to the 21st century - College of Liberal Arts

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OIL
AMERICAN DIGEST
SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010 • SECTION F
Joe Barton is our expert on
spewing and siphoning • F2
I MARCHING ORDERS
Arnold Gan:ia Jr.: Advice and insignia are good as
gold for newly commissioned officers • F2
MODERNIZATION
HUNTSVILLf • CAPl'Ihl PUNISHMENT
fast forward
lirry Kolvoord AMI':ItJ
'·\ N- S'!,\'rF~SMN-l
'Marie and I fit together, but the
world with its self-perpetuating
divisions doesn't fit us yet.'
Silent stares in
death chamber
challenge eyes,
ears of reporter
As a witness to the end of a
32-year saga, veteran police
journalist faces own psyche at
David Lee Powell's last breath
DEBRA MONROE
Austin author who adopted her African
American daughter 12 years ago. Her new
memoir is titled 'On the Outskirts 01 Normal:
Forging a Family Against the Grain:
By Tony PIohetski
r\" II':HJC\N·~~m\I'ES.\1..\N
'The independent
network is a huge
piece of it. ... And
it appeared to be
a nonstarter for
the Pac-lO:
BIG 12 SCHOOL OFFICIAL
Suggesting that the decision by the University
01 Texas to stay in the Big 12 was all about the
money, despite protests to the contrary.
'It's hard not to feel their pain.
A mother should never have to
bury her child:
ART ACEVEDO
Austin police chief, on lamily members of
late officer Ralph Ablanedo who attended
the execulion of his killer, David Lee Powell.
Ablanedo's mother, sister, brother, and widow
were among the family members who made the
trip to the Huntsville Unit.
Tm ashamed of what
happened in the White House
yesterday. It is a tragedy .. ,
that a private corporation can
be subjected to what I would
characterize as a shakedown:
JOE BARTON
u.s. House member from the Dallas area,
apologizing lor the fact that BP was pressed to
promise $20 billion in oil spill compensation.
Barton, a top recipient 01 oil industry political
donations, withdrew his apology hours later,
reportedly after fellow Republicans threatened
to replace him as an energy panel leader.
Olivier Doulilry
AlJACA I'KES.'l
'I hear
comments
sometimes
that large oil
companies
are really
companies
that don't
care, but
that is not
the case
in BP. We
care about
the small
people:
CARL-HENRIC SVANBERG
BP board chairman, whose awkward English
(his native language is Swedish) added to
his company's public relations woes. He later
apologized for speaking 'clumsily' and said he
meant to say BP knows how deeply the spill
'affects the lives of people who live along the
Gulf and depend on it for their livelihood:
'They don't want Washington,
D,C., trying to make all of us
look alike. No offense, but I
don't want (Texas) to look like
Connecticut.'
RICK PERRY
Texas governor. telling San Antonio TV station
KENS one of the reasons he likes being
associated with the tea party movement.
MOST POPULAR NEWS
STORIES ON STATESMAN.COM
SUnday through Thursday:
J. Man charged in road rage incident
William E. Doolilli. pllolos
Modern high-rises in Mexico City are just one sign of how far the country has come in the past 30
years. Rural roads, radio and telegrams have given way to toll roads. cable TV and cell phones.
This is the second in an occasional series on
Mexico during a year when that country marks
the 200th anniversary of its independence and
the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution,
and is once again facing major challenges and
change. Find Part 1 with this story online at
statesman.com.
Sj'ECIAL TO TilE A' I}OJ11{ ·"N·S["TJi:-)MA~
Thirty years ago, an elderly colleague with
much experience in Mexico and the Southwest
said: "Chihuahua is like New Mexico was 50
years ago," His assessment may have been
correct then, but, today, I think Chihuahua is
a lot like the New Mexico of the present. Let
me explain.
. My first professional experience as a young
geographer in Mexico involved driving across
the border at Nogales, from Arizona into the
state of Sonora, in 1977. This town didn 't appear to be anything special, as I grew up in
Texas and was familiar with border towns, The
big surprise was the l80-mile drive south to
Hermosillo.
The road. classified as a "highway," was narrow, with two lanes and numerous potholes.
Detours off the "pavement" and across dry
streambeds were common . Accidents were
frequent, even catastrophic. I saw the results
of three that day, one a fatality.
Roadsides were unattractive. Trash was everywhere. Paper, plastic bags, cans and garbage
were deposited as casually as one might flick
a cigarette butt out of a car window. Broken
bottles glistened in the sunlight like a cheap,
sequined party dress.
Gas stations were horrible, with driveways
worse than the roads and gas pumps that were
old and in disrepair. The most commonly available gas from Pemex. Mexico's nationalized
petroleum dealer, was the leaded 81 octane
Nova that everyone called "No va," meaning
"no go" in Spanish. Mexican-manufactured
and imported cars with low-compression engines didjust fine on Nova. American cars with
high-compression engines knocked, sputtered,
never got up to full speed and frequently just
would not run .
Most cars more than 2 years old spewed
smoke and showed signs of work by shade·tree
mechanics. Diesel huses used far long intercity travel were manufactured under no environmental regulations. Clouds of gritty black
smoke followed them like tails OID dogs.
Large trucks had colorful names such as "EI
Guapo" (Handsome) and "EI Rey del Camino"
(King of the Road) painted prominently on the
front bumper or over the windshield,
See MEXICO, back page
A vaquero in the Mexican state of Sonora mixes
the old - spurs - with the new - modern tennis shoes. Free markets and globalization have
helped bring Mexico into the 21st century.
William E, Doolittle is the Erich W. Zimmermann Regents professor in the
Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas. Since
1977, he has made 64 separate trips to Mexico, lasting from a few days to a few
months, He has been in every state at least twice; 17 trips were made to the state
01 Sonora alone.
~
EDUCATION
Old divisions of race
and status play into
East Austin division
over grant decision
,ummi :'\N·ST,'\n:'\IA:-.I ,s'1'AIW
2. Powell executed for 1978 slaying of
revived: Horns, others to stay
4. Austin schools among Newsweek's
'Best'
5. Motorcycle rally is over, but accident
reports still being tallied
Compiled by American-Statesman staff
Rodotfo Gonzalez A:>.Il':I1I( 'AN·S"li\Tt S\i A:\'
The clock above the Huntsville Unit entrance
shows the official time that David Lee Powell was
pronounced dead of lethal injection for the 1978
killing of Austin police officer Ralph Ablanedo.
By laura lleinauer
police officer
3. Big 12
HUNTSVILLE - Covered with a white sheet
and minutes from death, David Lee Powell had
already begun craning his head toward me
and others as we filed into the crowded witness room.
The prison door slammed shut behind us,
and Powell - his strapped-down arms stretching out and with intravenous lines in them
- continued a pierCing stare at the family of
the Austin police officer he killed more than
three decades ago.
With only a window and a few feet between
them, he looked at each, appearing to almost
greet them by name - if only through eye
contact.
Here I was, standing in the Texas execution
chamber about to watch a man die.
My stomach was in knots. I held my yellow
legal pad to my chest.
For weeks leading up to Tuesday's execution, I'd contemplated whether to be in the
witness room, watching and listening as Powell, who fatally shot ollicer Ralph Ablanedo
in 1978, drew his last breath.
I knew that I valued the principle of allow·
ing media members to witness executions that peopte should know as much as possible
about how capital punishment is carried out
to help make informed opinions about statesanctioned executions.
I also felt a commitment to writing the final
chapter of a story that has continued for 32
years - my entire lifetime.
I've covered Austin police since 2002 Ablanedo has remained legendary in the department - and I'd written about his death
See EXECUTE, back page
From th'e19th
to the 21st century
in three decades
By William E. Doolittle
STAFF
..
Ask some in East Austin - particutarly in
the area around the old Johnston High School
- what they think about the Austin school
district, and they'll tell you a story of racism,
neglect and bias against charter schools.
Some will say that the district's latest decision not to support an area charter school effort to secure a highly competitive anti-poverty
grant is just another chapter in that tale.
But what exactly are the sources of the tension now between this particular part of old
East Austin and the school district, and is criticism of the superintendent deserved?
Daniel Llanes. a neighborhood advocate,
says the mistreatment dates as far back as
when the city's minori ty population was
forced to the east side of the city - when
schools were segregated and hard-working
families couldn't get loans to buy homes.
Then there was school busing - when students who were sent to integrate schools on
the west side of the city suffered from feelings
See SCHOOlS, back page
--------------7 1 --------~\L--
•
Austin American-Statesman INSIGHT Sunday, June 20, 2010
F4
MEXICO: Traveling, carrying
money are no longer a hassle
Continued from F1
ed every few miles. Accidents are rare because
of safer road conditions, less traffic congestion
cashing traveler's checks. Only major hotels
and stores accepted credi t cards.
The only way to handle money in Mexico today is with plastic. Credit cards are widely accepted, except in the local mom-and-pop stores.
ATMs are everywhere. Need cash? Stick your
debit card in the wall and pesos come out at
the best exchange rate possible.
Small specialty shops and open-air or covered markets stm prevail in small towns and
large cities, bu t "big boxes" have appeared, like
and better cars and trucks.
Mexican-owned stores Soriana, Liverpool and
Franchised Pemex stations reflect the entrepreneurial motives of individual businessmen
Suburbia or u.S.-owned Wal-Mart. Need a coffee shop? There's Starbucks or an OXXO and an
Italian Coffee Company (two Mexican-owned
As free markets and globalization arrived, so
did Mexico. It still has its share of bad roads,
but it now has an excellent toll road system.
Straight, low gradient, constantly maintained
four-lane divided highways have cut driving
times from days to hours. Solar·powered and
satelli te-lInked emergency telephones are locat-
Rodol10 Gonzalez :\~IEml ',\N·:-'T:\Tl':~\I,\\I
From left, the murdered police officer's mother,
Betsy Ablanedo, sister, Irene, and other family
members arrive for the execution of David Lee
Powell at the Huntsville Unit.
EXECUTE: Journalist
focuses on observing,
note-taking as images
burn into his memory
Continued from FI
for years. I'd met his family and fellow officers
many times.
Last month, I also spent an hour interview-
ing Powell on death row with fellow reporter
Chuck Lindell. It was the first time in his three
decades behind bars that Powell had granted
a newspaper interview request.
Furthermore, I thought about people who'd
been touched by Ablanedo's death and the 36
jurors who had agreed in three different trials
that Powell should be executed. I reasoned
that they deserved to know how he spent his
final moments.
But other aspects of the assignment loomed
large. I've carried certain images in my mind
from stories I've covered involving death dur-
ing my decade at the American-Statesman.
Some of the most haunting came from wading the streets of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina five years ago.
But nearly always, the bodies I've seen were
and are identical to Shell and Exxon stations .in
Texas, complete with paved driveways, new and
well-maintained pumps and integrated conve-
nience stores - and they accept all credit cards.
The only gasoline available today is high-octane, unleaded, which exceeds Environmental
Protection Agency standards. I recently overheard an Australian visitor to Mexico City say:
"Air is cleaner here than in Sydney."
Gone, for the most part, are the old, decrepit
and poorly maintained air-polluting clunkers.
Today, one can purchase a Honda, Mazda, Mercedes, BMW, or evena Fiat, Seat or Renault.
I attribute these changes to increased prosperity, free trade and migration. Mexico has
long been considered a country with a developing economy, but it is now near or at the top
of that category. Mexicans have more money
now than in the past, and they cross the border
into and out of the United States with remarkable ease and frequency. The San Marcos outlet
malls are one of the top 10 destinations in Texas
for visitors from Mexico.
Canadian and American truckers drive into
Mexico, and an increasing number of Mexican truckers drive north. Following modern
norms, they no longer christen their rigs with
outlandish names.
Radio used to rule the rural airwaves in
Mexico. Television became available nearly
everywhere in the 1980s. Antennae sprouted
from rooftops like scrawny aluminum shrubs
but received very few channels. These were
counterparts) on the next corner. Water? No
need to worry any longer about "Montezuma's
revenge"; purified bottled water is available
everywhere.
Want some marijuana? Look for it elsewhere.
Jllegai drugs have long been produced in and
transported through, but are rarely sold and
consumed in, Mexico. Thirty years a~o, hardly
anyone in Mexico knew anything about marijuana. Not anymore.
Violence over drugs is rampant in Mexico
today and totally understandable. Suppliers
and transporters will fight to monopolize the
illegal business as long as there is a demand,
and the demand for drugs has always been in
the United States, not in Mexico. As we learned
with prohibition, attacking the problem from
the supply side is a fool's errand for simple
economic reasons. We shouldn't blame Mexico
for our problem. Mexico, however, has the right
to blame us for creating their problem.
Mexico has changed much in the past 30
years. Figuratively and literaJly it went straight
from the 19th into the 21st century. I am honored to have been there duriug the three glOrious decades.
common in urban areas, with scores of news,
sports and entertainment channels from all
over Europe, as well as the U.S. and Mexico.
Telephones were nonexistent in rural Mexico
30 years ago. The only way a family member
Erich Schlegel 200!) n lI~ N.mI1lCI\N ·S' n\'n:SM .\~
Sandra Paulina Garai, 14, of Guadalajara, Jalisco,
shops at the San Marcos outlets, one of the top
to pesos was a hassle, but not as difficult as
10 Texas destinations for visitors from Mexico.
where we met up with Ablanedo's family. Tagether, we started making our way through
several corridors to the witness area.
Continued from FI
•
statesman.com
sister, irene, were among the first to enter the
of isolation and a loss of cultural and neighbor-
dimly lit and soon-to-be crowded room - both
in wheelchairs. Betsy Ablanedo clutched a
box of tissue in her lap. Ablanedo's brother,
Al'mand, and patrol partner, Bruce Mills,
followed them inside, along with Ablanedo's
widow, Judy, and sons, Steve and David.
With note pad in hand - journalists aren't
permitted to take tape recorders or other electronic trade-tools inside - I went in.
hood identity, and students who stayed first
began to see how much the education they'd
been getting had differed from other parts of
the city.
"We had accepted what we had and we were
proud of it," said Johnny Limon, another community activist and Johnston High graduate.
"But when they started busing kids from the
west side in, and they started coming in and
that they were recruiting students from the old
Johnston, for a fresh start. They were ecstatic
when they, along with everyone else, heard
about a huge new federal grant program aimed
at turning around distressed neighborhoods.
The fact that Geoffrey Canada's Harlem
Children'S Zone, which rlins community cen-
Find more about the Austin school district's
grant decision with this story online_
One of my first missions was to study the
doing all these renovations and bringing in
these top teachers ... we noticed that maybe
ters and charter schools, was presented as the
Powell. Did he appear in pain? Did he show
we were missing something, that maybe we
model for reforms was all the more thrilling.
any remorse? I saw no obvious outward signs
weren't being treated as well as the rest of the
of either.
community."
we have been doing," said Susana Almanza ,
Standing behind David Mills, I could still
easily see Powell's gaze.
A Bible-clutching clergyman was at Powell's
Then there was the issue of Allan Junior
High, which had been converted into an elementary school because so many students were
who lives in the area and works for Southwest
Key.
Carstarphen appeared not only to support the
feet inside the green-walled room, resting a
bused to other parts of the City, but was never
idea of possibly working with charters, when
hand 011 one of Powell's lower legs. A warden wearing a cowboy hat stood near Powell's
head. A microphone dangling from the ceiling
above Powell allowed us to clearly hear what
was being said.
"Do you want to make a statement?" the
warden asked.
Powell said nothing. He continued his blank
gaze.
Then the lethal dose began.
Another quest was to watch the reactions of
Ablanedo's family. I made a.few notes. "Judy
crying, holding hand of son" I wrote. And
at another point, "Bruce (or Armand'?) asks
Irene if she is OK. She says, 'Yes.'''
About nine minutes after the drugs started
turned back to a middle school when the school
board ended cross-town busing in 1998.
"It left a big hole in our community," Limon
said. "Students would seem to do OK in neighborhood elementary schools, but something
happened when they went away."
At Johnston High School, principals came
and went; by 2005, 11 had left in 12 years. Parts
of the school were in disrepair - the library
was at one point housed in the gymnasium
and the school wasn't even connected to the
Internet until 2001.
The following year, the district removed the
Liberal Arts magnet program from Johnston;
that move and policies that allowed hundreds of
students to ltansferout of the school each year
she took the step of soliCiting outside help In
struggling schools, but she also hired Ramona
Treviilo, a former charter school operator, to
be her chief academic officer and just got back
from a trip with several trustees to look at charter schools in other parts of the country.
Southwest Key drew up a plan, asked for
meetings with the school district and waited.
Then came the news that the district would
be partnering with another group - this one
focused on the St. John and Coronado Hills
neighborhoods in Northeast Austin - and not
Southwest Key.
What went wrong? Was the snub because
Southwest Key runs a charter school and
Austin - unlike Houston and San Antonio and
flowing, a doctor was summoned inside. He
were described by some as proverbial nails in
the school's coffin. It was closed by the state in
"6:19," he said.
2008 after it failed for five consecutive years to
meet state academic and dropout standards.
A prison employee flung open the door, and
family members began retreating from the
room.
As they were led out, Irene Ablanedo, who
had been vocal about her desire to watch Powell die and was now half-smHing, asked her
mother if she was OK.
"Yes, fine," she said.
As for myself,l was unsure then - . and f'm
The school has reopened as East Side Memorial High School, including Global Tech
and Green Tech high schools, one of which
administrators say they believe will be rated
academically unacceptable this year.
Meanwhile, Southwest Key came on the
scene, albeit quietiy. Starting as a nonprofit
that provided education and shelters to children of illegal immigrants, the group had of.
fices in Austin, but most of its focus waSOn tbe
Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin , and had met re-
U.S.-Mexico border.
In 2007, it opened a community center a
stone's throw from the old Johnston High
School campus, and in 2009, it opened a charter school - the East Austin College Prep
Academy. And though the work it did with the
shelters Stirred controversy for years, recently
old foes, illcluding the League of United Latin
peatedly with district Officials throughout the
last school year.
Carstarphen maintains that she is very much
open to any partnership with groups that will
improve Austin schools and said no decisions
had been made on the request for proposals
from community partners - one of which is
Southwest Key .._- to run programs in Austin
ered around a bank of TV cameras.
American Citizens, have become supporters.
schools.
The sentence had been carried out, I told
them.
Powell was dead.
All of which set the scene for the 2009-10
schOOl year and arrival of a new Austill superintendent, Meria Carstarphen. Southwest
Again, they find themselves waiting for an
answer, but whether it will be the one they're
looking for is just as uncertain.
tplohetsk'@states
Key officials were hopeful, after accusations
Iheinauer@statesman,cOfl);445-3694
c::::::,:::::m
:a::.::': ::'__
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile tried to
rebut criticism that President Barack Obama
isn't doing enough to control the response to
the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, suggesting on
ABC's "This Week" June 13 that Obama has
been hamstrung by congressional action 20
years ago.
Brazile said Congress created a policy that
puts BP - not the federal government - in
charge of the response.
"The administration has
I ..' ......
been constrained by the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990, which
basically gives the responsi·
ble party the lead role in trying to not only fix the problem, but contain the problem," she said.
cleanup."
According to the report, the act granted the
president three options in the wake of an oil
event: federalize a spill and perform cleanup
immediately; monitor the spiller's response
efforts; or direct cleanup actlvities.
BP ultimately is liable for the cost of cleaning up the spilled oil. The Oil Pollution Act
caps additional economic damages at $75 million, but BP has said it will pay all legitimate
claims, and some Democrats in Congress want
to lift the cap and apply it retroactively.
Under the law as it stands, BP will be paying
for the cleal1:up, and the federal government
ultimately has authority over how the cleanup
proceeds.
We asked Brazile, a native of New Orleans
who still has family living there, whether
there was something we were missing.
Brazile told us she was painting alit that the
1990 act, and options the president had, may
have contributed to the government not takevery reason to take the lead and not wait,"
Brazile said. "Perhaps they waited - and I
used the reference to the act - as one reason
why they did not take the initial lead."
The act explicitly gives the federal government the authority to decide who's in charge
of the clean-up - - the polluter or the government.
We rate Brazile's statement False.
otber cities across the country --- has yet to
embrace charters? Could statements from some
board members who have said they are against
parhlering with a charter prevent the administration from ever recommending one?
Or is it Simply, as the district suggested, that
the Southwest Key proposal wasn't pulled together? Southwest Key did not have the early
support that the St. John group did. In addition
to local foundations like Sooch and Webber, the
SI. John group worked early on to secure the
support of the University of Texas, the City
of Austin and local politiCians, including state
unsure now -the extent to which the image
_ _ _J _______ _
11()IJr1J.A(T
"We said this fits in perfectly in the work
of Powell dying will linger. That night in my
hotel room, scenes from that day replayed in
my mind as.! fell asleep.
But in thal moment at the prison, I focused
on my job.
As the family prepared to walk outside, I
scurried past them and rushed to give the
news to my media colleagues, who had gath-
n com' 445 3605
By Aaron Sharockman
ing the lead sooner. "The administration had
room - the color, the smell. I wanted to see
pressed his stethoscope against Powell's chest,
ihen looked at a clock.
Governnlent
has power to
take charge of
spill response
government's role in oB spill response and
SCHOOLS: 'We weren't being treated
as well,' one community activist says
Ablanedo's mother, 87-year-old Betsy, and
contain the problem.'
act "strengthened and clarified the federal
eventually giving way to cell phones. One can
now make and receive international calls from
everywhere in Mexico except extremely remote
Shortly before 6 p.m., they got the call that
the court had denied Powell's appeals. Within
and were searched. Then we were led into a
narrow hallway toward the execution room,
constrained by the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990,
which basically gives the
responsible party the lead
role in trying to not only fix the problem, but
to perform proper cleanup," according to a
Congressional Research Service report. The
Carrying money was a problem for travelers to Mexico 30 years ago. Changing dollars
The five media witnesses climbed the stairs
to the unit that houses the death chamber
administration has been
authority in an oil event, not less, "When rep
prison offiCials, who were still awaiting a deci-
minutes, we were making our way to the death
chamber. My stomach began its churn.
Statement: 'The (Obama)
sponding to a spill, many considered the lines
of responsibility under the pre-OPA regime to
be unclear, with too much reliance on spillers
could contact me from Texas in the '70s was by
telegram. Land lines spread during the '80s,
in their office while we waited.
Donna Brazile
We wanted to see whether Brazile's inter~
people who were already dead - not dying in
front of me. I wondered how watching Powell's
death would impact my psyche.
By late last week, I'd decided to attend.
Several Statesman reporters, photographers and videographers arrived at the prison
by midafternoon Tuesday. I checked in with
sion from the U.S. Supreme Court, which was
reviewing Powell's final appeal. I set up shop
Sorting out tile truth In politics
pretation of the act - passed in the wake of
the Exxon Valdez spill off the.Alaskan shore
- is right, particularly when it comes to decidIng who has the lead role after a spill.
In general, the act gives the president more
replaced by huge satellite dishes, which in
turn were replaced by smaller ones. Cable is
valleys and deserts (my phone works in Mexico,
but not Vermont).
PoHHFacriom
Dave Martin
AS.~)( ;1:\'1'1-:111 'H~~"S
Orange Beach, Ala., is among many Gulf of
Mexico shores affected by the -BP oil spill. The
1990 Oil Pollution Act gives the government
authority to take the lead in responding.
Politi Fact Texas
Find PolitiFact coverage of Texas issues
produced by the American-Statesman staff
at PoIitiFactTexas.c:om.
Contact PolitiFact Texas at
lWItter: @politifacttexas
Fa~ Politi Fact Texas
E-mail: pOlitifact®statesman.com
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