Express-News rejects: the Current’s new fall line

[Local clean-energy activist Margaret Day says the following column was rejected by Express-News Editorial Page Editor Bruce Davidson because it insinuates NRG Energy's Executive VP of Nuclear Development, Mr. Steve Winn, "is a liar." Express-News Ombudsman Bob Richter said Davidson turned it down because he “had other, better anti-nuclear commentaries” and felt Day “misstated Winn’s reasoning.” Whatever. We got a kick out of it. Which is why we at the second most comprehensive source on all things nuclear wanted to give it a public airing. - gh]


NRG: The new Brown and Root?

Margaret Day
peggyday@hotmail.com

Thirty years ago, City Public Service, let Houston Light and Power select Brown and Root to be the architect, engineer, construction manager, constructor, and inspector for the South Texas Nuclear Project (STNP) Units 1 and 2.

That choice produced a huge cost overrun, regulatory violations, fines, and years of delay.  As Brown and Root went over budget and fell behind, the pressure to finish the project grew.  Workers started intimidating and even beating the safety inspectors who were trying to prevent substandard work. 

Eventually, Brown and Root was fired. 
 
One lesson from that fiasco should have been to be careful in choosing a partner for a nuclear endeavor.  In choosing NRG for STNP Units 3 and 4, CPS Energy demonstrated that they have not learned this fundamental lesson.

The Express-News on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 reported on a meeting with NRG representative Steve Winn. 

During the meeting, Mr. Winn was asked about the differences in CPS Energy’s projected $13 billion cost for STNP Units 3 and 4 and NRG’s $10 billion estimate. 

“We’re in a different position” from CPS, Winn said.  “CPS wants to be accurate with you.”  Mr. Winn elaborated by stating:  “We want Toshiba scared and to give us the lowest possible cost.  For us, it’s all about the contract.”   

So according to Mr. Winn, CPS Energy has to be accurate in its estimates and NRG does not.  In fact, NRG can misrepresent the projected costs to pressure Toshiba into a fixed price contract, so Toshiba will have to absorb the cost overruns that NRG is fairly sure will happen.

CPS Energy is caught between sabotaging NRG’s contract strategy and telling the truth to the people of San Antonio.  While NRG may claim that CPS is being accurate, there are other utilities that project a $20 to $25 billion cost for reactors similar to STNP 3 and 4.  The more reasonable assumption is that CPS is also underestimating the nuclear costs, as well as other elements, to cooperate with NRG’s strategy of deception and to sell the project to the City Council and the public.

More serious is that the NRG business strategy potentially puts Toshiba under cost pressures that create the same atmosphere that led to Brown and Root's management melt down thirty years ago.

Building a nuclear reactor requires the highest standards of honesty and accuracy.  If NRG so easily misrepresents the truth for business purposes, they lack the corporate character to be involved in a nuclear power plant.   

Then there is NRG's questionable financial condition.  A recent report by the Moody's bond rating service graded NRG's bonds for the South Texas Project at "junk bond" level.

In addition, the success of wind generation at night is causing natural gas plants to be turned off.  NRG is one of the utilities losing revenues because they are not selling gas generated electricity at night.  Those losses add to the financial weakness of the company.   

Such a company would be more likely to bring pressure to bear on its contractor to get the job done, rather than placing safety as the highest priority.

CPS Energy chose a partner that has already proven to be of questionable character and questionable financial strength.  The partnership should end before more millions -- or billions -- go down the tube.

While we're in the business of sweeping up the cutting-room floor, here is an as-yet unpublished letter to the editor from the Sierra Club's Lloyd Cortez.

The Grand Héctor

By Enrique Lopetegui
elopetegui@sacurrent.com

On July 17, laundry workers, housekeepers, bellboys and other employees at the San Antonio Grand Hyatt Regency Hotel were scheduled to vote whether to unionize, but the vote was canceled after a “union buster” told them, the workers said, “If you vote to become a union, you might lose your job and benefits at the Hyatt.”

“We canceled it due to the aggressive tactics of the hotel management,” Daniel Ovalle, houseman at the Grand Hyatt’s housekeeping department, told the Current during a meeting at a shop in Main Plaza. “They brought in a union buster named Héctor Flores, from California, to intimidate the workers and make them side with the hotel.”

Other tactics, according to Ovalle, included “captive audience meetings with [all] department managers and their employees, telling them lies about the union and scaring them off.”

The organizers were worried the tactics were successful and Hyatt had scared enough workers that they might lose the vote, and Hyatt could claim that “they had the chance, and they voted no union,” according to Ovalle.

“But that’s not the case,” Ovalle said. “We decided to cancel the vote because we felt it was going to be a corrupted vote. If you bring a union buster to scare the living daylights out of the housekeepers and other departments, that’s going to affect your vote.”

According to Ovalle, “Héctor” spent “almost a whole month” at the hotel before the July 17 vote.

“Over 60 percent [of the workers] signed for the union back in February,” said Jay Mehta, an organizer from Unite Here, which represents hotel workers nationwide. “But then they got scared with threats of losing their jobs if they voted for the union, which is illegal to do, but they do it anyway.”

So, who is Héctor Flores?

“He looks like an average, run-of-the-mill guy… If you met him on the street, you wouldn’t be like, ‘Wow, this guy is an absolute scumbag,’ ” said Gabriel Morales, a Hyatt worker who was fired September 1 for, he says, “being late two minutes to a mandatory meeting on my day off.”

“We’ve never been penalized before for that; the real reason is that I’m a very outspoken leader in the room service department,” he told the Current over the phone.

Another source told the Current that “Mayor Julián Castro has met with some of us, and he said he understands the worker’s concerns, that he supports labor and labor supported him during the election, but that he can’t piss off the hotels.”

“The Mayor doesn’t recall meeting recently with the workers, so I don’t know where you’re getting that,” said Jaime Castillo, director of communications for Mayor Castro. “He met with them early on, when he was elected, he doesn’t remember exactly when. But in the big scheme of things, this isn’t a city issue –– this is between the workers and the hotel. It’s not a fight for the Mayor to pick or bait.”

In October, the San Antonio Grand Hyatt service workers will join the Unite Here-sponsored seven-city Hope for Housekeepers campaign, with three events in the city: a 5:30 p.m. “Hope Quilt” decoration and gathering at Fuerza Unida at 710 New Laredo Hwy; a 5 a.m. (yes, a.m.) “Hope for Housekeepers” sewing ceremony at the same location; and a “Hope for Housekeepers” rally and march to City Hall that will begin on October 15 at 4:30 p.m. in front of the San Antonio Grand Hyatt. According to Mehta, housekeepers (mostly women) in seven cities (Boston, LA, Chicago, San Antonio, etc) will make patches for the Hope Quilt, which will be about 80 feet long by 6 feet wide and will be presented to the City Council.

 “All we want is a clean, free process [of unionization],” said Ovalle, who said that Unite Here is “alive and well” inside the Grand Hyatt and the new worker’s strategy has a more national approach.

The change of gears, it seems, could not have come at a better time. On September 24, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced that he plans to urge state employees to boycott the Hyatt while conducting official state business, unless the hotel chain rehires the almost 100 housekeepers the chain fired in August. The workers claim Hyatt asked them to train their replacements under the pretense that those trainees were “vacation and holiday fill-ins,” as reported by The Boston Globe. The Hyatt denied those claims.

The San Antonio labor dispute between the workers and the Grand Hyatt is not an isolated incident, but part of a larger trend that Business Week called “one of the most successful anti-union wars ever.”

“Private sector union membership now stands at just 7.5 percent,” wrote UC Berkeley and London School of Economics’ John Logan in a paper titled U.S. Anti-Union Consultants: A Threat to the Rights of British Workers. “There are now between 50 million and 60 million Americans who say that they want union representation but are unable to get it.”

In another paper written by Logan, The Long, Slow Death of Workplace Democracy at the Chinese Daily News, Logan describes the main players in the Southern California anti-union consulting industry.

“The Burke Groups is just one of a number of consultant firms in Southern California that specialize in counter-organizing campaigns involving immigrant workers,” wrote Logan in the report. “Others include Cruz & Associates, Labor Relations Consultants, Inc., and … ” drum roll … “… Héctor Flores.”

Grand Hyatt workers Ovalle and Sophie Martínez (who works at the Grand Hyatt’s convention services department), as well as former employee Morales, told the Current that Flores identified himself simply as “Héctor,” and that the hotel management often met “one-on-one” with the workers to try to discourage their plans for a union vote.

These and other stories of hotel-backed “intimidation” on the part of Flores and hotel management are eerily similar to the ones described by Logan in his reports.

“Consultants not only advise employers on how to conduct an anti-union campaign, but also develop, implement and monitor the campaign,” reads the Long, slow death… report. “They usually work behind the scenes, and train supervisors on how to interrogate, intimidate and terrify employees. They are effectively running the workplace for the duration of the campaign. Consultants use a variety of methods to convey their aggressive anti-union message,” including “impersonal communication mechanisms … group ‘captive audience’ meetings (which, in any other walk of life, would be considered a form of unlawful imprisonment), and personal mechanisms, especially one-on-one meetings between supervisors and employees. While consultant campaigns have become significantly more sophisticated in recent years, their fundamental tactics have remained remarkably stable since the 1970s. The most significant innovations in recent years include the greater use of information technology (anti-union videos, DVDs and websites) and the greater diversity of consultant personnel.”

But is this the same Héctor Flores we’re talking about? They’re both from LA, and neither of them seem to be too much into unions. The workers found some pics of him, but they’re not too sure he’s the same guy. So the Current called the Hombre Grande at the Grand Hyatt.

“If you’d like to give me a phone number, I’d like to call you back. I don’t know who you are,” said Grand Hyatt general manager Tom Netting when the Current asked him about Flores. “I’ll check and see … on this … as far as responding to you, and thank you for the call.”

Fifteen minutes later, Netting called back.

“Any information on anyone working for the hotel in any capacity is confidential between us and that individual,” said Netting.

But the Current didn’t ask about “anyone who works for the hotel,” but about…

“I said anyone who works for the hotel,” Netting interrupted. “That’s my response.”

So Héctor Flores works for Hyatt?

“No … Anyone that works for our hotel in any capacity, that information is confidential. And that’s my response in general.”

Netting asked about our story, and the Current told him it was about “the Hyatt, the workers, and Héctor Flores.” Unfortunately, that was all we could say, because all of our questions had to do with people who work or might work there, and we, corporate-minded bunch that we are, wouldn’t dare violate the company’s policy. His rules, not ours. But, hey, whenever he feels like bending the rules a little bit, he has our number, and God knows we have lots of questions.

The Current has reason to believe that Héctor Flores is the same Héctor Flores who runs Flores Labor Management, Inc., in Anaheim, California. A phone message left on Saturday was not immediately returned.

To be involved in a labor dispute in the middle of an economic downturn is hard but, despite the July vote cancellation, the workers aren’t slowing down.

 “In my department we were all for it, and we felt we should’ve voted,” said Martínez. “Now we’re still in the struggle, and hopefully when we finally vote it’ll be for a stronger union.”

“I know it’s risky, but I want to be here for this fight,” said Ovalle. “We’re fighting for a better standard of living, better health care, better working conditions. That’s worth fighting for.”

U.S. Senate race: Bill White's comin' to town

SA native and adorable Mad Hatter stand-in Bill White is coming to town tomorrow in pursuit of the Senate seat being vacated by the next governor of Texas (unless you guys are finally ready for "Ann Richards in drag").

You can press the flesh with Houston's mayor (and former Deputy Secretary of Energy) -- who's been endorsed by SA's state Dem delegation -- at a few whistlestops Saturday. Fellow Democrat and former state legislator and Comptroller John Sharp is also in the race, as is Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, Republican, considered a likely appointment to Hutchison's seat if/when she resigns this fall. (Clarification: Dewhurst has announced that he's seeking reelection, but he's also not not seeking Hutchison's seat.)


8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Aldaco's Restaurant
100 E. Hoefgen
San Antonio, Texas 78205
Host: Councilwoman Ivy Taylor

2 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Henry’s Puffy Taco
6030 Bandera Rd
San Antonio, TX 78238-1748
Host: State Representative Joaquin Castro

3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Don Pedro’s
1526 SW Military Drive
San Antonio, TX 78221-1425
Host: State Representative Joe Farias

4:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
La Margarita
120 Produce Row
San Antonio, TX 78207-4552
Host: State Representative Mike Villareal

U: Lanny Sinkin offers perspective on STP nuclear then and now

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

Lanny Sinkin has lived this before. As one of the few opponents of CPS Energy’s decision to partner in the construction of two nuclear reactors outside of Bay City in the 1970s, Sinkin was critical to exposing serious construction problems at the facility.

After encountering a cowed inspector from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission with incriminating documents, it was Sinkin who went to the agency’s regional headquarters. When regional inspectors couldn’t or wouldn’t substantiate the whistleblower’s claims, he went to 60 Minutes.

The editors, reporters, and camera crews came, exposing on national television a litany of problems with the Matagorda County site, including the harassment and violence employed by contractors to keep inspectors in line. The segment was compelling enough to motivate the NRC to shut down construction, conduct a major review of operations, and, ultimately, fine Houston Lighting & Power $100,000.

It taught Sinkin the system was broken.

“Why did it have to be some young, anti-nuclear activist in San Antonio going to 60 Minutes to stop poor construction at a nuclear power plant?” he asks.

He’s not much more comfortable with the process today, with CPS Energy back before the public with a $5.2 billion-dollar proposal for two new reactors and a City Council vote only weeks away.

This time, however, is different; this time, as the executive director of Solar San Antonio, Sinkin as a counter offer.

In the 1970s, it truly was a choice between coal and nuclear. With a punishing oil embargo on and San Antonio struggling to escape its natural gas-dependent portfolio, Sinkin and others like him could gain little support.

Now the city has a wealth of options, including energy efficiency, concentrated solar, wind, geothermal, and, yes, natural gas.

Sinkin has been highly critical of CPS Energy’s estimates related to the potential savings that ratcheted up weatherization and efficiency efforts could bring to the city.

Austin Energy, for instance, prices efficiency at $350 per kilowatt. CPS, meanwhile, estimates its efficiency program will cost $1,102 per kilowatt — nearly three times that amount.

And solar? CPS prices solar with storage at 21-cents per kilowatt hour.

However, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is fast-tracking a variety of utility-scale solar projects now may be able to deliver solar power with backup natural gas-generated electricity for as low as seven centers per kilowatt hour, almost two cents cheaper than CPS’s nuclear proposition.

U: STP nuke plant acheiving record levels of power production

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

If you aren’t anti-nuclear by disposition (or education) and weren’t around to witness the intimidation of federal inspectors, explosive construction faux pas, and wild cost-overruns that marked the birth of the South Texas Project’s twin reactors back in the 1980s, it’s conceivable you may not have one negative thing to say about the plant.



After only a few years online, the twin reactors (left) were putting out huge amounts of power. In 1994, Units 1 and 2 landed at the top of a list for the most nuclear-generated electricity produced in any six-month period. Unit 2 churned out 5.7 billion kilowatt hours in that period; Unit 1 kicked out 5.68 kilowatt hours.



After thousands of complaints, a ream of violations from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and clocking in more than five times over budget when the units finally came online in 1988 and 1989, it was just the sort of performance the plant needed to display if it wanted to regain the public trust.



As operators at the Matagorda plant celebrate their 20-year anniversary, they are also celebrating five years of continued record-breaking levels of electricity generation.



From a February, 2009 press release:





While there have been documented releases of minor amounts of radiation — some of which has begun to turn up in ditches just outside the plant’s perimeter — there’s been nothing like the millions of gallons of tritium-laced water spilled out of Exelon’s plants in Illinois.



When I toured the plant earlier this week, I found reactor operators big on their game.



“Because we have improved efficiencies and better calculations, we’re able to run closer to the limit,” an operator in the control room told me. In fact, Unit 2 was expected to run over 100 percent this year if it didn’t have to be shut down for refueling this fall.



Refreshingly, employees also didn’t shrink from their past performance problems.



“I can remember 10 years ago when I would drive in I would look to see if the units had tripped. I’d always look for steam billowing,” said Paul Burton (above right), secondary reactor operator. “Now, I don’t ever look at that because we’re always running. It’s just amazing.
The reliability we’re at now is just incredible.”



Opposition to the plant in San Antonio has run the gamut: from high water use, to the unresolved challenge of nuclear waste, and fear of terrorist attack.

But the plant can’t easily be challenged on its power-production performance. And while STP is vastly superior over Comanche Peak in terms of how water is used, it is still far more water dependent than the counter proposals from the anti-nuclear lobby demanding CPS instead pursue a mix of renewable technologies and natural gas.

I spoke with STP spokesperson Buddy Eller at length on the topic of water use. You can see some highlights from that dialogue in the video segment up top.

U: Property owners association fighting Comanche Peak expansion

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

When folks gather to oppose the expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear complex in San Antonio, they run the risk of being called “communists,” as happened recently in the comments section of one local news site.

While the San Antonio protestors do include a smattering of “seasoned” activists generally not on friendly terms with the Party of Reagan, the majority of those carrying signs and speaking up at public meetings (as the more experienced activists would happily attest) are novices to such public demonstrations.

In North Texas, a fast-growing anti-nuclear effort is gathering steam without an ounce of concern its mostly middle- to upper-class Anglo members could be tarred with the “leftist” brush.

The Lake Granbury Waterfront Owners Association didn’t form to fight Comanche Peak, but rather to stave off perceived unjust property-tax appraisals — appraisals that were being leveled concurrently with the worst drought since the 1950s.

For waterfront property owners whose home values are tied in no small way to the health of the water body they’re built upon (above, right), it was the wrong time to lower the boom.

About the same time, Luminant Power announced it wanted to double the size of its two-reactor facility at Comanche Peak in Somervell County. The additional 3,400 megawatts of power, however, would run at a cost of about 55 million gallons of water a day.

Lake Granbury is unique among Texas lakes in that its water level has been near constant for years. Although the Brazos River Authority is busily distributing flyers to remind area residents that “Lake Granbury is a water supply reservoir and lake levels will fluctuate on a regular basis,” those who live here haven’t lived with much by way of fluctuation in the past. That’s one reason the docks weren’t built as floating docks, but fixed.

I spent an afternoon with Randy Brock, steering committee member for the group. He explained how Luminant would pull 3.7 billion gallons out of the Brazos River every year above Lake Granbury and redeposit between one-third and one-forth of that back into the river below the lake. About 61,000 acre-feet of river water would be lost to evaporation each year.

Already down more than four feet from the drought, Granbury Lake would drop another foot-and-a-half from an expanded Comanche Peak, Brock said.

“We’ve got to be realistic about the needs of the city,” Association member Bretta Conaway tells me, as we chat at Granbury’s Five-Star Sports Bar. “That means we’re going to have to choose between water quality and water quantity and economic development.”

A study by Trungale Engineering & Science suggests the full impact of Luminant’s water draw would not be as insignificant as the Brazas River Authority has suggested.

San Antonio faces a different water equation as it approaches a vote on whether to participate in the planned expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear complex outside Bay City. STP sits at the bottom of the Colorado River with a massive reservoir the water of which the facility is able to use repeatedly, reducing pumping from the river.

Randall Terry prays for Obama

By Enrique Lopetegui
elopetegui@sacurrent.com

Why do I waste my time talking to nuts like Randall Terry?

The guy founded anti-abortion Operation Rescue in 1987, but the organization’s current leaders want to have no part of his nonsense, at least not publicly.  Terry’s tactics are so over the top that he makes Pat Buchanan look and sound like Bill Maher.

Increasingly isolated from the right-wing mainstream (although none of the Republicans condemned him by name during the Sotomayor hearings, when Terry was outside leading a “baby-killing” protest), Terry now leads Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex, an organization specialized in “warning” us that, if Obama’s health care reform passes, the shit’s going to hit the fan. Big time.

Terry is the poster boy for the usually white crowd that likes to warn us beforehand of impending cataclysms, and claim innocence afterwards if anything happens to Obama. That crowd has already killed at least two abortion doctors (John Britton, George Tiller), and there’s another one on target (Leroy Carhart), but Terry and his Jesus thugs love to repeat “that’s not what we mean” mantras and say bullshit prayers “for the safety of our President.”

Still, I didn’t want to just pick up previously published accounts. I wanted to hear from Terry himself. Is this all part of a Liberal propaganda against him, or he is, in fact, that bad of a prick?

This is what he said.


Hi, this is Enrique Lopetegui, from the San Antonio Current…
It’s a weekly, did you say?

Yes.
Love them. Glad to talk.

I just wanted to confirm a few things I read about you. Did you send emails to your followers on how to attend town hall meetings, and in those emails you told them to “stir up some dust,” “be unreasonable…”
[interrupting] Yes, yes, yes… Absolutely, yes.

Then, at a July press conference, did you warn of “random acts of violence” and “violent reprisals against those deemed guilty” in case Obama’s plan passes?
Yeah. If the government of the United States forces people to pay for the murder of babies, there will be some people that will react. It’s inevitable. It would be stupid for the government to think that they can force people to pay for murder and for people to not react.

Where does it say that? I haven’t read any clause that makes it mandatory for people to pay for abortions under Obama’s plan.
You have to be blind. As a journalist, you have to be blind. Everyone acknowledges that there is going to be abortion in this. Because if they talk about women’s health care as determined by the Department of Health and Human Services, that means abortion.

But the money for abortion, supposedly, will come from the premium paid by those seeking an abortion, not by us. Where does it say that we’ll all be paying for abortions?
I don’t buy it. I absolutely don’t buy it. It’s a 1200-page bill. Everyone I talk to… I just left a Congressman’s office here in Asheville, North Carolina. He’s pro-life. He said he won’t vote for the bill because it’ll fund abortions. Do you think all those pro-life Democrats who are opposed to [Speaker of the House Nancy] Pelosi are wrong?

I don’t know. What I do know is that in a country famous for its political assassinations, it’s a little dangerous to…
[interrupting] Listen, I don’t… God forbid there are political assassinations. God forbid. I don’t want that, I don’t think anyone wants that.

But that’s a sound bite, isn’t it? Everybody is talking about “retribution” and “divine intervention,” and then they all wash their hands if…
[talking over my question] No, no, no… I will give you an answer, if you want one.

Ok.
I’m warning… [inspired by my accent, he switches to Spanish] Estoy diciendo que tengan cuidado porque las personas que… (“I’m saying ‘be careful,’ because people who…”) Hay personas que aman a la vida, y… (“There are persons who love life, and…”) ¿Cómo se dice “hate” (“How do you say hate?”)? I forgot the word.

Odio.
Odio! Yes. Hay personas que odian el aborto (There are persons who hate abortions). El aborto es asesinato. Abortion is murder. If you force people to pay for abortions there’s going to be people who’ll react!

So that’s ok?
No! Not necessarily! But it’s still going to happen!

What do you mean “not necessarily”? Is it justified?
I don’t think so.

You don’t think so??
I don’t think it’s justified, no. But I can warn them: if you do this, there will be ominous repercussions. It doesn’t mean I want it to happen.

Well, they’re getting close. Now there's a bunch of white guys with guns at Obama’s rallies.
I know! I heard! Yeah.

If they were blacks or Mexican, the police would…
They could say, “Thank you for warning us, Mr. Terry. Evidently you were right.”

What do you think it would happen if Mexicans or blacks armed themselves and got out there to defend Obama’s plan? Why is it that when white people do it it’s “exercising our constitutional rights,” and when colored people do it it’s trouble?
Listen: I didn’t ask anyone to do that. I made a prediction early on that, if they tried to force people to pay for dead babies, this stuff like this would happen. I don’t know who these people are, but I know America. I’ve been fighting against abortion for 25 years. I know the country. There is no way that you can the have government mandate the murder of the innocent and for there to be no ominous repercussions.

Can you email me the portion of the bill that says “there will be abortions and we’re all going to pay for them”? I’m not saying there won’t be abortions, but not because of anything in Obama’s bill. I mean, there were abortions under Bush too.
But not paid for with federal money.

And these are not paid for with federal money either! The bill specifically blocks federal funds for abortions and clearly state that the money will come from the premiums paid by abortions seekers! Can you email me the portion that supports your theory?
Wait, wait, wait… Listen: you should call all the pro-life Democrats who are saying that [federal funds for abortions are] going to be on the bill. Are they all wrong? [For the record: I never got an on-the-record return call or email from a Senator or Congressmember, Republican or Democrat, or his/her office, ever, and God knows I’ve tried]

But they’re not saying that, they…
Yes they are!

From what I’ve read, their main concern is financial, that’s it’s going to be expensive, but I don’t see any Democrats talking about “baby killings.” Only Republicans say that.
No, no, no… It’s a shell game. [Republican Senator Orrin] Hatch specifically asked [Democratic Senator] Feinstein for language that said “no money will be issued to pay for abortions.” She said that no, she couldn’t do it. [At the time of this posting, Senator Feinstein’s office hadn’t replied to the Current’s request for comments] Those Congressmen went to Pelosi  and said “We want a promise that this money will not be used to pay for abortions.” She said no! They’re lying  sons of bitches. They’re miserable liars. They’re baby-killing evil people.  If you go to overturnroe.com, there’s a letter I wrote to Congress, and hundreds and hundreds of people sent this letter to their Congressman, warning them. [The letter reads “I beg you to warn your fellow Senators of the convulsions they will be unleashing on our country if they proceed in this folly,” and that’s the good part]

I know what you’ve written. But my point is…
(interrupting)  No, I do disagree…

Let me finish!
I’m sorry…

I insist: the bill today says that only those seeking an abortion will pay for it.
I heard it, but I don’t believe it. Mathematically it’s not possible.

Why not?
If I woman wants a $4,000 or $5,000 abortion to kill her baby, all that money has been set aside in an account for dead babies?

If you’re a 30-year-old woman who has been paying premiums for years…
Two months, three months.

What?
This would go into effect immediately! I believe Democratic pro-life Congressmen, and I’ve read the transcript of what Hatch said, and Feinstein would not agree to make it explicit that “none of the money would be used to pay for abortions.” And they wouldn’t do it, because they intend to kill babies with our money.

So, if tomorrow anything happens to Obama, you’re just going to say, “Hey, I didn’t mean that!”?
God forbid. We pray: “Please God, keep President Obama safe. Please, God.”

Do you honestly mean that?
Yeah! Absolutely! Are you kidding me? He’s the President of the United States! The worst thing that could happen to this country would be for some harm to come to him. Are you crazy?

I don’t buy it, because…
Now you’re full of shit! Now I have to go. Call me if you need anything else.

Click!

In regards to the “$4,500-$5,000 –abortion” price tag, Yvonne Gutiérrez, Vice President of Community Affairs for Planned Parenthood in San Antonio, told the Current “That is completely untrue.”

“An abortion procedure will cost anywhere between, I would say, $350 and $600, and that is for first trimester care,” she said, adding that the argument that health-care reform will force all of us to pay for abortions “is untrue, it is completely false and should be taken off the table immediately. More than 60% of existing plans have provisions for abortion, for example, if the life of the mother is at risk, the fetus is in danger… The new health care reform will have no changes to existing provider’s plans. That’s why these people are saying ‘we’re going to pay for abortions.’ That’s not true. You can call [Texas Democratic U.S. Representative] Charlie González’s office, because he worked on the bill with the Energy and Commerce committee.” The office of Congressman González hadn’t replied to our inquiry at the time of this posting.

A couple of days after Randall hanged up on me, I called him back to ask for a photo and to ask him again for the famous “Hatch/Feinstein transcript.” Someone who sounded like a half-asleep/sedated Terry hanged up the phone. I called back and left a message. I’m still waiting for his reply.

Easy Reader: A chain of emails about the Eastside Crosspoint facility fight

As the Express-News reported last week, another Eastside battle is underway, this time over a proposed reentry facility -- a residence for individuals who are transitioning from the criminal-justice system to the real world -- which is on the Council's agenda this week. I care very much about SA's East Side, am a fan/fascinated observer of her many political leaders and personalities, and have followed a few key stories:

• the attempted Healy-Murphy Park sale
• the attempted St. Paul Square sale (still under way)
• the BRAC expansion at Fort Sam

But my better half, Michael Westheimer, sits on the Zoning Commission, which approved the zoning-change request that would make the facility possible (he voted against it), so I won't be writing any stories about this one, even after he leaves the commission this month.

So, I'm bequeathing to you, readers and sleuths, the fascinating chain of email traffic I've received on this issue to date, in the order I received it, most recent to oldest (some of the emails contain earlier emails to which the author is responding; I've color-coded them so you know what arrived together). Enjoy!


from    TC Calvert <neighborhoodsfirstalliance@yahoo.com>
to    ewolff@sacurrent.com,
ernie@tpr.org
date    Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 10:42 AM
subject    Why I'm Supporting the Holy Spirit Convent Rezoning: ACTION ALERT

Why I’m Supporting the Holy Spirit Convent Rezoning: Know the Truth, Check the Facts and Do Your Homework:  Action Alert from Tommy T.C. Calvert, President, Neighborhoods First Alliance
 
As President of the Neighborhoods First Alliance, I want you to join forces with me and the members of the Holy Spirit Convent in strong support of the proposed rezoning of their Convent for mixed-use development, intended to become transitional re-entry housing for people who have served their time in federal prison.
 
Opponents of this rezoning are putting out false and misleading information that states that the rezoning on the Convent property will become a jail.  We know that this is simply not true because the Bexar County Commissioners Court and the Bexar County Sheriff have not approved funding in this budget cycle for a jail to be built at 301 Yucca Street .
 
The elderly nuns of the Holy Spirit Convent want this rezoning.  They just built a ten million dollar facility directly across the street of the proposed Re-Entry Center, and they need the money and believe in helping people who are poor, have no voice, and have made mistakes, and paid for them.
 
This rezoning, though, is more than about the Holy Spirit Convent rezoning.  It’s also about new housing development and new commercial development badly needed along Martin Luther King Blvd..  NFA has done the research and its homework, and this is one of the reasons why we want you to support the rezoning.
 
I feel that it’s important you know the history, background and the facts about who is stirring this controversy.  Former councilwoman Sheila McNeil charged at a Town Hall meeting at Sam Houston High School in front of over a thousand people that Crosspoint -- the non-profit organization that’s buying the Convent, is building a jail.  This is not true, but false and misleading, like crying fire in a crowded theatre. 
 
By her actions and speech, former City Councilwoman Sheila McNeil deliberately incited the crowd, when in fact, she supported the same type of facility when she was on the City Council, on June 6th, 2006 . (Minutes of the City Council, June 6th, 2006 )
 
Why did Sheila McNeill support a Re-Entry Facility then and not now?
She was, in-fact, supporting a “corporate,” “for profit,” facility, named Cornell Companies, one of the largest for-profit Re-Entry corporations in the country.  Cornell Companies is one of the most corrupt organizations in the business.  (Cornell Companies Inc. Securities Litigation & Civil Action No. H-02-0866 ( U.S.  District Court, Southern District, Feb 10, 2006 ) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mOEIN/is_2004_Oct7/ai__n6226181/
 
At the time that Sheila McNeil sang the praises of Cornell at that City Council meeting on May 18th, 2006, Cornell had been named in the criminal conspiracy indictment against U.S. Rep. Tom Delay nine months earlier (September 2005) for a $10,000 illegal contribution.
 
It’s important that the community understands there is a major conflict of interest.  Barbara Hawkins is the CEO of the George Gervin Youth Center and was appointed by Sheila McNeil to represent District 2 on the Zoning Commission in 2007.  Gervin Hawkins does not live in District 2.  Up until last month, she lived in a 4265 sq.ft. mansion off Boerne Stage Road that sits on two acres.  A story on her house was featured in the San Antonio Express-News Real Estate Section, “Buy My House Please!,” 4/19/2009 .   
 
Sheila McNeil now works for Barbara Hawkins at the Gervin Academy , so she’s on Barbara Hawkins’ payroll.  We have evidence that proves the Gervin Academy (GYC) has wanted the property for years (“Gervin to Open Center on the Eastside,” SAEN, 9/19/91 ). 
 
I appeal to the community and to those who are in opposition to do their research and homework and start asking the hard questions to former councilwoman Sheila McNeil and Barbara Hawkins along with their colleagues who are spreading false information and untruths that will destroy this mixed-use development -- that can benefit our community, like the commercial development along Martin Luther King Blvd and the badly-needed new housing in our community.  The reality of our long-held dreams of development for our community rests on this Holy Spirit Convent rezoning, and the contract with Crosspoint for the proposed Re-Entry Center -- a second-chance center for our brothers, fathers, cousins, nephews, whom we all know and love. 
 
I urge you to call City Councilwoman Ivy Taylor at 207.7278 and tell her you support the rezoning of the Holy Spirit Convent.   ivy.taylor@sanantonio.gov
 
Finally, please call Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz and ask him if he’s appropriated funding for a jail at 301 Yucca Street :  335.6010.  Email:  sheriffao@bexar.org
 
ACTION ALERT:  Neighborhoods First Alliance , Eastside Victory Outreach Ministries and Sisters of the Holy Spirit Convent will have a bus leaving from the Holy Spirit Convent, 301 Yucca on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 .  We will assemble for a pre-meeting and briefing at 12:00 noon at the Convent.  Park in front.  Please call to RSVP at 226.9041 or call Rev. Elliot Gould at 532.4767.
Or call Bus Captain Michelle Daniels 224.7969; John Alcoces at 320.1105;
Lucille Scott at 227.1184
 
Yours for Community Progress,
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
 
______________________________________

from    Ron Wright <mybnjsa@yahoo.com>
to    Cloaude Black <cloaudewblack@yahoo.com>
cc    ivy.taylor@sanantonio.gov,
jlgrant44@yahoo.com,
James Edward McNamara <jemcnamara@sbcglobal.net>,
date    Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 1:30 PM
subject    Re: Councilperson Taylor Unopposed to District 2 Development of Largest Half-Way House in Texas
 
My wife and I have both recieved this email, and do not know who the author is.
 
First, I take great offense at whomever this is by using Claude Black's name. I am more than sure this individual is a coward of unspeakable proportion. Please take me out off your contacts. Unless you can identify yourself, you and I have nothing further to talk about.
 
Ron Wright
990-37047

From: Cloaude Black <cloaudewblack@yahoo.com>
To: mybnjsa@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 3:47:49 PM
Subject: Councilperson Taylor Unopposed to District 2 Development of Largest Half-Way House in Texas

Councilperson Taylor Unopposed to District 2 Development of Largest Half-Way House in Texas

Crosspoint Inc, a for-profit business that makes money housing convicted criminals, has brokered a deal with Sisters of the Holly Spirit to convert their Catholic Convent at 301 Yucca Street into the largest correctional facility of its kind in Texas. Sisters of the Holly Spirit were behind a controversy earlier this year when they were caught operating an illegal soup kitchen in the middle of a residential block which attracted dangerous transients into the neighborhood. Now, desperate to sell their Convent, they're lobbying the support of District 2 Councilperson Taylor for the rezoning and city planning change to allow the conversion.

Councilperson Taylor, who's husband is in the business of servicing criminals as a local bail bondsman, is apparently ignoring city staff and the District 2 Zoning Commissioner's recommendations against the zoning and planning changes. In a public forum when asked if she would oppose, Taylor refused and stated she had not made up her mind, blaming staff for not properly informing community members of the proposal. One of her three recently separated staff members, Ron Wright, accused her of lying and taking campaign donations to support the development.

Many in the District 2 community are concerned they can't get Taylor to listen including former Councilmember Sheila McNeil. Crosspoint Inc is well known for mismanaging their facilities. The much smaller facility Crosspoint operates at the 1500 block of North Pan Am Expressway was where heroin dealer, Mexican Mafia member and half-way house resident Jesse Espinoza Onofre shot and killed two young men. Crosspoint failed to perform regular weapon searches, but spokesperson Melvin Braziel says there is nothing that can be done from preventing this from happening in the future.

Email Councilperson Taylor at Ivy.Taylor@sanantonio.gov and tell her to oppose the Crosspoint development.

________________________________________

from    Ivy Taylor <Ivy.Taylor@sanantonio.gov>
to    peopleforronwright@yahoo.com
date    Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 1:24 PM
subject    Re: article circulating

I know who wrote the email and I know that it was not you. Ivy

From: Ron Wright
To: Ivy Taylor 
Sent: Tue Sep 15 13:21:18 2009
Subject: article circulating

Dear Councilwoman,
 
This is simply a statement to let you know that whomever penned the article that is circulating on the web, I have nothing to with and no knowledge of. I am sure you know, that if I have any complaints or concerns I will address them face to face or by letter with my name attached. I have never been nor ever will be a coward.
 
Thank You,
Ron Wright

_____________________________________________

from    Ron Wright <peopleforronwright@yahoo.com>
to    kevin downey <kevin.downey@crosspointinc.us>
date    Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 1:00 PM
subject    Re: Fwd: Urgent Call to Action

Mr. Downey,
 
I am appreciative of your remarks. I have been asked whether or not I penned an article that is circulating through the web. I want you to understand what my community knows about me... If I have something to say or write my name/ face or both will be attached. I do believe that some sort of deal can be constructed, perhaps not a halfway house (maybe a home for pregnant mothers, seniors facility, etc.) I don't believe it can be done in this short time to Thursday's council session, which I will be speaking at. Again you will see my face, when I have something to say.
 
Ron Wright
990-3704

--- On Tue, 9/15/09, kevin downey <kevin.downey@crosspointinc.us> wrote:

From: kevin downey <kevin.downey@crosspointinc.us>
Subject: Fwd: Urgent Call to Action
To:
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 1:57 PM

 
An email that is a blatant misrepresentation of facts was sent out yesterday to a large number of San Antonio citizens, purportedly by Cloaude Black (sic).
 
The following facts contradict the false allegations made in that email:
 
• Crosspoint is a local, nonprofit organization.
• The convent proposal is not the largest residential reentry facility in Texas.
• Zoning Commission voted to support the zoning change.
• District 2 Commissioner recently stepped down from her post due to apparent conflict of interest.
• Crosspoint is an accredited, nationally recognized provider of reentry services.
• Regular resident searches is just one of a full range of accountability and security procedures performed by Crosspoint staff as evidenced by 46 years of service delivery with a single serious incident in their facilities.
• Board Member Melvin Braziel never made a statement regarding Crosspoint’s  ability to prevent serious incidents in the future. It is obvious that with a record of only one serious incident in 46 years that Crosspint facilities are safer than many parts of the city. 

Finally, when he was alive Reverend Claude Black was on record as supporting reentry services in San Antonio, specifically backing a 130-bed residential reentry facility in District 2 (May 2006) that was spearheaded by then District 2 Councilwoman Sheila McNeil.
 
We need your help to bring this Community Services Center and enhanced reentry services to District 2.  Please call and/or email council members to express your support of the zoning change requested by the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Crosspoint.
 
This is critical. Act now.

______________________________________

from    Warrick <blackrosebud@gmail.com>
to   
date    Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 3:25 AM
subject    Letter to the Editor / Please Publish - Councilperson Taylor Unopposed to District 2 Development of Largest Half-Way House in Texas
mailed-by    gmail.com
signed-by    gmail.com

Councilperson Taylor Unopposed to District 2 Development of Largest Half-Way House in Texas

Crosspoint Inc, a for-profit business that makes money housing convicted criminals, has brokered a deal with Sisters of the Holly Spirit to convert their Catholic Convent at 301 Yucca Street into the largest correctional facility of its kind in Texas. Sisters of the Holly Spirit were behind a controversy earlier this year when they were caught operating an illegal soup kitchen in the middle of a residential block which attracted dangerous transients into the neighborhood. Now, desperate to sell their Convent, they're lobbying the support of District 2 Councilperson Taylor for the rezoning and city planning change to allow the conversion.

Councilperson Taylor, who's husband is in the business of servicing criminals as a local bail bondsman, is apparently ignoring city staff and the District 2 Zoning Commissioner's recommendations against the zoning and planning changes. In a public forum when asked if she would oppose, Taylor refused and stated she had not made up her mind, blaming staff for not properly informing community members of the proposal. One of her three recently separated staff members, Ron Wright, accused her of lying and taking campaign donations to support the development.

Many in the District 2 community are concerned they can't get Taylor to listen including former Councilmember Sheila McNeil. Crosspoint Inc is well known for mismanaging their facilities. The much smaller facility Crosspoint operates at the 1500 block of North Pan Am Expressway was where heroin dealer, Mexican Mafia member and half-way house resident Jesse Espinoza Onofre shot and killed two young men. Crosspoint failed to perform regular weapon searches, but spokesperson Melvin Braziel says there is nothing that can be done from preventing this from happening in the future.

Email Councilperson Taylor at Ivy.Taylor@sanantonio.gov and tell her to oppose the Crosspoint development.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen
 

Doing The Right Thing: Muslims in SA

By Enrique Lopetegui
elopetegui@sacurrent.com

To be a Muslim in America is hard enough, but to be a Muslim in San Antonio can be extra troublesome.

“There are people who really don’t want us to be here,” said Sarwat Husain, president of the Council on American Islamic Relations-SA. “The John Hagees, Steven Emersons, and Daniel Pipes of San Antonio… Do you want a list? (she laughs) There are so many of them, making millions of dollars while creating hate and confusion.”

Last Thursday, and for the fifth year in a row, Husain and CAIR-SA hosted the inter-religious Ramadan Iftar (the breaking of the Ramadan fast) at an Indian restaurant on Callaghan and I-10. The delicious free feast attracted 42 Muslims, Christians (Catholics, Presbyterian, Lutherans), Sikhs, Hindus, and Jews. Gorgeous free copies of the Koran were distributed, and the atmosphere was that of friendship and mutual respect and, despite Husain’s passionate defense of Islam, her sweet disposition makes CAIR-SA’s peaceful, progressive spirit clear.

“You do what you have to do,” said Husain “That’s all there is to it. Instead of fighting, we need to speak up, because silence is going to hurt this country, which is ours as well. We need to take part in the political system, writing columns, giving talks, inviting people to our mosques.”

Nothing bothers Husain more than misconceptions about Islam.

“Some people still believe that if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, God will reward him with ‘72 virgins …’ ”, said Husain. “That’s complete nonsense. I defy anyone to show me where in the Koran it says that if you kill a non-Muslim you get 72 virgins. Killing is not allowed in Islam. The Koran says, ‘If you kill one person, it’s as if you have killed the whole universe, and if you save one life, it’s as if you have saved the universe. [The Koran does talk about ‘Houri,’ pure companions given by God to men and women who perform good deeds.]

“And so much about the so-called ‘Jihad.’ If someone occupies your land or does an injustice, you have to fight for it. Wouldn’t you fight for it? But jihad means mainly an inner struggle, making yourself a better person. Those who use jihad to kill innocent people are not real Muslims, but simple terrorists.”

And please, get used to a Muslim woman speaking up for her rights, but do not call her an “Islamist.”

“As soon as you open your mouth they call you a ‘militant Islamist,’ ” she said. “There is no such a thing as an ‘Islamist.’ It’s a very derogative term for us. ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islamic’ are good words, but ‘Islamist’ is an invented word, a clever way to say ‘terrorist.’ ”

“In our society in the U.S. we really need to attend more functions regarding Muslim concerns, just to bridge the gaps,” said former District 5 councilwoman Patti Radle, attending her second Ramadan Iftar. “Those gaps are created by our misunderstandings or our ignorance of the Muslim community. We need to build friendships. What Sarwat [Husain] has done inviting people from the community to participate is really good and important.”

While some Westerners ate and others watched attentively, the Muslims in the meeting proceeded to their prayers in the main hall. Yes, the women knelt down behind the men. But Mrs. Husain was the one running the show.

“Whether you’re a Hindu, Muslim, or a Christian, every true religion follows the Ten Commandments and believe in making a better world,” says Husain. “That’s the bottom line.”

For more information, visit www.caisanantonio.com or call (210) 378-9528.

U: After the Church Rock Disaster: the Blessing Way VS Uranium Mining

The Navajo Nation Council finds that the Dine medicine peoples’ interpretation of the Dine Natural Law (Nahaszaan doo Yadilhi Bitsaadee Beehazaanii), which is codified in Title 1 as 5 of the Fundamental Laws of the Dine, mandates respect for all natural resources within the four sacred mountains and is symbolized by the Sacred Mountain Soil Prayer Bundle (Dahndiilyee), to maintain harmony and balance in life and a healthy environment, and their recitation of the ceremonies and stories that have been passed down from generation to generation warn that certain substances the Earth (doo nal yea dah) that are harmful to the people should not be disturbed, and that the people now know that uranium is one such substance, and therefore, that its extraction should be avoided as traditional practice and prohibited by Navajo law.

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

When it comes to open-pit and underground uranium-mining carnage, likely no people in the country have experienced anything worse than the Navajo Nation, where workers dug the ore in underground mines without any safety equipment.

The land around Church Rock outside Gallup, New Mexico, is marked by abandoned mines and milling sites, just like Karnes County, Texas, but this land has the unwelcome distinction of also being the site of what is considered — if we dismiss the long legacy of atomic weapons testing worldwide — the second largest radiological release in history. (The “big one” being the Chernobyl meltdown of 1986.)

It was only a few months after the Three Mile Island accident of 1979 when an estimated 90 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste burst a uranium mill dam wall flooding farmland, arroyos, and fields, and permanently contaminating the Rio Puerco River.

President Joe Shirley, Jr., speaking on the 30th anniversary of this disaster on July 16 of this year urged the federal government to undertake a national campaign to clean up uranium-mining wastes that continue to damage human health and the environment.

While Native American communities have experienced high levels of kidney diseases and cancers, only one statistical study of potential radiation effects in Navajo Country has even been performed — and nothing specific to the Church Rock area has ever been undertaken, according to Linda Gunter of the non-profit organization Beyond Nuclear.

Earlier today, I spoke with Anna Rondon, a longtime organizer of the Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum, about the Navajo experience, both past and present, specifically as it relates to uranium and coal mining. Ongoing tensions have followed the arrival of a new wave of uranium prospectors in Navajo Country, expressing themselves most recently in the beating of several Navajo men at Gallup earlier this year.

You can listen to our entire conversation here:

U: Hydrogen a Magic Bullet for Uranium Contamination?

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

Federal researchers are still looking for that silver bullet that will enable them to clean up contaminated and radioactive waters beneath so many toxic heaps, the result of decades of dumping of atomic weapons and nuclear power waste. One of the technologies gaining federal attention is also getting treatment from researchers at Texas A&M, Kingsville.

In a partnership with Uranium Resources, Inc., which operates the Kingsville Dome uranium mine a couple miles south of the city, Lee Clapp, associate professor of environmental engineering (left, with imported radioactive waste) is leading a team of students in a study of the ability of hydrogen to clean up shop.

Since in-situ uranium mining stirs a variety of heavy metals and other elements into the water column, the industry needs a way to clean the water after mining operations cease.

While heavily oxygenated solutions are used to break uranium out of its relatively stable position in sandstone and water sands, hydrogen appears to actually help bind it up again.

URI is paying for the hydrogen and for the work of research assistant Jose Manuel Cabezas; the U.S. Department of Energy is providing all the lab work and kicking in to pay graduate students for extra labor.

Critics point out that nearly every permit for in-situ uranium mining issued to date in Texas has been amended after the company was unable to clean the water up to pre-mining conditions.

In some cases, simple reverse osmosis can drop uranium levels from as high as 50 parts-per-million to below detectable levels, Clapp said. While that makes it feasible some sites, other water quality issues rule it out at many others. “If you just pump and treat, you are going to be doing it forever,” says Clapp.

So far, the hydrogen treatment at the Kingsville Dome has been taking the groundwater there from around 5,000 parts per billion to 70 ppb — approaching drinking-water quality — though Clapp admits, “Well, you probably wouldn’t want to drink that.”

The EPA’s drinking water standard is lower still, at 30 parts per billion.

[On a follow-up call, Clapp clarified that he’d happily drink one glass of water at 70 ppb uranium, considering the risk quantified in the EPA limits involves lifetime exposure. While the concept has come under attack recently, the broader scientific community still holds there is no safe dose of radioactivity.]

Monitoring of the Kingsville field study will last through the spring of 2010, Clapp said. And big questions remain to be addressed.

Will the uranium release back into the water column after the pumping has stopped? Will other chemical reactions re-release heavy metals or other toxics into the environment?

“Those are absolutely critical research questions we’re looking into,” Clapp said. So far, he adds, “I think the results are pretty encouraging.”

While Clapp is in communication with researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, keen on the work for possible use at contaminated federal waste sites, the City of Kingsville should be interested as well.

Mining production at URI’s site has helped reverse the flow of sub-surface water so that it is now flowing back toward the city at a rate exceeding 100 feet per year. While uranium likely flows slower than the surrounding water, contamination thousands of times the EPA’s drinking water limit is probably not something the local water utility would like to be stuck with.

U: Mining whistleblower surfaces in Yorktown

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

Roland Burrows worked for Uranium Resources, Inc., as a wellfield operator at the Kingsville Dome in-situ uranium mine in Ricardo, Texas, back in 1996.

He says the company at the time was regularly flushing high volumes of water into the mine field that would have expanded groundwater pollution beyond its permitted area, posing a potential future risk to the residents of Kingsville.

He says he repeatedly tried to correct operating practices that appeared to be geared toward increasing uranium production at the expense of containing toxic pollution within the portion of the aquifer being mined. He claims also to have witnessed the falsification of monitoring-well data, which must be regularly submitted to the state to show the contaminated water is contained at the mine site.

One morning he was out shutting down some of the wells about 45 minutes before sunrise when a crop duster spraying an adjacent field dropped a load of malathion on him. He quickly showered, changed his clothes, and returned to work, where he promptly passed out.

While he was eventually able to return to work at light duty, he was fired for his repeated efforts to change the way the mine was operating.

Burrows says he tried at the time to get the TNRCC (now the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) and the FBI involved, to no avail. After being fired, he filed a racial discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission.

While the company’s then engineering manager, Harry Anthony, has failed to return several phone calls from the Current to date, Anthony responded to the discrimination complaint in writing on December 19, 1996.

He wrote:

Soon after this, Burrows moved to Yorktown to help take care of wife’s grandmother. Then he found out Anthony had started working with an outfit called the Uranium Energy Corp and was trying to open a mine in neighboring Goliad County. [See “Undermining South Texas,” October 3, 2007, etc.]

Burrows is now preparing revive his past thorn-in-the-side status by fighting the company’s permit application, which is already on the way to a hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings early in 2010.

In Kingsville, URI’s operation is now running on a skeleton crew, thanks to the economic downturn. Of it, Burrows says: “I know there’s 10 million gallons that won’t ever get cleaned up that’s headed for the Kingsville water supply.”

And Goliad?

“Mining cannot be done there safely in my opinion,” he says.

U: One Test, Two Test, & Cancer Risk in Karnes County

By Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

Doctor William Au phones me just as I’m pulling into Falls City. A soon-to-be former professor of environmental toxicology in UTMB’s Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Au is busy boxing his things. He’s accepted a position as chairman of a department of preventative medicine at a medical school in China.

After nearly 20 years teaching at UTMB at Galveston, and nine years as Director of the International Science Outreach Program, Au is moving on. And yet, even now, his contribution to our understanding of the public health impacts related to the South Texas uranium fields is little understood.

Au co-authored several important papers that showed how exposure to uranium mining and milling wastes has taken a toll on the health of families in Karnes County, site of several large radioactive dumps.

Generally, it’s been the state department of health that has garnered pacifying headlines for suggesting there is no increase in cancer risk in this area. Dr. Au just laughs when I mention the state statistical study.

“They were forced to do a study,” he tells me, “but the population is too small to do that kind of study … The result was predictable to be negative because [the population] is too small to do anything meaningful.”

By comparison, Au’s research has looked not at cancer statistics, as the state has, but at the actual cellular damage that can be observed. His research suggests, for instance, that residents around the waste pits near Panna Maria and Falls City have received the amount of radiation exposure one would expect to find among nuclear industry workers.





After weeding out smokers or those who had received X-rays over the past decade, the team settled on 24 residents living within 1.5 miles of several dump sites where increased radon gases and other toxics had been observed.

The paper, “Biomarker Monitoring of a Population Residing near Uranium Mining Activities” published in the highly regarded Environmental Health Perspectives in 1995 found that the DNA of Karnes County residents had more “chromosome aberrations” than a similar number of people not residing near toxic waste sites.

That data, though limited, “bordered on being statistically significant,” the report’s conclusion reads.

However, after exposing the resident’s cellular samples with another dose of radioactivity, researchers witnessed a “significantly higher frequency of cells with chromosome aberrations and deletion frequency than the reference group.”

This suggested residents’ DNA had been damaged, causing “abnormal DNA repair response” that would predispose the individual (or individual’s offspring) to future disease.

The conclusion states:



Au returned to the problem this year with a report published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. This time, he was able to utilize improved evaluation methods and show that residents near these waste sites “could have been exposed to a level of radiation that is similar to those for nuclear workers [and] … have increased risk for cancer over the non-exposed residents.”

I asked Au why more of this sort of work had not been conducted across the uranium fields of South Texas. Again, good-naturedly, he laughed, suggesting that getting funding for such work was not always easy.

Au was adamant that the state health department report was worthless. (He toned down a bit when I clicked record this week.) He said he challenged the researchers verbally and they're response was "Oh, yeah. We agree,” said Au.

U: Father Frank urges caution on new uranium mining, nuclear

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

Father Frank heard the call of the Church after spending a year working at a chemical plant in coal-rich Silesia, Poland.

It could have been worse. He tells me of another priest he knows who heard it only after staring at a mule’s ass year after year as he plowed his fields. Not exactly a Road to Damascus event in either case, but for Father Frank Kurzaj the industrial background was perfect staging ground for the ordeal ahead that was Panna Maria, Texas.

While others in Kurzaj’s family kept on with coal, Kurzaj, now the head of San Antonio’s St. Paul’s Catholic Church, wound up in the middle of a fight over toxic uranium mining, processing, and dumping in the South Texas Polish community of Panna Maria in Karnes County.

He counseled parishioners stricken with cancer, couples unable to conceive, labored over the faith-challenging questions that can follow birth defects, and worked with two families near the dump whose children were born dually sexed as hermaphrodites. And he helped organize the Panna Maria Concerned Citizens to help give the community a voice in the public hearings taking place in the late 1980s.

Although the uranium boom that had swept across a wide band of South Texas — from Falls City clear down near Laredo — was already beginning to wane with the collapse of world uranium prices, it was the Chevron dump just west of Panna Maria that remained a huge source of tension thanks to the contaminated water beneath it.

While legal settlements have since sealed many mouths regarding the events of this time (just as a state Department of Health statistical report affectively smothered a more appropriate chromosomal study conducted by a UTMB toxicologist’s study, but that’s for another post), Kurzaj remains candid in his assessment, and cautious in his pronouncements.

Mining can be done, if it is done right, he says. However, the influence of money almost guarantees that public health rides in the back seat.

I spoke with this pragmatic priest last week to hear what advice he may have for San Antonio, preparing to vote on the expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear complex, and for South Texans, likely to see a significant return of uranium mining activity if the much-trumpeted Nuclear Renaissance ever actually flourishes.

[On that note, things seem to be dimming: According to The World Nuclear Industry Status Report, 2009:

While the priest's actions in the field have earned Kurzaj veneration of many an anti-nuclear activist, the man is not reflexively anti-nuclear or against uranium mining. His utilitarian approach to nature (the Hawaiian islands were lifted from the sea so people would be able to live there, he suggests during our talk) put him in fairly conservative company.

“My personal view on this issue is that you can do this, if we have these natural resources, they are not given to us that they will stay there,” he said. “The earth serves a purpose and we can use the natural resources to benefit people and humanity, but we have to do it with some kind of respect, with some kind of understanding.”

That respect and understanding was deeply lacking in Karnes County, he says. And he is adamant that residents of Panna Maria were regularly lied to by industry and the state concerning the safety of mining, milling, and dumping.

“The dumping was done over there and people were not aware of the consequences of being in this area. They were lied to, simply by telling them everything is under control.”

It is that experience that suggests to Kurzaj that politics and greed make the safe use of nuclear energy highly unlikely.

He’s learned how language is manipulated to seal a deal. A “leak” becomes “seepage,” and “waste” becomes “by-product.”

“If the water is contaminated and the cattle and people cannot drink it, what this land is for? For nothing. Or if you cannot conceive over there, because genes are damaged? You can live there, you can have a nice home, but you cannot have kids. Maybe you do not want to have kids. That’s okay with me. But maybe you want to have kids. Then they’ll put a big beautiful sign: ‘The historical place of Panna Maria. Polish people came here in 1854 and noboby lives here because it’s contaminated.’”

Of course, people still live in Panna Maria. On the back side of the dump — the side the leak is reportedly on — goats and turkeys are being raised, apparently for meat. This is most likely one of the homes Chevron (or was it General Atomics, who later bought the dump and absorbed the liability?) piped potable water to. No one was home when I stopped by.



To hear from others who lived through the Panna Maria fight, you can check out the testimonies collected by Sharon Stewart as part of her Toxic Tour of Texas.

U: Toxic legacy of South Texas uranium mining

Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com

“Prepare to meet thy God,” reads the small black-and-white sign in the yard at the end of this dusty county road in Karnes County. I’m looking for a string of open-pit uranium mines, now filled with water, where some locals fish, swim, and practice their water skiing.

A San Antonio mechanic and Karnes County resident lost his 30-some acre lake (and former uranium mine) last year when the Texas Railroad Commission pumped out more than 122 million gallons, transferred about 70 foot-long big mouth bass to a nearby stock tank, and left him with a dry graded pit.

“They left me with what’s going to end up being a pretty good pond — if it ever rains.”

There are plenty of these former uranium mines sitting on private ranches across South Texas. The RRC insists they don’t have responsibility for them since they were dug and abandoned prior to passage of a 1970s federal mining law that first required companies to post bonds up front to guarantee later cleanup.

Using federal monies as they have become available, the state has led and completed 15 mine reclamations, leaving 17 former uranium mining sites still unaddressed, according to Ramona Nye, spokesperson for the agency.

I was stunned to hear from a former Karnes County resident who spoke about learning to water ski on one of the water-filled pits pictured below on Google Maps. (So far, just one tumor, he said.)


View Larger Map


Mining, milling, and dumping of uranium across South Texas has fouled numerous aquifers, and some claim the tailings continue to cause a health hazards by allowing alpha radiation to blow freely on the breeze.

While open-pit uranium mining in Texas dates back to the 1950s, past abuses continue to pose a risk to the living. Waste pits like these in South Texas will remain toxic for hundreds of thousands of years, even as a new generation of mines prepares to move into production.

All these companies require is an uptick in the global economy and a commitment by utilities such as CPS Energy, owned by the City of San Antonio, to give nuclear power another go.

The mining technology preferred today, in-situ mining, utilizes an assortment of injection and extraction wells which force the uranium into the water column where it can be pumped to the surface and separated out.

The method is cheaper than open-pit and less visually damaging. Problem here is ever getting this water clean again. There have been problems with pollution the world over.

Also, in-situ uses a lot of water. Uranium Resource's Kingsville Dome mine at Ricardo (operating on a skeleton crew due to the economic downturn), was buying more than a million gallons of water per month from the local water district last summer.

While my Karnes County source tells me the water in his lake wasn’t dangerous (“We had it tested 25 years ago,” he says during a telephone interview. “We didn’t want to pump poison on our crops.”), there is a nearby “lake” that has tested higher for toxics. It’s only been sitting contaminated for decades, a short distance from a string of now infamous radioactive dumps outside Falls City and Panna Maria.

As the San Antonio City Council prepares to vote on whether to participate in the expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear complex outside Bay City, there has been very little discussion of the environmental and public health consequences of nuclear power — from the full impact of mining to the ethical questions surrounding our right to create radioactive poisons in the first place, wastes that will remain toxic to biological lifeforms for hundreds of thousands and even millions of years.

The San Antonio City Council vote in October is significant. As the proposed doubling of the South Texas Project nuclear complex represents the first new construction application filed in almost 30 years, it is also the top-ranked project in line for guaranteed federal loan subsidies from the U.S. Department of Energy.

With a nod to nukes, the San Antonio City Council will be offering the uranium market its encouragement and may help ease the return of uranium mining activity across the region. And it gives steam to other nuclear power projects to come.

Prior to the vote, San Antonio must be able to answer a number of questions. With regards to mining, we must ask if people are still suffering from past mining mistakes and if current mining practices are safe for our limited groundwater resources and communities.

These are the sorts of things we’ll be asking at the Current over the next month. You can participate in this conversation by following our updates at Queblog and by following our weekly coverage, set to launch September 16.

Nuclear power in San Antonio is truly an "outsourced power source." The risk of meltdown is most acute for those living 200 miles to the southeast; the damages of uranium mining are the dominion our southern neighbors; and those who must confront the potential damages from waste disposal live another several hundred more miles to the northwest.

For that reason, it's easy to see how our leaders would overlook or undervalue these concerns. But from a historical perspective it does not make it pardonable.

Ultimately, our hope is that the observations we offer will contribute to a sound decision on one of the most pressing issues of our time. What cost energy?

BREAKING: Being President not a big deal

If there's one lesson that students take away from Tuesday's planned Presidential address to the nation's school kids, it may be that you don't have to listen to anyone that your parents disagree with -- even if they're the President of the United States. Yes, the President can get us into a military quagmire that could cost you your young life (or some presidents can, anyway), but he can't speak directly to you in a controlled environment: that's, like, a dictatorship or fascism, or something.

As I recall from my school days, almost any deviation from the repetitive daily itinerary was welcome: the spinal-curvature exams, the presidential fitness test, fire drills, the duck-and-cover film, any damn guest at all. I'm sure the failure of my parents' generation to prevent this insidious "programming" resulted in brainwashing so deep I don't even recognize its symptoms.

Pardon the break. I had to do a bent-arm hang -- trying to beat that 30-second mark.

Anyway, the President's live address, which will air at 11am local time  -- on the wildly partisan topic of education (yes, that's correct: the President is going to talk about the importance of education to kids who are in school, in a city, we might add, that has a real dropout problem. Radical, right?) -- has become so politicized* that our major local school districts are treating it like an unannounced Sunday-morning visit from those Watchtower folks. (Possible back-to-school essay topic: Why do some prayers go unanswered?)

The score so far: 
San Antonio Independent School District. It's up to the individual teachers whether to tune into the live broadcast, and teachers who choose to do so must notify parents so that they can opt out if they so choose. You cannot, however, opt in if the teacher wants to stay glued to that pre-calc syllabus. "We're not going to have an assembly-like situation," said Leslie Price, who also said something about the address needing to be "aligned with the curriculum," but then kind of backed away from that when we asked if that meant math teachers couldn't let their classes watch it. The President's propaganda talk will be posted to the district's parent portal for anyone who wants to be brainwashed watch it with their kids.

South San Antonio Independent School District. South San is also leaving it to each teacher's discretion, and teachers who choose to tune in must also notify parents so that they can elect to have their kids do something else. "It does put [the teachers] in a tough spot," agreed PIO Ed Suarez. "It's become politicized, and it's understandable." Like SAISD, students and their parents can not opt in to the broadcast.

Northside Independent School District. "It's not logistically possible for us to comply with that invitation," said PIO Pascual Gonzalez. "You cannot delay feeding 90,000 kids; it's a machine."
The President's address will be posted to the district's parent portal, he said, where parents can choose whether to watch it with their children.
Gonzalez says the district's decision is purely logistical. "I think the message is a good one ... If the content of the speech is what the PR says it is, those are things we regularly talk to kids about."
But even if NISD did participate, he added, "we would offer an opt-out."

North East Independent School District. NEISD will also be posting the program to its parent portal, "which is highly trafficked," said PIO Laura Calderon. She estimates that calls to the district have been split evenly between pros and cons. "We’ve had just as many ask to show it as not show it.” The teachers, incidentally, have not been told not to watch the program with their classes. “Honestly,” she said, “we didn’t give our teachers any direction on that. We’ve been talking to our parents.”

Edgewood Independent School District. As befits a district with a proud egalitarian pedigree, Edgewood originally planned to let teachers choose whether to air the program during class time, but "what was a simple, logical 'sure,' is now more complicated," said PIO Maclovio Perez. The administration will announce its policy tomorrow morning, which is intended to take the heat off of individual teachers and principals.


*Actually, we let people politicize it, but I'll save that topic for another post.

Kinky Friedman: “Think of me as Ann Richards in drag.”

By Enrique Lopetegui
elopetegui@sacurrent.com
Photos by Erik Gustafson (special for the Current)



Poor Kinky… The campaign hasn’t even started and I’m already underestimating him.

I chose the 9 a.m. slot for the interview at the Commerce Building because I wanted to get him fresh, and because I just knew he would be late and that would give me time to look around his environment.

But no; 9 a.m. sharp, and Kinky was there.

“Always punctual,” he proudly said. Holding an unlit cigar, he spoke calmly, looking me in the eyes, only cranking it up whenever he needed to say “Sotomayor.” And though his hat was black (matching the rest of his wardrobe), like those of villains in old Western movies, he swears he’s one of the good guys.

“Going from musician to politician is a step down, but I’m willing to take it for Texas,” he said. How nice of him.

Even when the interview was over, Kinky seemed eager to continue talking. After instructing campaign manager Rania Batrice to put the Current on the phone in case we had any follow-up questions, he told me one last thing by the elevator.

“If I win the primary, I win the whole thing.”

Go get 'em, Jewboy.



Why are you running as a Democrat this time?
Because I’m the only Man of the People in the race, and I think the people in Texas deserve better than they’re getting, better than their choices would be without me in the race.

But why as a Democrat? You’ve run as a Republican in 1986 [for Kerr County Justice], then as an Independent for Governor in 2006…
I’ve never been a Republican. I ran once as a matter of… not even expedience, but as a matter of survival in 2006, for Justice of the Peace. There was no form of Democratic structure in Kerrville at that time, so that’s why I did it, that’s all. Ideologically, I’ve never been a Republican. But my values, really, are not Texas values… [correcting himself] They are Texas values, not Republican values or Democratic values.

I just don’t think you can win as an Independent, number one. I’ve seen the light. I think I made a mistake politically to run as an Independent. And the fact that Sam Houston was the last one to win as an Independent should’ve been the tip-off. I should’ve seen that it can’t be done. And then I looked back at the Democrats that I admire. Who are my heroes? They are people like Sam Houston, [former Speaker of the House] Sam Rayburn, [former U.S. Senator] Ralph Yarborough, Henry B. González, Ann Richards, [columnist] Molly Ivins, [former U.S. Congresswoman] Barbara Jordan… That makes you a Democrat.

As Jim Hightower told me: “If you want to know something about somebody, find out who their heroes are.” So that’s why I’m running as a Democrat, and also because I think I can win this primary. If I do that, Texas may have a chance to have some real vision and a brighter future than there would be with Rick Perry.

Who do you have to beat? Are you as concerned with your Democratic opponents as you are with Perry or Kay Bailey Hutchison?
I’m not worried about the Democrats. I think we’re going to win the primary. I think the whole question is: How does the clash of the plastic titans resolve itself? If Rick Perry wins, I think the majority of Texans are ready for him to go. I think it’s time for Texans to secede from Rick Perry, because I don’t think he’s done anything. There’s nothing I can point to, Enrique, that he’s done in 10 years that benefits the people. He can say “toll roads are bringing in money to the economy.” He’s bringing it into the state –– the state is in the black, we’re all in the red.

Can [Bailey Hutchison] win?
Yes, Kay can win. I don’t think it’s going to make much difference. Conventional wisdom is that she’s going to have a harder time beating him than anything else. She made a mistake recently, and the mistake was to vote against [recently appointed Supreme Court Justice Sonia] Sotomayor!! (Friedman screams) That was a bad mistake. (turns to Abel Domínguez, campaign treasurer) Right Abel? (Abel says “It was…”) I mean,  it’s a spiritual mistake. And you know what she said? She gave a very wimpy answer. “I love Hispanics, I want Hispanics, we need Hispanics, we like Hispanics… but not this Hispanic.” The one time she had a chance to make the vote, she voted against [screaming] Sotomayor!!! I think that’s going to hurt her, not just among Hispanics, but among people who like people with guts, you know? I don’t know what happened to her nerve. She was thinking politically when she made that vote. And Rick thinks politically all the time. He just wants to be to her right. That’s what these people are told: “You get to the right of her, and you win.” By the time he wins, though, he’s going to be painted into such an ultraconservative right-wing corner that he is going to lose.

What’s your take on the health-care debate and the town-hall meetings? Do you want reform? Is the right-wing anger legitimate?
Yes, it’s definitely legitimate. Both sides, Obama and the other side, I think they have valid points. But almost everything Obama is saying about the health-care system we have here is right –– I agree with him and I do think it needs to change. It’s a great system, but only the very rich or the very poor can access it. (laughs) You and I can’t do it. If we were completely living on the streets we could have a better chance, or if we were very rich. But for everybody else it is a problem. Whatever they come up with in Washington will be better than George [W.] Bush’s health-care policy, which was “don’t get sick.” By the way, Texas is 50th in health care coverage. I don’t hear Rick Perry talking about it a great much, it’s not one of the things he cares about a great deal. Or if he does care about it, he has failed to make it a priority. We’ve never had a lack of money in Texas. Never. My dog, Mr. Magoo, could run this state for 10 years and we’d still be in the black, OK? And we could still have low unemployment. That’s no great deal for Rick Perry to do that. But he has failed to set priorities that help the people of Texas. In fact, I can’t see priorities at all that he set. He kind of likes wearing his nice wardrobe, you know? Nice suits, he lives in a $10,000 a month house that you and I pay for, and he likes being Governor. He’s a rich guy who likes being Governor. And there’s Democratic and Republican candidates who are rich people who fly around in private jets and who want to be Governor. I don’t think that’s a good enough reason. The last Man of the People that we had as Governor –– guess who it was? It wasn’t even a man. It was Ann Richards. That’s the model I’d like to follow, right there, and that’s the one I think I can [follow]. In fact, think of me as Ann Richards in drag.

Don’t you mind being called by some people the “Ralph Nader of Texas”?
I’ve done 50 interviews in the past 48 hours and nobody’s mentioned that.

But some people do blame you for hurting the Democrats in 2006 …
Those people are doing some fuzzy math. I made a mistake last time: I should’ve run as a Democrat, I’ve already said that. Had I ran as a Democrat, I would’ve gotten Chris Bell’s votes and my votes and I would’ve beaten Rick Perry. But there is no way in hell that a candidate like Chris Bell was going to get the votes I got, because those are Independent votes, intellectual votes, Ron Paul-type people. I mean, I’m the guy who can get these disaffected Republicans to come back into the showroom, to be Democrats again like they should. I’m the one who can do that. A generic, establishment candidate is going to get beat every time, as it has happened for 17 years. What do you want? Twenty-seven years of it? Another mistake the Democratic career politicians have made, the insiders ––because this is a battle between the insiders and the outsiders––, is that they’ve ran very uninspiring candidates and they’ve ran them on demographics. They’re obsessed with demographics, not ideas. I haven’t seen one candidate since Ann Richards to run on ideas.

Some of your ideas include no toll roads…
No toll roads. Roads should be paid for by casino gambling.

But some would scream “This is a Christian state! No more gambling here!”
We could do just what Rodney Ellis has proposed in the Texas Senate, and it’s a great idea. With help like him, with me pushing it, I can get a public sentiment behind it, which I think it's already there, actually. And it’s common sense: Have a gambling zone ––Galveston, Corpus [Christi], places like that–– and keep Louisiana… By the way, Louisiana is already doing better than we are in education, and we’re helping them pay for it. It just doesn’t make any sense: We’re building their public schools and roads. In Louisiana, and Oklahoma, and New Mexico. This is got to stop. Never ask “Where is the money coming from?” I assure you, we’ve never had a problem, we’ve  always had the money in the state. We just haven’t had the leadership.

Three-thousand-dollars raise for teachers…
Yes, $3,000 raise for all teachers in Texas, even though they’ll still be below the national average. And a three-year moratorium on insurance-rates hikes.

State tax on business…
That should go. That’s a bad one. That’s a bad one.

How’s Obama doing?
I think it’s really early to give him a report card, but I think he’s doing well. How well? I think you’re going to see soon, because I think he’s got the inspirational chops, if he’ll use them. And he’s starting to use them. I don’t know where it’s going to happen –– it might happen in the Middle East. It might happen in Cuba. Or it might happen in this country. But I think you’re going to see good results. What pains me is to see the Washington system, the way it works. He has to pass something or they’ll say he’s weak. That kind of thing pains me.

If you were a senator, would you vote for Obama’s health reform?
I’d vote for something, yes, absolutely.

Finally, are you serious about all this? You sound serious and make sense, but the whole Kinky persona, the whole character… Are you really serious about all this, or do you just like to make a point while loving the attention, because it’s fun?
I am serious. I’m a serious soul. Some people don’t take serious souls seriously. I don’t know… Was Will Rogers serious? Do you think Mark Twain was serious? Do you think Chris Rock is serious? Do you think Richard Pryor was serious?

Well … Humor is a serious thing … but they didn’t run for office.
They’re significant people who had something to say and who may have made some good in the world. The reason they didn’t get into politics is the same reason no good person does: It’s a horrible place to be. Going from musician to politician is a step down, and I’m willing to take it for Texas. Am I serious? I’m still Kinky. You gotta be you or be no one. I’m as serious as Ann Richards. I’m as serious as Molly Ivins. How about that?

La Lupita strikes again

BY ENRIQUE LOPETEGUI
elopetegui@sacurrent.com

“SAVE THE GCAC MEDIA ARTS PROGRAM TONIGHT! @ 6:30PM,” read the August 27 Facebook posting by Sandra Peña-Sarmiento, Media Arts coordinator for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. “The Executive Director of the [Guadalupe] has decided to dissolve their Media Arts Program effective immediately! Come out for tonight’s GCAC Board Meeting and let them know that you want Media Arts on the Westside to thrive.”

Minutes after the Current posted the essence of the message on Twitter (and roughly an hour after the Current’s calls to the Guadalupe’s executive director and Peña-Sarmiento went unreturned), Guadalupe Marketing and PR Director Lorraine Pulido-Ramírez called us to ask why we had posted “false information without consulting with [GCAC] first,” and proceeded to give us what she said was the real scoop:

“We’re not closing the Media Arts Program, but the position of Media Arts Coordinator has been dissolved,” she said, adding that Peña-Sarmiento’s last day of employment is August 31. “The program will continue with different teachers hired as independent contractors. We’re considering various people, including Sandra and Víctor [Payan, Sandra’s husband].”

The Current asked how you can effectively have a Media Arts Program without a Media Arts Coordinator, and Pulido-Ramírez offered the example of the Guadalupe’s music department.

“We don’t have a ‘music coordinator,’ but we do have a music program and music instructors teaching students. And once a year Juan Tejeda takes care of the Tejano Conjunto Festival.”

Tejeda, leader of Conjunto Aztlan, and instructor of Mexican American studies and director of the conjunto program at Palo Alto College, was the director of the Xicano Music Program at Guadalupe from 1980 to 1998.

“In my time, we had a director in every department, and turned the Guadalupe’s budget from hundreds of dollars to $2 million a year, with 25 full-time staffers,” Tejeda told the Current. “That’s the ideal situation. It was the golden age of Guadalupe. But these are different economic times, and I wouldn’t dare comment on the day-to-day activities of Guadalupe, because I’m not there and I don’t know.” 

Eventually, Pulido-Ramírez passed the phone to Patty Ortiz, GCAC’s executive director since March.

“I evaluated the workload of every employee and evaluated the program, and what I am doing is dissolving that position temporarily and focusing on fundraising and marketing,” Ortiz said. “I want to make sure people come to our programs and that there are funds to support them. It would be irresponsible for me to do otherwise. We’re still doing CineFestival, and we’re talking to Sandra and Víctor about still directing that festival. We’re still going to do the program, but we’re doing it item-by-item and focusing on their success.”

But Peña-Sarmiento and Payan insist that Ortiz told them she is “eliminating the program” and that the program “is not a priority” for Guadalupe –– charges Ortiz denies.

“Attendance at GCAC Media Arts programs is on the rise, Texas has just passed a major film incentive program, the coastal studios and major players are finally heading to SA, and affordable equipment is making indie-productions accessible for our youth and community media artists,” read the Facebook message.

“Is this the best time to get rid of a Media Arts program?” Payan asked the Current.
 
Although Peña’s Facebook message announced a “Rally to save the Media Arts
Program” at 6:30, what actually took place at the Guadalupe Thursday night was a regular board meeting, which started minutes after six and mainly dealt with fundraising and budgetary issues. When the meeting began, the board asked if there were any “citizens to be heard,” but none of the six persons (including the Current and a couple of GCAC employees) sitting in the audience volunteered. Around 6:30 p.m., three more people showed up.
 
Peña and Payan, who are members of the National Association of Independent Latino Producers, entered the meeting at 6:44 p.m., and about 20 minutes later the board again asked if anybody in the community wanted to speak. At that point, Payan said he wanted to discuss “the closing of the Media Arts Program” and said he had a letter from NALIP San Antonio in which its president, Verónica R. Hernández, expressed NALIP’s “sadness” about the fact that the program is going to be “dissolved.”
 
“You are taking away a gift,” wrote Hernández in the letter, which praises Peña’s and Payan’s help when NALIP hosted the Adelante Film Forum at the Guadalupe in 2008.  “Great job… We were received with no reservations,’” wrote Hernández in the letter [which was not read to the board members]. “I haven’t contacted anyone since I found out I needed to work with [theater manager] Pedro [Ramírez]. Pedro is the best, but Pedro books the theater, I needed to speak to someone who had experience in media arts. I wanted to collaborate with the Guadalupe to fundraise for both NALIP and the GCAC theatre but I got a call from Pedro who was disinterested in what I had to say.” (Ramírez didn’t reply to an email from the Current). Payan added that NALIP had offered to mediate the dispute in order to help the Guadalupe “continue serving our community.”
 
When Payan mentioned that the Media Arts Program had been dissolved, several board members seemed surprised, while Patty and others smiled.

“Is this a statement based on fact?” asked vice chairman Arturo Madrid.  
“Yes, sir, it’s based on conversations we’ve had with the executive director,” replied Payan.
 
“That’s not true,” said Ortiz. “Someone’s been spreading rumors, and you know that.” “No, I don’t know that,” Payan said.

Ortiz insisted that the program would continue, and that only the position of program coordinator had been eliminated.

“Are you here on behalf of NALIP or on behalf of your wife?” asked board member Celina Peña.

“I’m here on behalf of NALIP,” replied Payan, “but, obviously, I care about whatever happens to my wife.”
 
The Current asked if any of the board members knew that either the Media Arts program or the position of media arts coordinator had been terminated. “If so, please raise your hand.”
 
Not a single hand was raised, and Ortiz said "I will report it tonight." But the following day, Ortiz argued that “They didn’t say they didn’t know … they just didn’t respond.”
 
So, they did know?

“I never work in isolation,” Ortiz said.  “I also use the board as my consultants to assist me in making major decisions.”
 
But at the meeting, Payan had a different impression.

“It seems [eliminating the Media Arts Coordinator position] came from the executive director and not from the board, which is comforting,” he said.
 
“I just want to know what’s going on at Guadalupe,” said Deborah Kuetzpalin Vásquez,who also attended the meeting. Vásquez is the Guadalupe’s former visual-arts coordinator, who resigned two weeks ago. “I don’t say that, for example, the dance or theater programs should be eliminated –– they’re great, but you can’t have them at the expense of the Media Arts Program. What’s going on?”
 
“I can talk to you about that, I can talk to you about that,” repeated Ortiz, seemingly implying that the topic should be dealt with in private.
 
But on Friday, Ortiz told the Current that’s not what she meant. “I just didn’t know she had issues, and I wanted to talk to her about it.”
 
The Current asked Ortiz about Payan’s specific allegations.
 
“I never said I’m ‘eliminating’ the program,” Ortiz said. “I never would say that.”
 
What about the Media Arts department “not being “a priority” for Guadalupe?
 
“No, I would never say that, either.”
 
While the Current was asking her another question, Ortiz returned to the previous one.
 
“It depends; a priority to what?”
 
“I mean: the Media Arts Department is not one of your priorities … ”
 
“But we do have a media arts program.”
 
That seems to be the essence of the dispute: In Ortiz’s mind, the only change has been the elimination of one part-time position. According to Payan and Peña, it’s the end of the program for all practical purposes.
 
The night of the board meeting, Peña submitted a formal grievance to the board, which has seven days to respond. Which is why, says Payan, he’s been doing all the talking.

“[Peña-Sarmiento] wants to respect the process of the grievance,” said Payan. “All she wants is for Ortiz to respect Guadalupe’s 30-day notice for termination, instead of claiming that under Texas law she can fire [Peña] anytime she wants.”

“There isn’t a 30-day notice policy at Guadalupe,” Ortiz told the Current Monday night. “And this isn’t a firing issue. She wasn’t fired. It’s about the elimination of a position.” The Guadalupe Employee Handbook states that “whenever possible, employees to be laid off will be given thirty days notice.” Peña-Sarmiento was a part-time staffer.

On Monday, the Current received an mp3 with two parts of a recorded conversation between Peña and Ortiz at the latter’s office at the Guadalupe on August 26. In the conversation, Ortiz says, “Yeah, I’m eliminating the program, and I think I mentioned in there that it would end in September.”
 
In the second clip, Peña asks whether “the media arts program is done for,” to which Ortiz replies, “I wouldn’t call it ‘done for…’ I’m just saying right now we are suspending it.”
 
“Suspending it?” asks Peña.

“Yeah, suspending it.”
 
At the end of the second sound clip, Ortiz says, “It doesn’t mean we won’t be doing something or another with one of the program people over that, but it’s not going to be a full-fledged media program, no.”

When told about the taped conversation, Ortiz at first seemed surprised and wanted to discuss legal issues.
 
“Did I say that the media arts program was being eliminated?” Ortiz finally asked, emphasizing “media arts.” Yes, she did say there will no longer be a “full-fledged media arts program.”
 
“Yes, but what’s your definition of ‘full-fledged media arts program’ ?” Ortiz asked. “I imagine a lot [more] going on, and right now it’s just the classes and CineFestival.”
 
Ortiz is smart, charming, with a great sense of humor, and an unparalleled ability to find hidden meanings in simple words like “program eliminated” or “full-fledged,” or to parse why her own board members were (or weren’t) clueless about a major decision made by her.
 
Semantics aside, whether the Guadalupe’s media-arts program is dead or just sleeping, the Current still has a lot of questions. And it’s looking forward to a veggie dinner with Ortiz on September 14.