edited by Louisa Brinsmade, with contributions this week from Roseana Auten, Andrea Barnett, and Chris Walters
COPS II, THE INVESTIGATIONS: Ira and Charmaine Bedford were among several
people at last week’s Austin City Council meeting who complained about a rumor
that the police department’s Internal Affairs division, the FBI, and the
Department of Justice were about to release the results of their investigations
into a Valentine’s Day party at the Bedford’s home on Cedar Street. The party
turned into what many are calling a “police riot,” during which several
residents and partygoers were maced, hit with police billy clubs, or chased
with Taser guns on long poles. Amid charges of police brutality, APD officials
maintain that actions taken by police that night constituted effective crowd
control.
The Bedfords complained to the city council that no one has contacted them to
get their version of the events that night. Not Internal Affairs. Not the FBI.
Not even Efrain Martinez, the community relations official from the Department
of Justice, who was assigned to improve communication between the cops and the
community in the aftermath of the incident.
While police spokesperson Ann Taylor says it will be a while before Internal
Affairs completes its investigation, city staff and city councilmembers say
Martinez and the FBI are both preparing to release the results of their
inquiries.
“I’m puzzled as to what the FBI could have written if they have not contacted
any of these people,” Councilmember Brigid Shea commented, saying that she
herself would take statements from those involved and give them to the FBI.
City Manager Jesus Garza promised also to pass along the Bedfords’ phone number
and address – yet one might assume that the FBI and the Department of Justice
have obtained a copy of the police report which lists the names and addresses
of those involved. Neither the Austin FBI office nor Martinez returned
telephone calls.
According to a May 11 memo to councilmembers from Police Chief Elizabeth
Watson and City Attorney Andrew Martin, “the City Manager’s Office, Chief
Watson and staff are conducting on-going meetings with several community
representatives. The sessions are mediated by Efrain Martinez… Several
topics, such as Austin Police Department’s recruiting practices, personnel
training, and
strengthening public relations, are being discussed.
Furthermore, an additional goal of the meetings is to establish a permanent
committee, which works in partnership to address concerns and promote community
policing. The committee will release a mutually agreed upon report at the end
of May.”
Taylor refused to identify anyone participating in the meetings, instead
referring questions to Martinez. “But I don’t think he’ll talk to you,” she
said. “I don’t think he wants the media involved at this point.” Taylor says
she does not know how long the group has been meeting, and finds it hard to
believe the Bedfords weren’t contacted. “If they were unaware [of the meetings
with Martinez], I’m not sure how they were unaware,” she says.
But Ira Bedford is resolute. “I have not been contacted by anybody, sir,” he
said, responding to an incredulous council. “I’m not hard to find.” – A.B.
AND MOSES SAID: At his first Austin speaking engagement since he became state
education commissioner, Mike Moses pledged to members of the Capital City
Christian Coalition (CCCC) on May 2 that he would free up information from the
Texas Education Agency (TEA), to help dispel myths that TEA “cooks” its numbers
and statistics. He said he wants to expose, not hide, the flaws in Texas
schools. The major emphases in his administration will be on making sure that
children learn to read by the third grade, maintaining discipline in the
schools, and teaching an appreciation of democratic principles. Moses told the
audience of about 40 that he himself grew up cherishing home, church, and
school. “I think we need to teach honesty, decency, citizenship – common-sense
values,” he said.
But he hinted that public schools could not continue in their present mode,
and spoke of educators having to “change their culture.” To accomplish that
cultural shift, Moses said he is a firm believer in praising people often, and
he believes in pay-for-performance initiatives. Furthermore, public schools can
no longer regard themselves as a sole-source provider of education. “There is
not a monopoly, and they are going to have to understand competition,” he said.
The significance of Moses’ appearance before CCCC members was not lost on them,
and they questioned him pointedly about school prayer, textbook selection, and
Goals 2000. He shrugged off complaints about the State Board of Education
beginning its meetings with a prayer as the work of “some outside group.”
Because he too comes from a “conservative culture,” he understood their
concerns about proposed health textbooks, but quickly added that he did not
want to see the kind of controversy that surrounded last year’s adoption of
texts. The meeting ended with a prayer, and cheers. –
R.A.
FINEST KIND COMMIE JAVA (ONCE REMOVED): When they’re not busy posing a grave
threat to hemispheric security, those socialist fiends in Cuba grow some damn
fine coffee. So potent and tasty are Cuban espresso and dark roasts that a
local coffee merchant spent the better part of five years finding a way to put
them on local shelves. Much of the lag time, explains Ruta Maya co-owner Tim
Sheehan, can be put down to the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, still in place
after all these years. Apparently our rulers remain angry at Fidel for
shuttering Meyer Lansky’s casinos (a blatant violation of the late financier’s
property rights). That hurdle was cleared when Cubita, Cuba’s national coffee
company, entered into an agreement with an Ecuadoran company in which Cubita
consultants supervise the growing of Cuban coffee plants in Ecuador. And
although the coffee now on sale at Ruta Maya, Wheatsville, Whole Foods, and
Fresh Plus bears the Cubita logo and tastes virtually identical to what you’d
be served in a Havana restaurant, the money goes to Constante, an Ecuadoran
exporter.
“The Cuban government is very careful about all their dealings, about how the
employees are treated and every aspect of the business,” says Sheehan.
“Everything is done by hand. Here, look at this.” He spreads a small pile of
ordinary Central American beans next to a similar number of Cubita beans, all
unroasted. The regular pile contains plenty of bum, discolored beans. “Ten, 15
percent of what I’m getting is going to burn up in the roaster. But these have
been sorted by hand.” The beans in the Cubita pile are uniformly perfect. Not
surprising, then, that the Cubita consultants spent years perfecting biological
pest controls preparatory to the three-year certification process of the U.S.
Organic Crop Improvement Association.
Along the way, Sheehan also learned that art and information can be brought
into the U.S. without violating the embargo. So every bag of Cubita contains a
kind of Cuban cultural trading card featuring a few essential facts about the
art, artist, writer, or musician depicted on the facing side. Controversial
figures like Ernesto “Che” Guevara are not included.
About the question of whether this type of arrangement violates the spirit of
the trade embargo, Sheehan would rather not speculate. Presumably the Cubans
make money somewhere down the line, but all he knows is that he sends his
checks to a company registered in Ecuador. The going would have been easier,
and the product would have hit the shelves long before this April, had Ruta
Maya been seeking trade with a country that enjoys our government’s favor, a
nice country. Like China. – C.W.
This article appears in May 19 • 1995 and May 19 • 1995 (Cover).