso Hikers e-letter online as well as the March schedule for hikes at Tom Mays in the Franklin Mountains State Park. If mountain biking is your thing, do a 15 mile virtual race with your GPS.  Do keep in mind that Scenic Drive is closed every Sunday morning from 7 to Noon. (6 to 11 a.m. beginning April 1.) It’s a 4.1 mile hike from one side to the other. It’s a good recreational walk and can be done in an hour and a half. Some of us from the hood usually walk it each Sunday beginning at 7 a.m. Email me and say you will join us. Also for your health: check out the 11 healthiest foods in the world and add them to your shopping list. Just avoid products with palm oil and learn why your El Paso Zoo is asking you not to buy these products.

Finally, learn about the new online map provided by the El Paso Police Department that helps you track crime trends in the City and search for crimes near us.

Vaya con Dios!

¡Hola Vecinos!© is an emailed newsletter for the people and businesses in the Newman Park neighborhood of El Paso, their friends and other interested persons. It is written and published by Jim Tolbert who takes sole responsibility for the content of the letter. To subscribe or unsubscribe, just reply to this letter or email jimhtolbert@elp.rr.com.

Please visit www.newmanpark.blogspot.com and www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com.

The mission of the Newman Park Neighborhood Association is to improve the quality of life in the Newman Park neighborhood through care and attention to the park and surrounding areas, and to build a community network of care, watchfulness and concern for each other and our beautiful desert environment.

This is Volume 6 and Number 5 published on March 9, 2012