PASADENA, Texas – A Pasadena city councilman is outraged after he says scholarships he created with his allowed budget funds were cancelled by the city attorney behind his back.
Two college bound girls were already told they would receive the money and then received the crushing news
Councilman Emmanuel Guerrero says he wouldn’t mind so much if this move affected him, but the fact its affecting two of his constituents that happen to be teenage girls in need, puts it at an all-time low.
KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke spoke with recent Pasadena High School graduates Lauren Centeno and Ana Pineda.
With outstanding grades and multiple skill sets, some would call the soon to be Texas A&M students overachievers.
“In the very far future I do want to become a lawyer,” Centeno said.
“I’m deciding what branch of engineering still,” Pineda said.
But their journeys haven’t endured without challenges.
“I applied to many of the scholarships and most of them didn’t give it to me,” Centeno said.
“I’ve applied to many scholarships, unfortunately I didn’t get any of them,” Pineda said.
They thought their luck had finally changed at the June 4th city council meeting.
“I’m honored to present the first District C Guerrero scholarships for the most economically disadvantaged high school, Pasadena High School,” Guerrero said at the meeting.
He says he used money from his allotted budget to fund the $500 scholarships.
“They (checks) were cut, they were approved and reviewed by the payroll manager and by the city attorney who created this (list of checks). They were physically already there. All you needed was the yes and ok,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero says he later learned that 20 minutes before the following council meeting which he couldn’t attend, city attorney Jay Dale pulled the checks without explanation.
“It was so bad my secretary after the meeting went to go pick up the checks and was met with a shock,” he said.
“Everything was already in motion and they stopped it,” Centeno said.
“It devastated me,” Pineda said.
We gave Dale a call to ask why out of 11 pages of checks, those were the only ones pulled.
“The money that we spend at the city belongs to the citizens and somebody that thinks that they can start giving scholarships to private individuals has got a long road ahead. They don’t even know the basics, and it sounds like you don’t either,” Dale said.
Dale became more and more aggressive.
“You got half the story brother,” he said.
“Well how bout you give me the rest of it?” Clarke replied.
“I just did,” Dale said.
“Sir you don’t have to yell,” Clarke said.
“You’re yelling at me dude,” Dale said.
“Sir my voice is actually pretty calm now,” Deven replied.
“Don’t give me that bull!!” Dale screamed.
Here is the full conversation between Clarke and Dale.
Councilman Guerrero who says he believes Dale’s decision is a reflection of long-standing inequalities against Latino’s says he plans to raise awareness about this issue during the next meeting and promises the girls will get their scholarships one way or another.
