Lo que empezó como una venta desde una cocina de una casa particular, por parte de la familia García, ahora se ha convertido en una de la empresa de Julio’s Corn Tortilla Chips, que ha puesto el nombre de esta Frontera en alto al estar en venta en más de tres mil centros comerciales en 42 estados de este país. Julio’s Corn Tortilla Chips, empezó en los años 70’s en la cocina de Julio y Lilia García, se convirtió en uno de los productos favoritos de esta Frontera, para después convertirse en los favoritos en todo el estado, y de ahí a nivel nacional, actualmente Miguel Garcia es quien está al frente de la empresa y quien sigue con el legado de sus padres para llevar este producto a todo el país, y si se puede también a otros países.
Miguel García, ya conocer que para poder abastecer la demanda de estos Chips a la comunidad, abrieron lo que hoy es el restaurante Julio mismo establecimiento en donde todo se hacía a mano para hacer estos famosos Chips para la población.
​La demanda por estos Chips fue creciendo y creciendo al punto en que no daban abasto, por lo que Miguel garcia hizo la inversión y en el 2001 compró su primer máquina que le ayudaría a producir este producto en mayor cantidad y menor tiempo. Esta unidad era para 500 libras por hora, la cual estuvo utilizando durante 14 años, hasta que nuevamente aumentó la demanda de este producto.
Fue en el 2014, cuando miguel García realizó un convenio con el centro comercial Walmart para introducir este producto en este comercio, pero el único requisito era incrementar la cantidad de productos por lo que se tuvo que hacer la inversión para adquirir una segunda máquina, pero ahora de 1600 libras Por hora, por lo que ahora el producto que hacía durante una hora con esta nueva unidad lo terminaban en 15 minutos.
Gracias a esta inversión, los jos Chips pueden ser encontrados en más de 2000 centros comerciales en todo el estado de Texas, y en más de 3000 comercios en 42 diferentes estados de este país. Después de 10 años, Miguel garcia realizó otra inversión de una nueva máquina de 2500 libras por hora, la cual actualmente se instaló y se están ultimando.
Los detalles se está trabajando en el área electrónica para empezar a hacer las pruebas antes de empezar a usarla. Se cuenta con un personal de 80 personas en esta empresa y aún así Miguel Garcia sigue atendiendo a la comunidad personalmente, ya que uno de sus reglas es atender a la población, lo mejor que se pueda, como lo hacían sus padres y así seguir siendo uno de los restaurantes Favoritos, y también que su producto de Julio Chips sean del agrado de todos. La primer máquina que se compró que era para 500 libras por hora.
Sigue siendo utilizada para hacer los Chips y embolsarlos en pequeñas bolsas, así mismo, esta empresa está ofreciendo cinco diferentes salsas originales de esta empresa y ya se está trabajando en un nuevo sabor, el cual se espera que también sea de agrado de las personas. Tanto la fábrica para hacer los julios Chips ha incrementado su tamaño para incrementar su productividad.
También el restaurante Julio se ha mejorado al contar con mayor espacio un mayor amplio estacionamiento y se busca ofrecer mejores servicios para la comunidad y los turistas que visitan este establecimiento. La meta es empezar a utilizar la nueva maquinaria para hacer Julio Chips, para empezar a poder cubrir la demanda que solicitan de este producto, siempre con la misma calidad o incluso hasta mejor para que todos puedan disfrutar de lo que empezó la familia García en 1970, ya que se siguen utilizando las recetas originales, tanto para fabricar los Chips como en el menú del restaurante Julio’s.

Con la finalidad de obtener apoyo por parte de las autoridades estatales para llevar a cabo obras de beneficio para los residentes del condado el comisionado Juan Carlos Vázquez realizó una visita al Capitolio.
Esta visita se llevó a cabo por parte de representantes del condado y autoridades del municipio, ya que el propósito era el mismo de buscar apoyo para las diferentes obras que se tienen planeadas, para que esta Frontera siga creciendo y produciendo más fuentes de empleo.
El comisionado Juan Carlos Vázquez del representante del Precinto 2, dio a conocer que durante esta reunión tuvo la oportunidad de reunirse con autoridades estatales, a quienes les presentó los proyectos que actualmente se están llevando a cabo, y los que se tienen planeados realizarse, los cuales habrán de hacer que esta Frontera crezca y pueda atraer más empresas. Durante esta visita, el comisionado Juan Carlos Vázquez se reunió con él Senador Pete Flores a quien le solicitó apoyo para todo el condado para los próximos proyectos que son desde complejo deportivos, mejoramiento de servicios primarios, pavimentación, entre otros.
Asimismo, se reunió con el representante estatal Eddie Morales, con el mismo propósito de solicitar su apoyo en las propuestas que se han hecho al Estado para adquirir fondos para los proyectos en esta población. Durante esta visita al Capitolio, el representante estatal Eddie Morales firmó un documento en donde estaba reconociendo el 2 de abril, como Día del Condado de Val Verde en el Capitolio de Texas, haciendo de este evento oficial, tanto para el municipio como para el condado.
El comisionado Juan Carlos Vazquez fue acompañado por el comisionado Kerr Wardlaw del Precinto 1, entre ambos estuvieron buscando el apoyo de las autoridades estatales, asimismo que se comprometieron a visitar esta Frontera para conocer los proyectos que se están realizando y los que se han planeado para hacer que esta Frontera crezca.
​Asimismo, a este viaje al Capitolio se tuvo la participación del Mayor Álvaro Arreola, y otras autoridades municipales, asimismo, representantes del centro médico regional del condado de Valverde, del distrito escolar consolidado de San Felipe, también la cámara de Comercio de Del Rio y el consejo internacional de la buena vecindad, todos se reunieron con diferentes autoridades estatales, solicitando su apoyo para distintas obras y proyectos que se tienen programados.
El comisionado Juan Carlos Vázquez estuvo en representación del condado y estuvo solicitando el apoyo de autoridades estatales, no sólo para su precinto, sino para todo, Val Verde así mismo, se trataron algunos temas de interés común entre el condado y el municipio, quienes tienen que trabajar en coordinación para realizar algunas obras en beneficio a los residentes locales.

​By Ruben Cantu for the Texas Times

​A staple of the community, a lifelong public servant and an advocate of all kinds of community causes is now running for office, hoping to make a difference and to address a few shortcomings in the community of Del Rio. Carmen Gutierrez, who retired from the Texas Department of Transportation and from working as a field representative for Congressman Will Hurd, is seeking the City Council At-Large Place A.
At the early age of 49 Gutierrez retired from the TxDOT, where she became the first and only female equipment shops superintendent in the state of Texas, managing fleet issues and personnel in the eight-county Laredo district. Even though this is her first time running for office, Gutierrez is not new to politics, she was district representative for Congressman Will Hurd for five years.
“I was involved with the daily politics of several issues at the federal level, having worked with the Texas Department of Transportation I was very involved with issues at the local and state level,” she said.
Hurd, Gutierrez recalls, had a saying that impacted the way she interacts with the community:
“If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”
Gutierrez is also part of a host of community organizations, including the Community Health Improvement Coalition (CHIC), Los Amigos del Cementerio de la Loma de la Cruz, the International Good Neighbor Council, Falcon Art Center Foundation, Val Verde County Republican Woman, and she is also the chairwoman of the board for the Border Federal Credit Union.
“Every single one of these organizations have issues, that they try to help with in the community, so I was exposed to on a day-to-day basis, on a one-to-one basis with the residents of this community,” she said.
That volunteer work brought Gutierrez into contact and gave her the opportunity to try to do something to help. She became proficient at grant writing and now utilizes her skills to apply for resources for the community.
“We recently received a grant for CHIC from Friends of Val Verde, for mental health, we need to provide resources and let people know that we have resources available free of charge,” she said.
Her work with the International Good Neighbor Council has also paid dividends, having more than three-fold the number of entries to the Fiestas de Amistad parade over the last few years, since she became co-chair along with Councilwoman Tina Martinez.
“From 30 entries a few years ago we had more than 100 in the last parade,” she said.
Gutierrez also said that all this work with the IGNC benefits the Del Rio community, by giving out close to $20,000 in scholarships to local students.
“We give scholarships to the IGNC art contest participants, to the Miss Del Rio Pageant contestants,” she said.
The IGNC raises funds through their annual wine and cheese fundraiser, which is the brainchild of IGNC president Andrew Scarbo. Gutierrez has become an advocate for local causes, including recently representing a group of citizens who wanted to see the city council meetings reinstated on Facebook Livestream.
“They did away with the comments but at least we still have the opportunity to view the meetings, because not everyone has Spectrum, but almost everyone has access to the internet and to Facebook,” she said.
She also advocated for ADA accessible parking for handicapped individuals at the Rotary Park and at Brown Plaza.
“In a community like ours we have veterans with limited mobility, it is imperative that future master plans include ADA facilities, not only because it is the law, but because it is the right thing for our citizens,” she said.
Having safety and resources as her main goals, Gutierrez said her priorities as a member of the city council will be to secure the water and having accessible facilities to all members of the community.
“The number one priority is to make sure that our water is protected, the water supply, the water infrastructure, by the money that we pay, with the utilities they are supposed to set aside what it is called enterprise funds, and I know for a fact that they’ve been using enterprise funds for other things,” she said.
“The next item I have is physical safety, making sure that all the city facilities have ADA parking, access, the restrooms, the grab bars, keeping our residents safe,” she emphasized.
Gutierrez finished by reminding local voters that regardless of party affiliation they can vote for her in the upcoming city election.

​Councilperson District 3 Candidate
RANDY QUIÑONES’ FOCUS: GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
By Ruben Cantu - The Texas Times

If your vehicle has experienced hail damage — which is basically all Del Rio car/truck owners — there is a good chance you’ve made the acquaintance of PDR Pros owner Jason Schilling.
The Michigan-born and Del-Rio-raised Schilling is the owner of the successful business. And his business is prolific in scope, probably because he’s all about “customer first.”
“I guess my real enjoyment is taking care of the customers,” Schilling said. “You know, these people pay their monthly premium…to have insurance on something that they don’t want to have to pay for or have something happen. And then, when an incident actually happens, it’s an inconvenience for them. So what I like to try to do, is make the process as smooth as possible.”
PDR Pros absorbs client deductibles, eliminating any out-of-pocket expense. 
“So it’s a win-win-win situation for all my clients, and I always make myself available. So if there’s ever a warranty issue or if there’s ever a problem, I just fix it.”
A testament to his business and people acumen is that PDR Pros has taken him all over the country and to Australia multiple times.
“The traveling has been nice meeting different people all over the country, seeing different things, working on different cars, seeing different perspectives,” Schilling said. “That’s been real enjoyable as well.”
The genesis of PDR came by way of — go figure — a hailstorm.
“There was a major hailstorm in Del Rio in…I want to say it was 2002 when I got introduced to the paintless dent repair process and saw what those guys were doing,” Schilling said.
He committed himself to learning the trade, and PDR Pros was on the move. 
“And then I started traveling all over the country chasing hailstorms, fixing cars. I’ve been overseas fixing cars. I’ve fixed thousands of cars, brand-new cars for dealerships. And I’ve been doing that for quite some time now.”
Perhaps you’ve met Jason or know of him outside of PDR Pros. His involvement in Del Rio commerce is vast. His first job was with UPS before opening up a car audio/alarm store and embracing the world of entrepreneurship. Car stereos then became cell phones.
“And then I ventured into selling cellular phones, kind of like at the peak of the cell phone boom, and did really well, selling phones,” Schilling said. “And then I ended up buying a piece of property where I’m at now…and the cell phone business kind of started to fade out.”
Schilling later embarked into the digital sign space, building some of the digital billboards that are very visible in Del Rio today.  
“…the big one at the overpass. The other one at 1800 Veterans Boulevard. And then the other one down there at Thompson Tire. And so I sold those to a company called Cine Ad out of Houston.”
But it’s Del Rio that actually keeps him most busy these days.
“You can work as much as you want to work if you’re willing to drive and chase the storms,” Schilling said. “But here recently, I’ve been really, really fortunate. There was that big storm in Del Rio in 2020, which basically hit the entire county. If your vehicle was outside, it had hail damage.”
The work that resulted from that storm became so abundant that Schilling had to open his own body shop.  
“Oh, man, that was crazy. There was so much work,” Schilling said. “All the body shops that I typically do work for…they were so stacked up with work they couldn’t handle any of my work. So what I ended up doing is buying a piece of property going towards the base by that Texaco. And I remodeled that and bought some more land and turned it into a full-blown body shop.” 
So Schilling hasn’t had to leave Del Rio for work.
 “Well, I haven’t had to over the past four years because it just keeps haling in Del Rio.” 
The dent-repair specialist is grateful to Del Rio for playing a significant role in his journey. 
“And I’d like to say Del Rio has been really, really good to me. I’ve been blessed…most of the people in Del Rio are really great, great people. There’s the teachers in my life. The different authority figures in town have all had an impact and a positive influence on my life.” 

Professionally, Cory Taylor lives in a catch-22. Success is his reality, but maintaining it can be mentally and emotionally expensive. Especially, with just 25 employees or so. 
“The problem with that is trying to keep up with the demand…So if you tell people you’re too far behind, or it’s going to take X amount of time to get something done, you can lose the work,” said Taylor, the owner of Arc-Rite. “But you can also make somebody mad if you’re taking too long. It can be very stressful at times.”
Providing the needs of those requiring vehicle outfitting, commercial or retail, might seem like a straightforward undertaking, but think again. When a multitude of upgrades or changes are requested — for example, heavy-duty air compressors, diesel tanks, headache racks, work lights tied into the headache racks, running boards, tires, leveling kits and bumpers — it’s a monumental task to be sure. 
“And when there’s so many moving pieces to the puzzle when the fleets coming in and they’re not taking just one thing, they’re taking 40 things, from electrical to window tint to bumpers to the truck beds.”
And when a customer presents something new to Taylor, something he has never installed, it’s not a simple order. 
But Taylor relishes the challenge of a big ask. 
“We did one last week. A buddy of mine, a good customer of mine, bought a 2023 Expedition and wanted us to figure out a way to put Starlink on it. So we did an in-motion Starlink system on it. Let’s, give it a shot. It’s either going to work, or it’s not…if there’s one thing that I’ve always said is cool about us is every day is different. It’s never the same.”
Cory’s father, Clay, established Arc-Rite when the first George Bush was in office, as a one-bay muffler shop, before ultimately turning it into welding services for vehicle augmentation and improvement. Clay offered commercial services but primarily engaged the retail market. 
While continuing to serve the retail customer, Cory has focused efforts on expanding the commercial side of the business. The growth has been exponential. 
“From back then to now, it’s grown tremendously,” Cory said. “And now we’re in manufacturing and distribution. We distribute all over the country…running boards and headache racks and grill guards.”
Commercial fleet outfitting has been a boon for the Del Rio company.
“My thought is, if you become a necessity as opposed to just a straight luxury, then you know, you can be a lot busier,” he explained. “Companies need their trucks. They need them outfitted. They need to get on the road and start working and stuff like that.”
Arc-Rite manufactures and distributes to companies that sell Arc-Rite products.  
“So we’ve got our own product line. I mean, we’re blessed. We’ve got trucks coming in from all over Texas to get outfitted…We’ve been very consistent in progress.”
They’ve also grown into CNC plasma cut design as well, retaining an engineer on staff for blueprints and delineation, before fabricating prototypes in-house.
And Clay. “My dad, for sure…I mean, big shoes to fill. All I’m trying to do is fill those shoes and continue to grow it. Make him proud. You know what I mean?”
As far as the company’s growth, does Cory foresee Arc-Rite inhabiting the commercial outfitting space in other cities and regions? 
“Absolutely, 100%. I just want to keep expanding. I don’t want to stop expanding either…Recently, I’ve really been sitting back and trying to figure out if you can outgrow an area. So we have been looking into expanding into other cities as well. I just haven’t really taken that leap yet. But no, it’s definitely on the back burner for sure.”

The criminal justice system is perceived as a punitive dead end that offers little hope to the person arrested or criminally charged. Even when the offense is a misdemeanor or, in particular, a DWI.
But that narrative has changed in Val Verde County.
The Val Verde County DWI Specialty Court helps those who find themselves in a DWI situation. The specialty court is a state-funded program — through a grant from the governor’s office — that provides services to Val Verde County residents who could be or who are, in the criminal justice system due to a DWI.
“The difficulty is you’re dealing with individuals that have issues — not all of them — with alcohol and, or, drugs,” said Val Verde County Court at Law Judge Sergio Gonzalez. “Everything we do, it’s a team approach. “Everything we do is evidenced based…means that it’s worked before and it’s all data-driven…the percentages and the figures that have come out of this data is reflective that it’s an approach that works.”
The DWI specialty court team includes Gonzalez, a defense attorney, a prosecutor, an assigned probation officer, a licensed professional counselor, a coordinator and a case manager.
DWI offenders can enter the specialty court program as participants after an arrest and prior to charges being filed, (pre-adjudicative) or after charges, have been filed (post-adjudicative). They’re referred to the DWI court by a magistrate or justice of the peace. Gonzalez said the specialty court runs parallel to the criminal case where it monitors the person, performs risk assessments via urine analysis or swabs to detect specific levels of alcohol or drugs, and furnishes counseling. The court meets every two weeks and is well-equipped with updated information relevant to program participants.
“It’s worked out pretty good and provided a lot of services that typically you would never have for individuals that were in the criminal justice system for DWI,” he said.
The Val Verde County Specialty Court began in 2015 and is funded annually by the grant. Initially, 10-20 participants were in the court program, and now there are 47 with the total amount capped at 50 by the state. The court requires yearly authorization from the commissioners court to apply for the grant.
People who don’t reside in Val Verde County or have been arrested for drug-related or violent crimes are not eligible for the specialty court program. Also, potential participants are denied entry into the program if the team decides not to accept them after carefully evaluating two initial assessments that they’re required to undergo.
Another aspect of DWI circumstances is the suspension of a driver’s license. Anyone in Texas arrested for DWI will have their driver’s license suspended, Gonzalez said. The court encourages participants to get their license back as soon as possible. And it can help a participant recover normal license status.
“If we accept them into this program, we can write a letter to the justice of the peace and say, ‘Hey, this is what the program consists of, this is what we do. In lieu of this person successfully being a part of this program, are you willing to assist them? Either reducing their obligations to you, doing away with it altogether, as long as they successfully complete the program.’ And in some cases, they do,” he said.
Ultimately, the specialty court’s mission is to enhance public safety and reduce recidivism by offering to assist county residents who are program participants a chance to change their lives.
“We try and get their trust to let them know, ‘Hey, we’re here for you. We’re able to help you. Let us help you,’” Gonzalez said.

The Texas Times recently caught up with Del Rio City Councilperson-District 1, Fred Carranza, to discuss municipal business. While Carranza is looking forward to the potential implementation of future projects — constructing a greatly needed new community gym and an additional international bridge — there are still some issues and ongoing undertakings of immediate concern to folks. Carranza graciously answered our questions. [The interview has been edited due to length restrictions.

TT: What is the city’s singular, primary issue and the plan to address it?
FC: The primary issue I think that we’re currently facing…the Covid, of course. We have to talk about Covid, right? There’s no way around that. But I think we’ve done a pretty good job with it now that we’re getting enough vaccines. I know in the last couple of weeks we’ve gotten several thousand vaccines…we need to get as many people as we can two doses…we’ve got every kind of vaccine available. But that’s been a struggle because everybody needed it at first. We were trying to get the elderly done. Now we’ve opened it up to everybody…and I’m hoping by July that we’ll be pretty well caught up with the majority of citizens who want to get it already—vaccinated.

TT: What is the status of the road and infrastructure improvements?
FC: On the streets, I think that of course, there’s more work to do. That the city as a whole, we’ve invested millions of dollars in getting not just the streets but the infrastructure renewed or upgraded…the last five years I think we invested probably $20 million on streets…we still have some pockets and then you have to start redoing streets probably up here on the north side that are already getting a little older. We’ve worked on San Felipe quite a bit…we’re gonna be doing a bunch of streets on the south part of town because they’re in the greatest need right now.   
We did get the Qualia relief route done. That was long needed, and that was a project that had been there for 10 years or longer. I came on council and it was one of my priorities is to get that done and we were able to accomplish that with the support of the council. As we leave these projects behind longer and longer, the price gets more expensive and more expensive.
​
TT: Other significant issues...
FC: We’re also dealing with immigration…all of the immigrants that are coming across the border and how we’re gonna deal with that. The Chihuahua Center, the church group that’s out there, is doing an excellent job. We support them…we’ve been able to handle the numbers that we have now, but we’re always more worried that they’re gonna drop off more than the 100-150 a day. If they come and drop off 200 or 300, we probably don’t have enough transportation to get them out on the same day. Then we have to start housing people, feeding people, and that turns into a bigger problem…the federal government, I hope, will give us some help…at least reimburse us for the monies that we’re spending on a problem that really is what I believe is a federal problem and not the local City of Del Rio problem.
We need to spend some money on a new city hall…many years that’s been pushed down the list…that’s gonna cost us about $15 million. We’re gonna need to invest some money…on the generators that we just had the big problem in the snowstorm…our wastewater treatment plant was down, the substation for the sewer system were down. That’s gonna cost us several million dollars. It’s a balancing act. Do we keep just doing the streets, or do we start taking care of some of the other things? I, for myself, feel like we need to take care of some of these other items.