The Smugglers’ Blues near Hidalgo

SERVING HIDALGO COUNTY

HIDALGO - Approximately a month ago, Jan. 6th or the 7th, the Marine Division of the U.S. Border Patrol discovered something funky going on in the City of Hidalgo: Mexican smugglers were digging a tunnel about four-feet by four-feet. By the time Border Patrol agents found it, the smugglers had already dug 60 feet in from the river’s embankment.

The story remained fairly far under the radar until Steve Taylor published a story about it in The Rio Grande Guardian Jan. 29th. One media outlet picked it up online, then another, and from there, the media exposure has grown.

O. E. Brand, Jr., general manager of Hidalgo County Water Improvement District No. 3 has been the guy answering most of the calls from news outlets since he is the guy quoted in Taylor’s story.

“In my whole life, I’ve never done 17 interviews in just one week,” said Brand by phone Monday, talking about last week. He has more interviews scheduled for this week.

Read the entire story on the e-Edition of our newspaper. http://www.etypeservices.com/Advance%20News%20JournalID455/