NOTICE TO THE MEDIA CONTACT: JOEL LARA

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2002 (713) 527-9010

TEJANO MONUMENT COMMITTEE INAUGURATES A REGIONAL FUNDRAISING GROUP

AUSTIN—The Tejano Monument Committee will inaugurate a regional fundraising group to help raise funds to erect the monument.

The 77^th Legislature authorized the creation of a monument to commemorate the contributions of Tejanos to the State of Texas.
The privately funded life-sized monument will be located on the grounds of the State Capitol.

Fundraising Committee Chairman, Dr. Andres Tijerina, will introduce the new group at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 2 at theMuseo Guadalupe Aztlan, 3004 Bagby, in Houston.

“We have a great task at hand but I am confident this newly named regional committee will work hard to help raise the funds needed to get this monument built,” Tijerina said.

Tijerina will formally recognize Joel Lara as the Regional Coordinator for the Houston Regional Committee. Members of several local civic and business organizations will also join Tijerina at the news conference.

For more information you can contact Joel Lara at (713) 527-9010 or visit the Tejano Monument website at www.Tejanos.com.

AUSTIN, TEXAS- The Tejano Statue-Capitol, Inc. today announced that artist Armando Hinojosa has been selected to design and sculpt a monument for the Capitol grounds commemorating the contributions of Tejanos to the State of Texas to be completed within three years.

Hinojosa's life reads like a history book. The son of the late Geronimo Hinojosa, a Mexican immigrant, and Amalia Garcia Hinojosa of Laredo, a direct descendent of Don Tomas Sanchez (who founded Laredo), Armando was born during World War II. He worked hard to pay for his own education, starting at a private, boys' Catholic school and graduating from Texas A&I in Kingsville in 1966. He began painting at the age of 13 when his father allowed him to paint signs for highway advertisements.

Hinojosa has created 18 monumental sculptures including "Among Friends There Are No Borders"-a rendition of a charro and a cowboy-at Laredo's International Airport. Although a well-known artist, Hinojosa remains a humble man, serious and committed to the preservation of art and history. "In my drawings for the Tejano sculpture, my goal is to surround the viewer with history," said Hinojosa. "This total immersion approach will allow the viewer to experience a total physical response to the sculpture."

Hinojosa teaches high school art and is the Dean of Visual Arts at the Vidal M. Treviño School of Communication and Fine Art in Laredo, Texas.

The Tejano Statue-Capitol, Inc. also announced a gala event to be held November 10, 2001 at the new Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. The gala will serve as a fund-raising effort and an introduction to the Tejano culture, and will provide numerous examples and exhibits of early Tejano pioneers and their contributions to the State of Texas.

House Concurrent Resolution 38, passed by Representative "Kino" Flores during this year's legislative session, and authorized the planning and erection of the monument on the Capitol grounds. HCR 38 will ensure that the contributions of Tejanos to the State of Texas are realized, documented, and never forgotten. The Tejano Statue-Capitol, Inc., formed in April of this year, was established for the sole purpose of providing for the fund-raising efforts and to serve as a decision-making body.

Story by DAVID ROBLEDO
Photos by GERMAN GARCIA
The Monitor

EDINBURG - There's only one school organization in the state helping to raise money for the Monumento Tejano, and that's the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter at Edinburg North High School. The Monumento Tejano was conceived by Cayetano Barrera from McAllen, who took a stroll through the Capitol grounds in Austin last year, and realized that, among the many Texas-related statues, memorials, and commemorations, there was no monument marking the contributions of Tejanos to Texas culture. Thus, Barrera approached State Representative Ismael "Kino" Flores with the idea of building such a monument. Flores loved the idea, and petitioned the Texas Legislature for permission to build a work of art commemorating the contributions of the Spanish and Mexican pioneers who have influenced Texas life. In May 2001, the Legislature ap-proved the project.

"It's exciting. We didn't know what to expect. We went up to tell a bunch of northerners, 'Hey, we need a monument saying Tejanos were here,' " Flores said. Edinburg North's DECA chapter became involved when DECA advisor Melba Zaremba saw Flores promoting the monument on television. Zaremba thought that asking the DECA chapter to come up with a promotional campaign to raise money for the cause would fit well with the purposes of DECA, a marketing association. "The kids told me - 'Miss, did you know that nobody knows there's not a monument about Tejanos?' " Zaremba said.

DECA started raising money by creating a campaign called "The Power of One," in which club members asked fel-low students to tell one person about the monument, and to encourage those that were told to spread the word along to one other. The chapter then asked everyone who heard about it to contribute their spare pennies. The chapter collected $565.79 in pennies. "I made announcements and collected pennies and weighed the pennies - a lot of pennies," explained member Rose Molina, 18, a senior.

The penny drive was just the first step in DECA's promotional plan. Now, they're asking local businesses, such as Carmike Cinema, to give DECA space to advertise the monument. "It's important because at the Capitol grounds, there's no representation of Mexican-Americans. It's important to honor the contribution Tejanos have given to the state of Texas," Molina said. Fellow DECA member Alejandra "Alex" Flores, 17, a senior, agreed. "I'm doing something for my heritage. … I love this project," she said.

In November 2001, DECA member Juan Carlos Munoz, along with Zaremba, traveled to Austin to attend a Tejano legacy gala at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, where the chapter was recognized for their efforts. To get involved with DECA's promotion, call Zaremba at 316-7683. To find out more about the Monumento Tejano, log on to www.tejanos.com.

"This copyrighted story from the Feb. 2, 2002 edition of The Monitor has been posted with permission."

TEJANO MONUMENT PLANNED FOR STATE CAPITOL

BY TRICIA CORTEZ
Times staff writer

One summer day, two years ago, Dr. Cayetano Barrera of McAllen made the rounds of the newly renovated Capitol in Austin when he suddenly noticed something he never had before. "I told my wife, 'I need to go around again.' I couldn't believe my eyes," said Barrera, who had walked the grounds dozens of times in the past. "Out of the 31 statues and monuments I saw inside and outside the Capitol, not a single one had a Spanish or Mexican name, and not one was dedicated to the Spanish or Mexican pioneers that have lived on this land since 1519."

The family practitioner got on the phone and called his nephew Richard Sanchez, chief of staff for state Rep. Kino Flores of Mission, and asked, 'Would you please go around the grounds to look because maybe I missed something?" When Sanchez called his uncle back with the response, Barrera set the ball rolling to undertake the "historic and long-overdue project."

The goal was to erect the largest monument to grace the 22-acre Capitol grounds. It would commemorate the 500-year role of Tejanos and the Spanish-Mexican legacy in Texas. With the help of Flores and state Senator Mario Gallegos, the State Preservation Board and historian Andres Tijerina, Barrera was able to get legislation passed unanimously in February 2001 authorizing the monument.

"I think everyone was caught with a little embarrassment that this had never been done," Barrera said. Flores admitted being "nervous because I was not sure at how the legislature was going to respond. Surprisingly, there was no opposition whatsoever. "This monument should have been there many, many decades ago. The Capitol has monuments of other Texas heroes, but none of us. We, Tejanos, Latinos, Hispanos, Chicanos, whatever you want to call us, have carved out the history of Texas. Our roots are imbedded in every part," he said. "I realized that for many years, little Mexicanitos and Chicanitos have visited the Capitol and have come back believing they don't have a place in Texas history. They have looked at the paintings and monuments, and even their textbooks, none of which trace anything back to them. These young people have left thinking they were on borrowed land which is not the case," Flores added.

Rick Crawford, executive director of the State Preservation Board, which manages the Capitol building and grounds and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, said he did not know why Tejanos have long been excluded from the Capitol grounds. "All I can tell you is that Kino Flores was the first one to push for this monument. We are directed by the Legislature to do monuments, but they all require a law to be passed," he said.

Tijerina, an award-winning historian at Austin Community College, explained his opinion of the delay in acknowledging Tejano contributions to the state. "Mexican-Americans, or Tejanos, are just now reaching a population base of middle class professionals who can present this heritage in a formal format," he said, referring to legislative resolutions, fundraising campaigns, books, magazines, genealogy and other professional organizations. "Before this, Tejanos were not able to reach that formal level. We have always been here but have not always had access. But, let me stress that everyone, Anglo-Americans and Hispanics, have been gratified that we are now finally presenting these very positive and constructive facts. No one has challenged us, or questioned us, or expressed any doubt of any of the information we're celebrating," Tijerina said.

"Everyone has been exuberant. When Kino introduced this on the House floor, the bill drew 48 co-sponsors, most of who were Anglo-Americans," he added. Once the monument's site is finalized, the State Preservation Board has to approve the design and receive the construction money to begin, Crawford said. The $1.4 million bronze will consist of 12 life-size sculptures. Though it does not single out specific Tejano heroes and pioneers, it will cover the era from the 1500s to the 1800s. Last summer, the Tejano Monument's executive board commissioned Laredo artist Armando Hinojosa for the project.

"We are taking great pains to make everything authentic to the period, from the jacket, bridle, chaps, to the horse being a mesteño (mustang) and not a thoroughbred. There will also be a vaquero and a Tejano couple with a baby," Barrera said. He noted that five prominent historians, led by Tijerina, are writing the monument's text which will be recorded on six bronze relief plaques.

Tijerina is also chairing the statewide fundraising effort. "Because we have to raise the money ourselves, we are about to launch a fundraising campaign with focal points in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Austin. We're also looking at El Paso, Corpus Christi and the Valley," Barrera said. Just last Friday, the International Bank of Commerce, through its Zapata branch president Renato Ramirez, pledged $100,000 to the project, brining the total amount of funds raised to $250,000. "I personally sponsored a gala event at the Bob Bullock History Museum last November to kick off the fundraising effort," Ramirez said. Sanchez, Barrera's nephew, described the memorable gala. "We invited people from all over the state, many of whom came in costume. The attire read "Tejano Chic," Sanchez laughed. "It meant dressy but with a Tejano flair. Some of the ladies borrowed costumes from a place in Corpus Christi depicting Tejano life in the 1800s. Some wore ball-type dresses worn by the Tejano elite of that day, and the men wore wide bottom pants, blousy shirts, spurs, cowboy sombreros."

A Tejano Honor Guard also showed up "in really authentic looking stuff," he said. "We also hired a group from Mexico to play period music," Sanchez said He then recalled the excitement of the group's first meeting during the fall of 2000. "We sat around a table in the Capitol, and there was so much energy at that table. Everybody wanted to be there so bad, and everybody had so many ideas. We had to rein them in and had to first talk about why we deserve to be part of the Capitol grounds," he said.

After the bill passed last February, the group formed a non-profit corporation in April 2001 called Tejano Statue-Capitol, Inc. d/b/a/ the Tejano Monument. It is charged with fundraising and helping the preservation board erect the statue. Interested donors can access www.tejanos.com, where small bronze statuettes of the central figure, the vaquero, will soon be sold as limited editions.

Barrera said the project should take two years to complete. The four historians working under Tijerina are Carolina Castillo Crimm of Sam Houston State, Felix Almaraz of the University of Texas at San Antonio, Gilberto Hinojosa of the University of the Incarnate Word and distinguished historian Jack Jackson of Austin.

(Staff writer Tricia Cortez can be reached at 728-2568 or tricia@lmtonline.com)

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: CONTACT: Richard Sanchez

July 23, 2002 512.463-0704

Austin - The International Bank of Commerce has announced a major contribution of $100,000 to help fund the Tejano Monument at the Texas State Capitol. Renato Ramirez, President and CEO of International Bank of Commerce (IBC), will make the presentation at 5 PM on Friday, July 26,2002, as part of the regular meeting of the Tejano Monument Executive Committee in the state capitol. The formal presentation will be held in the Speaker’s Conference Room on the second floor west wing of the capitol building.

Ramirez, who is on the Tejano Monument Executive Committee, stated in making the announcement, that the $100,000 pledge will be delivered in $25,000 increments, presented annually. He will present the first $25,000 gift on Friday. Ramirez added that IBC has taken the lead in sponsoring the Tejano Monument fundraising campaign, which must raise 11/2 million for the monument. Ramirez stated that “The International Bank of Commerce has been a prime sponsor of the Tejano Monument all along, and invites other banks and institutions to contribute to this worthy cause.”

The Tejano Monument will be a monument on the Texas Capitol grounds intended to establish an enduring legacy that acknowledges and pays tribute to the contributions by Tejanos as permanent testimony of the Spanish-Mexican heritage that has influenced and is inherent in present-day Texas culture.

The Tejano Monument is formally incorporated as the Tejano Statue-Capitol, Inc. under the Texas Non-profit Corporation Act by the Texas Secretary of State. It has a federal I.D. tax number and is a charitable, not-for-profit organization, under Section 501 (c) (3) of the United States Tax Code. It maintains a registered bank account in the International Bank of Commerce in McAllen, Texas. The corporation has established other committees to carry out this project. It maintains a webpage at Tejanos.com with news and background information on the proposed monument.

The 77th Texas Legislature in 2001 passed House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 38, approving the erection of a statue or monument on the Texas Capitol grounds that pays tribute to the contributions of Tejanos to the State of Texas and recognizing exclusively the Tejano Statue-Capitol, Inc. working with the Texas State Preservation Board, as the organization to raise funds and erect the statue.