July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

news20 On the Lege 21 The Hightower Report 22 Roxanne PaltaufHeadlines› Results from three town halls gauging citizen reactionto proposed budget cuts are now available.New or increased fees for the Trail of Lights,South by Southwest security services, parkingfines, and development permitting were all widelyaccepted, along with a controversial proposal toclose older pools. Soundly rejected: eliminatingsupervised summer playground programs, withonly 21% acceptance. The data’s online atwww.cityofaustin.org/budget; see “Summary of VotingResults at Town Hall Budget Cut Meetings,” p.15.› Austin Police officers will vote on whether theyshould forgo their 2010 pay raises and insteadlock in a 3% raise in 2012. The plan is slated togo to Austin Police Association members laterthis month; the city’s EMS union will be votingon a deferral of raises as well. The proposals,which also need final council approval, wouldsave the city roughly $5 million next year – aboutthe same cost of a police cadet academy thepolice union wants to salvage.› The City Council continues its summer hiatus,not to return to the dais until July 23, whenCity Manager Marc Ott presents his proposed2010 budget.› On Monday, electricity use in Austin hit its thirdall-time peak-use record in a week – and it wasonly June. Austin Energy recommendsreducing your kilowatt consumptionbetween 3pm and 7pm to avoid anyfurther energy overdosing – it lookslike a long, hot summer ahead.› The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling Monday findingthat white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., wereunfairly passed over for promotion may havelocal reverberations; fire union PresidentStephen Truesdell says firefighters not tappedfor assistant chief in recent appointments maycomplain to the Equal Employment OpportunityCommission, according to In Fact Daily.› The Texas Legislature is back for the specialsession, but while the Sunset extension bill toextend the lives of five agencies – including theTexas Department of Transportation – is movingfast, lawmakers are worried about new funds forroad construction and extending exemptions tothe toll road moratorium; see “Special SessionCould End in Fireworks,” p.20.› Sen. John Cornyn held a lunch Wednesday withthe Mexican American Legislative Caucus andwas quizzed by Council Member Mike Martinezon whether he would oppose the Supreme Courtnomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor (Cornynsaid he was undecided).› A raid on a gay bar in Fort Worth last weekend –on the anniversary, no less, of the Stonewall riotsthat kicked off the gay rights movement 40 yearsago – has attracted national attention and callsfor a full investigation; see “Gay Place,” p.55.› As in life, so in death: MichaelJackson died at the age of 50,both eclipsing the celebritydeaths of Farrah Fawcett andinfomercial-pitchman Billy Maysand unleashing a final torrent oftabloid speculation that plaguedthe entertainer his entire life.‘point austin’WILL BE BACK IN TWO WEEKS.‘city hall hustle’WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK.JANA BIRCHUMMichael Scott, center, with wife Jeannine, takes in his newfound freedom after he and co-defendant Robert Springsteenwere released from jail June 24. The two are awaiting a retrial in the 1991 murder of four girls at a North Austin yogurt shop.Defense attorneys Tony Diaz (l) and Carlos Garcia talk to reporters.Expect the UnexpectedSummertime and the living is … frenziedBY AMY SMITHNews Editor Michael King and his weekly “PointAustin” column are on a well-deserved vacation thisweek and next. Before cutting himself loose, Michaelspent some time trying to square his holiday schedulewith a half-dozen other schedules. He consultedwith far-flung family members and considered thestaff vacation calendar, the list of upcoming stories,and the City Council’s summer break to try to gaugea reasonably calm period of time to slip out of townwithout ambivalence. It’s hard to tear Michael awayfrom work. He took one story with him to edit, apoignant, must-read piece about Roxanne Paltauf, ayoung woman on the brink of adulthood, who vanishedin 2006. “All That Remains,” by Jordan Smith,appears in this issue on p.22.Of course, it’s difficult to plan a summer getawayat a time when news stories are hemorrhaging allover town. Austin is coming into its own as a big city.We’re well past the days when summers passed inlong, syrupy drawls of sweet insignificance. And iflast week’s news cycle is any indication, it’s going tobe a sizzling, spluttering season of revelations hereand … just about everywhere else, it seems. Torecap, there were a couple of things that hit us unexpectedlyon press day here at Chronicle headquarters:On Wednesday, June 24, the day Michaelboarded a plane headed out of Texas, the two menconvicted in a gruesome 1991 murder case werereleased from custody after prosecutors concededthey wouldn’t be ready to retry the case by July 6,particularly in light of DNA evidence that bolstersthe defense. Fortunately for us, District Judge MikeLynch handed down his decision early enough in theday for Jordan to put a new top on her story, whichby then was already in production (see “Yogurt ShopMurder Defendants Set Free,” June 26). Usuallyjudges wait until after we go to press to make theirrulings (that’s our view, anyway), so the fact that wewere able to cash in on this piece of late-breakingnews was pretty special. Photographer Jana Birchumstationed herself outside the county jail complexDowntown to capture Michael Scott and RobertSpringsteen as they walked out of jail and into theblinding shock of triple-digit daylight and a din ofTV cameras (see photo, above).Even with the last-minute turn of events that day,officemate Nora Ankrum (watch for her feature storynext week!) and I were still betting we’d be gettingout of the office at a “reasonable” hour, for aWednesday. No sooner had we said that than WellsDunbar spotted something curious in the layout ofCONTINUED ON P.14JOHN ANDERSONQUOTEof theWEEK“In my 27 years in thisbusiness, and in allthe places I’ve been,I’ve never seen ashard a demographicline [as I-35].”– City Manager Marc Ott,speaking on the issue ofrace. See “Ott Tackles Austin’sRacial Divide,” p.19.12 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E JULY 3, 2009 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m