Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    I was puzzled that Marc Savlov did not include any opinions by local animal rights activists in his review of Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat [“That Darn Documentary!,” Screens, June 24]. He may have learned that some of us heard about this notorious case four years ago through dozens of Internet stories. We are raising our voices now because some people continue to be confused about whether killing a cat is art, and this film seems as confused. The students charged with killing this cat claimed that they did it to show the hypocrisy of animal cruelty, which they then labeled as art. Let's be clear about this: Killling a cat is cruelty to animals and is no more defensible than battering a woman to show the hypocrisy of sexism. Both are crimes. A more compelling story for the filmmaker, and one that might actually save animals, occurs every day directly under his nose: that is, how humans treat the 9 billion animals we slaughter every year in this country for food. But as an activist I've learned that people are much more willing to see the cruelty in others' actions but not the complicity in our own.

Dear Editor,
   Thank you for giving significant ink to the proposed AMD move from East and North Austin into the Barton Springs Watershed [“Y Not?,” News, June 24]. Sadly, the crisp writing was diminished by “he said, she said” reporting and omissions of several of the most important points.
   You completely failed to mention AMD’s bad faith in ignoring their own pledge to sustainable development and cooperation with local “stakeholders” on major decisions (set out at length on the AMD Web site). There was no mention of AMD’s false claims of complying with the SOS ordinance nor of AMD’s withholding its alleged “independent” traffic study.
   With only 31% of AMD employees living southwest – and thus 69% living in other parts of Austin – it appears impossible that the move would reduce traffic in the Barton Springs Watershed, Oak Hill, or overall in Austin unless you assume that a substantial fraction of the 69% that live elsewhere will move into the watershed.
   You name OHAN as supporting the proposed AMD move, but the broad coalition of Austin Neighborhoods Council, Liveable City, SOS Alliance, Austin Sierra Club, Save Barton Creek Assossiciation, and Zilker NA that opposes the move is narrowed to SOSA and the anonymous “enviros.” And no mention of the online petition and information bank at www.moveamd.com where more than 5,000 citizens have already joined in asking AMD to find a different site.
   The one mention of Envision Central Texas suggested support for density nodes in the Barton Springs Watershed when more than 80% of ECT survey respondents supported minimal additional development in the Edwards Aquifer Watershed and steering new development into preferred growth areas.
   Equally disappointing, you let Mayor Wynn pretend he made a real effort to steer AMD to other sites and to act as if the AMD move was a done deal. Wynn’s keeping the proposed move secret and failing to enlist community support in finding AMD a better location tells a different story. Wynn’s close ties to the chief beneficiary of the move – Stratus’ CEO Beau Armstrong – and the continued threat of more Stratus-backed Austin bashing legislation tell us why the mayor is rolling over.
   Back when we had real leadership at City Hall, Mayor Watson refused to accept then Motorola executive and current AMD CEO Hector Ruiz’s decision to consolidate Motorola offices on Stratus’ land at Circle C. He jumped in, with the community behind him, and convinced Motorola to undo some of the damage done by Motorola’s move into the watershed in the 1970s by, instead, locating its new offices outside of the Barton Springs Watershed. Such a move was far more difficult than AMD simply avoiding the Barton Springs Watershed in the first place – something it has done quite nicely during the last 30 years in Austin.
   This is clearly another turning point when the people of Austin must lead before the leaders will follow. Please sign the petition at MoveAMD.com and join us in demanding that AMD find a site that meets its business needs that is also outside the Barton Springs Watershed.

   [Rachel Proctor May responds: For the record, Envision Central Texas is officially silent on appropriate places for "nodes of density."]

Dear Editor,
    Thank you very much for publishing this article in your June 24 issue [“City in Court Against SoCo Cafe,” News, June 24]. I am incensed by the high-handed tactics employed by Trudy's Texas Star Inc. against its SoCo neighbors, as well as the city of Austin. Until this matter is resolved, I will not patronize any of their eating establishments.

Dear Editor,
    Darcie Stevens is a dumbass. And every relevant rock musician in town agrees. Why? Here's my assessment: Her body of work speaks for itself. Anyone with even a scintilla of knowledge about rock music and its history becomes quite amused upon reading an attempt by Ms. Stevens to tackle even the slightest musical concept – or an attempt to relay a simple musical anecdote. And I doubt she is qualified to be a rock critic. Has she ever recorded an album, played live shows, toured, produced or engineered a record, mixed or mastered a record? I think not. What relevant rock experience does she bring to the table? How about this – in the next issue of the Chronicle publish a copy of her glorious résumé – or is she scared to be exposed?

   [Editor's note: Darcie Stevens reviewed the Yuppie Pricks most recent CD: austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-02-11/music_phases3.html.]

Dear Editor,
    Rachel Proctor May's "Y Not?" [News, June 24] article has a couple of errors:
    1) The "sit down" restaurant she refers to in Oak Hill is the Satellite Cafe, not the Signature Cafe; and
    2) the pink granite used on the outside of the Texas state Capitol was quarried near Marble Falls, Texas, not on Convict Hill. The limestone used on the inside of the Capitol was quarried on Convict Hill.

   [Editor's note: We regret the errors, and thank Mr. Terfruchte for the corrections.]

Dear Editor,
    Thanks for your mention of the September opening of the Austin branch of the Paul Green School of Rock Music [“TCB,” Music, June 17]. We are very excited to bring our program to the Live Music Capital of the World.
    We also would like to congratulate the Natural Ear Music School on their 15th anniversary. However, we would like to clear up any misunderstandings they may have about our school [“Postmarks,” June 24]. Rather than emulating others, we are innovators in the field of music education. Since starting in Philadelphia in 1997, more than 2,000 students have studied at the PGSORM. Currently, more than 900 students are enrolled at nine locations nationwide. Our branch will reach capacity at 180 students and we feel that in an amazing musical city such as Austin there is plenty of room for everybody.

Dear Editor,
   Karl Rove, in a speech he made Wednesday, June 22, said "[P]erhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."
   Our country is more divided than at any time since the Civil War. Comments such as those Rove made not only serve to further that gulf but seem, in fact, intended to do just that. He is a truly ugly and unpatriotic American.
   Additionally, there is a certain irony in the content and timing of his message. The content because we all know now that the country we went to war with had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11 and did not pose the biological nor the nuclear threat to our country which the conservatives, as he put it, alleged to justify the war they started. Ironic in timing as even some of the staunchest supporters of the war in his party, as well as many of the commanders of troops in Iraq, are now recognizing just what a quagmire we are mired in over there. And further, far from making us safer from future attacks like that of 9/11, the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank, released a report not long ago in which they said that Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills."
   Rove should, at the least, be fired. It's a shame that there is no crime he could be charged with for the damage he does to our country internally and in the eyes of the world with such hateful and malicious talk which is truly criminal.

Dear Editor,
    Mr. Knee arrived in Austin as part of the Nineties contingent in government, education, and security with no principles or ethics; just plain ethnic and economic greed. The right people were being placed in APD's radio of influence. Bills by people who paid allegiance to his group passed quickly, utility rates increased, taxes went up, and the press, radio, and TV were good to him, including Mr. Pro-Police himself. Salaries shot up and jobs and contracts were dealt all over creation by the mayor in turn, ignoring the local talent. Grocers obliged. NAACP, LULAC, and religious and civil rights organizations didn't blink while he implemented policies of foreign countries under the excuse of terror, as killings, rapes, and scandals by armed and uniformed cops soared, the pressure in East Austinites increased and the youth grew angrier at the stupidity of the grownups for not addressing poverty, alcoholism, prostitution, and violence, in which APD and the mayors were having a happy hand increasing. When Jordan Smith wrote about those filthy Mexicans and saw lots of babies in "Operation Restore Hope" [News, May 7, 2004] she used a twisted tongue and didn't care much of her racist stance. We don't expect any understanding from Mr. Cumberbatch or anybody else, since the Office of the Police Monitor has always been Mr. Knee's bitch and those two boys who run it were engendered by Internal Affairs. Up to today, no reports yet on national press on this killing. I guess the pro-police crowd is everywhere.

Dear Editor,
    I'm shocked that Fred Hill, R-Dallas, made the 10 best legislators list [“The Good and the Bad,” News, June 24]. He completely ignored the pleas of his constituents by killing a bill that would have limited the current 10% cap on property appraisal increases. His district is filled with people who have lost jobs or suffered income cuts and are being smothered by artificially high property taxes. This year alone, I will pay over 40% more than last year, and last year's tax dollar amount was a 15% increase over the previous year. Fred did not represent his district well at all.

Dear Editor,
    My mother, Debra Baker, was murdered Jan. 13, 1988. As we grow closer to the 18th anniversary of her death, my family is turning to the public once again for help in finding the person responsible. There must be someone with information regarding her death. We have not given up hope. We are asking for help from the Chronicle to put my mother's story into the public eye.

   [Editor's note: A summary of Debra Baker's case, along with other unsolved Austin homicides, is available on the APD Web site at www.ci.austin.tx.us/police/unsolved.htm.]

Dear Editor,
    Whether AMD moves to Oak Hill or downtown, there will be a lot of people commuting between the two places [“Y Not?,” News, June 24]. The standing assumption is that all this commuting will be done by car.
    What if there was a bike path from downtown to Oak Hill? Or, failing this, what about bike lanes? Or a wide sidewalk? It's not too far to bike to Oak Hill, especially by electric bicycle. I know people who do it (by regular human-powered bicycle). They report that it would be a great ride if it weren't so scary.
    We can reduce pollution and make Austin a much nicer place by having a few routes at the edges of town that aren't so terrifying that people don't dare ride them without huge, polluting tanks. This is a serious matter, and it gets completely ignored. People who never go outside get up at meetings and say that it's much too hot to walk or bike in Austin anyway, so bike paths, bike lanes, and sidewalks are just useless frills. People who claim to care about the environment consider parking lots necessary but sidewalks objectionable because of impervious cover.
    Austin folks like to think they are “green.” So how about a little support for nonpolluting transportation?

Dear Editor,
    Together with hundreds of others from the East and Southeast Austin community, I was in the Dove Springs audience last Thursday night in anticipation that Police Chief Stan Knee, Mayor Will Wynn, and City Manager Toby Futrell might instill some trust among us that the true facts regarding the fatal shooting of Daniel Rocha have any possibility of surfacing [“Rocha Shooting: Plenty of Questions, Few Answers,” News, June 24]. Unfortunately, nothing that was presented by this leadership reinforced our hopes.
    As an East Austin youth more than 40 years ago, along with many of the other fathers and grandfathers in the audience, I found a kinship with Daniel – for many of us in our youth were harassed, threatened, and abused by Austin policemen who knew on which side of town this type of police misconduct would result in no consequences. What many of us have learned and trust is that the police will always cover for their brotherhood. The events surrounding the tragic motorcycle deaths of the husband and wife police officers is a shameful example of Austin police officers not enforcing the law that may have protected two of their own and, then, the “shameful whitewash” that followed in the report issued exonerating fellow police officers that should have acted to do their lawful duty and maybe saved the lives of two of their own. What can we expect but more of the same.

Hey friends,
    I'm sorry to relay the news that your friend and mine, Ram Ayala, owner of Tacoland [in San Antonio], was murdered during an argument/robbery at his establishment Thursday night/Friday morning. His doorman Doug and bartender Denise were also shot during the incident but are expected to make it. Details are sketchy at the moment. Simple words cannot properly express the sadness and disgust I'm feeling. He'll be missed by many.

Dear Editor,
    Well what do you know, Louis Black (“Page Two,” June 24) is angry. Or depressed, or annoyed, or had a bad beer. But, wow, did he have to go and call people traitors? Is the land really “torn up and destroyed”? Just as that political hack Karl Rove says something stupid about liberals and how they embrace those who attack this country, off pops Louis who does just that.
    It isn't really clear what Mr. Black would have us do. If he wants Americans to stand up, take the gun belt from our waists, hand it to the marauding hordes in the name of peace, there will be peace. If he wants us to take our toys home and stay on our side of the water, maybe the other guys would be nice to each other and work it out around a round table. At least it wouldn't be our people in the crosshairs.
   One day, Mr. Black and his ilk will state the truth about themselves. One day, liberals/progressives will have the guts to say:
    1) When they attack us, pull back, turn a cheek, understand them, and apologize. Peace will reign upon the people of the weak.
    2) Organized religion is a danger to all and produces drones who oppress the nonbelievers. Stop the religion before it hurts somebody. Lord knows it's done a lot of damage.
    3) Other religions are OK, even if they do say everyone else is an infidel.
    4) Happy people are always right and only see the truth.
    5) Mean people are the ones who don't agree with the happy people.
    6) Mean people are wrong and should be ignored or reformed.
    7) All people are in some oppressed class. Except the rich, white, male religious people.
    8) Free enterprise is just a way for the classes to be oppressed.
    9) Anyone who has more than anyone else is a threat and should be equalized.
    10) It is impossible to believe that abortion is murder and also believe in recycling.
    11) Right is wrong and left is right.
    One day, we'll get it right, but we are Americans, proud of what we have done, have some regrets, working on our problems, and looking toward a better future. But I don't think you get there by sitting on a beach giving everyone the finger.

   [Editor's Note: One has to wonder if the writer really believes I or anyone has such a puerile worldview or that it's just easier to dismiss the arguments of someone you disagree with if you don't actually listen but simply describe them yourself, making them as stupid as possible.]

Dear Editor,
    Re: Ted Nugent at La Zona Rosa. Now is the time to pay back this madman for his diatribes demonizing liberals and Democrats and his hate-filled support of the ultra right wing. Let's show them that we can use economic sanctions to punish those that have been punishing us during the last several years. Let him play at his Crawford ranch with his buddy Dubya.

Dear Editor,
    I think Mr. Black needs to get back on his meds. Paragraph three nicely sums it up for everyone [“Page Two,” June 24]. If I were as depressed as Mr. Black, I'd arrange an exit outta here. After all, suffering is not mandatory.

Dear Editor,
    Someone please send Marjorie Baumgarten to a basic literature class so she can learn what a metaphor is. That way, she won't have to make a fool of herself in a movie review like she did with the film dot the i [Film Listings, June 17].

Dear Editor,
    Thanks for giving our side of town some attention [“Y Not?,” News, June 24]. Albeit slanted.
    We live in a 34-year-old subdivision only one mile from the Y in Oak Hill, in a house on 1 acre that existed before SOS was a sparkle in Bill Bunch's eye. We moved here five years ago from a house across from Barton Springs to escape the madness that emboldens that neighborhood whenever there is a concert or a holiday event at the park.
    We desire to share in the fruits of labor and life which includes the "right" to good transportation, neighborhood shops, restaurants, music venues, shopping malls, biking and hiking trails, and so forth. We do not want, or need, SOS or Ms. Robin Rather or Mr. Bill Bunch or Mr. Sal Costello or Ms. Margot Clarke and their cronies telling us "what is good for the aquifer" and "how not to pay for a toll road.” Look, the aquifer (all three sections of it) will survive mighty fine with the Oak Hill Association of Neighborhood vision. The offices of AMD are more than welcome to our part of town. We look forward to the fresh happy faces of the technocrats in our local establishments and to help us grow our neighborhood so we do not have to drive long distances to run errands.
    This is clearly a case of "Yes! In My Back Yard" syndrome, imagine that. Please back off and let us build the neighborhood that we desire.

Dear Editor:
    I am a regular reader of the Chronicle, and despite my interest in the arts and the activities of youth (I have a son who is 20), I was annoyed and disgusted by the prom photos in the “Shake Yo Rump-ah!” pictorial [Feature, June 10].
    As the head of a domestic violence/sexual assault prevention and service agency, it is hard to understand why the photographer chose several pictures with high school girls posed in subservient and “servicing” shots that perpetuate the “ho” image of females. Why these young women were wearing such outfits and dancing in such a manner is a separate issue, and I hope their parents have the chance to see their daughters and sons demonstrating what they think is adult and acceptable behavior. Dating violence, date rape, and sexual harassment incidents continue to increase in occurrence and as topics of our presentations to teens and youth. Given the photo display in the Chronicle, it is not difficult to understand why teens are confused about roles, responsibilities, and the difference between MTV and real life.
    There are thousands of area teens who attend proms with clothing and dance moves that do not depict females as being props in the lives of males. If the Chronicle wants to establish itself as being in touch with cultural mores as impacted by various musical trends, the least it can do is utilize adults as representative.

Dear Editor,
    Man, it's a dark day for private property owners in the greater Austin area. How long do you think it's going to take them to steal the land around the lakes and sell that land to entities who will pay higher taxes than the current property owners? I mean, "for the public good.” That's what the USSC, or should I say the liberals on the court decided. They decided, like good little liberals, that it's OK to take land from one private individual and give it to another private individual who would develop the land and increase potential tax revenues. It's absolutely ridiculous, but that's the thought process of the liberals on the court. Now, for the sarcastic comment by the editor, who can flap all he wants, but the truth is that it was the Republicans on the court who dissented, and it was the liberals on the court who voted for it. Spin away sir, let's see how you can turn this around into an attack on me or on Republicans.

Dear Editor,
    This is the bottom line of the feelings of the shooting of this young man [“Rocha Shooting: Plenty of Questions, Few Answers,” News, June 24]. If you're a minority in this great city of Austin, Texas, you know that the shooting was wrong and a straight-up lie. If you are not Mexican, black, or grew up in a trailer park (white) you can't even comprehend racism! I am tired of people saying he got what was coming to him because he had a "rap sheet"! No human being deserves to die! When are people going to realize that we are human beings and we have every right to be treated fair. It is a fact that the city of Austin has no need for us, it's plain to see that. The truth is in front of are faces. The all-white council doesn't need our vote, so they don't care about minorities. The police are so afraid of us that they have to shoot first. You know if it wasn't so sad this would almost be funny. But I guess that all you Austinites that are saying Daniel Rocha deserved his death are laughing at all of us dumb, loud minorities. And that we should just "get over it.” Well, not this Chicana, because guess what? We are no longer a minority! Print this and see who has the guts to say I'm wrong.

   [Editor's note: For the record, Austin's City Council membership is multiracial.]

Dear Austin Chronicle,
    I would like to encourage you to give the Downing Street minutes and related documents the extensive coverage that they clearly merit. There is no more important question in a democracy than whether the people and their representatives have been misled about the justification for a war. A memo drafted by constitutional attorney John Bonifaz and available at www.afterdowningstreet.org begins: "The recent release of the Downing Street Memo provides new and compelling evidence that the President of the United States has been actively engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq. If true, such conduct constitutes a High Crime under Article II Section 4 of the United States Constitution." Please ask yourselves whether each item you are reporting on is important enough to take up space that should be devoted to this question. Thank you for your consideration.

   [News Editor Michael King responds: Please ask yourself whether you think because you are virtuous, there should be no more cakes and ale (Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 3).]

Dear Editor,
    As a longtime gay Austin resident, I was irritated by the lamenting of the sudden closing of Sidekicks bar by one of your readers [“Postmarks,” June 17]. Over and over again, the gay men in this community have had to endure our lesbian counterparts sound off about the lack of bars for lesbians. There have been establishments that attempted to cater to lesbian clientele over the years, yet all “mysteriously” shut down. Yet, strangely, in the last six months two more primarily gay male venues have opened up with rousing success. Conspiracy? Please!
    The primary purpose of any bar is the selling of alcoholic beverages. (Hello Mary?!) It is well known by many in Austin's gay male community that lesbians don't drink. Or to be specific, they don't drink enough. I can't tell you how many times I have gone out to clubs like Rain and seen clusters of my lesbian “sisters” all hulking in the corners, scowling, and not a drink in sight. The few lesbians I do see drinking, nurse the same bottle of Coors Light the entire evening. Just lovely. Meanwhile, in the other corner, I see many of my gay comrades more lit up than the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Most of my male friends are on their third, fourth, or even fifth drink of the night and having a damn good time. One of Austin's gay clubs is even purported to have some of the highest alcohol revenues in the state.
    Without getting into an argument on alcoholism or the excesses of gay men, I think the above really gets to the heart of the problem. Ms. Martin-Hinshaw attempts to blame the entire city of Austin and even questions our city's liberalness and gay-friendliness. Shame! Austin is a great town to be gay. Bars only do well when its patrons are supporting it by purchasing alcohol, and lots of it. Somebody needs to clue in the lesbian mafia that poetry slams, lousy guitar performances, and animal shelter fund raisers do not keep a bar/club in business. Booze drinking does! When the lesbian community proves, with their dollars, that they are ready for their own bar/club, they will get one. Drink, and it will come.