CABEZA DE CACA

Could the county judge be a direct descendant of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, the Spaniard shipwrecked in 1548 near Galveston Island whose seven-year odyssey back to civilization brought him near the Rio Grande Valley?

The explorer's ancestors earned their title when they placed a cow's head along a trail to guide a Spanish army in a surprise and successful attack against the Moors.

As a troubled youth in Hidalgo County, the county judge would leave a cow's head in the family's front yard after a Sunday barbacoa. Neighbors, distressed by the flies swarming around the skull, would beg him to deposit the macabre sight in the trash.

"People of so little faith," he'd begin. "I am your savior and I will lead our people to a final victory against the treacherous gringos who have invaded our land."

Not everyone is willing to accept the blood connection between the pair.

"The county judge is full of shit," said Maclovio O'Malley. "He may think that he's a modern Cabeza de Vaca, but calling him Cabeza de Caca would be more accurate."