NARCOTICS TASK FORCE HAS OFFICIALS SPARRING

Kleberg County Will Get A Portion Of The Seized Assets, According To
New Agreement

Kleberg County's sheriff signed an agreement to continue the South
Texas Specialized Crimes and Narcotics Task Force just as the
deadline expired Friday - but not before he and the Kingsville city
manager traded threats and insults.

The disagreement between Sheriff Tony Gonzalez and City Manager
Hector Hinojosa involved Gonzalez's demand that Kleberg County
receive a share of the task force's assets, which he estimated at
about $1 million.

After weeks of wrangling, the agreement will give Kleberg and other
counties in the task force a portion of the assets seized during
operations in which they participate.

The task force is headquartered in Kleberg County, but has operated
in Jim Wells, Kenedy and Brooks counties as well.

The city of Kingsville administers its grants.

The task force, which supports itself through assets gained in drug
and cash seizures made along popular trafficking routes to the
border, does not routinely share its assets with the counties it
works with.

Instead, it uses the money to provide the matching local portion of
grants that finance the 14-agent operation.

In return, task force Commander Jaime Garza has said, the counties
receive free law enforcement.

In a letter to Gonzalez, also sent to city and county officials,
Hinojosa accuses the sheriff of demanding $100,000 during a Jan. 3
meeting in exchange for his signature on a cooperation agreement
needed to obtain grants.

"Should the city of Kingsville be denied the funding for this grant
because of your failure to sign the Cooperative Agreement, it will be
my position, publicly, that the loss of the task force will fall
squarely on your shoulders because of your failure to cooperate with
the grant proposal," Hinojosa wrote.

Gonzalez said he told Hinojosa only that counties should receive a
share of assets seized during arrests in which they participate.

Jim Wells County received $100,000 from a $1.5 million seizure near
Alice in 1999.

"That's not the way I took it," Hinojosa said.

Gonzalez replied with a letter of his own in which he accused
Hinojosa of having extremist views and putting the needs of the task
force above the needs of Kingsville.

"I have been sheriff long enough to know putting up with inflated
egos is just one inconvenience I have to put up with," he wrote.

Gonzalez also wrote that he never tried to sell his signature.

Gonzalez said Friday that Kleberg County should be compensated for
its financial role in helping to start the task force and for
continuing to provide facilities, personnel and other resources.

Both men said the relationship between the city and the sheriff's
department would not be hurt by the disagreement.

"As far as I'm concerned it's water under the bridge," Hinojosa said.
"He's still my friend."

Jim Wells and Kenedy counties both entered into the renewal agreement
as well. Brooks County officials did not sign the agreement by the
Friday deadline.

Brooks County Sheriff Balde Lozano could not be reached for comment.

Last year the task force was ranked the state's top drug task force
out of the nearly 50 state-sponsored narcotics task forces in the
state.

The ranking was based on a number of factors, including number of
arrests, amount of drugs seized and ability to work with other law
enforcement agencies.