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Starr Co. Courthouse Lacking Security Due to Budget

6 years 5 months 2 weeks ago Thursday, October 12 2017 Oct 12, 2017 October 12, 2017 6:29 PM October 12, 2017 in News

RIO GRANDE CITY – The Starr County courthouse no longer has security at the front entrance.

Previously, a Starr County Sheriff’s deputy would safeguard the entrance. That all changed after the county’s most recent budget was approved.

Starr County Sheriff Rene Fuentes said his department took a large hit. He said the 20 percent cut is about $400,000 less than what they had last year.

The change gave him little choice but to cut two positions for deputies at the courthouse, according to Fuentes.

“The way things are going in the news and the things you see, there should be some type of security,” Starr County resident Brian Garza said. “I lived in Houston and over there they take your shoes off, the whole airport thing and same thing in San Antonio. Here, the machine is there but there’s no one here.”

CHANNEL 5 NEWS visited the courtrooms and saw each had its own bailiff. 

The sheriff suggested the county pull money from courthouse revenues to pay for its own security.

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