Retired Denver Police Lt. Tony Ryan, a member of the 10K strong group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, told Mile High City reporters on Oct. 24 that he is supporting an initiative on the city’s November ballot that would make adult possession of less than one ounce of pot the city’s “lowest law enforcement priority.”

To date, city leaders – including beer-peddling Mayor John Hickenlooper, founder of Wynkoop Brewing Co. – have been wringing their hands over the inclusion of the initiative, repeatedly making clear they don’t support it – although their reported reasons are clearly knee-jerk and not a clearly contemplated public policy decision.

Standing outside city hall, Ryan, who spent 36 years with the PD, said he’s backing the initiative not because he advocates drug use, the Rocky Mountain News reports, but because police resources are better spent fighting violent and property crimes rather than busting recreational pot smokers. “I was a street officer most of my career through the ranks, and homicides, rapes, assaults, domestic violence…alcohol was involved in every one of them,” he said. “Seldom is marijuana involved and if it was it was not a cause, alcohol was.”

Late notice, but if you're free this afternoon, Jason Meeker of Responsible Growth for Northcross wants Austinites to know about a presentation being given this afternoon by Sister Susan Mika, a Benedictine nun from Saint Scholastica Monastery in Boerne about her Socially Responsible Investment Coalition (SRIC). (Hint: she might mention Wal-Mart.) Click on the link below for more details:

What do you do when your beach runs out of sand? Add more sand. That’s what Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Sen. Mike Jackson, R-LaPorte, told the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association as they announced a $13.5 million project to rebuild the beaches at Galveston yesterday.

The plan calls for one million cubic feet of sand, paid for by state and local funds, to be put down on the beach, building it up and out to 200 feet from the land edge. The technique is called beach nourishment, and is pretty simple: Put more sand down. Galveston’s beaches, pivotal to its tourist trade, are eroding due to gulf coast tides. Sudden, catastrophic events like Hurricane Rita are more dramatic but often less cumulatively damaging than the long, slow grind of coastal currents, which have made much of the area unreachable to for visitors. There are similar plans for South Padre Island, Surfside, and Sylvan Beach, costing an additional $11 million combined. Ironically, to boost the tourist belt, they’re taking the sand from just off the Galveston coast at Apffel Park.

In light of the below post, and, I dunno, the fact that half the state is still on fire, our City Council might wanna look into rescheduling their "InterCity Visit" to San Diego. But who knows. The allure of the faux-historic Gaslamp District, a Downtown entertainment area full of bars, restaurants, retail and now condos – basically a humongous outdoor T.G.I. Friday's and frightening foreshadowing of the stuff council would love to see on Sixth Street – may be too much to bear.

All,

I've returned from my mysterious vacationary errands, and not a whit too soon: They took me out to Southern California, a delight for much of my trip, until the rapacity of the Santa Ana winds and a historic two-year drought turned San Diego County into the tinderbox it is now. While I was thankfully nowhere near the fire, driving back from L.A. Monday, Oct. 22, took us past fires north of the city; despite being day, the massive clouds of smoke obscured the sky, turning it gray and sepia, and making the sun a ghastly red. Plus, while Interstate 5 was bumper-to-bumper going out of San Diego, it was eerily calm going south. A truly strange and frightening experience.

More picture from yours truly here.

Sure, we're not exactly friendly with Sen. John Cornyn, given his almost lockstep agreement with the Bush Administration. But we've always been pretty happy with his support for open government and freedom of information laws, and now this – he loves bats! The Oct. 2 edition of his weekly op-ed praises bats, warning Texans who might fear the flying furballs that, "The U.S. food supply is indebted to Texas bats. Migrating moths eaten by bats in Texas cannot later attack cornfields in Kansas and Iowa. The positive impact on agriculture alone runs into millions of dollars every year." Perhaps he's just pandering to the Austin vote, but we doubt it.

Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, and Speaker Craddick today announced that they had found a solution to the community college funding crisis caused in June by Perry's ham-handed veto of appropriations to cover health care costs for certain employees. (Refresh your memory on this issue here and here.) Click on link to read their joint press release:

The exit of Mikal Watts this morning from the Democratic primary race to take on U.S. Sen. John Cornyn ended like so many failed political campaigns: with a concession phone call to the opponent. In this case, Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston has issued a statement saying he got a call from Watts telling him he was stepping aside.

It was a gracious note that Noriega struck, saying that whatever divides they had between them, Watts and he had both always kept their eyes on the real target, Cornyn. Later, Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie put in a few quick digs at the incumbent wile lauding the exiting candidate, saying he had raised "a number of important issues on behalf of the vast majority of Texans who would be better served by a Senator who works for us rather than the special interests."

But buried deep in Noriega's text was an interesting statement: "Mikal and I made plans to sit down together in the next couple of weeks." Does this mean the impressive Watts war chest may become part of the Noriega battle plan?

"Demographics is destiny" is a mantra amongst electioneers and campaign professionals. With the withdrawal this morning of Mikal Watts from the Democratic primary for the US Senate, that leaves the real election fight next November looking like incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, vs State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston. For campaign watchers, this is Old Texas versus New Texas, that demographic tipping point they've been waiting for in election politics.

Of course, campaign staff always used to say that money equaled votes, and cash was the selling point for the previously unelected Watts. By late September, he reportedly had an $8.3 million war chest, but since he'd loaned his own campaign $7.5 million of his own cash, that sum doesn't sound so great.

While some observers had been boosting the Watts campaign as fresh blood in the race, the political novice looked more like fresh meat. Politicos with slightly longer memories also saw the shadow of Tony Sanchez on him. The Democratic 2002 gubernatorial candidate came in on a wave of cash and good will, and then took an 18-point drubbing from Rick Perry.

The thinking back then among campaign managers was that, with a rising Hispanic vote, a Hispanic candidate could take down Perry. Now those same politicos are looking to Noriega to take down Cornyn. Yet the glib "demographics is destiny" line could just be an excuse. The five-term state rep and career military man comes to the campaign with endorsements from ranking state and national Democrats and, importantly, more individual donors than Watts ever managed. It's these traditional campaign assets that could make him the biggest threat to Cornyn.