Sunday, July 23, 2000

Love for home doesn't waver through the years

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Ernestina Dominguez (left) and Cruz Ruiz Colomo keep one another company at Dominguez's home. Dominguez, who has lived in her 16th Street home for 45 years, says she will not give it up to gangs.

It may not be a 5,000 plus square-foot home complete with backyard terrace, guest quarters or gazebo. It may not have rooms big enough to get lost in or a swimming pool perfect for summer-party hosting.
   But it is the house Ernestina Dominguez fell in love with 45 years ago when she and her husband were house hunting for a spot of soil to settle roots. It is the house where they raised seven children, a house stuffed with memories of days gone by.
   "We looked at many, many houses," Dominguez recalled. "But this is the one I fell in love with and told my husband to buy."
   'Not afraid of them'
   Her husband died 17 years ago. But 90-year-old Dominguez is determined not to lose, at least not in her lifetime, her 16th Street home, even though that means living in the crossfire of gangs who've recently escalated their war.
   "I'm not afraid of them," said Dominguez, who has joined forces with Mothers & Concerned Citizens Against Gang Violence, a group that the Coalition for the Advancement of Women of Nueces County announced forming this week in response to the recent bloodshed.
   In so doing, Dominguez has made this much clear: hers is no turf for the taking.
   "If I wasn't in such bad health, I'd do more," said Dominguez, who is partially blind and uses a walker. "I only have three valves working in my heart, so I really have to watch how much I do. But I can speak my mind."
   Looking out for each other
   Dominguez is tired of the gang members who, with no regard to the hour, crank up their rap music higher and higher. She's tired of the ones who, in the veil of moonlight smoke weed and drink beer. But most of all she misses the neighbors who once made 16th Street a peaceful paradise. All have since relocated, except for the one comadre who still lives next door. to her. The two have always looked out for each other, and that makes Dominguez sleep easier.
   So does knowing that Mothers & Concerned Citizens Against Gang Violence, organized by coalition founder Cruz Ruiz Colomo, is establishing a liaison between neighborhood residents, City Hall, and law enforcement.
   "I don't want to have to leave my home," Dominguez said.
   For information about its organizational meeting, call Mothers & Concerned Citizens Against Gang Violence at 850-9225.
  
  
 

---

  © 2000 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.