Así es mi pobre tierra ... :(

"Hidalgo County, Texas

"Hunting for toxic chemicals in Donna

"Residents still eating the fish..."

By Colin McDonald and Lynn Brezosky. San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS. Monday, November 5, 2012.

"Donna -- The source of the toxic chemicals in the fish of the Donna Canal and reservoir is still a mystery almost 20 years after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started looking.

"But residents of the South Texas town of Donna are still eating the  fish laden  with PCBs despite  a ban and warning signs along the canal.

"The EPA is now overseeing its largest and most comprehensive search in the canal system for PCBs, or polychlorinated  biphenyls, cancer causing chemicals that were used in industrial equipment until they were banned.

"The Donna Canal carries water from the Rio Grande to irrigate farm fields and provide drinking water for Donna, a city of less than 16,000 residents in Hidalgo County.

"It is an EPA Superfund site, meaning it is one of the most hazardous, that has produced fish with the highest concentration of the toxic chemical ever found, according to the Texas Department  of State Health Services ..."

It was most likely the last Saturday in May of 1962 -- or the first Saturday in June! -- that my kind and understanding mother and father let me invite two great friends and fellow graduates of Saint Joseph's School  in Alamo, Texas 78216 -- to come to our rancho, then hike -- fishing poles in hand! -- to the nearby Donna Canal.

Luckily for us - - Ruben,  Chacho, Dennis and a bit later 7th. grader Gilberto -- nobody caught anything.

But man, we had us  a fine time! :)