PLUS: How the B 3Rinistibn ,Fraps Abused Immigrants in Ii What Austin Does Right in the II Fel Fight Against Do Violence

MARCH 7

PLUS: How the B 3rinistibn ,fraps abused immigrants in Ii what Austin does right in the II fel fight against do violence. 0 4 MARCH 7, 2008 TheTexas Observer WALL OF SAME on the square then pulling out of FEATURES Why would this surprise anyone? town when former residents weren't in ("Holes in the February 22). It's town to buy the underwear and socks SEE NO EVIL 6 business as usual with the Bush family because they had moved to Austin or In Houston, wife-beaters can elude and friends profiting at the expense of Dallas to seek their fortunes and shop prosecution just by leaving the scene. the rest of our citizens. in the Big Retail Giant Supercenter by Emily DePrang Barbara McFarland Store for their underwear and socks. via e-mail End of story ... end of Clarksville as we 12 SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT knew it. Thank you. Why is the Bush administration ignoring Outstanding article. It seems like Larry Cox a law that protects abused immigrants? the mistreated rich must always be Mt. Pleasant by Melissa del Bosque protected from the mean, brutal, lower

THE SAFE PLACE 16 class. Why not dig a tunnel 300 feet Written by an "old soul" with a heart For victims of domestic violence, there's under the property of the rich? The as well as a mind. That is rarely seen no safer city than Austin. property owners might not mind if in journalism today. Thanks for telling by Dave Mann they were each given 40 or 50 million our sad story. Does no one else see how dollars of tax money that has been Wal-Mart manipulates the market by DEPARTMENTS taken from the poor. what they sell and don't sell? Get us We must protect the rich. all hooked on the convenience of one- Fred Vance stop shopping, then decide what not to DIALOGUE 2 San Antonio carry. You can't buy it if they don't sell

EDITORIAL 3 it, and it is oh so inconvenient to go Does anybody really think a fence elsewhere—so you switch to what they POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 4 will keep people out? The fence is a sell. Hmm. Could be a good investiga- way to spend tax money while avoid- tive subject. JIM HIGHTOWER 20 ing working out solutions to the prob- D. S. Townes From bad ideas to worse. lem. Building the fence through the Clarksville property of people who don't have BOOKS & THE CULTURE the political clout to fight back while FUTURE SHOCK avoiding the land of the politically well- Does this mean that we lesser-known

POETRY 21 connected is morally corrupt. humans and writers will still be liv- by ratilrsalinas Eleanor Hare ing? That is some world-class satire via e-mail ("Deathless Prose," February 8). Some TEAR DOWN THE WALL 22 of Don Graham's neo-Orwellian pre- The border-busting banda sound of BACK TO CLARKSVILLE dictions will probably come true. But Dallas' Las Palmas de Durango. Very well written ("The Big Empty," which ones? Because of the "long tail" by Michael Hoinski February 22). The description of the and Amazon, those mentioned will still Giant Retail Beast coming into small- be selling books. Great writing! RANCH DRESSING 26 town America breathing fire and clos- Johnny Hughes Just another Texas town, ready ing the underwear and sock store via e-mail for its close-up. by Steven G. Kellman

AFTERWORD 29 WE REGRRET THE ERROR by Dave Richards Appallingly, our February 22 issue misspelled Barack Obama's name—in his byline. Our extra "r" was not an attempt to attract Latino voters with Cover illustration by Maggie Brophy the comforting familiarity of the doble r. It was just a last-minute goof.

Also in our February 22 issue, "Holes in the Wall" misstated the date of a congressional report estimating the cost of building and maintaining a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The report was released in 2006, not 2007.

2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 EDITORIAL A Fighting Chance

t's an all-too-familiar story. We extra step—seeking a warrant—is seldom the terrible catch-22 that occurs when saw her, maybe picking her kids taken. Women who make it to the police an undocumented woman is battered up at school or at the supermar- station to file charges can watch their by a husband who is a U.S. citizen or ket or church. She was wearing cases languish for months. Obtaining a permanent resident. The ability of these dark glasses or heavy makeup to protective order can require long visits to women to stay in the country depends try to hide the bruises. Maybe the district attorney's office. And because on their abusers. Often such couples weI watched briefly before getting into the Houston criminal justice system have children who are U.S. citizens. our cars as she and her man argued in fails in its most basic obligations, some The law Congress passed—and Bush the parking lot, saw as he raised his hand. women die. signed—allows these women, after a Loathe to put ourselves into someone It doesn't have to be this way. Dave long and detailed administrative pro- else's business, we didn't do anything. Mann's story, "The Safe Place" (page 16), cess, to stay in the country legally. Now We sat by. Or maybe we screwed up our makes that clear. In Austin, law enforce- that the Bush administration has found courage and asked if she needed help, ment personnel, the district attorney, it politically convenient to play tough and then accepted her dismissal. Then judges, and advocates work together to on border enforcement, it has rejected one day she was gone, her exit marked prevent domestic violence. Resources many of these women's independent by the yellow police tape strung across are available. They're never enough, but appeals for legal status and put the rest the door of her home. they allow women a fighting chance. on indefinite hold, trapping women When it comes to domestic violence, it This is what it looks like when a com- in abusive relationships that are hard is hard to live the ideal that we all share munity makes a commitment on behalf enough to leave without the threat of an obligation to our neighbors. But what of its citizens and government functions deportation. should be beyond dispute is that the properly. Accompanying our Houston and police must protect the citizenry, and In Washington, D.C., under an incom- Austin stories is information about particularly the most vulnerable among petent administration, government has resources available to victims of abuse us. That's why Emily DePrang's story, "See long since ceased to function properly. in both communities. On our Web No Evil" (page 6), is so shocking and what If we've learned anything in the past site, www.texasobserver.org, we have she reports so disappointing. DePrang's seven years, it's the foolishness of hiring posted a list of similar resources in cities three-month investigation uncovered people who don't believe in govern- throughout the state. a Houston Police Department that has ment to run it. Melissa del Bosque's Here at the Observer, we take our grossly underfunded and understaffed "Selective Enforcement" (page 12), details responsibilities—as journalists and its domestic violence units. Houston yet another disturbing example of the members of the community—as a sacred police officers often do the bare mini- Bush administration's willful disregard trust. It's our hope that this issue might mum because that's all their department's of the law. Congress overwhelmingly help make a difference in the lives of policy requires. If suspects flee the scene, passed the Violence Against Women Act, those who need a helping hand, not they will likely escape prosecution. The twice. Included in that law is a fix for more hurt. ■

THE TEXAS OBSERVER I VOLUME 100, NO. 5 I A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954

Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger James McWilliams, Char Miller, The Texas Observer (ISSN 0040-4519/ paid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk CEO/Executive Publisher Carlton Carl Debbie Nathan, Karen Olsson, USPS 541300), entire contents copy- rates on request. Microfilm available Executive Editor Jake Bernstein John Ross, Andrew Wheat righted ©2008, is published biweekly from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Managing Editor Brad Tyer Staff Photographers except during January and August Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Associate Editor Dave Mann Alan Pogue, Jana Birchum, when there is a 4 week break Publisher Charlotte McCann Steve Satterwhite between issues (24 issues per year) Indexes The Texas Observer is indexed Associate Publisher Julia Austin by the Texas Democracy Foundation, in Access: The Supplementary Index to Circulation Manager Lara George Tucker Contributing Artists a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation, 307 Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the Art Director Leah Ball Sam Hurt, Kevin Kreneck, West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. years 1954 through 1981, Investigative Reporter Melissa del Bosque Michael Krone, Gary Oliver, Jim Marston, Mary Nell Mathis, Telephone (512) 477-0746, The Texas Observer Index. Toll-Free (800) 939-6620 Poetry Editor Naomi Shihab Nye Doug Potter Gilberto Ocarhas, Jesse Oliver, POSTMASTER Send address changes Copy Editor Rusty Todd Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips, E-mail observer®texasobserver.org Editorial Advisory Board to: The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th Staff Writer Forrest Wilder Geronimo Rodriquez, World Wide Web DownHome page David Anderson, Chandler Davidson, Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Marketing Asst. Robby Brown Sharron Rush, Kelly White, . Periodicals Dave Denison, Sissy Farenthold, www.texasobserver.org Editorial Intern Leah Finnegan, Brad Ronnie Dugger (Emeritus) Postage paid at Austin, TX and at addi- Books & the Culture is funded Briggs, Tobias Salinger Lawrence Goodwyn, Jim Hightower, Kaye Northcott, Susan Reid tional mailing offices. in part by the City of Austin "diZZ" Contributing Writers In Memoriam through the Cultural Arts Nate Blakeslee, Gabriela Bocagrande, Texas Democracy Foundation Board Molly Ivins,1944-2007 Subscriptions One year $32, two years Division and by a grant Robert Bryce, Michael Erard, Mary Margaret Farabee, Bob Eckhardt, 1913-2001 $59, three years $84. Full-time stu- from the Texas Commission James K. Galbraith, Melissa Jones, Cliff Olofson,1931-1995 dents $18 per year; add $13 per year on the Arts. Steven G. Kellman, for foreign subs. Back issues $3 pre-

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE /Como Se Dice Corruption?

JAILHOUSE ROT If a recent report Medical, dental, and mental health care reported speaking another language, up by federal inspectors is any indication, is virtually nonexistent. Initial medical 5 million since 2000.) the Bush administration's eagerness to screenings are performed by unquali- The Modern Language Association privatize prisons is endangering every- fied nurses and do not include a physi- has just released colorful charts, based one from inmates to the public. Several cal examination, or an appraisal for on data from the 2005 U.S. Census for-profit detention centers in Texas chemical dependency, mental retarda- American Community Survey, that are plagued with severe security, safety, tion, and suicide risk, according to the allow you to pull out data by state for sanitation, health care, and manage- report. Moreover, the jail has no dentist the 30 most frequently spoken lan- ment problems, according to docu- or mental health professional on-site. A guages in the U.S. (All the data and ments obtained by the Observer. hallway is used as an examination room. maps are at www.mla.org/map_data.) After last year's extensive review of Staff are not trained to deal with suicidal It's worth noting that these stats only private lockups holding federal detain- detainees despite eight suicide attempts cover speakers of languages other than ees, inspectors with the Office of the in the year prior to the report. English, not their fluency in English, so Federal Detention Trustee flunked three Security is poor. At the time of the they capture seventh-generation, bilin- of six facilities in Texas. The reports inspection, visitors didn't even pass gual German families in New Braunfels provide a rare official glimpse at the through a metal detector when entering as well as newly arrived Farsi speakers dark side of a largely unregulated and the building The jail has no "specific in Houston. growing detention complex that has instructions" on when firearms may be Spanish speakers account for the been almost entirely outsourced to pri- used; no procedures for maintaining larger part of the increase in the popu- vate "corrections" corporations. weapons or for controlling keys, kitchen lation of non-English speakers. In Texas, Two detention centers were tools, and medical equipment; no effec- they added about 737,000 non-English deemed "deficient": the Brooks County tive plan for a mass evacuation; and no speakers. Texas had the second-larg- Correctional Facility in Falfurrias, oper- training program on the use of force. est increase, behind California. Even ated by LCS Corrections Services Inc. of Sanitation is lacking. Employees are with anti-immigrant sentiment a major Lafayette, Louisiana, and the Willacy not tested for blood-borne pathogens, concern for the GOP, Spanish speakers County Regional Detention Center increasing the risk of disease to both gained in 44 states in the same period; in Raymondville, operated by Utah- guards and inmates. Detainees are only in Mississippi, Wyoming, Alaska, based Management & Training Corp. issued "sporks," but the utensils are not Montana, Maine, and Vermont did their Both facilities passed inspections per- sanitized, nor are barbering tools. numbers drop. That's a 4.1 million-performed by the Texas Commission on Two juveniles were discovered by the son increase nationwide. Jail Standards. inspectors at the adult-only detention The polyglotting of Texas and the The third, the East Hidalgo Detention center and immediately removed. nation seems so inevitable that true con- Center in the Rio Grande Valley town In addition, the report reveals that 19 noisseurs of xenophobia should rejoice of La Villa, was deemed "at risk, the inmate-on-inmate assaults had occurred about the boost in Spanish speakers. most dire category, requiring immedi- in the previous year. After six inmates Spanish, after all, is a European lan- ate intervention from federal authorities. escaped in 2006, the state jail commis- guage. It's the only European language The 990-bed Hidalgo facility is operated sion cited the facility for employing too on the rise; the numbers for French, by LCS. The company earns more than few guards, for the third time. German, Italian, Greek, and Polish, $45 per prisoner per day for holding all spoken by older generations of U.S. Marshals Service detainees. LINGUA AMERICANA If you think immigrants, are dropping. Spanish is "We want to be as open as we can;' people in America should speak only written in the Roman alphabet, so you said Richard Harbison, vice president English, maybe Texas isn't the state can sound out written words even if of LCS. "We know we make mistakes for you. Between 2000 and 2005, the you don't know what they mean. And and when we do we want to learn from number of people who reported speak- the language has thousands of words our mistakes and fix them:' Harbison ing a language that's not English at recognizable in English because of a said they have corrected the problems home rose by 860,000 to 6.86 million. shared heritage. MALDEF or LULAC identified in the reports and expect to They now make up 33 percent of the aren't likely to adopt this as a slogan, pass upcoming inspections. state's population. (Come to think of but we'll say it here: Compared with At East Hidalgo, the inspectors found it, maybe the U.S. isn't the country Chinese, Thai, or Urdu, Spanish is prac- dozens of violations of federal standards. for you: In 2005, 52 million people tically English.

4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 *W,

•

NOT SO FAST In early February, were convicted at trial or accepted plea commissioners voted unanimously infamous Tulia undercover agent Tom agreements based on Coleman's accusa- in favor of the company. TCEQ Coleman lost another attempt to overturn tions. Forty-five of the 46 arrested split Commissioner Larry Soward said the his perjury conviction. The Texas Court a $6 million settlement of a civil lawsuit Texas Clean Air Act made it impossible of Criminal Appeals ruled that Coleman's against the agencies that participated in to deny the permit renewal. As a sop to sentence of 10 years probation should the drug task force. critics, the commissioners decided to stand. After a five-day trial in 2005, a reduce the permit renewal term from jury found him guilty of one count HELTER SMELTER Despite objections 10 years to five. While commissioners of aggravated perjury and sentenced from the city of El Paso, the governor have the authority to require continuous him to seven years imprisonment, but of New Mexico, and the Mexican gov- monitoring of lead at the facility, they recommended that he be placed under ernment, the Texas Commission on declined to do so. community supervision. Coleman was Environmental Quality approved a con- Attorneys for the city of El Paso have charged with falsely testifying in a 2003 troversial air permit in mid-February to filed a motion to reconsider with the hearing about accusations that he pilfered reopen the ASARCO copper smelter in commission. gasoline while working for the Cochran downtown El Paso. Regardless of the ruling, ASARCO is County Sheriff's Office. El Paso Democratic state Sen. Eliot currently in bankruptcy proceedings and Coleman came to national attention Shapleigh said at an Austin TCEQ hear- might not be in a position to reopen the after the Observer broke the story ("The ing that the smelter would pump 12 mothballed copper smelter. ASARCO's Color of Justice," June 23, 2000) on times as much sulfur dioxide as all other parent company Grupo Mexico SAB, the drug arrests he spearheaded in the El Paso sources combined. Shapleigh which is fighting to retain control of Panhandle town of Tulia. Working under- urged commissioners to vote against ASARCO, announced in January that cover for a multicounty drug task force, the permit because of ASARCO's 100- it would not reopen the smelter if it Coleman arrested 46 men and women, year legacy of pollution (see "Clean Up regained majority control. The copper- most of them black, on narcotics charges or Cover up?" October 8, 2004). "You mining company ASARCO LLC, which in 1999. Coleman, who is white, had no will find lead in schools and in yards of currently has majority control, said in hard evidence for his charges. In 2003, homes," he said. February that it would sell all assets of Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of 37 who Nonetheless, the three TCEQ the company to pay creditors. ■

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 5 See

In Houston, wife-beaters can INIII elude prosecution just by leaving the scene By EMILY DEPRANG vii

n 2007, Houston police responded to approximately not leaving: He grabbed me by the neck and started choking 36,000 domestic violence calls, mostly from women me. I was screaming and hitting the window, hoping the neigh- seeking protection from violent spouses. The women bors would hear. I thought I was going to die. I was thinking, likely assumed the system, once engaged, would pro- what's going to happen to my baby? I said, 'Look at the baby, tect them and facilitate their escape to a new life. They he's crying!' Then he stopped choking me and started hitting probably never imagined that police who saw their my face, saying, 'You're not leaving, are you? Are you?' I said, injuries and knew who caused them would give them a piece `No, no, I'm not leaving. So he stopped. of paper and drive away. Nor might they have called had they "I said was sorry and that I was going to take a shower. I went known that justice would be delayed months, if not denied. into the bathroom and turned on the light and saw my face. In Texas's largest city, this is often what happens. Mundane The left side was purple, and my eye was really red inside. He details of procedural policy and staff shortages translate to an saw it and said he was sorry. I said it was OK and closed the officially sanctioned negligence that forces women in danger door and turned on the water." to beg police for help, but delivers nothing if their assailant She hoped the water would mask a cell phone call to 911. isn't around when police show up. Sometimes these women It didn't. escape to safety on their own. Sometimes they die. "He opened the door and reached for the cell phone. I threw Silvia Ramirez weighs 100 pounds at most. She sits in the it and ran out. I grabbed the baby and ran into the yard. A waiting room of the Houston district attorney's office, seek- neighbor was out there, and she held me. He came out and got ing a protective order against her husband. Her shoulders are in the car and drove away. I called my parents, and they came slumped, her thin arms crossed between her knees, her face over and waited with me for the cops. drawn, her brown eyes deerlike, big and bright. In the white "That was about 7 p.m. I called another two times, asking of her left eye is a tiny red blossom—a burst blood vessel left where they were. They didn't get there until 1 a.m. They took over, she says, from a beating by her spouse. a report and asked me if I wanted to press charges. I said yes, "[My husband and I] got in an argument about something— so we went to the station, and they took pictures of my face. this was in the summer—and he trapped me in the bedroom I gave a statement. They said the investigator would call me. and started hitting me over the head. He'd never hit me before. They called me three weeks later and said there was nothing I got away and ran to his mother's house with the baby. I called they could do because it was my word against his. the cops, but he scratched his own face and told them I did it. "He must be very happy, my husband:' she says. "I thought So they didn't do anything. Then he said he was so sorry, that they would arrest him. Nothing happened:' it would never happen again. He also said if I left him I would Houston Police Department policy doesn't require officers to lose the baby. So I stayed. pursue suspects if they've left the premises when police arrive. "But this Thanksgiving, I decided to leave. When I told him, Even if a woman has obviously been assaulted and witnesses he went away mad and he came home drunk. He said, 'You're can verify the assailant, officers don't have to file charges, seek

6 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 Illustration by Maggie Brophy

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 7 a ,ei - 0 - 4. 0 „ 0 .0 , ..!, ' -'4,,:s : , V ° ;i. -4-, ,„,_

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Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse 1001 Texas Ave, Suite 600 OFFICE 713-224-9911 www.avda - tx.org Houston, TX 77002 HOTLINE 866-901-0974

Daya Inc. P.O. Box 571774 HOTLINE 713-981-7645 www.dayahouston.org Houston, TX 77257

Family Services of 4625 Lillian St. HOTLINE 713-861 - 4849 www.familyservices.org Greater Houston Houston, TX 77007

Houston Area Women's Center 1010 Waugh Drive OFFICE 713-528-6798 www.hawc.org Houston, TX 77019 HOTLINE 713-528-2121

Montrose Counseling Center 401 Branard Street, 2nd OFFICE 713-529-0037 www.montrosecounselingcenter.org (services for GLBT Domestic Floor Violence Victims) Houston, TX 77006

Northwest Assistance Ministries' 15555 Kuykendahl OFFICE 281-885-4673 www.namonline.org Family Violence Center Houston, TX 77090

The Roseate Women's Center of P.O. Box 691789 OFFICE 713-444-1297 Northwest Houston Houston, TX 77269 HOTLINE 713-351-4357

Compiled by Leah Finnegan & Tobias Salinger

an arrest warrant, or question suspects. All the police are obli- make that optional call to intake. Between November 1 and gated to do, according to policy, is report incidents and give November 8, 2007, Houston police filed 86 charges involving victims a "blue card," a small sheet of paper with assistance family violence. Four were filed from the scene when a sus- phone numbers on it. pect was missing. In the same period, sheriff's officers filed 52 In Ramirez's case, her responding officers were not particu- family violence charges, 19 of which were filed from the scene larly unhelpful or indifferent. By going with her to the station, when the suspect was missing. they went beyond what policy required. But they didn't pursue Sgt. Melissa Holbrook, who oversees HPD's West Side family her husband because they didn't have to. violence unit, confirms the pattern. "When the suspect's miss- Houston's policy is the minimum required by state law. ing, no, they don't call intake," she says. "That's really not their Houston police could do more, and sometimes do. At their mandate. ... It's not against policy, but [officers] have to get discretion, officers can call the intake division of the district permission from their supervisor [to get a warrant] because it attorney's office, present the evidence, and obtain a warrant will take them out of service for two hours or more. ... We just for a suspect's arrest. don't have the manpower to do that. It would be great, but it's Some departments, like the Harris County Sheriff's Office, really not practical in a city of our size:' require their officers to contact intake when they encounter This raises the question of how Houston police officers have evidence and witnesses, as in Silvia's case. But at HPD, no mat- time to arrest suspects if they're present (which is mandatory), ter how much evidence is available, calling intake is optional. but not the time to get a warrant if they are absent. Police Lt. Joseph Levingston, who supervises all four of HPD's fam- Chief Harold Hurtt did not respond to requests for comment ily violence units, says officers in the field call intake voluntarily. on the question. Levingston refuted the premise, saying most "We don't need a policy. If there's evidence and witnesses, it's a officers make the call. police officer's job to do more than make a report:' he told the One of Holbrook's investigators, Rosalinda Ybanez, says that Observer. "Most of our officers do make that call. We teach it officers not only lack the time to call intake, but also don't feel in the academy, and we have refresher courses ... and of course it's necessary. "Policy is, when a police officer knows that family it's the right thing to do." violence has occurred, he must make an arrest. But the thing is, But records obtained from HPD and the Harris County that's if the suspect is present. ... If the suspect is gone, then the Sheriff's Office suggest that Houston officers don't often danger level for the complainant is nothing at that point."

8 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 Asked if a woman is really safe in a home she shares with pressing charges. her batterer, Ybanez says, "[The officers] do encourage the When Houston police officers do the minimum and file complainant to go elsewhere. They can work with them and an incident report on behalf of women whose batterers have try to get them into a shelter:' fled, the report is forwarded to the nearest of the four family Houston area shelters are notoriously hard to get into. The violence units. only battered women's shelter inside Houston city limits is the Depending on the severity of the incident as reported, the Houston Area Women's Center, which has 125 beds and by its unit may contact a woman to encourage her to come in and own estimate is full more than 90 percent of the time. press charges. If she doesn't, nothing happens, no matter the "Many times:' Ybanez says, "what [officers] will tell [com- seriousness of her injuries. If she does come to the police to plainants] is, you need to go to your best friend's house, you press charges, she'll encounter an agency so overworked and need to go to your mom's house, or maybe a place he doesn't understaffed as to be practically incapable of fulfilling its know. Maybe you have a friend at work that you could call mandate. To cover an estimated 36,000 incidents a year, the whose house he hasn't been to. But [women] are totally Houston Police Department's four family violence units employ encouraged to get out of there, because obviously he's going a total of 15 officers. to return:' "The first thing I do when I get an incident report is prioritize If they don't have somewhere to go? "Then basically they just it, one through five," says Holbrook of the West Side Family have to call the police again if he returns," she says. Violence Unit. "Ones are hospital cases—shootings, stabbings, Had the officers who responded to Silvia Ramirez called beatings bad enough to put you in the hospital for a few days. intake, they could have obtained a warrant for her husband's ... We'll call and see if the victim is conscious and can commu- arrest. They also could have provided her another layer of nicate, and if they can, we'll send an investigator down there to safety that night: an emergency protective order. A protec- talk to them and see if they want to press charges. Of course, I tive order is like a restraining order, but applies specifically to can't send an investigator to every hospital case:' domestic violence. Second in priority, she says, are high-risk cases involving Even if Ramirez's husband had gone to jail that night and violations of protective orders, repeat offenses, assaults dur- then been released, a protective order could have prevented ing pregnancy, and use of a weapon. Into this category also him from going home or approaching her anywhere else. go injuries to the elderly, because the major assault unit is so People who violate these orders end up back in jail. understaffed, according to Holbrook. "With twos, we have Emergency protective orders are issued when suspects counselors call the victim and ask if they want to press charges. appear before a judge, usually after officers tell victims about Lesser hospital cases are twos." the order and have them fill out a simple form. The orders last up to 90 days, a window of safety in which a woman can apply for a full protective order, which lasts for two years. The Serving the Austin community since 1975 short-term order Silvia could have received that night is called SAVE AND SUSTAIN BOOK-WOMAN a magistrate's order of emergency protection, or MOEP. A full protective order can take up to six weeks to get. Often women don't know about emergency protective orders until they're Help save an endangered told about them by police, and they can't get one unless an species: officer calls the intake office and has the suspect arrested. It is The independent women's a good system in theory; if a woman is battered and she calls the police, even if her batterer flees, the police can obtain a bookstore warrant and, upon arresting him, provide an emergency protective order for her. So much security can come from a single For details go to www.savebookwoman.com call—but its not required. Women seeking protective orders have to get in line. The district attorney's office that handles them sees applicants from artisan-roasted in Marfa, Texas 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. The office doesn't take appointments, and interview slots for the day usually fill up by 10 a.m. A 10 0 % ORGANIC co line forms in the hallway outside the office before the door is & FAIR TRADE roasters unlocked most mornings. Later arrivals can wait around hop-

ing for a cancellation, or they can come back another day at a. the recommended time: 7:30 a.m. This often requires taking another day off work, or sneaking away from their abusers' www.bigbendcoffee.com watch, or paying for another day of child care, or all of the toll-free: (866) 731-1811 above. While the office eventually sees most of the women, wholesale inquiries welcome many are not seen until their second, third, or even fourth S5 shipping on all orders www.biglaendcoffee_com visits. And getting a protective order is easy compared with

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 9 Most incidents, she says, are in a third category: assaults, The final book by the harassment, and threats. "We send them a letter in the mail that says, 'You've been a victim. If you want a case, call us:" legendary and inimitable she says. Category four includes cases in which suspects are arrested at the scene. "We don't offer [victims] any services," Holbrook says, "because the charges are already filed." The final category is for cases that aren't considered credible because of weak or conflicting evidence. Holbrook says the speed of an investigation depends on the perceived danger victims continue to face. Investigators tackle MOLL the highest priorities first as time allows. An investigation typi- cally takes two weeks to a month, Holbrook says. Two years ago, every case received relatively quick attention, but chronic understaffing has taken its toll at the family violence units. "We used to get them done in a week back when we had six investigators at each location: Holbrook says. "That WINS... was two years ago. Now we have four investigators at North, West, and Central, and three at South." "The whole department is hurting for manpower," she says. "But we think we're different from burglary and other units, because our people can still be re-assaulted or killed. They're still in abusive homes. So time is of the essence. Each investigator is working more cases at a time now, so we're slower." How much slower is up for debate. Officer Ybanez says her cases are taking up to two months. "It's like triage," she says. Another investigator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says staff cuts are not so much a necessity as a choice. "Family violence is not a priority at HPD: the investigator says. "That's why we're understaffed. Two years ago, we had 25 investigators. Our unit has been devastated. Our normal cases are taking two and three months to complete because our staff is cut in half. That's two or three months before we can get around to filing Executive Branch's tissault on charges on [a batterer] and getting a warrant for his arrest. nhts tnerica's Tondo/lead That's two or three months she's still with that guy. I know one investigator whose investigations are taking three or four months. When investigators retire, the chief tells us straight up that they're not giving us new people. They staff the murder OLLY IVINS squad first. But we're trying to prevent murder." LOU DUBOSE Levingston, the family violence supervisor, says, "I feel kind AND BUSHWIIACKF,D leglatat otho of WU n; of awkward talking about staffing problems. I'd rather not get into that. But suffice it to say we could use more officers." Despite two separate written requests for comment and 15 phone calls over three months, Police Chief Hurtt declined to AN IMPASSIONED AND SEARING address the issues raised in this story. DEFENSE OF OUR RIGHT TO The wait for justice for domestic violence cases in Houston THE FIRST AMENDMENT can be deadly. On the night of June 12, 2007, Laela Threadgill, 25, was at a party with her two children and her 15-year-old replete with Molly Ivins's trademark sister. Her husband, Rui Perez, was also there. Threadgill and her husband were separated, and she had filed for divorce after biting humor—Bill o fl%Vronr,s is a he was sent to jail for abusing her physically. testament to her life's work. But when Perez saw Threadgill, he told her he needed a ride home. Perhaps because her sister and the children were there, Threadgill agreed. She also agreed to lend him $20. When they stopped at a fast-food restaurant parking lot, Perez dragged her from the car by her neck and hair, threw her on the ground,

10 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 and kicked her four or five times. He ordered everyone else out She called a friend to pick her up. The two went to their sons' of the car, climbed in, and drove away. school to pick them up. Perez drove up beside them. "You Threadgill called 911. Houston police responded. The arriv- fucking bitch, I'm gonna kill you," he said. ing officer, J.A. Horsch, interviewed Threadgill and her teenage Threadgill called police, who recorded her visible injuries and sister. In his incident report, he wrote: "The comp stated she witness's statements. Police went to Perez's house, but he didn't was scratched on her neck. The officer used his flashlight in answer the door, and they didn't have a warrant. According to the dimly lighted parking lot. The officer observed no injury. police documents, "Officer was advised to make report and The officer gave the comp the case number and advised her to refer comp to family violence unit. Officer also spoke to suspect contact family violence' on phone in which he stated he was not at the location. Officer That was all that came of her call to the police. As per determined suspect to be uncooperative:' Houston police policy, Perez's flight from the scene meant the Despite ample evidence, a prior conviction, and the abil- officers didn't have to call intake to obtain a warrant for his ity to locate the suspect, once again Houston police failed to arrest. They didn't elect to, either. arrest Perez. Threadgill's mother retrieved the stranded family that night. On the night of November 14, 2007, Perez drove alongside The next day, Threadgill and her sister went to the West Side Threadgill at an intersection and shot her to death. Her sister family unit to file charges against Perez. The case was assigned was beside her in the car, screaming. Perez drove off and is to Ybanez, who took photographs of scratches on Threadgill's still at large. ■ neck, along with bruises on her legs and lower torso. According to police records, Threadgill received information on "legal options, protective orders, shelters, and the Cycle of Violence" from a crisis counselor. She and her sister each gave sworn Sulu Hain, statements about the assault. Then she was sent home. She International Headquarters promised to return with photographs Perez had sent of himself Come Visit us for LUNCH! In addition to our organic holding a gun, threatening to kill himself, and threatening to coffee, pizzas, empanadas, pastries and pies, we kill their 2-year-old daughter, Mia. now prepare made to order sandwiches, salads, Over a month later, on June 21, a note was added to the and even black bean gazpacho. investigation file: "Due to time constraints, this investigation will continue at a later date' 3601 S. Congress off E. Alpine Penn Field • under the water tower On June 25, Threadgill left "a disturbing message" on (512)707-9637 www.rutamaya.net Ybanez's voice mail. Threadgill said she'd lied about the assault che;k our site for 11101tO:1 c3!00r3r and needed to talk to her. Ybanez tried several times, unsuc- cessfully, to reach both Threadgill and her sister. Ybanez noted in Threadgill's file that she was trying to find out "if this was Water Library all out of fear of the suspect's actions in the future, which Basia Irland happens in cases such as this." Ybanez reported the message "Basia's intense scrutiny of how humans interact with water has to the district attorney, who told her to close the case due to inspired remarkable works that expand (( conflicting statements:' our understanding of the essential In spite of witnesses and injuries, Houston police officers relationships between water and life." chose not to call intake to pursue charges against Perez the —Dr. Diane R. Karp, night he assaulted Threadgill. They could have obtained a ter ` LiblarY Director, Santa Fe Art Institute warrant, put out an alert for her car, and picked him up. She University of could have received an emergency protective order that night. New Mexico Press He would have been in jail. But the Houston police don't UNMPRESS.COM • 800.249.7737 require officers to call intake, so they didn't. Then, despite hav-

ing sworn statements, photographed injuries, and imminent , • - threats, Threadgill's case languished for a month, lost in the backlog of an understaffed department, before being dropped on the basis of one potentially coerced voice mail. Police had • evidence. Perez had a record of assault. Yet they let him go. Threadgill went back to Perez for reasons that may be clari- www.planetictexas. C01111 fied by what happened when she tried to leave. On September GROWNUP GIFTS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES 9, 2007, she was riding in a car Perez was driving. She told him AUSTIN (512) NEW STORE she was leaving him. Perez beat and choked her with one hand NORTH SOUTH RESEARCH E. RIVERSIDE STASSNEY 832-8544 443-2292 502-9323 441-5555 707-9069 while driving with the other. He picked up a friend named SAN ANTONIO (2 10) NEW STORE II! Danny, who drove while Perez continued to beat Threadgill in EAST MILITARY CENTRAL WEST SAN MARCOS the back seat. She eventually escaped, jumping from the car. 654-8536 333-3043 822-7767 521-5213 (511)392-4596

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 Illustration by Maggie Brophy

12 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008

Selective Enforcement

Why is the Bush administration ignoring a law that protects abused immigrants?

By MELISSA del BOSQUE Photos by EMILY DEPRANG

Houston lawyer Diana Velardo

n January 5, 2006, President George W. gration lawyers across the country in late August. Lawyers told Bush, seated in the Oval Office with wife her their efforts to obtain legal resident status for women and Laura by his side, signed legislation reau- children who had entered the country illegally and then suf- thorizing the Violence Against Women Act. fered domestic abuse were suddenly being denied. Since they Authored by one of Congress' more con- were no longer with their U.S. citizen or permanent resident servative members, Wisconsin Republican spouse, the clients faced deportation. Rather than be separated Jim0 Sensenbrenner, the bill contained a provision protecting from their children, many mothers would likely return to their undocumented immigrant women, children, and men who abusers, who could offer them documentation to stay in the are victims of domestic violence. The bill passed the House country. 415-4. Yet late last year, Bush's own administration began to Kemp noticed a pattern. The Bureau of U.S. Citizenship systematically ignore the law, according to immigration law- and Immigration Services denied legal permanent residency yers familiar with the process. to domestic violence cases in states such as Illinois, California, The law removes the fear of deportation if victims leave their and Texas, but allowed them to proceed in other parts of the abusers—a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident—by allow- country. "In Texas they are issuing denials in Houston, Dallas, ing victims to apply for legal permanent residency themselves. and Harlingen. It's an abrupt change in policy where they are It likely saved the lives of thousands of women and children, outright denying cases that would have been approved in the says Ellen Kemp, coordinator of the National Immigration past:' Kemp says. "Lawyers tell me that their cases are now on Project of the National Lawyers Guild. hold, or they are not filing for adjustment of status because "The United States was always a leader in the rights of they don't want their clients to be denied." women:' Kemp says. "I don't understand why our government Immigration attorneys in California and Illinois report that is risking the lives of survivors of domestic abuse now These immigration services sent an e-mail to its regional offices women are married to U.S. citizens and have already been in August instructing adjudication officers to deny domestic through a rigorous screening process. It's like we are giving violence cases where the applicant had entered the country with one hand and taking with the other hand:' illegally. A California attorney, Marien Sorensen, says two Kemp says her organization began receiving calls from immi- immigration officers read her an e-mail ordering them to hold

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 Houston lawyer Diana Velardo has spent much of her career defending battered women and children in similar situations. She oversees the immigration law clinic at the University of Houston. Surrounded in her office by photos of her children and posters of rainbows, Velardo is normally of a sunny dis- position, but her face flushes in anger when she discusses her recently denied cases. "I have done hundreds of these cases, and I have just had three denied," she says. "These people are in limbo, and a lot of these victims will go back to their abusers. They won't abandon their children. This is just a whole other level of stress for women and children who have already been through terribly abusive situations." To apply for "Violence Against Women Act status:' victims must compile documentation including evidence of abuse (such as police reports), witness testimonies, and hospital records. Women applying for the status must also show that Diana Velardo oversees the University of Houston's immigration law clinic. they entered into the marriage in good faith and that they are of "good moral character." After filing paperwork and paying a all cases pending a policy memorandum from immigration $1,500 fee, applicants wait for several anxious weeks to find out services. Then they promptly denied three of her cases. whether their applications will be accepted or denied. Maria Garcia-Upson, Dallas regional spokesperson for the This is just the first step. Many immigration lawyers call agency, says she has no knowledge of such an e-mail. There is the next phase "waiting in line." Depending on the country no evidence that a policy memorandum was prepared. of origin and whether the abusive spouse is a U.S. citizen or Still, the apparent change in policy attracted the attention of a legal permanent resident, the wait can be anywhere from lawmakers in Congress. Democrats Sen. Edward Kennedy of several months to eight years before a person with domestic Massachusetts and Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California sent letters abuse survivor status can apply to become a legal permanent to Immigration Services Director Emilio Gonzalez, advising resident. him that his agency's new interpretation was the opposite of what Congress intended when it passed the law in 2000 and reauthorized it in 2005. "He always threatened Subsequently, other House members, including California Democrats Barbara Lee, George Miller, and Lynn Woolsey, also me with deportation if I sent letters to Gonzalez urging him to refer to Congress' intent regarding domestic violence survivors. screamed or called the Immigration services responded to their concerns by freez- ing all domestic abuse cases until further notice as of February police," she says. "He told 14. Currently, any woman who is the spouse of a U.S. citizen me I had no rights here." and has received official status as a domestic abuse survivor, but who entered the country illegally, cannot apply to become a legal resident of this country. Garcia-Upson acknowledges the agency has been in discus- Velardo says her clients were being denied at this second sion with Kennedy and other legislators regarding the issue. phase. After waiting for several years to become legal perma- She confirms that the agency has frozen applications until nent residents, they filed their paperwork and were denied. further notice. "We are holding these cases until we get a policy This left victims in a peculiar limbo. Denied applicants can direction:' she says. Garcia-Upson says she doesn't know when work and stay here legally, but they cannot return to their the agency might begin processing such cases again. birthplace to visit a sick relative or attend a wedding. And The world of immigration law, a daunting mixture of acro- they can be deported at any time. Once a domestic violence nyms, affidavits, and reams of government forms, is fraught survivor who entered the country illegally leaves the country with more frustrating catch-22s and penalties than the U.S. tax voluntarily or is deported, they cannot return to the United code. For many immigrants, the road to citizenship, or even States for at least 10 years. Lydia, a 49-year old Houston legal permanent residency, is a long, expensive, and perilous woman who asked that her real name not be revealed for fear journey that can take years or even decades. of reprisals from an abusive ex-spouse, is one of the women The law Bush signed in 2006 allows undocumented immi- caught in limbo. Her legal residency claim was denied in grants who are married to U.S. citizens to file a "self-petition" August. Lydia stares at the floor as she recounts her marriage to apply for citizenship instead of relying on potentially abusive to a man, a legal permanent resident, who became increas- and often unwilling spouses to sponsor their citizenship. ingly violent.

14 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 "He always threatened me with deportation if I screamed or called the police she says. "He told me I had no rights here." Over the course of two years, the beatings became Love the Observer? more severe, she says. The violence finally culminated on Thanksgiving Day in 2000. As she remembers the day, her SPREAD THE WORD! voice falters, and tears roll down her face. "He had been drinking since morning, and he showed up at the house with a pistol and a rifle. I was there with my two daughters and my son. He said he'd had enough of me and Contact us and we'll send my children and that he was going to kill us," she says. "He a FREE Observer to your friends , said, 'No one can do anything about it' because he would flee

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15 he didn't see where the gunshots came from, but Estrella Rochelli knew the shooter. The Dallas police had freed her husband from jail, though she had begged them not to release him. Now he had come to kill her. The bullets punctured her car as it idled at a traffic light. She was on her way home after an evening shift waitressing at El Chico restaurant. He must have been waiting—her husband of eight years, the father of her three daughters. She sped through the light. Her car stalled a few blocks later, and Rochelli had to bolt on foot. He ran after her, firing his gun. She zigzagged back and forth across the street. Bullets whizzed past. He emptied and reloaded three times. Eventually a bullet sliced into her back. Another shot ripped through her left side under her ribs, and yet she kept running. Rochelli saw a minivan stop in the street and it backed up toward her. She stumbled to it on wobbly legs. A young couple flung open the door and dragged her inside. They drove to a convenience store and called for an ambulance. Shot four times, Rochelli bled profusely. Lying in the store, she overheard someone say she was going to die. Remarkably, from that moment in 1996, Rochelli's fortunes began to improve. She survived the four gunshot wounds. Still, her husband had managed to elude Dallas authorities, and she needed a place to hide. After the hospital released Rochelli, a police officer told her about a shelter for abused women in Illustration by Maggie Brophy Austin. Here, finally—after years of abuse that went ignored by law enforcement—was a turn of good fortune. For victims like Rochelli, there may be no safer city in the nation. Austin has earned a national reputation for treating and pre- venting domestic violence. Key to the area's success is collabo- ajheo ration among the city's disparate players: victims' advocates, emergency shelters, law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and nonprofit legal-aid groups. In most other cities, these groups are turf-conscious mini-fiefdoms. In Austin, they meet monthly as a domestic violence task force. What has emerged are innovative solutions for handling abuse: The Austin Police Department and Travis County Sheriff's Office established their own domestic violence units. Place Travis County prosecutors formed specialized divisions for aiding and protecting victims of abuse. Austin set up one of For victims of domestic violence, the first district courts in Texas designated to handle only domestic violence cases and protective orders. And victims' there's no safer city than Austin advocates teamed to create one of the largest and best-funded abuse shelters in the nation—SafePlace. By DAVE MANN These innovations likely have saved many lives, including Photos by CHRIS CARSON Estrella Rochelli's. omestic violence cases are exceedingly complex to prosecute. Beneath the violence is a mix of manipu- lation and distrust, jealousy and insecurity. Abusers D often blame their victims. And the victims—wres- tling with helplessness and misplaced love—sometimes refuse to press charges. Some will recant their own statements to police or even lie in court to protect their abusers. Handling these cases requires cops, prosecutors, and judges

16 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 who understand such subtleties, who recognize the dynamics of power and control that underlie the violence, and who will work not only cooperatively with each other, but also with counselors and victims' advocates. In 1989, Austin Police Chief Jim Everett convened the Austin-Travis County Family Violence Task Force. It has met monthly ever since. The task force now has 19 member organizations in and out of government. It serves as a common space where law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, legal-aid attorneys, and victims' groups can lace their efforts together. A series of progressive law enforcement leaders including Everett, a number of leaders in the Travis County Sheriff's Office, and Constable Bruce Elfant, have devoted time and resources to the effort. The result is the kind of cooperation that few cities in the nation have achieved. (The Austin police recently even set up a specialized unit within the domestic violence division to handle the most horrific cases—a unit that police leadership credits with reducing Austin homicides related to domestic violence from nine in 2005 to four in 2006 to two last year.) The task force has been the well- spring for the city's other innovative approaches: creating counseling pro- grams for batterers, pushing to ensure that defendants' criminal histories get to judges before bond is set, and stress- ing the use of civil protective orders Top: SafePlace's emergency shelter. Bottom: Families can live in rooms like these at SafePlace for 3 months. for victims. In 1997, the task force helped marshal federal money to set Austin, modeled on a path-breaking effort in San Diego, that up a one-stop office where victims could access many of the would mesh services for domestic violence, rape, and child services they would need without driving all over town as their abuse under one roof. It would house the relevant parts of cases stalled in the bureaucracy. It was a place where officers the criminal justice system, medical staff, counselors, victims' from the domestic violence units of the Austin police, the advocates, and private attorneys. The idea has met with county sheriff's office, prosecutors, counselors from SafePlace, resistance, and funding is uncertain. "We have a lot of people and civil attorneys could all work under one roof. They called come from around the country and try to duplicate or emulate it the Family Violence Protection Team. what we're doing;' Sylvester says. "But we're trying to take it to The effort has proved wildly successful, though it's not as the next level and get that family justice center going:' coordinated as it once was. Last year, the Austin police tried Gail Rice, director of community advocacy at SafePlace and to move the office to a more remote location. Some refused to a longtime member of the task force, points to another unique follow, and the protection team, while still useful, is now scat- effort in Austin. The city allows legal-aid attorneys to visit the tered. "It's nothing like it was:' says Jim Sylvester, a longtime jail to sift through arrest reports and pick out cases that need member of the task force and the sheriff's department. "It's extra attention. They then contact the victims to ask if they unbelievable how the landscape has changed in just one year. need an emergency protective order, which bars alleged abus- It's not as cohesive:' ers from any contact for up to 90 days. The process leads to Sylvester wants to establish a Family Justice Center in hundreds of emergency protective orders a year in Austin.

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Austin SafePlace P.O. Box 19454 HOTLINE 512-385-5181 www.safeplace.org Austin, TX 78760

Lifeworks 2001 Chicon OFFICE 512-4781648 www.lifeworksweb.org Austin, TX 78722 HOTLINE 512-735-2400

Migrants Clinicians Network P.O. Box 164285 HOTLINE 512-327-2017 wvvw.migrantclinician.org Austin, TX 78716

Political Asylum Project of One Highland Center OFFICE 512. -478 - 0546 wwwmain.org/papa Austin (PAPA) 314 E. Highland Mall Blvd. Suite 501 Austin, TX 78702

Texas Council of Family Violence P.O. Box 161810 OFFICE 512-794-1133 www.tcfv.org Austin, TX 78716 HOTLINE 800-799-7233

Women's Advocacy Project, Inc. P.O. Box 833 OFFICE 512-476-5377 www.TexasAdvocacyProject.org Austin, TX 78767 HOTLINE 800-374-4673 ... Compiled by Leah Finnegan el. Tobias Salinger

Perhaps nothing sets Austin apart like Judge Mike Denton's experience puts all that in context. It helps them understand County Court at Law No. 4—the domestic violence court, one why victims do some of the counterintuitive things they do." of the first of its kind in Texas. About midmorning, a defense attorney popped into Denton's On a recent Friday morning, Denton's chambers in down- office. He wanted to obtain "nondisclosure" for his client. This town Austin were a nexus of activity. The foot traffic resembled allows the client to wipe clean his record of alleged abuse after an in-person flowchart of domestic violence cases: an assistant completing a deferred-adjudication program. The crime was no district attorney, a prosecutor from the county attorney's big deal, the attorney says: "It was only a hickey." Denton eyed office who handles only protective orders, counselors from the documents. Here were two men deciding whether a male SafePlace who use a room at the courthouse to support victims abuser deserved leniency. In another judge's chambers, the when they testify, a sheriff's deputy assigned to the court, and no-big-deal argument might have worked. Not here. Denton finally Mack Martinez, chief of the domestic violence unit for knows the law. Nondisclosure isn't permitted in domestic vio- the county attorney. Denton waved Martinez in to answer a lence cases. Penalties increase dramatically for repeat offenders, reporter's questions. As a prosecutor, Martinez said, his biggest so wiping away offenses is counterproductive. challenge is overcoming the reluctance of victims. Denton's court handles misdemeanor assaults up to third- "They're in denial about the fact they are victims of family degree felony cases. He dispenses numerous protective orders, violence he said. "They make excuses, they rationalize. That's which can be a valuable tool in aiding victims. In 2007, 636 perfectly natural. Yesterday, this was the person they trusted orders were issued in the city. But protective orders are most in the world. Last night, that person beats them. This meaningless pieces of paper unless police and judges enforce morning, it's difficult for them to make the shift." Having a them. judge who understands these tendencies makes a huge dif- Denton gives a well-rehearsed protective order speech to ference. accused abusers that everyone in his court has heard many Denton, a former prosecutor, has worked with abuse cases times. He explains to every alleged offender that the abuser for years. Visitors from cities around the country have come must stay two football fields from the victim or face jail. And to observe Denton's court, and he frequently speaks at confer- the victim can't undo it. "If you were arrested at her house ences and training sessions on domestic violence for judges. tonight, and your defense was that she invited you over—let's As RiCe, of SafePlace, puts it, "When a judge has the talk it over'—that would not be a defense he says. It's repeti- experience in seeing the effects of coercion and fear tactics on tive, but Denton says the speech greatly increases the effective- the victim and how that leads the victim to recant, the judge's ness of protective orders.

18 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 The court has been almost too successful. Denton's docket is stuffed with nearly 3,000 cases, more than he can handle. What EoleAvr, owt Austin needs, he says, is another domestic violence court. 140•Mr. ar4

ochelli is a small woman with tightly curled black hair cropped above her shoulders. She came to the United States from El Salvador at 16 and met her R future husband while waitressing at a restaurant in New York. Her marriage was eight years of increasingly severe beatings: kicks, chokes, alcoholic rages, and insults. When she had summoned the courage to ask for help, few came to her aid. Police in New York never seemed to care. Once, an emergency dispatcher—claiming not to understand Rochelli's accented English—hung up on her. Another night, she called 911 and left the phone line open while he beat her, Informational packets adorn a wall in the SafePlace shelter. hoping someone would hear and send help. No one came. Rochelli eventually escaped New York for Dallas, where her housing where victims can live permanently. Few shelters in sisters live. Her husband tracked her there, and a new cycle of the country offer the services found at SafePlace. abuse began. Once again the authorities offered little aid. Perhaps its greatest feat involved coalescing the victims' Rochelli was still recovering from her bullet wounds when advocates in Austin. In other cities, shelters and victims' groups she came to SafePlace with her three daughters (the shelter have clashed over funding and other limited resources. In was then called the Austin Center for Battered Women). They Austin, everyone—from victims and police to prosecutors and stayed three months, locked behind the gates. It was more judges—knows SafePlace as the center for victims of domestic than a place to live securely. The shelter provided counseling violence. The relative lack of discord among advocates makes for Rochelli and her daughters. SafePlace eventually helped cooperation between victims' groups and the criminal justice her find an apartment, filled it with furniture, and installed an system much easier. alarm system. Her husband, after all, was still free. "He called When Rochelli's husband came up for parole in 2006, one of my sisters in Dallas and said he knew I was in Austin, SafePlace workers offered to help her write letters to the parole and he was going to come and give me my last shot in my head:' board to keep him in prison. Then, three months before his she says. "I was terrified." parole eligibility date, her husband died after a massive heart Even after Rochelli left the shelter, workers from SafePlace attack. She says it was a "miracle," yet she still struggled to kept in frequent contact. They provided vouchers to local stores shake her fear. Today she works as a bartender at a downtown so she could buy clothes for her daughters and prodded her to hotel and will soon graduate from Austin Community College take classes at Austin Community College. Eventually she was with a degree in graphic design. healthy enough to look for a job. A year after Rochelli came to "I feel free she says. "I'm so happy now When I came to Austin, police in Boston arrested her husband and hauled him Austin, I was feeling better and better. After all these years of back to Dallas for trial. being afraid all the time, it makes a big difference' For her, the Rochelli dreaded the thought of testifying and facing him system worked. Yet the trauma from the abuse never fully goes in court. SafePlace helped her find a lawyer and sent two away. She cannot tell her story without summoning the fear. social workers to Dallas with Rochelli. They stayed with her Her hands shake, and she clasps them in front of her mouth to throughout the trial. "I never thought I was going to make it," calm their movement. Tears pool in her eyes, and she looks into she says. "I couldn't do it on my own. [Without them] I don't the distance, steadying herself. One day not long ago, she saw a think I would have done it—too much pain." He was sentenced man on the street who looked like her husband. "I thought that to 20 years for aggravated assault. To this day, Rochelli doesn't was him. But it was just a similar person," she says. Instantly know why he wasn't charged with attempted murder. The the fear flooded back. judge's sentence made him eligible for parole after 10 years. Rochelli remembers lying on that floor in Dallas, her rescuers In the decade since Rochelli sought refuge, SafePlace experi- thinking she would soon bleed to death. She remembers hear- enced rapid growth under the leadership of Kelly White, former ing them, and thinking she couldn't die, she couldn't abandon executive director, and Diane Rhodes, the current chief operat- her daughters. They have always been her motivation to escape ing officer. (Full disclosure: White serves on the board of the and survive. In Austin she found the means. Texas Democracy Foundation, which publishes the Observer). Her husband had once berated her as a terrible mother. The shelter now sits on a sprawling, 12-acre campus in East Their daughters would grow up to become nothing more than Austin. First and foremost, it serves as a secure shelter. But the prostitutes, he said. Rochelli's youngest daughter will enroll at facility also houses an abuse and sexual assault hotline, a day- St. Stephen's Episcopal School next year; her middle daughter care center, and apartments where victims can live for up to will graduate from there this spring. Her oldest is a freshman two years. SafePlace directors even built adjacent low-income at Princeton University. ■

MARCH 7,,2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 19

( COMMENTARY I BY JIM HIGHTOWER From Bad Ideas to Worse

AUSTIN IS THE BOMB People here in gorge, the powerful river, the gorgeous However, when it comes to the priva- my hometown of Austin are not merely sunsets ... and the uranium mines. tized army of Halliburtons, Blackwaters, excited—we're ecstatic. From every cor- Say what? and other corporations that Bush has ner of our city come shouts of hip- They're not there yet, but our Bushified hired at great national expense to run hip hooray and hallelujah because—Oh National Forest Service has ever-so-qui- operations in Iraq, not only is failure Sweet Jesus—Austin has made "the list" etly issued a permit allowing a British an option—it's the norm. The latest At long last, our fair city has been des- mining company to explore for uranium in a long line of corporate failures is ignated by the Homeland Security czar adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park. an outfit called ITT Federal Services as one of 60 in the nation considered to Vane Minerals Corp. will be allowed International Corp., a Pentagon contrac- be at "high risk" of a terrorist attack. This to drill seven exploratory shafts in the tor hired to keep our troops' battle gear means we've made it; we're an A-list city. Kaibab National Forest, which abuts the in good working order. Austin is now in the big leagues along- canyon. ITT Federal, it turns out, often certi- side New York and Washington D.C., This dirty deal was a sneak attack on fies battlefield equipment as repaired, officially worthy of a terrorist attack. local residents, environmental groups, but it subsequently flunks inspection, Not every wide spot in the road gets tribal officials, and park supporters—all which sends it back for more repairs. on this prestigious list, and Austin has of whom oppose the effort to pock public Under ITT Federal's Pentagon con- not heretofore been known as a dan- lands with uranium mines. In addition tract, the corporation collects payment gerous place. We're best known for our to the sheer inappropriateness of the a second time for fixing what it failed to music, laid-back attitude, and fun spirit, plan, locals recall the cancers suffered by repair the first time. Rather than being but making the list proves that we've also those who worked in previous uranium fired, contractors are rewarded. For got a raw edge—so walk warily and stay mines on nearby reservations. They also example, ITT Federal had a $33 mil- vigilant if you come here, because ... well, have concerns about uranium trucks lion contract to overhaul 150 Humvees you know ... the terrorists hate us. highballing through the area and about a month. It never came close to that We're not the only newbies on the contamination of the region's scarce water number, but it still got the money and list this year. Such terrorist hot spots as supplies. continues to be awarded new Pentagon Rochester, N.Y., Murfreesboro, Tenn., The Forest Service ignored these reali- contracts. Despite its sorry record, ITT and Toledo, Ohio, were also added. ties and gave the corporation a green Federal has received $638 million from Now our city halls get to draw up dra- light without conducting an environmen- taxpayers since 2004. matic anti-terrorism schemes that can tal review and, worse yet, without holding Even the Pentagon admits there is a be funded from a $350 million pool of a public hearing. The agency arbitrarily disastrous shortage of federal employees federal grant money. I know! We'll build ruled that Vane could be "categorical- to watch over this ballooning corporate a 10-foot-high, 10-foot-thick wall of jala- ly excluded" from the normal review force, and that the system is rife with petio peppers around Austin. Let Osama process because its exploratory drilling fraud, kickbacks, waste, and theft. ■ bin Laden's fanatical disciples try to eat would take less than a year. Never mind their way through that. that mining companies can do some seri- For more information on Jim Hightower's You might consider such creative ous damage in a year. work—and to subscribe to his award- defensive thinking frivolous, but we Meanwhile, Congress has been dil- winning monthly newsletter, The Austinites are just doing our patriotic lydallying with an overdue reform of the Hightower Lowdown—visit www. duty in Bush's "war on terror." Remember, 1872 mining law that lets corporations jimhightowercom. right after 9/11, George W. was asked run roughshod over public land, putting what ordinary Americans could do. their profiteering interests above the "Go shopping;' he told us. Well, that's public interest. To learn more about this what we're going to do. Thanks to Bush, reform effort and to see a report on the Congress, and homeland hysteria, select impact of uranium mining in this unique LETTERS TO THE EDITORS cities like ours can now get federal region, connect with the Environmental financing for our shopping spree. Working Group at www.ewg.org . 307 W. 7th St. Austin, TX 78701

A NOT- SO - GRAND SCHEME What a NO FEAR OF FAILING When it comes [email protected] special joy it is to visit the Grand Canyon. to his war in Iraq, George W. keeps tell- It's awe-inspiring to view the majestic ing us that failure is not an option.

20 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 POETRY I BY raulrsalinas

LOUD & PROUD n loud voices we must sing. Cantaremos porque .. . Silence means consent. Cantaremos porque... Silence equals death. If i am free to express my ways then what i have to say to this here nation state is, don't spew me with hate. Don't play that un-american card with me pard-ner because continentally speaking, i am what i am! No need for nationalistic, Jingoistic, patriotic pap. Remember world war II? "We're gonna have to slap the dirty little jap, and uncle sam's the guy who can do it"

I n proud voice entonces let me exercise my rights ---aboriginal and otherwise--- As we grieve one more time for those who gave up the spirit on 9/11 Photo by Alan Pogue now gone to their heaven. I n proud voices and Kabul, 30 years we've been grieving, we will sing. Rolando en Vieques; weaving our tears So with all due respect to my Mom yanqui doodle into spears of struggle. and her need to fly a flag contaminacion. Feel las voces of the poets in the wind! for her man La liberacion de los pueblos, Listen to the singing of artistas who fought in some other war, we must sing. on communal walls! wrap me not in waving rags See la musica splash that gag the wailing I oud and proud rainbows on our souls! of the masses en Acteal. cantaremos Irlandeses both protestants and catholics lift our voice I oud and proud their paths plowed under/Lebanon plundered that one collective i sing and as the colony crumbles and united my ritmos and rimes Palestine rumbles, voz in these times Intifada! must not be stilled. of patriotismo gone astray Strong-willed seguiremos disgusting display I n loud voices cantaremos bustin out all over town; we shall sing we must sing, including the brown. though the empire is we will sing! Flying of the flags in shambles Bringing to our used to disguise body bags cantaremos gente decente that carried medal of honor winners of the nirios mutilados that other realidad. back to hick towns of en Irak, coffee-serving refusals Atenco, & cemetery of heroes burial denials.

RAUL R. SALINAS, poet, activist, mentor and proprietor of Austin's Resistencia bookstore, passed away of liver cancer on Wednesday, February 13, at age 73. This poem, one of Salinas' last, is from Telling Tongues: A Latin@ Anthology on Language Experience, published in 2007 by Red Salmon Press and Calaca Press. MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 21 Tear Down the Wall

The border-busting banda sound of Dallas' Las Palmas de Durango Las Palmas de Durango, top row: Rolando Fuentes, Eric Garcia, Servando Nunez. Bottom row: Laura Magdaleno, Maggie Gutierez, and Jose Vitala By MICHAEL HOINSKI Photos by Steve Satterwhite t was a frigid Saturday night most of Las Palmas' members migrated just before Christmas, and there to Texas. Banda is an obscure style—at was a fiesta going on at Plaza de least relative to more popular north-of- las Americas. Inside an aban- the-border Mexican genres like mariachi, doned retail space rented out for conjunto, and Tejano—distinguished parties in the otherwise vacant by its dearth of strings and accordion SouthI Dallas strip mall, abuelos y padres, in favor of a rapid-fire combination of hermanos y tios, primos y ninos, y mas horns and drums. Las Palmas updates otros celebrated Karina's quinceanera, the genre by using it as a platform to rail the traditional coming-of-age 15th- against increasing border security. birthday party for Hispanic girls. They knocked down a wall in Berlin, It was going on midnight, and teen- and now they want to build another in age boys outfitted in white-and-pink their country, begins their signature tuxedo combos whispered in the ears song, "El Muro" ("The Wall"). ... As if a of their female counterparts, who had wall could fix their faults, as if that could abandoned their pink gowns for jeans straighten all their sins. and T-shirts emblazoned with "Quince Laura Magdaleno delivered the lyrics Anos de Karina" in homage to the joven- in Spanish while shimmying alongside cita wearing the tiara. her saxophone-playing sidekick, Maggie Some of Karina's 200-plus guests sat Gutierez. Las mujeres bonitas wore iden- at tables littered with cans of Bud Light, tical getups: black, short-shorted jump- Miller Lite, and Modelo Especial. Others suits, black stockings, and black high wrangled the little ones chasing balloons heels that matched their long black hair. around the venue. Some danced arm Now it's called the Wall of Shame in arm in a circle like a giant spinning because it affects my Mexican country- wheel, the men dipping their female men, a bitter joke for man, an offense to partners in the elaborate move at the God, because He wanted us all to live as heart of the dance called la quebradita. brothers. The bailadores were moving in time Magdaleno's and Gutierez's compane- to the music of Las Palmas de Durango, ros sported the vaquero look. There was a seven-piece group that plays modern Jose Vitela, father of Gutierez's child, also takes on banda, a century-old, march- on sax; Eric Garcia on sax, trumpet, and ing-band style of music native to the trombone; Servando Nunez on drums; northwestern Mexican states whence Rolando Fuentes on a bass drum with an

22 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 Front and center: Las Palmas frontwomen Laura Magdaleno at Forth Worth's OK Corral.

upturned cymbal that he clobbered with of opportunity. the Year. its handheld match; and rounding it out, "The worst thing is ..i" Juan Ramirez "Everybody went through it one way a stand-in manufacturing a tuba sound said of the wall, before changing or another," said Jose Vitela, Las Palmas' with a keyboard. Like the majority of his mind: "The best thing is they got musical director. "They crossed the bor- men at Karina's quinceati era, they wore Mexicans doing it." Beat. "Cheap labor." der or have friends who did, or family cowboy hats, incredibly pointy cowboy Before the quinceariera, members of members. That's why we picked these boots, and gaudy belt buckles. Las Palmas, all in their 20s, had gathered kinds of songs." Just the same, we'll scale wired fences in the living room of the Grand Prairie "El Muro" is one of two politically as we would a wall, even if it reached house that Ramirez, 42, built when he charged canciones written for Las Palmas the clouds. wasn't otherwise occupied with his full- by Dallas songwriter Ramon Melendez, Juan Ramirez, the band's manager, time job as an air-conditioning electri- whose songs have been recorded by the stood stage left, compulsively checking cian. Arranged in front of a fireplace, its likes of Los Tigres del Norte. Another his cell phone. bricks bearing a poster of narcocorrido such song in Las Palmas' repertoire is We don't come here because we like singer Lupillo Rivera, their instruments a remake of Marco Antonio Solis' "Los this ground. Many of us come hoping for awaited a post-interview, pre-quincea- Alambrados" (rough translation: "Illegal the day we can return. As long as there Fiera practice session. immigrants caught in the barbed wire of is misery in our hometowns ... we will Immigration policy has polarized the fence at the border.") The band isn't have no choice but to keep coming, even Americans, regardless of their proxim- exactly activist, but performs incendiary if it means we get deported or thrown in ity to the border. There are those who songs that draw attention to Mexicans as prison. have come to appreciate hardwork- underdogs. In other words, F-you, George Bush, ing, family-minded laborers, and others "What they do [to] Mexico, why don't for signing the Secure Fence Act of who perceive only cultural threat and they do [to] Canada," Ramirez asked. "I 2006, in effect green-lighting a 700-mile, resource strain. Love 'em or hate 'ern, mean, why one side and not the other 15-foot-high fence between Mexico and their influence is undeniable. In January side? the U.S., making it that much harder for the Dallas Morning News named "The "A lot of people already know what's the undocumented to infiltrate the land Illegal Immigrant" its 2007 Texan of going on," Vitela added. "But our people,

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23 here—but we are still hoping to return." With his black goatee, black jeans, black sweater, black leather jacket, black cowboy hat, and tan ostrich cowboy boots, Melendez exudes an aura that keeps you from wanting to cross him. Still, the fortysomething brother to 17 siblings, all of whom are back in Mexico, maintains a soft-spoken manner. "Mostly," he said, "what I'm trying to say [in 'El Muro'] is, we're not here by choice. When I can work here, I have no choice." Beat. "The dollar counts more than the peso. That's why we are here. "I'm not saying I don't like this country:' he added. "I like this country. I mean, I love this nation. It's a great nation. And I find the opportunity to succeed. But I'd rather be in Mexico. I mean, I love my country."

t should come as no surprise that Las Palmas' patriotism is made manifest in a strain of music that's deeply rooted in the group's culture. All but one of the six permanent players, plus Ramirez and Melendez, were born in Mexico (the other was born in the U.S.), and of those only Laura Magdaleno and Melendez don't hail from either Durango or Chihuahua, Mexican states that join Sinaloa as banda's birthing grounds. Originally, banda groups were roving house bands for the towns there. "They used to, back then, they would play on the streets," Maggie Gutierez said. "That's how it was born—on the streets, walking and going different places!' "It was sort of like a marching band, Dallas songwriter Ramon Melendez, who wrote "El Muro" ("The Wall") for Las Palmas. a high school band," Vitela said. "They used to have, I don't know, 25, 30 musi- they don't know. The people who are like women in banking and car-detailing- cians." us, like regular workers, regular people, connected mostly through their origins According to San Antonio journal- they don't know much about it. They just in the Mexican state of Durango. It's ist Ramiro Burr, who authored The know they're trying to get us out!' a place full of palm trees, where many Billboard Guide to Tejano and Regional of them left family behind. It's a place Mexican Music (Billboard Books), ike the guests at Karina's they miss. European immigrants who settled in quinceariera, Las Palmas is "Everybody here has a dream, you South Texas and northern Mexico at more or less una familia grande. know, to go back to their hometown," the close of the 19th century brought Ramirez and Vitela befriended said Ramirez, who has lived in the U.S. big bands that influenced the Mexicans L 20 and planted the seeds for banda. Lack of each other at work; Melendez's brother for more than years. is a co-worker; Vitela used to play with Melendez said, "Sometimes we have to documentation in its infancy, however, Melendez in another band. The other stay. Like me, my family has grown up makes it difficult to connect the folk players—the men work in landscaping, here, my kids were born here—they've music's dots. "The danger," Burr said the oil patch, and metalsmithing; the made friends here, they go to school by phone, "is that misinformation gets

24 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 Loud and clear: An audience gets the message during a recent Las Palmas performance in Fort Worth. repeated, and it just becomes like folk- magine a few thousand Mexicans— an Observer contributor, also took the lore!' For example, it's unclear whether couples, singles, old, young— photographs for this article.) the original banda groups even included packed into a miniature Billy Bob's Satterwhite has but one beef with "El singers. replete with disco lights, giant TV Muro." He thinks it targets the wrong It is certain that banda became a com- I monitors broadcasting Univision, and market: Spanish-speaking countrymen mercially viable format in the middle a taco cart called El Toro Loco Taco. likely to understand and support its of the 20th century. That was around That was the scene a few weeks ago at message, not pro-wall Americans who'd the time that Banda el Recodo de Cruz Fort Worth's OK Corral, where Las more likely be incensed if they had a Lizarraga, a multigenerational group Palmas wowed the crowd with a set clue about the song's meaning. from Sinaloa, came into its own. The that culminated in an encore of "El "I told them, I said, 'One of the things group remained the exemplar of the Muro." Occasional performances at you guys have gotta do is piss some style until the 1990s, when technobanda, similar venues in the Dallas-Fort Worth people off," Satterwhite said. a fast-paced subgenre largely substitut- area, Houston, and East Texas are cur- He wants the band to sing its lyrics in ing keyboards for traditional instru- rently about the only way to hear Las English. He wants el hombre blanco to ments, became the craze. Palmas' brand of banda, save for the hear them loud and clear. Ramirez likens Las Palmas to a hybrid occasional one-off show like Karina's But that would necessitate Las Palmas of Banda el Recodo (for its use of mostly quincea Fiera. playing for an Anglo crowd, which so nonelectronic instruments in the classic Steve Satterwhite, an Anglo music far hasn't happened. For now, the band style), Grupo Montez de Durango (a producer who's worked with Americana is focused on letting its natural audi- technobanda group that uses keyboards songwriter Jim Lauderdale and pop ence know what they're up against on in a modern style), and Los Horoscopos singer Shawn Colvin, hopes to change the border. If that knowledge pisses de Durango (which, like Las Palmas, that. He's taken the band under his them off, all the better. ■ features two female singers). The sound wing by helping them record a forth - is a loud, unrelenting whirl of wood- coming debut CD, and by enlisting Michael Hoinski is an Austin-based winds, brass, and percussion that moves John Merchant, who's worked with freelancer whose writing also appears in like an upbeat jazz funeral on the streets the Bee Gees and Barbra Streisand, to The New York Times, Village Voice, and of Laredo. mix "El Muro" as a single. (Satterwhite, the Austin American-Statesman.

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 25 Film stills courtesy of Live Action Projects If you were the worst president in American history, you'd be home now. Ranch Dressing Just another Texas town, ready for its close-up By STEVEN G. KELLMAN

ccording to Jean that the former screen actor's version Baudrillard (echoing of home on the range was copied from Plato, who dismissed Hollywood. the world we inhabit Though George W Bush was born in through our senses as Connecticut, far from sagebrush and an unreal imitation), saguaro, he emulated Reagan's imita- Aall is simulation. In the postmodern hip- tion. In 1999, using profits from the sale hop world of universal sampling, it is of the Texas Rangers, Bush purchased meaningless to ask whether something 1,583 acres near Waco, Texas, that he is primary or authen- calls a ranch, despite tic. Only a patent attor- Cra wford the fact that it lacks ney might worry about any livestock other the honesty of an eat- Produced a nd directed by than four or five ery that calls itself Tia David Modigliani cows, hardly enough Maria's Original Tacos. for a stampede or So when Ronald Reagan, emphasiz- a cattle drive. In fact, according to ing his disdain for Washington, estab- Revolution of Hope, the 2007 autobiog- lished a ranch in Santa Barbara as the raphy of Vicente Fox, the former presi- Western 'White House, few voters cared dent of Mexico, Bush is a "windshield

26 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 cowboy," more comfortable roaming the prairie by Mustang than by mustang, and terrified of horses. Nonetheless, the Crawford "ranch" helped convince American voters in 2000 and again in 2004 that its proprietor was a reasonable facsimile of John Wayne (the celluloid saddle tramp born Marion Morrison in Winterset, Iowa). Though Bush's status as (mostly) absen- tee cowboy has profoundly affected the community, Bush is a spectral presence in Crawford, the cinematic portrait of a town whose population of 705 has been overshadowed by presidential entou- rages, outside agitators, members of the media, and curious tourists. We see Bush address the graduating class of Crawford High School and catch a glimpse of his motorcade zipping past locals on its way to or from the ranch. Austin-based director David Modigliani includes TV footage of the president responding to 9/11 and outlining his policies in Iraq, but he doesn't draw on interviews with War dissenter Cindy Sheehan established a peace house in Crawford. Bush or his associates. Instead, Crawford's focus is Crawford, marketing cuff links, mugs, and other Bush defeated John Kerry in the 2004 a municipality with one stoplight, two souvenirs. "Crawford's changed so much presidential election. Nevertheless, the gas stations, and—because of the atten- its unreal," horse handler Ricky Smith school motto seems designed to immu- tion lavished on it due to its most said at the peak of the frenzy. nize local folks against excessive regard famous landowner—a global reputation However, as the novelty of the presi- for celebrity: "Nobody big, nobody small, for torrid summers and quaintly rustic dential neighbor wore off and his presi- everybody the same." citizens. (The film begins and ends with dency began to wear down, Crawford Modigliani honors that spirit of egali- four local good old boys playing nickel- went back to bust. Property values plum- tarianism by focusing his film not on ante dominoes, a metaphor of sorts for meted, and businesses folded. The town Bush and other grandees, but rather on the collective consequences of Bush's where everyone knew everyone else and half a dozen unfamiliar figures, men and real estate acquisition. The fortunes and doors were never locked had been utterly women who live their lives in Crawford misfortunes of the president could not transformed, and the trade-off no longer out of range of the scores of TV cameras help but have a domino effect on the seemed reasonable. "The way we were deployed to cover the big cheeses melt- community he chose as his personal was better;' says Warren Johnson, an ing in the Texas sun. trademark.) educational administrator. "I wish he'd One of Crawford's stars is Misti During the previous 30 years, Crawford never showed up," one of the domino Turbeville, a high school history teacher had become a rural backwater with most players adds. who opposes Bush's politics but wel- of its stores boarded up, the kind of place Dick Cheney, Silvio Berlusconi, comes his presence because, she says, that hemorrhages its brightest and most Vladimir Putin, and Hosni Mubarak "I love having discussion, controver- ambitious young people to urban centers show up in Crawford. Yet however many sy." When she takes her students on a offering more exciting possibilities. But world leaders and Washington officials class trip to the Crawford Peace House, the presence of the latest Western White make their ways to the tiny Texas town, headquarters for protests against the House up the road changed things, at the fate of the high school football team administration's war policies, Turbeville least temporarily. It precipitated a real remains central to the community's herself becomes the target of controversy, estate boom; vacant fields began fetching identity. Not many adolescent athletes accused of subjecting her students to prices more appropriate to urban parcels. are congratulated personally by the left-wing propaganda, and of blasphemy At Crawford Country Styles, where a president, as are the Crawford Pirates, for questioning the pronouncements of life-size cutout of George W. Bush stood the smallest school in their division. local religious leaders. When she leads a beside the cash register, entrepreneur They managed to win the Texas state class discussion about why Bush came to Norma Nelson-Crow became prosperous championship in class 2A not long after Crawford, one student notes how useful

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 27 Modigliani focuses his film not on Bush and other grandees, but rather on half a dozen unfamiliar figures, men and women who live their lives in Crawford out of range of the TV cameras deployed to cover the big cheeses melting in the Texas sun. it is for politicians to associate them- Crawford's main drag, American flag Ultimately, the location of Bush's fron- selves with the old-fashioned virtues the in hand. Across the road from "Camp tier retreat serves simply as a plausible heart of the homeland is presumed to Casey," the five acres that Cindy Sheehan pretext for Modigliani to take a long, embody. (Ken Judy, a banker, had ear- purchased to memorialize her son and close look at one Texas town. In contrast lier pointed out that in virtually every rally opposition to the war in which he to the network stars who parachute into TV broadcast datelined Crawford, the was slain, sits "Camp Reality," where Crawford for stand-up reports in front network correspondents stand in front counterdemonstrators shout: "Freedom's of hay bales, he began this long-term of the same bucolic bales of hay, though not free." project even before Bush moved into the town's public image might differ if Local merchant Nelson-Crow says, the Eastern White House. It is clear the camera were panned just a few feet "I'm a believer in George W. Bush," even that Modigliani, a patient and attentive to either side). after declining interest in her idol observer, spent enough time with the Uncomfortable with the frontier aura desiccates the market for presidential citizens of Crawford to earn their trust. that Bush appropriates from Crawford, tchotchkes and forces her to close her It could not have been easy for a stranger the student insists: "We're not all cow- souvenir shop. from Austin to get these people to reveal boys." Though exasperated by her town's Likewise, even after the out-of-town- themselves the way Bill Holmes, a retired insularity, Turbeville takes heart from ers vanish from her Coffee Station, justice of the peace, does when he criti- the way proximity to Bush concentrates where locals have been able to mingle cizes the prodigious expense incurred developing minds: "These kids are much with international luminaries, Dorothy every time Bush's bloated entourage more political than they would have Spanos cannot be talked out of her passes through town; or Pastor Murphy been otherwise," she says. One kid in conviction that the war is necessary: "If does when he dons a ridiculous "belt of particular, Tom Warlick, is radicalized we were not over in Iraq, they would be truth" and "helmet of salvation" to teach by his increasing awareness of injustice here," she says. a group of children Christian truths; and intolerance, moving from skepticism If Bush had never stepped in Crawford, or teacher Turbeville does when she to cynicism to despair about the ways in the town would likely still be worth weeps at the death of her most liberated which power is acquired and exploited. examining as a laboratory for personal- student. Another local dissident, W. Leon ity development and group dynamics. It is probably an exaggeration to claim Smith, edits the Crawford Iconoclast. He Tom Warlick would still be beset by that to understand America during backed the war in Iraq until becoming adolescent angst, and Mike Murphy, the Bush years it is necessary to know convinced that Bush deceived the world pastor of the First Baptist Church, would Crawford. But Crawford does explain about Saddam Hussein's possession of still be preaching the imminence of why the nation's chief executive, who weapons of mass destruction. When Armageddon. "We were praying for a could afford almost any address, would Smith endorsed Kerry for president in miracle," he recalls about the coming of choose to spend his summers in a deso- 2004, his paper lost half its circulation Bush, who never does come to Murphy's late Texas oven. ■ and most of its advertising. When it services. became impossible to buy the paper at Magical realism demonstrates that the Steven G. Kellman teaches comparative any store or rack in Crawford, the pub- most ostensibly mundane objects, exam- literature at the University of Texas at San lication migrated to the Internet. "I think ined closely enough, begin to assume Antonio and is the author of Redemption: they're brainwashed," Smith says of his phantasmagorical qualities—like the The Life of Henry Roth. fellow citizens. unexpected universe the eye discovers Horse handler Ricky Smith, by con- when an ordinary human hair is placed trast, supports the president and adver- under a microscope. With a population tises his contempt for the hundreds that's 88 percent white, Crawford is not of strangers who gather in Crawford exactly a microcosm of America. There to protest the war in Iraq. Smith uses is nothing special about the place except black shoe polish to inscribe "God bless that it happens to be where an American America and our troops" on the flanks of president cuts cedar to impress an inter- a white horse that he rides up and down national audience.

28 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 ERWO RD I BY DAVE RICHARDS The ACLU in Texas—The Early Years

The 1970s-era offices of the Texas Civil Liberties Union and The Texas Observer. Photo courtesy of Dave Richards

On March 8, the Texas ACLU will cel- t falls the lot, I suppose, of those in San Antonio. In the early 1960s, the ebrate its 70th anniversary. It's a storied left standing to write the his- Texas Civil Liberties Union was formed, history full of setbacks and improbable tory of their times. Here then is consisting of these various local chapters. victories. Today, the organization is as my take on the ACLU in Texas. Sam Houston Clinton was the general strong as it has ever been. After falling For all practical purposes, active counsel. into disarray in the 1990s, the Texas history begins in the early 1960s A few historical notes: When Lee ACLU has come back with a vengeance. withI the appointment of federal judges Harvey Oswald was first arrested, Otto It's the eighth-largest ACLU affiliate in by Kennedy and Johnson, judges who Mullinax, on behalf of the ACLU, went the United States and boasts more than for the first time in Texas were ready to to the Dallas jail to see if Oswald wanted 17,000 members. It operates with a mul- acknowledge constitutional rights and assistance, and word came back that timillion-dollar annual budget and a open their courts to such claims. Oswald did not want to talk to any ACLU staff of more than a dozen. The Observer The Dallas ACLU was formed in lawyer. Oswald was dead a few hours and the ACLU have always had a special 1961, started by George Schatzki of the later. Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the infa- relationship. It was perhaps never closer Mullinax & Wells law firm. George later mous atheist, had fled from Baltimore than when Dave Richards rented both showed up on the University of Texas to Mexico just ahead of the law. She organizations space in his office building Law School faculty. The Houston chapter returned to San Antonio, where she was in the 1970s. What follows are some of was already in existence, emerging from jailed on an arrest warrant. She called Richards' reminiscences from that period Chris Dixie's law firm. Maury Maverick out for ACLU help, and Maury and Sam of the ACLU's history. Jr. was a sort of a one-man ACLU chapter Clinton sprung her. Upon release she

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29 declaimed, "Thank God for the ACLU," way to the ACLU. By this time, the Dallas federal judiciary included such stalwarts Nserver recOers are or so the story goes, as recounted by longtime ACLU activist Dorothy Browne. It's as Sarah Hughes, Mac Taylor, and Irving not clear what "god" she had in mind. Goldberg of the 5th Circuit. I ended up SMART The first major Texas ACLU case arose with all three on my panel in the Gilmore in 1963, when representatives of the case. After trial, they promptly declared PROGRESSIVE Texas attorney general executed a search the oath unconstitutional and enjoined warrant at the San Antonio home of its enforcement. On another note, this INVOLVED John Stanford, secretary of the Texas same panel later voided the Texas abor- Communist Party. The officers seized tion statute in Sarah Weddington's historic INFLUENTIAL 14 cartons of books and papers, includ- Roe v. Wade case. GOOD LOOKING ing one book by U.S. Supreme Court In 1969 I moved to Austin and began Justice Hugo Black. Maury represented law practice with Sam Clinton. In 1970 Stanford as the case made its way to we bought an old house for our offices ($o are 06server oavertisersr the Supreme Court, which unanimously at Seventh and Nueces. The upstairs was found the search to have violated the rented to The Texas Observer and to the Fourth Amendment. It is worth remem- TCLU. This began a wonderful, somewhat bering that in Texas in this era, as far as goofy era for all of us. The Observer staff the general public was concerned, to be during this time included, among others, Get noticed by Texas Observer an ACLU lawyer was only a small step Jim Hightower, Kaye Northcott, Greg folks all over the state and nation. away from being a commie agitator. Olds (one of the original founders of My first ACLU case arose in 1967 and the Dallas ACLU), the inimitable Molly Let them know about your was in some ways the most fun. Everett Ivins, and Cliff Olofson, who lived some- bookstore, service, restaurant, Gilmore played the tuba in the Dallas where in the building. Passing through non-profit organization, event, symphony and taught one student at the TCLU during this time were such political candidate, shoe store, coffee Dallas County Community College. He wonderful companions as Wayne Oakes, house, boutique, salon, yoga Doran Williams, John Duncan, Mary studio, law practice, etc. was told that to teach, he must sign a noncommunist affidavit, as required by Keller, Marge Hershey, and the efferves- state law. The law was a product of the cent Dorothy Browne. McCarthy era and required, among other This was a great time for civil liberties things, that every student at a Texas col- litigation. The federal courts were recep- lege sign the oath annually at registration. tive, the state of Texas was still in its ante- Gilmore refused, was fired, and made his diluvian mindset, and you could almost

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30 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 7, 2008 take your pick of fat targets. Several Texas as a left-wing cabal, a place where litiga- ACLU cases ended up in the Supreme tion was cooked up just for the hell of it. TheTexasObserver Court during the early 1970s. Brent Stein, One day in 1975, John Duncan and I were aka Stoney Burns, published the Dallas sitting around the ACLU office grous- would like to remind you that: underground newspaper Dallas Notes. DISSENT IS EDUCATIONAL He ing about a new Texas voter registration SUPPORT PUBLIC LIBRARIES was targeted by the Dallas police in the statute. It had been pushed through the and the Observer by donating late 1960s with two raids on his house Legislature by then-Secretary of State and the seizure of all his equipment and a tax-deductable Observer Mark White, and mandated purging the subscription to the Texas public papers. He was charged with violating the entire voter registration rolls—some 5 library of your choice. state's obscenity statute. His suit against million voters—and requiring everyone the Dallas police was twice argued at to reregister. The Voting Rights Act had Visit our website www. the Supreme Court, and resulted in the texasobservenorg, or call us at just been extended to include Texas, and (512) 477-0746

MARCH 7, 2008 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 31 Cheney ?'rested in Hospital For an Irregular Heartbeat WASHINGTON, Nov, 26 (AP) -- Doctors at a Washington hos- a life-threatening complication, pital administered an electrical the formation of blood clots that can move to the brain and cause shock Monday to Vice President a stroke„ Dick Cheney's heart aro. The main trftoplY)r, If he were anyone else, he'd probably be dead by now.

The patient's history and prognosis were grim: four We call on the presidential candidates and Congress heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, angioplasty, to support HR 676—an expanded and improved an implanted defibrillator and now an emergency Medicare-for-All that: procedure to treat an irregular heartbeat. • provides complete medical, dental, vision and

For millions of Americans, this might be a death sen- long-term care eliminates deductibles, co-pays, hidden fees tence. For the vice president, it was just another • allows you to choose your doctor, lab, hospital, medical treatment. And it cost him very little. • health care facility Unlike the average American, the president, vice • is completely portable president and members of Congress all enjoy govern- • is free from interference by insurance companies. ment-financed health care with few restrictions or Forcing people to buy insurance doesn't provide bet- prohibitive fees. They are never turned away or ter or more universal care. It just pads the pockets denied care. of the insurance companies. Medicare-for-All puts That's the benefit of what we call "Cheney Care." health care decision-making power back where it The rest of us deserve no less. belongs: in your hands.

"Every American deserves CheneyCare."

Become a co-sponsor of HR 676 — expanded and improved Medicare-For-All. To find out more, go to www.cheneycare.org or call 1-800-440-6877

NATIONAL NURSES 1,1 ITURr§Fg" fill gal lin ASSOCIATION ORGANIZING COMMITTEE 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612 888 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006