83R11008 JGH-D
By: Lucio III H.R. No. 716
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Residents of Harlingen are gathering in Austin on
March 6, 2013, to celebrate Harlingen Day at the State Capitol; and
WHEREAS, From the time in 1904 when Lon C. Hill chose a site
alongside the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway as the
location for a new town, Harlingen was destined to become a
crossroads of commerce; the first train passed through the rugged
settlement that railroad workers called "Rattlesnake Junction" on
July 4, 1904; tales of Texas Rangers and customs patrol agents
taking target practice next to the rail depot soon gave Harlingen
its next nickname of "Six-Shooter Junction"; and
WHEREAS, Between the 1910s and 1930s, trains brought
thousands of Midwestern farmers to Harlingen to set up operations
in the fertile Magic Valley, where they found they could grow at
least two crops a year, and the city at one point had the largest ice
plant in Texas, which worked to keep countless railcars of produce
cold as they headed north; the city has also been a state and
national center for cotton farming for 60 years, and since 1953, the
Harlingen Cotton Committee has ceremonially auctioned the first
bale of cotton grown each year in the United States; and
WHEREAS, During World War II, the city was home to Harlingen
Army Airfield, a facility that grew and evolved into Harlingen Air
Force Base; the base eventually became Valley International
Airport, the Rio Grande Valley's busiest cargo and passenger
commercial airport, which, together with the city's bridge to
Mexico and the port that connects it to the Intracoastal Waterway,
serves to further underscore the community's importance as a center
for trade; and
WHEREAS, Also important to Harlingen is the United Launch
Alliance plant, which supplies components to the Atlas V rocket and
is the second largest taxpayer in the city; employing 200
residents, it recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in the
community; and
WHEREAS, Since 1999, Harlingen has been home to the Regional
Academic Health Center, a branch campus of The University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio; Valley Baptist Medical Center
serves as the RAHC's primary teaching hospital while Su Clinica has
been the center's main ambulatory teaching site since 2002;
altogether more than 1,000 medical students and 60 internal
medicine residents have trained there, many of whom now practice in
hospitals and clinics across the Rio Grande Valley; there is strong
support for expanding the RAHC into the South Texas School of
Medicine, and already the center has benefited from investments of
more than $200 million from UT and an additional $50 million from
the City of Harlingen, VBMC, and Su Clinica; and
WHEREAS, Harlingen is also headquarters to the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs Valley Coastal Bend Health Care
System, which provides for the health care needs of veterans in the
region; the VA has been one of the RAHC's primary teaching partners,
sponsoring internal medical residents and committing to the
sponsorship of 25 residents for the proposed medical school; in
addition, the VA moved its outpatient clinic and
160,000-square-foot ambulatory and surgical facility to Harlingen
in order to be close the RAHC; and
WHEREAS, Area residents have long understood the importance
of education, and the city is home to two outstanding educational
institutions, Texas State Technical College and the Marine Military
Academy; on the academy's campus, visitors may view Dr. Felix W. de
Weldon's full-size plaster model of his famous Iwo Jima memorial in
Washington, D.C.; and
WHEREAS, In 2013, Harlingen is hosting its 20th annual Rio
Grande Valley Birding Festival, one of the premier such festivals
in the nation, bringing visitors from around the world; the area's
semitropical climate, natural resources, and friendly people make
it a destination for travelers, including "winter" Texans and other
outdoor enthusiasts; the community's attractions include the mural
and heritage trails in the historic downtown district and numerous
sports fields and parks, and shoppers from across the state and over
the border come to the Harlingen Bass Pro Shop, with its wide array
of supplies for hunting, fishing, boating, camping, and other
outdoor activities; and
WHEREAS, This thriving city of 70,000 is led by mayor Chris
Boswell and city commissioners Danny Castillo, Robert A. Leftwich,
Michael Mezmar, Basilio "Chino" Sanchez, and Victor Leal, and under
their guidance the city's crime rate has dropped consistently from
2008 to 2013, including a 20 percent drop in violent and property
crimes, making it a safe place to live, work, and play; and
WHEREAS, Harlingen is a dynamic community that draws on its
rich history even as it works to build an exciting future, and its
residents may indeed take great pride in the city they call home;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas
Legislature hereby recognize March 6, 2013, as Harlingen Day at the
State Capitol and extend to the visiting delegation sincere best
wishes for an enjoyable and memorable visit.