Crystal City is having a rough time.
On February 4, a federal grand jury indicted the small South Texas town’s city manager/attorney, William James Jonas, III, 54; its mayor, Ricardo Lopez, 40; its mayor pro-tem, Rogelio Mata, 43; city councilman Roel Mata, 44; Gilbert Urrabazo, 45, a former councilman; and Ngoc Tri Nguyen, 38, on charges of bribery. Another councilman, Marco Rodriguez, was arrested a few weeks ago by Border Patrol and accused of attempting to smuggle undocumented immigrants.
At the city’s first City Council meeting since the indictments, Mayor Lopez was additionally charged with inciting a riot after getting into an altercation with a resident, multiple media reports indicate. When police were booking Lopez into jail, they found a controlled substance, possibly Vicodin, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
And, now, the city’s water is black.
Public Works Director Lionel Perez said in a press release that the black water is due to sediments that got into the water distribution facility after a tank was flushed on Wednesday. Police are advising residents to boil their water.
KSAT obtained images from Crystal City residents posting photos of the oily-looking water.
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2016.
