Daily News - The Austin Chronicle (2024)

The Statesman is reporting today that there are moves in the Lege to slow down the closure of contentious and scandal-wracked Texas Youth Commission facilities, because doing so would hit the rural economy too hard.

Sens. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, and Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and Reps. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, and Pete Gallego, D-Alpine (in whose district the Pyote facility that started the scandal lies), are trying to keep these remote facilities open under TYC or at least transferred to become adult prisons. Their stance goes against a common argument that the sheer remoteness of these facilities, and the difficulty of real oversight, was a key component in how the abuse was perpetuated and hidden. Many other legislators, including Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, have been pushing to build smaller, more modern, more manageable facilities nearer the urban centers from where the majority of young offenders come. This would make it easier for families to stay involved in rehabilitation and give greater access to off-site facilities, such as counselors.

Before the story ran, Shapleigh had a brutal rebuttal for the argument that closing or repurposing the facilities would be bad for the West Texas economy: "Great," he said. "Keep raping kids so we can keep our jobs."

"This happens every meeting," Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, groaned this morning as another committee witness fell foul of a time-wasting glitch in the Lege's committee rules. Here's how it (doesn't) work:

If someone is attending a House or Senate committee, it's his right to speak for, against, or neutrally on any bill, as long as he fills out a witness affidavit. Simple enough? That person can also just fill out his form to say that, while he has a position on the bill, he doesn't want to speak.

But!

If the committee chair reads a person's name out and the person says out loud from his seat that he doesn't want to speak, he then has to step up to the mic, go on the record with his name and position on the bill - and say he doesn't want to say anything.

However!

If he nods, winks, waves wildly, or communicates through the mystery of interpretive dance that he doesn't want to testify, he doesn't have to get on the mic.

Confused? Don't worry; everybody is.

City Council Member Mike Martinez would like to remind everyone that the Public Safety Task Force is meeting at City Hall today, from 3:30 to 5:30pm.

If memory serves, the PSTF is nothing new but laid dormant for a few years before it was re-created late last year. "The Public Safety Task Force shall make policy recommendations to the City Council relating to gaps and core deficiencies/problems in the local strategy that secures Austin/Travis County from terrorist threats or attacks, and which will help provide within Travis County and the City of Austin a seamless, comprehensive system of responding to all natural disasters or attacks that threaten to harm the public safety," reads the resolution creating the force. Well, 24's on tonight – talk about cross-promotion! But the group's about more than Osama and his ilk, covering "any incident that threatens public safety." Sounds like a fun time.

The PSTF convenes in the Boards & Commissions room at City Hall today.

UPDATE: Well, I had it wrong. While the original PSTF was created in the wake of 9/11 to examine terrorism and disaster response, the new force is a different animal. Martinez made this clear at the meeting today, saying the group will consider public safety topics as varied and controversial as police overtime, red light cameras and staffing levels. In one sense, by tackling the topic that sucks all the air (and cash) outta the room at budget time, he's taking a gamble. But in another sense, the enterprising council member's also created a powerful bully pulpit for himself.

TODAY'S EVENTS

Co-Lab’s Super Sweet 16 at Co-Lab Projects

Boner Bizarre: Bonerstock ’99 at Come and Take It Productions

MUSIC | MOVIES | ARTS | COMMUNITY

Aw, shucks edition

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Items 4 & 5: Allocating more than $567,000 for HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment.

Item 6: Adopting the city's Vision Statement ("We want Austin to be the most livable city in the country") and four Citywide Strategic Priorities: Rich Social and Cultural Community; Vibrant Urban Fabric; Healthy, Safe City; and Sustainable Economic Development and Financial Health. We're good enough, we're smart enough, and doggone it …

Item 12: Getting to the good stuff – $1,013,377 for the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Elevator and Escalator Improvement Project for a total contract amount not to exceed $1,572,517.

Item 14: First reading in awarding the city's new taxi franchise to one of three competitors. Things that can and will f*ck this up:
A) Capital City Cab Company outranked runner-up Lone Star Cab Company by a single point in the evaluation matrix.
B) Cap City's proprietor has recently revealed DWI arrests.
C) Questions about both companies' cash on-hand persist.
D) Won't be approved until after three separate readings. Third can't happen until 30 days after the first. ETA of the new franchise? Whenever …

Item 25: Approve a resolution relating to the compensation and benefits for the city manager. The reappearance of Wilby?

Item 28: Preliminary approval of the TIF taxing mechanism to finance the Waller Creek tunnel. Let's get rafting!

Item 29: Creating a city charter revision committee to consider changes in 2008 – under law, the next year the charter could be altered. Resolution sponsor Mike Martinez is an advocate of single-member districts, which could only occur through charter revision …

Item 30: Task force orgy continues, this time revisions to the Planned Unit Development process.

Item 34: Set a public hearing April 12 to receive public comment on the location of a South day-labor site at 2201 E. Ben White Blvd.

Item 42 (Zoning): Third and final on the St. David's PUD at 30th, by I-35 and Red River.

Proclamations: Tito's Handmade Vodka Month, "to be presented by Mayor Will Wynn and to be accepted by Tito Beveridge [sic]." Looks like someone celebrating a little early …

UPDATE: Oops, that's how you spell Tito's name. Next round's on us …

Hot off the wires:

"Statement of City Manager Toby Futrell regarding Austin Convention Center

“Effective April 1, 2007, Bob Hodge has been terminated from his position as Director of the Austin Convention Center for violation of City policy. This action is separate from the current Convention Center investigation by the District Attorney’s Office, and the City continues to cooperate fully in that inquiry.

“Assistant Director Hymie Gonzales has been named Acting Director and will assume oversight responsibilities for day-to-day operation of the facility. A national search for a permanent replacement will begin immediately.

“In the interim, I have also asked Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza to take on a more direct role in the business development and policy operations at the ConventionCenter. In that role, he will be meeting with all Convention Center employees this week to help in the transition during this time.”

Of course, this raises more questions than it answers. The Convention Center was rumored to have accounting troubles and has recently been the subject of an audit, yet the release claims Hodge was dismissed for other reasons – possibly discovered during the Convention Center investigation? At this point, there's no way to be sure.

UPDATE: Here's In Fact Daily, just four days ago. Note Futrell's reaction then:

"[The] Austin Convention Center Department Director remains on the job in spite of an investigation by the District Attorney’s Office into alleged undefined financial wrongdoing in his department. City Manager Toby Futrell said she learned a lesson during the lengthy investigation into similar allegations about the Small & Minority Business Resources Department. At the time of that investigation, department director Lino Rivera was put on administrative leave. After two years, the investigation ended. “They never cleared him, they never charged him. They just ruined his life—after two years. His reputation was destroyed,” Futrell said. She added that Rivera built up a huge debt, having to mortgage his home to pay his legal fees. “I brought him back when everything just stopped,” and he later retired, Futrell said. “But it was so detrimental to him … He never recovered from that professionally or personally. And I have never forgiven myself for how that was handled. I don’t know what I could have done but until there is a charge or I am instructed otherwise by an investigating authority, I will not be putting someone on administrative leave because of an allegation,” she concluded."

How quickly things change.

If a public hearing begins with the words “this is nothing like what happened at the Texas Youth Commission,” Lege watchers should strap in for tragedy. On Thursday the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services took testimony from Department of Aging and Disability Services Commissioner Adelaide Horn about critical failings in her agency.

The committee heard that, in December 2005, a patient at Lubbock State School – a medical facility for patients with severe educational and physical disabilities - died after being restrained by three staff members. A Department of Justice investigation said the patient died from a combination of physical stress and incorrectly applied restraint holds and that only one of the three staff members had received restraint training and they had been seen sleeping through the session.

There is the same drip-drip of information and lack of open investigation that has blighted the TYC investigation. Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, said she was going to have to limit her questions because answers may endanger future court cases – or DADS’ defense. The department has developed what it calls an improvement plan, but the committee has not seen it, and astoundingly, no one knows whether Justice requested, required, or suggested it. It also turned out that the department commissioned its own report but had only shown it to one, unnamed committee member, and even then only under a confidentiality agreement.

The department may not even be living up to its minimum responsibilities to the Lege. Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, asked why he had not been told about events earlier, even though the rules said he should have been, and Horn had no answer. Uresti bluntly asked whether, if Justice had never got involved, this investigation would ever have become so public.

Last week, Karl Rove went from political manipulator to cuddly uncle by buying off the Washington press corps with a few lame dance moves. For those of you who think it's inevitable that the probing pens of the fourth estate can be purchased so readily, have hope. A few weeks ago, British Prime Minister Tony Blair performed on the UK version of Comic Relief. Here's what TV critic for The Manchester Guardian, Charlie Brooker, had to say on the issue:

"Did you see that Catherine Tate sketch on Comic Relief the other week? The one where Tony Blair played himself? He gave a fantastic performance. Genuinely - a fantastic performance. He actually made me laugh out loud. Admittedly, not as loud as I'll laugh the day he and Bush are found guilty of war crimes following a six-month show trial at the Hague, but close.

"When he unexpectedly delivered the 'Am I bovvered?' catchphrase, his timing was immaculate - for a second, I guffawed so loudly I almost forgot about the teetering stacks of skulls, the foaming geysers of blood, the phosphor burns, the pictures of young children with their arms blown off, and the constant metronomic background tick-tock of lie upon lie upon lie upon lie upon lie."

Please note that Charlie Brooker is a TV critic - the hard news people were no gentler. You can see the entire text of the article here.

According to the Utah Supreme Court, the faint smell of marijuana coming from behind closed doors is not evidence enough to grant police the right to undertake a warrantless search of private property. “We decline to grant the aroma of burning marijuana a place on an exclusive, limited roster of exceptions to the requirement that a warrant be secured for a lawful search can occur,” the court wrote in a March 9 decision.

Back in April 2003 Lance Horvath’s mother and brother called the cops to report that people were smoking pot in Horvath’s trailer, which was located on his mother’s property. When the cops arrived, the brother reported that he’d seen the tokers in action, and warned the cops that although Horvath wasn’t home right then, he knew his brother kept guns in the trailer and had threatened to use them against the cops. When the cops approached the trailer, they later said, they could smell the “faint but unmistakable” odor of “marijuana leakin’ out of the cracks of the trailer,” the Utah court recounted in its recent opinion. That led the cops to conclude that there simply wasn’t time to get a warrant for Horvath’s trailer since the folks inside were “in the very process of smokin’ up the evidence.” Inside the trailer, police found both pot and guns, and three people, including Bernadette Duran. At her trial, Duran argued that the evidence cops obtained during the search should be tossed out since the police had entered the trailer illegally. The trial court disagreed, but the appeals court reversed that decision, opining that the odor of marijuana might’ve given the cops “probable cause for a search, [but] it did not create exigent circ*mstances that would justify their warrantless search of the trailer.” The state appealed that decision, but the Utah Supremes sided with the appellate court, in favor of Duran’s claim of unlawful search.

Not that it's a surprise in the least, considering the ink we've spilled over the campus redevelopment, but today Concordia University officially inked the deal letting them move to the old Schlumberger campus in Northwest Austin, close to the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. The cash for the move was dependent on the redevelopment plans for Concordia's 1-35 campus, which was finalized this Monday by City Council.

The Christian press release below:

"It has been a long and tedious process, but Concordia completed closing the sale of its current campus and acquisition of the new campus on Friday, March 30.

"Relocation formally started nearly two years ago when the Board of Regents decided on May 13, 2005, to move its main campus. Last summer the Regents selected the Austin Hill Country Reserve in northwest Austin for Concordia’s new home. The current campus was subsequently contracted for sale and redevelopment to East Avenue IG, LP, a Delaware limited partnership.