Town hall focuses on border

The Town Hall Meeting sponsored by Sheriff Greg Capers was a packed house. Residents of San Jacinto County wanted to know what is going on along the border of Texas-Mexico.

By Charles Ballard
SJNT correspondent

COLDSPRING — A mass shooting in Cleveland has brought the crisis at the Texas border home to many in San Jacinto County, and Sheriff Greg Capers held a town hall meeting to discuss and inform residents of the scope of the problem.

At the event on Thursday, Capers told a packed house he thought it was important to share the actual facts and had area elected officials and several border county sheriffs relate their experiences.

The guest speakers shared their experiences and in particular talked about how San Jacinto County needed to protect itself from drug cartels.

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Speakers included Rep. Ernest Bailes, who talked about the efforts legislators took in the recent session; Sheriffs Raymundo Del Bosque of Zapata County and Roy Boyd of Goliad County provided information on how they are combating cartels and immigration; and Capers and Coldspring Mayor John Benestante talked about the affect on local residents.

Capers said there currently are three Mexican cartels operating in the county and the Sheriff’s Office is doing everything they can to contain them.

Benestante said the drug problem is not new to San Jacinto County but is a lot worse now.

“They used to run marijuana along the banks of the Trinity River in order to get it in to the U.S. and distribute it,” he said.

All speakers emphasized something needs to be done today.