WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/HACER.CLUB.

LLC

H.A.C.E.R.
Hispanic - American Cultural, Educational and Recreational Club
John Perez, President of HACER.
HACER.CLUB.LLC@GMAIL.COM
JUNE 2017

Boricua, Here is the Deep Secret, of the Puerto Rican Day Parade
With the largest Puerto Rican Day Parade coming to
New York City on June 11th, you should know the deep
secret of the parade.
In the 1950s, Puerto Ricans often found themselves
unwelcome in New York City and elsewhere in the US
as they tried to carve out a place for themselves and
their families. Sometimes beaten by their neighbors, or by the police, they were giv-
en the lowest-paying jobs and the worst housing in the city.
And so, in 1958, Puerto Rican leaders decided to hold a modest parade where they
could march with pride through the heart of Manhattan.
If you reveal your secrets to the wind,
you should not blame the wind for re-
vealing them to the trees.
Khalil Gibran
The man who can keep a secret may
be wise, but he is not half as wise as
the man with no secrets to keep.
E. W. Howe
Isn't it astonishing that all these se-
crets have been preserved for so
many years just so we could discover
them! Orville Wright

Fathers taught their childrenby pointing to floats dedicated to Puerto Rican towns A man's true secrets are more secret
known for sugarcane, coffee, tobacco, plantains and pineapples. to himself than they are to others.
Paul Valery
Mothers tapped their feetto the bombas, plenas and aguinaldos that evoked mem-
ories of their island childhood.
By 1966, the parade was already a must do event for national celebrities and politi-
cians. There are no secrets that time does
Today, the parade is a star-studded TV spectacle with 90,000 marchers, 2 million not reveal. Jean Racine
spectators and a horde of corporate sponsors. Marc Anthony, J.Lo, Ricky Martin,
The more secrets and twists in a
Victor Cruz, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have all starred in it.
character, the better.
(Cont. on page 3) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

I am always up to steal secrets

Another Attorney Jumps Into The Poinciana Collections Frenzy from smart people. Jim Rash
Thomas Slaten, an attorney for the Association of Poinciana Village (APV) and a for- The secrets of success are a good
mer Prosecutor with the Florida State Attorney's Office, has submitted a proposal for wife and a steady job. My wife told
collections of delinquent assessments. Slaten is an attorney with the Larsen & Associ- me. Howard Nemerov
ates, P.L., law firm out of Orlando, Florida.
The secret of getting ahead is get-
The law firm represents over 1,000 community associations in over 20 counties in Flor-
ting started. Mark Twain
ida. It credits itself as being a leader in collecting delinquent assessments for home-
owners' and condominium associations.
All journeys have secret destina-
The proposal calls for collections from homeowners who become delinquent in 2017 tions of which the traveler is una-
and who are not already in collections with the other collection companies already lurk- ware. Martin Buber
ing in the hood. It seems like there is a feeding frenzy by piranhas running wild, where
predators are overwhelmed by the amount of prey availa- Think twice before burdening a
ble. friend with a secret.
Marlene Dietrich
Larsens proposal allows the APV to keep control of these
new collection accounts, unlike the other collection com-
panies' irrevocable death-defying hold. But more likely,
keeping control of the accounts is a way to keep control
of the law firm.
The proposal offers the APV that it will not be charged for attorney's fees, even if the
APV takes the account back. However, the homeowner will be responsible to pay eve-
ry penny that could be squeezed out of them in the process.
(Cont. on page 4)
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Hispanic-American Cultural, Educational & Recreational Club

(H.A.C.E.R.)

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 H.A.C.E.R.
(Cont. from page 1) Boricua, Here is the Deep Secret, of the Puerto Rican Day Parade

But even as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade has become one of the nations largest and best-known outdoor celebra-
tions, there is a secret that few people suspecta secret that reaches into the heart of every Puerto Rican, without their even
knowing it.
It is the secret of the Puerto Rican flag. Have you ever noticed the passionate, over-the-top,
surrealistic display of Puerto Rican flags at every Puerto Rican Day Parade? Everywhere you
look, it is an ocean of flags! This is no accident.
There is a reason for this emotional attachment. There is a reason why Que Bonita Bandera
and Preciosa bring tears to our eyesand sometimes we dont even know why.
It is because this flag represents an idealthe ideal of lost youth and forgotten illusionsmuch
like last nights dreamor the prayers we once heard, at our grandmothers feet.
But there is one more reason, why this flag is the emotional heart of the parade.
It is the secret which explains everything. We are crazy about this flag because for many years, any Puerto Rican who owned
one, would go to jail for ten years.
WHEN OWNING A FLAG WAS A FELONY
For many years, the United States wanted only one flag in Puerto Rico. And that flag was the United States flag.

Pedro Albizu Campos refused to salute this flag.

In order to crush Don Pedro and the Nationalist movement, a law was passed in 1948, right after Don Pedro got out of jail. Public

Public Law 53 made it a felony to sing a song, whistle a tune, or utter one word against the US government, or in favor of
Puerto Rican independence. This included singing La Borinquea, or owning a Puerto Rican flag. Own a flagten years in jail.
Every day, the FBI and Insular Police raided peoples homes, searched for flags, and hauled Puerto Ricans off to jail. In many
cases the flag all by itself was the sole piece of evidence. Own a flagten years in jail.
They did it all over the island. In November 1950, they arrested 3,000 Puerto Ricans with-
in one week! Some of them were only eight years old.
Public Law 53 was passed in 1948. Even though it violated the US constitution, it took nine
years to repeal it, in 1957. The very next year, in 1958, the first Puerto Rican Day Parade
was held in New York City.
The flags and celebration were everywhere. The passion was astonishing. New York had
never seen anything like it.
The Puerto Rican Day parade exploded into New York City, with the emotion and power of an entire peoplewho had finally
found a voicefor one day on Fifth Avenue.
The U.S. politicians couldnt explain it, but they did know one thingthat they better get in front of it, and yell Que viva Puerto
Rico!
That much they did understand.
And so, the deep secret of the Puerto Rican Day Parade is this:
The parade was born in the hearts of an entire nationwhere every person was declared a criminalif they dared to show their
flag.
-------------------------
There is a new newsletter in Poinciana. Informative, for the people of Poinciana.
POINCIANS VOICE
To have it delivered to your e-mail address just drop us a note at
HACER.CLUB.LLC@GMAIL.COM
Well also include the H.A.C.E.R. Newsletter

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(Cont. from page 1) Another Attorney Jumps Into The Homeowners Collections Frenzy

The proposal also offers that the APV will not be charged for recording liens. Liens are a powerful weapon, just
in case a homeowner files for bankruptcy. Liens will be a priority and the first weapon of choice in the battle, with
foreclosure action to follow.
A lien will be a highly beneficial benefit to the APV because any homeowner that files for bankruptcy before the
APV records a lien can discharge and wipe out their unpaid assessment debt. The recorded lien also protects
the APV if the home is sold at a tax deed sell.
A sample letter included in the presentation package to the APV board shows that a late assessment payment of $252 would in-
crease to $417.33 and must be paid in 45 days, with a warning of recording a lien against the property. After a lien guess what hap-
pens? Foreclosure would be a very good guess.
On the Larsen web page it states that theyll graciously allow you to request a payment plan. The cost to request a payment plan is
$150. The fee will be added to your ledger immediately, regardless of whether a payment plan is approved or not. So you pay them
for something that you may not get and end up paying $150, how nice of them.
During the April APV board of directors meeting the proposal from the law firm was accepted and ap-
proved. Now the collections of delinquent accounts will flow their way.
By the way, in recent days homeowners have been complaining that all of a sudden, and only one day
late, they are being sent to collections at an expatiated rate. Yet on the APV website, where homeowners
get information, the association provides a APV Homeowner's Dues Paying Process that shows that ac-
counts go to an outside collections company after 6 months. The APV provides publicly available infor-
mation for the homeowners to follow and behind closed doors bamboozle the homeowners. For those that
can, pay your assessment dues at the beginning of the year and avoid Mr. Bamboozle.

TOHO WATER BILLS IN POINCIANA ARE OUTRAGEOUSRESIDENTS UP IN ARMS

In the last few billing cycles, residents water bills from TOHO Water Authority have been unusually high. Many residents have been complaining
that their bills have doubled or even tripled.

The residents have called TOHO to complain about it and to explain that their water use habits have not
changed any.

One resident complained that the most current bill went from an average of $20 to an outrageous $300.
Upon calling TOHO, the resident was told that perhaps they filled up the swimming pool, there is no swim-
ming pool. Or that perhaps they are watering the lawn more because of the heat, no sprinkler system. Per-
haps there is a water leak somewhere, no the meter is not constantly running.

Perhaps someone is stealing your water, no. TOHO told the resident that someone is using the water. No,
the house is vacant, it is a vacation home. Yes you read it right, the house is vacant. The resident has to pay the bill or face having the water shut
off.

This one incident is not unusual. Many residents are complaining about similar situations, even outside of Poinciana.

Can so many residents all of a sudden have water leaks? Does not seem likely.

Residents are being told of unusually high water usage during the overnight hours. One resident was told to put a lock on the outside faucet. Is it
possible that Poinciana has a serial water thief? Hitting homes in the middle of the night while residents are sleeping.

Something unusual is going on with the meter readings. Perhaps there is some glitch in the system.

The residents are up in arms and HACER will help to get to the bottom of this. HACER has contacted Congressman Soto and Rep. John Cortes.
John Perez, president of HACER, will be meeting with a TOHO board member to address the situation.

There are also people complaining in Kissimmee and St. Cloud. In St. Cloud there is a face book page with over 800 members complaining.

Anyone with the same situation, please write to HACER at HACER.CLUB.LLC@gmail.com.

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After a Century of American Citizenship, Puerto Ricans Have Little to Show for It

Puerto Rico has never been more than a profit center for the US. Now an unelected board governs
the island as a de facto collection agency for hedge funds and Wall Street speculators.

One hundred years ago today, on March 2, 1917, more than one million Puerto Ricans were granted
United States citizenship. It wasnt exactly a gift. Exactly one month later, on April 2, President
Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. The point of extending citi-
zenship to Puerto Ricans was to get about 20,000 more bodies into the World War.

The centennial of that dubious bestowal makes now a good time to kick the tires and see whether
citizenship ended up being a vehicle for human development or a beat-up car that only benefited its dealer.

After one hundred years of citizenship, US federal agencies control the islands currency, banking system, international trade, for-
eign relations, shipping and maritime laws, TV, radio, postal system, immigration, Social Security, customs, transportation, military,
import-export regulations, environmental controls, coastal operations, air space, civil and criminal appeals, and judicial code.

After one hundred years of citizenship, the per capita income of Puerto Ricans is roughly $15,200half that of Mississippi, the
poorest state in the union. Yet in the last five years alone, the government raised the retirement age, increased worker contribu-
tions, and lowered public pensions and benefits. It also hiked the water rates by 60 percent, raised the gasoline and sales taxes
(the latter to 11.5 percent), and allowed electricity rates to skyrocket. In 201314 alone, 105 different taxes were raised in Puerto
Rico. But this was not enough.

After one hundred years of citizenship, Puerto Ricans are prohibited from managing their own econo-
my, negotiating their own trade relations, or setting their own consumer prices. Puerto Rico has been
little more than a profit center for the United States: first as a naval coaling station, then as a sugar
empire, a cheap labor supply, a tax haven, a captive market, and now as a a municipal bond debtor
and target for privatization. It is an island of beggars and billionaires: fought over by lawyers, bossed
by absentee landlords, and clerked by politicians.

After one hundred years of citizenship, Puerto Ricans enjoy the media images of the American
dream and the underside of the US Constitution. They are free to be poor, under-educated and unemployed; free to be invisible
and unheard; free to lose their homes to Wall Street; free to flee the island in utter desperation, as hundreds of thousands have
done in recent years.

After one hundred years of citizenship, Puerto Ricans know that that their homeland was invaded, its wealth exploited, its patriots
persecuted and jailed. But they continue to suffer in solitude, their cause largely ignored even by those in the United States who
generally pay attention to such suffering abroad. Separated by an ocean, a language, and a century of propaganda, they are
more unnoticed than Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man, and more forgotten than Macondo, the town in Gabriel Garca Mrquezs One
Hundred Years of Solitude.

For Puerto Rico, the legacy of the American Century is a schizophrenic existence. Puerto Ricans are
both citizens and colonial subjects of the United States. They have a legislature whose will can be
vetoed by Congress. They have been conscripted to take up arms and die on foreign shores for the
United States, but they are not permitted to vote for its president. Now a board elected by nobody,
either in the United States or in Puerto Rico, will govern the island as a de facto collection agency for
hedge funds and Wall Street speculators.

The 20th century opened with lavish promises for Puerto Ricans. On July 28, 1898, General Nelson
Miles of the United States Army hoisted the Stars and Stripes atop the municipal flagpole in Ponce, on the southern coast of Puer-
to Rico, and told the islands inhabitants that the United States had arrived to bring you protection, not only to yourselves but to
your property, to promote your prosperityand to givethe advantages and blessings of enlightened civilization.

The words were magnificent, but their delivery depended upon the United States Congress, which has jurisdiction over the entire
government and economy of Puerto Rico. In effect, Puerto Ricans are perpetually subject to the moods and whims of a few hun-
dred politicians, over 1,500 miles away, in Washington, DC.

William B. Bate, a Democrat from Tennessee who had served as a major general in the Confederate Army, shared the most pre-
cise information. Puerto Ricans and Filipinos, he said, were heterogeneous mass of mongrelshostile to Christianity, as well as
savages addicted to head-hunting and cannibalism.

Has the hostility changed any. Maybe not (By Nelson Denis, The Nation)

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SINGLE-MEMBER ELECTORAL DISTRICTS NEEDED IN POLK COUNTY FLORIDA

The Polk County method of electing the board of commis-

sioners may be unfair to the voters, particularly to minori-
ties and especially to Hispanics. Possible violating the Vot-
ing Rights Act of 1965.

The county uses an at-large election procedure method

rather than the single-member district election method..

In the at-large election procedure the voters in the entire

county vote for candidates for the county commission.

In the single-member district election method, the voters of

electoral districts return an officeholder to the county com-
mission.

An at-large election can dilute the votes cast by minority voters by allowing a cohesive majority group to win every seat in the
county, disenfranchising minority voters.

The at-large system has the effect of diluting minority voting strength, resulting in less opportunity than other members of the
electorate to participate in the electoral process and elect representatives of their choice. Representatives from their district elect-
ed by voters from that district only.

The at-large system produces vote dilution through submergence, a jurisdiction's use of an at-large election system that dilutes
minority votes. The at-large system potentially "dilute" minority voting strength by submerging minority voters within white-
dominated at-large districts that reduce their ability to achieve effective political control.

The at-large system also hinders minorities living in lower socioeconomic conditions relative to white citizens. It hiners the ability
of minorities to participate effectively in the political process in county elections. Minorities are less economically able to run on a
county-wide basis versus running in a smaller electoral district.

In the at-large system, the voters in the entire county select the candidate to represent the residents from a particular electoral
district. The majority voters in the entire county select the representative for individual districts, which may not be who the voters
in the electoral district desire.

At-large methods of election are often discriminatory because it, in combination with racially polarized voting, prevents minorities
from electing their candidates of choice where they are not the majority in the county. Under this system, the votes of minority
voters often are drowned out or submerged by the votes of a majority of white voters who often do not support the candidates
preferred by minority voters.

That at-large voting process can be discriminatory has been well established.
While there may or may not be provable intent to discriminate, the at-large system tends to have a discriminatory effect.

There may be districts in Polk county, such as the Poinciana area, where a racial or language minority group is sufficiently nu-
merous and compact to form a majority and the minority group is politically cohesive.

A single-member district system, whereby only voters living in a particular district could vote for that district's commissioner, would
be fairer to minority voters. As a matter of fact, it would be fairer to all voters.

What may be needed is for an Hispanic from East Polk to run for commissioner and test the system.

But does Polk County want that? Only time will tell.

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Free Software To Replace Expensive Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Outlook, Quicken And Much More

Want to save money for your business or home use, try the below free software as replacement for the more expensive ones.

When you have to spend several hundred dollars or more on a computer, you don't want to be spending the same amount on soft-
ware. Unfortunately, many of the popular software can be bank-account breakers.

However, there is much software that is free for the taking.

This is free software that has the same features as commercial software costing hundreds of dollars. *

Note: If you are not sure on how to download software, please seek help before downloading any of the items below. **
1. Productivity
Microsoft Office has been the productivity workhorse for business, home and student users for more than 20 years. The more ex-
pensive versions include Outlook and Microsoft Publisher in addition to Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Instead of MS Office, try LibreOffice, which contains a word processor, spreadsheet program, presentation software and much
more. It borrows its design heavily from older versions of Office so it should be familiar. Even better, it can open and save Mi-
crosoft Office documents, and with each release, it gets faster and more Office compatible.

If you need a replacement for Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign, look at Scribus. This free tool is great for creating brochures,
magazines and newsletters.

Microsoft Outlook is a good desktop email program, but it's pricey. Instead, you can use Mozilla's Thunderbird. This powerful, light-
weight email program makes creating and organizing email a snap. Use the Lightning extension to add a powerful calendar fea-
ture.
2. Finances
If you have money to manage, Intuit's Quicken and QuickBooks Pro are the standard programs. However, there are two excellent
free alternatives.

AceMoney Lite is geared toward personal finances. This helpful program also includes handy features like investment tracking and
bill reminders. If you want the completely free version, scroll down on the AceMoney download page until you see the heading
"AceMoney Lite 4.35.2 - free version."

GnuCash is great for home budgets but can handle serious business bookkeeping including invoicing, accounts receivable, payroll
and shipping. The program can generate reports to help you track your revenue and also help you track your investments.
3. Photos and videos
When it comes to graphics editing, Adobe Photoshop is the best program around, and one of the most expensive. For most of us,
however, GIMP does just as well.

It handles digital art, photo editing, website design and whatever else you need. While GIMP may not have some of Photoshop's
most advanced features, it is free.

Digital artists who love Photoshop's versatile brush system for digital painting can also give Artweaver a look. And vector artists
who can't spring for Photoshop's sister, Adobe Illustrator, can grab Inkscape instead. Computer animators and modelers can save
thousands over Maya and Lightwave with the excellent Blender.

Video editors aren't left out. Grab the professional-level Lightworks that's been used on major Hollywood films.
4. Misc.
OK, the rest of these aren't really replacements for paid software, but they are excellent free programs you need to know about.
If you don't like your system's default browser (Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge or Safari), grab a free replacement browser like
Chrome or Firefox. They're fast, secure and they'll import your information from other browsers so you don't have to start over.

Trying to play a home or other movie on your computer, but Windows Media Player can't find the right codec? Fire up the video in
VLC instead. This powerful media player handles any type of video or music file.

* **
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