McAllen park a magnet for drug use and sex

By LUPE CHAVEZ
The Monitor

McALLEN -- A stark statement forged across a bathroom sink at the McAllen Nature Center reads, ''I have AIDS.''

It speaks volumes about health and safety problems at this city park, serving as a fading epitaph at the 19-acre family recreational facility that some officials acknowledge has become a lair for both homosexual and heterosexual ''cruisers.''

And there have been signs -- needles and condom packets -- of other problems brewing at the the Nature Center, formerly the McAllen Botanical Gardens. Some officials and visitors said the center appears to be a modern-day den of decadence, conjuring images from the Bible.

But to others, the problems are not as visible or allegorical. After a recent telephone inquiry about conditions at the center, a crew from the city's parks and recreation department closed the park this past Friday for what seemed to be routine maintenance.

''This has never been brought to our attention before,'' McAllen Health Director Jesus Munoz said recently. ''The fact that syringes are there presents a problem. Someone could be stabbed accidentally by it.''

Unattended needles could expose unsuspecting park guests, at the center in anticipation of an outdoor repose, to infections, Munoz added.

Larry Pressler, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said the McAllen City Commission and police chief have known about drug use and sexual activity at the park for at least a year.

Last year several arrests were made by a drug task force and city officials learned of the problems at the center and attempts to deter them, Pressler said.

''There are certain public safety issues that we all have to address,'' Pressler said. ''We find drug needles in various parts of the city. Unfortunately that's part of this society these days.''

''We have discussed it,'' Pressler said, explaining police looked into the drug problem at his department's request.

Crews take care of the problem as soon as they know about it, Pressler added. Regular maintenance involves trash collection but crews also block trails with brush to prevent people from melding into the woods to harvest mesquite for firewood or engage in sex.

But for each blocked trail, another goes unnoticed.

The busiest hours, and perhaps most troublesome, are usually the noon hour and evening hours after the park is closed. People also use the northwest corner of Westside Park to enter the center after dark.

''Businessmen, married men, all types of men go there,'' AIDS activist Frank Mendez contends.

''The city is on top of the problem but not as effectively as they are supposed to be,'' he added. ''The community needs to become more aware of the problem in helping police and the community to help stop the spread of disease.

Charles Hernandez of the Valley AIDS Council has worked with Pressler to resolve problems at the park.

''Having supervision at the parks would slow down activity out there because straight and gay activity goes on out there at the parks,'' Hernandez said.

His outreach work involves visiting parks, clubs and areas where people are at risk of HIV infections and distributing information about services the agency provides, including AIDS literature and condoms.

''The problem might stop there (at the center) but it might go to another place,'' Hernandez added.

Police patrol the area like any other, McAllen Police Department spokesman Mitch Reinitz said.

''We don't man a person there 24 hours a day,'' he said.

Reinitz didn't indicate whether activity at the botanical gardens presented a specific problem. Instead, he said, police respond to specific calls about what is perhaps illegal activity at the park.

''We have no ulterior motive for not cracking down,'' Police Chief Alex Longoria said. ''Right now this has not been a priority.''

Longoria explained that his understaffed department is in the difficult position of reacting to problems at the park instead of preventing them.

However, he said, there hasn't been a complaint about the park to his department in more than a year. But he has ordered officers to crack down on drug use in the past at the park, Longoria said.

Pressler is hoping for a solution to the problem that goes beyond police work, a multimillion dollar project that would revamp the park into an area similar to the successful Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.

However, development plans for the center have been on hold, especially since negotiations between the city and Irrigation District No. 1 appear to have hit a brick wall concerning the purchase of land owned by the water district, McAllen's Mayor Pro Tem Phyllis Griggs said.

The entrance and draining ditch adjacent to the entrance are owned by the irrigation district. Until negotiations are successful, development of a full-fledged botanical and nature center for families, school children and nature enthusiasts remains a dream.

Griggs laments descriptions of problems at the park.

''It doesn't sound good -- I don't know the answer to it -- but it doesn't sound good,'' Griggs said.

But she is hopeful about the long-term future of the center. ''I think eventually the park is going to be a great asset to the city,'' she said.