Lico Reyes
Frederick B. "Lico" Reyes (born April 4, 1946) is a Mexican-American actor and politician. Under the name "Lico Reyes" he has appeared in movies, commercials and a variety of political campaigns, the most one recent being a bid to get elected to the United States House of Representatives as the candidate of the Democratic Party in Texas District 26.
Early life
Reyers was born in Canatlan Durango, Mexico. After arriving in the United States he began to study for the Jesuit Roman Catholic priesthood but switched from seminary training to study agricultural engineering. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington, with a degree in Mathematics and double minors in Civil Engineering and Computer Programming. Lico Reyes then continued his education by enrolling in Senior Reserved Officer's Training Corps (ROTC) from which he also became a graduate. But Vietnam was over when he graduated and his, as well as many other's, services were not needed as a Second Lieutenant. He joined the Texas State Guard; served several years and received an honorable discharge as Company Commander, Captain (O-3) from the 105th MP Battalion, First Defense Group, Company C. His next move was to enroll in a four years class in the performing arts as an actor.
He became a citizen of the United States on December 14, 1965. He has lived in Texas for over 40 years in a perpetual state of promotion as a celebrity.
Political career
Reyes had success when he set his sights upon the US Congress as the Democratic Party candidate for Texas District 26. While he only managed to get 323 votes (2% of the vote) in his last bid for the office of Mayor of Arlington (the winner received 9396 votes), he did manage a more respectable return in his bid for the US Congress: The winner was a Republican with 66% of the vote (180,295 votes); Lico Reyes on the Democratic ticket received 33% of the vote (89,705 votes), while the Libertarian candidate received only 1% of the vote (4,200 votes) with a fourth independent candidate trailing far behind all of them. The incumbent winner outspent Lico Reyes ten times ($689,422) on his campaign bid to get reelected.
During his campaign he advanced the idea of working with Mexico to develop Mexico's oil and gas resources with US technology and financial support. This would help bring down the cost of fuel, expand the economy in both countries and serve to decrease illegal immigration to the US. Reyes spoke of this on national TV and to US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta at the NASCO conference in north Texas on April 30, 2004. It is believed that Mexico has the fifth largest untapped natural resources and is also the fifth oil and gas producer in the world.[1]
Reyes has been credited as founder of the Portable DJ industry in the USA by Dunn & Bradstreet,however several portable dj's started at USO clubs during World War Two This industry now employs tens of thousands of DJ's and stage hands and is a multi BILLION $ industry in America. Lico worked for TXDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) for nine years (Inspector, Draftsman, Civil Engineer in Training etc.[2][3][4]
With his leadership, civil rights investigative skills and the assistance of the US Department of Justice (Community Relations Service) Texas’ TEA’s dropout rates were successfully challenged and $85,000,000.00 (million) was awarded to Texas schools in 2000.Many contributed to this effort, and his role was very minor. The Texas dropout rate however continues to lead the nation according to the U.S Department of Education, predominantly Hispanics.
Historically since the Voting Rights ACT, several investigations also lead to having thousands of interpreters and hundreds of US government inspectors/agents placed at voting polls throughout Texas, under US DOJ Voting Rights Section oversight during the 2004 general elections. This was the outcome of several complaints with the US Department of Justice, Voting Section, regarding violations of the Voting Rights Act which requires elections to have language information, education and interpreters (physically) at the polls.
Serving as an interpreter for the Dallas county courts he has also spent many years in a variety of other public entities including the FAA[Federal Aviation Administration] as a computer technician and the Texas Highways Department as a civil engineer in training. However, Reyes is best known for his colorful role as "Father Vito" in which he has hosted a variety of different community access cable television programs and live events
Entertainer
Reyes claims to have done priest comedy long before a character known as Father Guido Sarducci appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live television show. His version is called "Father Vito".
While Lico Reyes was campaigning for the US Congress in Gainesville, Texas, the local paper noted that he began his campaign stop with a prayer and ended with a song:[5]
- Linda Goetsch of Gainesville said she was once a third party voter, having voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 election, but has voted Democratic this year because she said third party candidates tend to spoil major party elections, though they do "force centrist candidates to address issues. He (Reyes) certainly represents many of the issues that I believe in," she said. To close, Reyes said he wanted to end the meeting as an old-fashioned church revival meeting. He passed out copies of song he and his campaign treasurer Andrea Elliott co-authored titled "Bye Bye Bush" to the tune of "Bye Bye Love" made popular by the Everly Brothers.
Reyes also appeared in the Orion film Pancho Barnes shown on the ABC-TV network in the background as an extra, no speaking lines. in the Universal movie Problem Child' asa background extra' and in the television show Walker, Texas Ranger as a pedestrian , no speaking lines.. He has also appeared in many industrial films, television commercials and stage productions.