Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence explained to county commissioners at a special meeting Tuesday why two of his deputies have submitted their resignations but his comments do not match those made to the Chronicle/ News by another employee of the department.

Spence said that Gabriel Avendano, who has been with the department for more than eight years, is leaving to accept a better job elsewhere.

The sheriff also stated that John Cisneros who has been with the department only a short while is leaving because of a personal tragedy in his family.

"He thought he was ready to come back to work but he wasn't," said Spence.

Following the sheriff's remarks commissioners voted to accept the two resignations and also agreed to allow the sheriff to hire two replacement deputies from a list of appli- cants, rather than advertisiing the jobs as is customary in other county departments.

Pct. 2 Commissioner Erasmo "Eddie" Chapa read a letter of resignation from one of the deputies, in which he stated, "I am requesting no compensation for the hours that I worked."

The deputy position pays $26,200 annually.

Our scource in the sheriff's dept., who did not authorize the Chronicle/News to use his name, had a different reason for the situation described above.

Two deputies from his department have been working as security guards for one of the oil companies west of town on State Hwy. 186. They were double dipping, being paid by the oil company at the same time they were being paid by the county, he said.

Willacy County & District Attorney Bernard Ammerman was not at the meeting and was not in his office on Tuesday. It is not known if any legal action will result from this situation but the Chronicle/News will follow up with the D.A.'s office when he returns.

IN OTHER BUSINESS:

Willacy County got $73,000 extra in stimulous funds and commissioners voted Tuesday to use it in Lasara for drainage improvements, including the installation of a 60-inch storm drain. In all, the county got $363,000 and the remainder will be used for similar work in Sebastian.

Commissioners agreed to pay Max Reyna $1,500 for his work on the expanded communications system now being installed by the city and county.

County will defend Martinez

In 2008 the former county attorney, Juan Guerra, filed law suits against a number of state and national officials, including district clerk Gilbert Lozano, chief sheriff's deputy David Martinez, of Raymond-ville, police chief Uvaldo Zamora, State Senator Eddie Lucio, U.S. vice president Richard "Dick" Cheney and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The lawsuit was thrown out by district judge J. Manuel Banales in December, 2008.

Guerra, however, refiled the lawsuit in federal court at Brownsville dropping the federal figures while including Lucio, Lozano, Martinez and Zamora.

David Martinez is no longer with the county after being fired by Sheriff Larry Spence following his unsuccessful attempt to unseat the sheriff. The others, including Zamora and Lozano are being defended by the city of Raymondville and Willacy County. Martinez is employed by the city of Port Isabel police department.

Because he was a county employee at the time of the arrest of Juan Guerra, the reason for the legal action, Martinez believes that the county should offer him legal respresentation, which they agreed to do, Tuesday, on a motion by Commissioner Chapa.

The motion passed unanimously with Commissioner Guerra, acting judge Guerra and Chapa voting in favor.

Pct. 3 Commissioner Alfredo "Fred" Chapa was not present and did not vote. He is recovering in Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen, from a fall suffered at home.