Olivares, a popular former local Milwaukee Spanish baseball sport announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers games aired in Telemundo 63 and ESPN has now become the Spanish language Play by Play announcer for the Chicago Bears at WLEY FM radio.
By H. Nelson Goodson
September 6, 2014
Chicago, Illinois - On Saturday, Andy Olivares, a Spanish language baseball sport announcer confirmed that he has accepted a position with the Chicago Bears-WLEY as their new Play by Play Spanish language announcer. Olivares also operates Olivares Communications. WELY FM/La Ley 107.9 radio in 2012 became the official station to broadcast all Chicago Bears games in Spanish.
In June, Olivares who worked for the Milwaukee Brewers decided to turn over his press credentials after learning that Carlos Argelis Gómez Peña, "Go-Go" #26, an outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers had made false statements about an incident at a Mexican Fiesta fundraising event. The event was to unveil the creation of the Carlos Gómez Hispanic Scholarship Fund by LULAC Council 333 and hosted by the Wisconsin Hispanic Scholarship Foundation/Mexican Fiesta.
Gómez Peña donated $5,000 to the fund and the Wisconsin Hispanic Scholarship Foundation matched it with only $1,000. Adult attendees were charged $15 and students $10 to attend.
Gómez Peña accused Olivares of being intoxicated and grabbing his shirt while inside Olivares' office at the Mexican Fiesta warehouse offices. Olivares denied Gómez Peña's allegations.
Olivares had posted on his Facebook (FB) account that Teresa Mercado, the executive director of Mexican Fiesta had asked Olivares to allow Gómez Peña and other Brewer players to use his office.
While inside, Olivares says, that Bobby Velez from Fiesta had requested for Olivares to watch his comments to Gómez Peña, but Olivares couldn't understand what Velez was trying to say. Velez wouldn't elaborate or explained to Olivares what he actually meant, according to Olivares FB posting.
Olivares told Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) that he rented an office space at the Mexican Fiesta warehouse facility at 2997 S. 20th Street and that he had been invited to the event by the Brewers. He also had a prior agreement to interview Gómez Peña while at the Fiesta event in June.
According to Olivares, he had questioned how Mexican Fiesta officials and the local LULAC Council 333 had held the event and didn't provide a translator for those Spanish-speaking attendees. Apparently, Fiesta officials became upset because dozens of attendees were complaining that they couldn't understand what was being said.
Gómez Peña, who will earn an estimated $36 million in a three-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers was helping to unveil a scholarship fund in his name in collaboration with LULAC Council 333 and the Wisconsin Hispanic Scholarship Foundation (WHSF), which operates Mexican Fiesta. At least 300 to 400 people were present, Olivares estimated.
Olivares criticized Gómez Peña for making false statements about him and confirmed to HNNUSA, that he was not intoxicated or disrespectful at anytime towards Gómez Peña during the event. Numerous people at the event could vouch for Olivares that he wasn't intoxicated and didn't touch Gómez Peña, according to FB comments.
Olivares stated, "I called Brewer games for quite some time. I learned a lot and have no regrets whatsoever. I have too much pride to listen to false accusations and do nothing about it. So I take my pride and dignity with me as I will not be calling Brewer games from now on. In this decision there are no losers but there is one big winner!!! --My family. I make this decision on my own and leave on my own terms."
Gómez Peña couldn't be contacted for comment. Mexican Fiesta couldn't be contacted as well for comment, since HNNUSA is not welcome at their facility for exposing their discriminatory policies to profile against Latinos who exhibit body art deemed distasteful to the Latino Peace Officers Association ( LPOA - Mexican Fiesta volunteer security), Milwaukee police and the WHSF during the three-day Mexican Fiesta last August. Those festivalgoers that were profiled were banned from attending the weekend event, even though they did not commit anything wrong or violated any laws while at the event. They are kicked out and no refunds are ever returned.
The WHSF and Mexican Fiesta is the only ethnic festival that discriminates against its own people. Some Latino festivalgoers have been profiled as active gang members and kicked out from the three-day festival, even though they are not gang members. Also, the WHSF had given $2.5M in scholarships and none were ever offered to DREAMers until this year after HNNUSA exposed their discriminatory policy, included LULAC National who matches their scholarships to students. They only accept scholarship applications from registered DACA DREAMers, but deny applications from DREAMers who are not registered or can't qualify for DACA and are long time residents in Wisconsin.
This year, Mexican Fiesta continued to kick out people who were profiled as gang members without any recourse to challenge the allegations at the festival. HNNUSA found that those kicked out from last year's festival were not gang members as Mexican Fiesta, LPOA and police profiled as gang members. HNNUSA has challenged LPOA, Milwaukee police and the WHSF, including Mexican Fiesta 2013 to prove those innocent victims were active gang members. One thing for sure, they can't and haven't made an effort to prove it, since no actual statistics of data was kept in 2013 or prior years. Those kicked out from last year's festival were not given any refunds, but this year, those who were kicked out received refunds, according to Milwaukee Police Officer Alexander Ayala who is also the president of the local LPOA chapter and head of the Mexican Fiesta security.
Mexican Fiesta takes place at the lakefront Summerfest grounds, which are own by the City of Milwaukee.
For your information:
Mexican Fiesta 2014 Giving Refunds To Victims Profiled As Gang Members http://bit.ly/1BS0Dyx
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