A Day of Proclamations and Recognitions

A large crowd of police officers, firefighters, students, political figures, and citizens filled the city council chambers yesterday morning. Music from Los Lonely Boys was piped through the chambers’ speaker system before the meeting began and the crowd mingled.

The meeting kicked off with the Central High School swim team when they were recognized for becoming the District Champions for the fifth consecutive year, among many other accomplishments this season. Coach David Hague accepted the recognition expressing how proud he is to coach at CHS with such determined student athletes. 

Then came the proclamation naming April 11 “Los Lonely Boys Homecoming”. The three brothers strolled in from the back, Henry Garza behind a pair of sunglasses with Ringo and Jojo in tow. Mayor Morrison called them “hometown boys who really made it to the top” and “hometown heroes”, as the Russell and Hensley Families who have over 100 years and generations of service with the City of San Angelo as police officers and firefighters looked on.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody here in San Angelo that are here this morning, and sorry we didn’t bring donuts,” said Ringo Garza said. “Thank y’all so much and God bless y’all, we do go all over the world and say we are from San Angelo, Texas so whoever heard that we were saying Austin got it wrong,” Ringo Garza said before stepping away from the mic.

Brother, Henry Garza said, “I would like to say something on behalf of our dear lord, Jesus Christ. It’s said in the inscription that no prophet is ever really known in his hometown, and that’s coming right out of the word, and for us to be noticed here in our hometown by the City of San Angelo does us great pleasure in our hearts to be up here accepting this,” he said tapping his chest. “Thank you guys for just acknowledging who we are too, because we are very proud to be where we are from, and San Angelo Texas keeps us strong when we go from here to Australia, to China, to Japan, and we let them all know we are just little bitty three Texas brothers from San Angelo Texas, so we are all together in this, thank y’all for the proclamation” Henry said.

Jojo took his turn saying, “The truth is, like they did say, we do go all over this world, and it seems unimaginable to people but it’s really, really far away on the other side, it takes a long time to get there, a long time to get back and all around,” he said. “We grew up on all of the streets of San Angelo, we really didn’t grow up on the (clearing his throat) greener, greener side, but to be really honest with you, it’s green everywhere here for us,” he continued. “We love this place, we can tell anyone that we are from anywhere else along this place, in this country, in this world, but for some reason, we can’t, and we don’t want to, we don’t want to stop loving San Angelo and giving it the recognition that it deserves. We just want to say we love you San Angelo, and you all very much for making us part of San Angelo again on this special day.”

The group gave a live performance and played an acoustic song in which they sang, “The truth is gonna find you if you don’t confess, try a little harder, dig a little deeper, does anyone hear what I’m saying? Give a little gotta give a little more now, give a little, gotta show me that ya know how, that’s what we need to do. We should feel ashamed trying to pass the blame for the things we’ve done…..”

You can catch Los Lonely Boys this weekend on April 11 at the Bill Aylor Sr. Memorial RiverStage, 16 E.Concho.

April 2015 has also been proclaimed “Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month” Concho Valley Rape Crisis Center Executive Director Karla Payne was on hand to accept the proclamation.

“Rape perpetrators are not always in a ski mask waiting behind a bush on a dark night,” she said. “The perpetrator can sometimes be someone we know, may even trust, or love. It could be somebody who is well known in the community could be a celebrity, could be somebody that no one even thinks could come close to doing anything like that, and [the perpetrator] counts on that. I don’t want to scare anybody, but perpetrators count on that trust, they want to get close, we just have to be careful.”

The CVRCC will host “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” on April 25 on the Tom Green County courthouse lawn at noon. Men will be encouraged to put on a pair of heels and walk around the lawn. Payne says this is to give men an idea of how uncomfortable it can be to be a woman, and raise awareness about sexual violence against women. Payne encouraged anyone interested to call the CVRCC at (325)655-2000.

Concho Valley C.A.R.E.S. accepted the proclamation declaring April 2015 “Alcohol Awareness Month”. Paulette Shell, Prevention Director, Ray Valadez, Program Director and Le Tonya Smith, Outreach Coordinator all for CV C.A.R.E.S. were in attendance.

 “We would like to thank you for having us here today as we raise awareness about alcoholism in our community,” said Smith. “We would like to thank you for your support as we go about this community working on our mission, which is to reduce substance use among youth. With us being apart of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council (ADAC) we thank you for your support as we work to save lives and create healthier communities.”

 Angelo State University Director of Admissions Sharla Adams accepted the “I Chose Angelo State Month” proclamation for April 2015.

“This is a celebration of all that is ASU,” Adams said. “We are excited to recognize some new members who will join us in the fall. We are excited about them becoming part of the ram family.”

Katie Dunlap from Central High School, Elizabeth Martinez from Lake View High School, Kristen Scotty from TLC High School, Mikayla Allen from Cornerstone High School, Rachel Rathmon from Grape Creek High School, Hope Allen from Garden City High School, and Lane Oliver from Wall High School will all be attending ASU this fall as they were welcomed by an ASU employee and given an ASU t-shirt as a photo was snapped.

The Russell family was recognized for having logged over 117 years of service as San Angelo firefighters, through six generations of Russells’ that began with A.B. Russell in April of 1951. A.B. served in the San Angelo Fire Department for almost 26 years before retiring in 1977. Larry Russell Sr. served almost 31 years in the SAFD, retiring as a driver on May 14, 2000. Larry Russell Jr. has served the SAFD for 24 years and counting, working as a driver for nearly 20 years now.  Chatta “CB” Russell is also a driver, earning that rank in 2004. He joined the SAFD in 2002, and has served as a firefighter for 14 years and five months. Jordan Russell has served the SAFD since 2006; next year will mark his tenth year as a firefighter with the SAFD. James Russell changed things up a bit when he joined the San Angelo Police Department in Feb. 2003. It is fair to say that the Russell family has built a legacy around the protection and service for the citizens of San Angelo.

The Hensley family is another family devoted to the protection and service of San Angelo’s citizens. The Hensley’s have devoted over 101 years of collectively putting their lives on the line in service of the San Angelo Fire Department. The late Roscoe “Bud” Hensley launched the family’s proud tradition of fire service when he joined the SAFD in 1957.  He retired as a lieutenant in 1991, after 33 years and 10 months. His widow and sons accepted the proclamation, carrying a picture of Bud standing next to a SAFD fire truck.

Mike Hensley’s career with the SAFD began in 1972. He served even longer than his father, 35 years ,retiring as an engineer on May 15, 2007. Curtis Hensley joined the SAFD in 1979, seven years after his older brother. Curtis retired 33 years later in 2013, having attained the rank of Captain. 

According to the proclamation, “Although this recognition is belated, it is heartfelt in expressing our deepest gratitude and admiration not only to Bud, Mike and Curtis Hensley for their selfless dedication to the San Angelo Fire Department, but to the mothers, wives, sons and daughters in their lives who shared them with us in our times of need.”