It all started with a political sign that was placed in someone’s yard.
“We were told we could put the sign there,” said Frances Salinas De Leon.
But when the woman’s son, Jonathon Garcia, pulled the sign up to endorse another candidate. Words were exchanged but that wasn’t all.
"Mr. Garcia dropped his pants and pulled out his penis and exposed himself to my 18-year-old daughter, 11-year-old son, and the rest of my family that was out here," said De Leon.
She says that is when things got heated and a fight broke out.
Mary Salinas, a La Joya city commissioner and the wife of the school board president, said she went to try and diffuse the situation.
“I was trying to tell him, ‘why fight over a sign? We’re neighbors," Salinas said. "He wouldn’t listen and said he would shoot me."
In the end it was Frances’s husband, Jonathon Garcia and Margarito Sosa who were taken to the La Joya Police Department for questioning.
Despite the allegations against him, Garcia said he never exposed himself to Frances’s children and never said he would shoot someone.
"I'm not going to go around exposing myself to people,” said Garcia. “My family didn't raise me like that and I'm not that type of person."
La Joya Mayor Billy Leo, who is endorsing the other side and was not present during the altercation, said the Salinas family is abusing their power and it is time for a change.
“What you are seeing is power of dictatorship,” said Leo. “People are rebelling against it. The only source of freedom is from us.”
As for Mary Salinas, she said it is time that political wars stop taking a front seat to the needs of the community.
“It’s no longer about the people and you’re right there is no progress here because of that,” said Salinas. “Everything is about politics and power. We need to work for our city.”
Despite the conflict---in November it is the people of La Joya who will ultimately decide who takes control of the La Joya School District.
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