In a cold drizzle outside an East Austin convenience store on Monday, Bill
Spelman laid out his platform for the Place 5 seat on city council. He declared
his candidacy in a neighborhood all too familiar with the ring of gunshots that
two weeks ago left a woman dead. An associate professor at UT’s LBJ School of
Public Affairs, Spelman looked out of place in this corner of the world where
Loyola Lane and Springdale Road converge. But in fact, Spelman has written
extensively on criminal justice issues, and believes he can shed some light on
matters of cops and crooks. Spelman steered clear of another hot issue — the
fact that he and candidate Karen Hadden are a couple of Anglos trying to break
the mold that has traditionally held this council seat for a Hispanic vote. And
at least two strong Hispanic candidates — Bobbie Enriquez and Manuel Zuniga
— are freely discussing their displeasure with the Anglo presence in the
race… — A.S.
The field of candidates in the Place 6 race is still not clearly defined. Will
Toni Luckett run against incumbent Eric Mitchell? Despite reports that she was
putting her campaign ducks in a row, Luckett says that she “didn’t think it was
a good idea to have two people in the race against Mitchell.” She pledged her
support to Willie Lewis’ candidacy. Lewis has not yet filed to run and it
remains to be seen if he can gather the financial backing to challenge
Mitchell… — K.V.
The in-house conflict simmering at the liberal Texas Observer rose to a
full boil last Friday, Feb. 21. Publisher Geoff Rips canned managing editor
Rebecca Melan�on over “irreconcilable differences.” Seems there were
some meetings about big changes at the Observer — only editor Louis
Dubose didn’t know about them, and threatened to walk. In the end, the ax came
down on Melan�on, who says she was invited to two of the meetings. Rips
says the staff will huddle soon to decide the paper’s future… —
A.S.
The more you tell a lie, the more truthful it becomes. That must be why Mayor
Bruce Todd, city staff, and the local daily keep claiming that $1.84 million in
state and federal grants will be revoked in1999 if the city doesn’t hire a
general contractor to begin construction on the Lamar Bridge. The three make a
great team — all want the bridge expanded from four to six lanes, and
apparently don’t mind stretching the truth to layer the proposal with urgency.
In reality, just under $1 million is on the line, since $889,000 in state funds
from the Urban Streets Program can be spent on any city roadway project, says
Austin Neighborhoods Council VP Karen Akins. It is in no way linked to the
bridge, but hey, politics is a grimy game. The proposal, sponsored by Todd and
Eric Mitchell, is up for a vote today, Thursday the 27th. — A.M.
CyberPatrol at Library
Responding to complaints from parents, patrons, and staff, Austin PublicLibrary (APL) administrators last week installed a filtering software on 52
library computers to ensure that information accessed on the Internet will meet
“community standards.”
That was Thursday. By Saturday, David Smith, president of Austin’s Electronic
Freedom Foundation (EFF-Austin), was already fielding complaints from library
patrons unable to access innocuous websites. Smith says his group is
considering a lawsuit to restore unlimited access.
The access issue is a dicey one for librarians who historically have always
stood their ground on free speech. “I’d hate to tell someone they can’t access
a legitimate, constitutionally protected piece of information because we have a
bunch of pimple-faced kids in here looking at nudie pictures,” says library
union steward David Pluenneke. But he adds that there have been times when
irate parents, waving pornographic material printed off the Internet, have
accosted library employees demanding an explanation. And librarians, he says,
have reason for concern about their personal liability.
By specifying topics and keywords, the CyberPatrol software package, running
at $30 a pop, will prevent the Austin Freenet-supplied computers from searching
for potentially offensive material. The software, however, would also make it
extremely difficult to search for topics such as breast cancer, sexually
transmitted diseases, and gay and lesbian rights because of sensitive
keywords.
Although APL had originally chosen a policy of unlimited access when Freenet
installed the computers a year ago, administrators and staff began to feel
uncomfortable with the material some patrons were accessing, and were concerned
about their legal accountability in providing the material to minors. Brenda
Branch, director of libraries, points out that library collections are screened
for community standards already, and defends APL’s policy as similar to efforts
in the libraries of Boston, Houston, and Dallas. — K.V.
School of Crooks
U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) was in town last week to bad talkthe “School of the Assassins” — his words. Officially, that’s the School of
the Americas, in Fort Benning, Ga. Kennedy has filed a bill, time and time
again, to close the military institution.
The U.S. Army has trained Latin American military officers there for decades.
The school’s goal, according to spokesmen, is to teach our Latin-uniformed
guests about the virtues of democracy and the role of the military. The
problem, said Kennedy, is that the school produces not better officers, but
better totalitarian regimes. Among the school’s distinguished alumni are former
Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega and some of El Salvador’s most vicious
right-wing military leaders.
Kennedy delivered a brief — a very brief — speech at Las Manitas Cafe on
Congress Avenue. Thanks to the throng of progressive types packed into the tiny
Mexican eatery, it may have actually taken Kennedy longer to make his way out
of the building than it did to deliver his speech. Nevertheless, the crowd was
inspired. The bill, meanwhile, has little chance of passing. The mood in
Congress isn’t exactly anti-military. But Kennedy isn’t discouraged. He plans
to speak out against the school at every opportunity. And joining him in his
crusade these days is our very own local liberal, Rep. Lloyd Doggett. Kennedy
praised Doggett’s willingness to co-sponsor the bill. — J.G.
Freeport Scores
Last Friday, a state district court judge in Louisiana dismissed a civillawsuit brought by tribal leaders from Irian Jaya against Freeport-McMoRan. The
case, filed last year in Orleans Parish by New Orleans attorney Martin Regan,
is similar to a federal lawsuit filed last April by Amungme tribal leader Tom
Beanal.
The state court suit was dismissed on the grounds that the conduct at issue
(environmental damage, human rights violations, etc.) occurred at Freeport’s
vast gold, copper and silver mine in Indonesia, not in Louisiana. Regan told
the Chronicle that he will appeal the ruling. In a Feb. 21 press
release, Freeport attributed the dismissal to the fact that the case “had no
legal basis under Louisiana law.”
In other Freeport developments, the company has appointed former U.S. Senator
J. Bennett Johnston to the board of directors. That’s no surprise. When Bennett
represented Louisiana in the Senate, Freeport could always count on his help.
Freeport turned to Johnston, for instance, after the company’s $100 million
political risk insurance policy on its Indonesian mining operation was
cancelled by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) because of
environmental damage. According to documents obtained under the Freedom of
Information Act, Johnston called OPIC’s president, Ruth Harkin, shortly after
Freeport was notified of the cancellation to quiz her about the matter.
Johnston carried water for Freeport in 1989 when OPIC was planning to deny
Freeport’s application for increased insurance coverage on its mining project.
Johnston sent a letter to OPIC seeking reconsideration and praising Freeport
as “an excellent corporate citizen.” Johnston can look forward to a lucrative
sinecure at Freeport — an annual fee of $25,000 for serving on the board,
$1,000 for each board or committee meeting he attends, $2,000 for each
committee he chairs, and stock options. — R.B.
Rebuilding Guatemala
Luz Marina Delgado says she is an American by accident and a Guatemalan delcorazon — a Guatemalan in her heart. Born in San Diego and educated in the
United States and Europe, Marina Delgado’s life’s work today is as a teacher
and grassroots activist in the Guatemalan highlands.
She has devoted her life to helping Mayan Indians in Guatemala recover their
cultural heritage. She does that by conducting workshops with villagers in some
of the Central American nation’s most remote regions. Author of the book
Manos de Mujer (Women’s Hands), Marina Delgado was in Austin last week
on the first leg of a U.S. tour to raise money for her latest project: printing
10,000 copies of her book, which she distributes free to students in her
workshops. The first edition of the book was published by La Ruta Maya
Foundation, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the
Maya people of Central America.
Getting the book reprinted cost money. Hence Marina Delgado’s U.S. tour. “The
Maya have been conquered in many ways,” she said. “The thing is that they often
believe themselves — and everything about their culture — to be lost. You
see, poverty and misery are just one of the many effects of having strangers in
their land. In a way, it’s more devastating than war or isolation. There has
been a forgetting of knowledge and traditions.”
Guatemala signed a peace pact recently, ending nearly 36 years of civil war.
More than 140,000 Guatemalans are believed to have been killed or disappeared
during the conflict. And although prospects for peace seem promising, observers
say it will costs billions to begin rebuilding the economy.
Marina Delgado said her workshops teach Guatemalan villagers to empower
themselves, culturally and economically. She said the book also carries a
message for U.S. Latinos. “I am aware that there are a lot of Latin American
people who live in the states who live in bad conditions,” she said. “Much of
what I talk about, I think, can be addressed to them.”
Organizers of the author’s trip say they want to print another 10,000 copies
of the book, which would cost about $40,000. If you want to help, call Ruta
Maya Coffee at 472-9637. — J.G.
This article appears in February 28 • 1997 and February 28 • 1997 (Cover).