Around Texas, the January 30 birthday party massacre in Juarez was a grim reminder of the relentless violence that continues unabated in that city. Or it should have been. But the last few years have been an exercise in avoidance. In January 2009, the El Paso City Council passed a resolution noting that the War on Drugs was fueling the violence across the river and calling for an open discussion about ending the prohibition on narcotics (for an excellent defense of this idea, see William Martin’s story from our October issue, “Texas High Ways”). That resolution was vetoed by Mayor John Cook, but it it brought some national attention to the situation. At the time, the resolution’s author, city rep Beto O’Rourke, went on NPR and talked about what was going on:

We’re really at a point right now where we’ve reached such a level of crisis and such a level of killing and bloodshed that frankly this region hasn’t seen since the Mexican Revolution that we’re demanding something different from our federal governments, from Washington, D.C. and from Mexico City.

That was about a year ago. Since then nearly 3,000 people have been killed in Juarez. Today, the El Paso City Council is considering another resolution. The whereas’s say it all:

Whereas, an unprecedented tragedy has been unfolding in our community, and our entire region is in immediate risk of further violence, devastation and chaos; and

Whereas, over 1,600 people in our community were killed in Juárez in 2008; over 2,650 in 2009; and over 250 killed so far this year; and

Whereas, nearly 150 children have been killed, and just within these past two weeks fifteen people were brutally murdered while attending family parties in private homes – most were high school-aged students and the youngest was a thirteen-year old girl; and

Whereas, in the past two years the violence in Juárez has led to the closing of over 10,000 businesses, has left over 100,000 homes vacant and over 100,000 Juarenses having already fled their city — including at least 30,000 who have moved to El Paso; and

Whereas, El Paso and Juárez maintain a unique and unbreakable historical, familial and economic connection that has resulted in a rich culture and vibrant economy. In 2008 alone, the economies of U.S. and Mexico were bolstered by $51.1 billion in trade which passed through our ports of entry, accounting for 18% of all trade between these two countries.

Whereas, Juarenses annually spend over $1.2 billion in the El Paso economy, and over 60,000 jobs in El Paso are dependent upon economic activity in Juárez, contributing to an overall economic impact of well over $2 billion in El Paso; and

Whereas, Juárez is the deadliest city in the world. The absence of public safety and the rule of law are devastating the lives of our sister citizens and endangering the future peace and prosperity of this entire region, including El Paso, TX; and

Whereas, the terror taking place in Juárez is of human origin and therefore can be remedied through a human solution; and

Whereas, it is incumbent upon us to work towards a solution that restores justice and ends the violence, no matter how difficult or unpleasant, as lives and the future of our community and region are at stake; and

Whereas, it is understood that much of the violence is fueled by the various drug wars – those between cartels, those within cartels, and those between cartels and the governments of the U.S. and Mexico – wars that take the lives of members of drug trafficking organizations and those innocent of any involvement; and

Whereas, black market drug sales in the U.S. and Mexico fund the operations of the cartels, with marijuana comprising at least 50% of their revenues; and

Whereas, our country’s forty year War on Drugs has been a dismal social, economic and policy failure. It has not achieved any of its goals and narco-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border is raging at unprecedented levels with no end in sight; and

Whereas, this Council urges citizens on both sides of the border to refrain from buying and consuming illegal drugs that fund the cartel terrorism in our community; and

Whereas, important changes need to take place in Juárez and Mexico, including the restoration of public safety and the creation of a true respect for law. But there are ways we can help on this side of the border, and we must act now – people are dying, the future of our community is at stake, and enough is enough.

Now, therefore be it proclaimed that the beginning of a solution to regional drug violence will involve a bi-national effort centered on the following action statements:
We call for an immediate meeting between United States President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon here, in the largest bi-national community in the world, to develop a coordinated strategy to bring an immediate end to the drug violence in our community.
We urge comprehensive re-examination of our country’s failed War on Drugs and we support drug policy initiatives that do not result in wasting government funds and empowering criminal gangs and trafficking organizations.
We advocate the repeal of ineffective marijuana drug laws in favor of regulating, controlling and taxing the production, sale and consumption of marijuana by adults – a drug whose sale in the black market contributes to at least 50% of cartel revenues.
We support a national campaign to encourage people to refrain from the use of illegal drugs by connecting their use to cartel-related terror.
We oppose unsuccessful militaristic approaches like Plan Mérida, and demand that any future aid, whether tied to Plan Mérida or otherwise, involve a rigorous accounting of allegations of human rights abuses and have strict performance metrics.
We support U.S. aid that is tied to social, educational and economic development in Mexico and support that country’s fight to establish effective and just rule of law.
We oppose current U.S. policy that deports Mexican nationals directly to Juárez instead of to their state and city of origin, a practice that is unjust and also serves to supply potential recruits and victims to the criminal organizations operating in Juárez.
We support opening all potential humanitarian and asylum opportunities for individuals and families in Juárez who are threatened and live in fear for their safety.
We demand that Mexico be made the number one foreign policy priority for the United States.

Tagged: drugs, El Paso, Juarez, violence.

On a happy note: Starting tomorrow, January 19, this blog will be inactive for a couple weeks as I’m away from my desk on paternity leave. My wife and I will go from outnumbering the younger generation to being evenly matched. Wish us luck.

From Burka’s story: 

Just a year after it appeared that he was on the brink of his last race, he is poised to become one of the leaders of his party. His travel schedule, speaking engagements, and television appearances in recent months give every indication that he and his team of advisers are looking beyond Texas to national politics. If Perry defeats Hutchison in the March 2 Republican primary and goes on to win a third full term in November, he will immediately join the crowd of potential presidential aspirants in 2012—if he hasn’t done so already.

Throughout his career, Perry has always benefited from an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time, and once again, his luck seems to be working. The Republican field for 2012 is not deep. Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are the leftovers, Mark Sanford self-destructed, Sarah Palin is too polarizing, Newt Gingrich is old news, and that leaves . . . well, why not Rick Perry? Who among the contenders has a better conservative record? Who better expresses the anger of the average Republican voter? Who has a more robust fundraising base? Of the governors commonly mentioned—Tim Pawlenty, of Minnesota; Haley Barbour, of Mississippi; Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana; Mitch Daniels, of Indiana—whose state has weathered the recession more successfully?

Tagged: Burka, Hutchison, Perry.

Tom Alexander’s new book about Stanley Marcus is well worth a read for the chapters on Fortnight alone. Nowadays, some kid in Dallas can flip on the Travel Channel or go to a million different websites to see pictures of Bavarian castles or the hall of mirrors at Versailles or traditional Irish pubs, but none of that makes anything close to the impression that stepping into one of those lavish Fortnight stage sets. Here’s a particularly funny passage from the 1976 Irish Fortnight, for which Alexander brought in 1,000 gallons of Guinness and set up a mock pub.

Devoted consumers of such local favorite brands as Lone Star and Budweiser soon came to realize that one glass full of Guinness, particularly a free one, equaled between two or three good old Texas beers depending on the physical stature and stamina of the consumer.

Proof of this truism came to light during a two day time span toward the end of the Fortnight. One of the waiters in the pub had served the tasty but limited fare to a society lady widely known to be an excellent customer, and to his great delight, a generous tipper. When she had quickly downed her first imperial pint of Guinness, a substantial twenty ounces in volume, she rather forcefully asked for a second glass. This she also consumed in a matter of minutes before rising somewhat unsteadily to make her exit. The waiter, who had broken the one Guinness per customer ruling, was overjoyed to discover that his minor offense had garnered him a hefty gratuity.

There seems to be something about free and powerful booze that causes people to return to its source. As this compulsion seemingly knows no social stratification, it could have been expected that the two-glass high society Guinness guzzler would return, literally, to the scene of the crime the very next day.

Once again, she went through the apparently well-intention act of devouring her little meat pies, washing them down with one free glass of Dublin’s finest product. As it was late afternoon on the last day of the Fortnight, and the pub was not crowded, the waiter was eager to get his hands on some additional old Dallas society money. Fortunately for him, the well-known representative of that society still had an enormous thirst to quench before the Guinness Pub closed its free-flowing taps forever.

According to witnesses, she signaled the avaricious young man by beckoning with one hand and extending two fingers on the other. Obligingly, he brought forty more ounces to her table, and when the pub lights came up to indicate the closing time an hour later, there she sat, still as properly bolt upright as she had been taught to sit while at Dallas’ elite Hockaday School, but now totally incapable of movement. She still sat, staring smilingly straight ahead but fully immobile when two store security men approached her table. In complete silence, she reached into her purse, extracted a ten dollar bill which she handed to the by now distraught waiter, and her car keys which she gave to one of the security men. As she was very well known to the store personnel and, as noted, an excellent customer, the ever discreet security detail waited until the floor was almost devoid of other visitors, before placing the still immobile but happily beaming lady in a wheelchair and transporting her to the private employee entrance.

One of the members of the detail brought the lady her vehicle, helped pile her into the back seat and drove her home without further incident. The moral to this story, if there is one, might be never quickly drink more than two giant glasses of Guinness, but if must, do it in an understanding place like Neiman Marcus, where good customer relations knows no bounds.

Listen to the talented and mellifluous John Burnett’s piece from NPR’s Morning Edition today about Texas dance halls, coming off of our cover story from December. And while you’re there, I highly recommend spending some time browsing through John’s archive of stories, most of which take place in the southwest (John is based in Austin). Unless you have a two-hour commute every morning, it’s too easy to miss these very fine pieces when they first air. This one, about kayaking the Rio Grande, was particularly great.

Happy new year, dear reader. If you’re reading this blog, we’re very grateful to have your attention and we’ll continue doing everything we can here on the website and in the pages of TEXAS MONTHLY to reward it. I can’t wait to share with you some of the things we have in the pipe for the first few months of the new year. Best wishes to you in 2010. And thanks again for reading.

S.C. Gwynne sends along this bit of speculation about the next head coach at TTU:

One of Leach’s main assistants over the years has been Dana Holgorsen. Dana was offensive coordinator for the nation’s number one offense this year at Houston. He is a total product of Leach and has been with him since he was a player. He runs Leach’s offense almost exactly. A prediction: He will be offered the head coaching job and he will take it (which will mean that the rest of the coaches will remain). 

**UPDATE: Sam adds that Holgorsen not only coached under Leach at Tech, but he played for him at Iowa Wesleyan, and coached with him at Valdosta State. He would also like to get even more specific with his prediction: “Soon after the Armed Forces Bowl today, where Houston plays Air Force, Holgorsen will be offered the head-coaching job at Texas Tech and he will take it.”

Tagged: dana holgorsen, mike leach, texas tech.

And that’s all she wrote for the pirate of the high plains. But of course we haven’t seen the end of this story, not by a long shot. Already the emails attacking Adam James are coming out and it can’t be long before Leach gets his clipper turned around and delivers his first cannonball athwart TTU. Leach was due a $800,000 bonus for being the coach of the team on December 31, 2009, which is…hold on, let me check my calendar…TOMORROW! That’s not good. I seem to recall something about Leach not only being a pirate but also a lawyer (redundant?). And he’s got the fan base lining up pretty uniformly in his camp. (The Red Raiders in this office, for instance, are all on suicide watch.) Then there’s the impact on recruiting. Signing day is a month or so away and players’ commitments are still non-binding. Many more boots to drop.

Clearly this is all about concussions. If Adam James had simply blown out his knee, we’d all be talking about the underwear bomber right now (and maybe we should be anyway). But for good reason, concussions are the cause du jour in football at all levels right now, and Leach found himself on the wrong side of this one, whether he deserved it or not. Either way, it shows you how powerful this issue has become. Tommy Craggs at Deadspin thinks Leach does deserve it (for another take, read S. C. Gwynne’s piece on our homepage), but he has an interesting take on the concussion issue.

The old rules are being rewritten, just as surely as they were in 1969, when black players boycotted practices everywhere from Indiana to Iowa to Wyoming. That was the last time players rose up en masse against the authority of their coaches. Author Michael Oriard calls it the sport’s “quiet racial revolution,” the result of which was that “coaches lost their cultural authority.” At the time, this was deemed such a threat to the soul of college football that Sports Illustrated devoted a hand-wringing three-part series to the matter. The consensus is that college football has come out just fine.

You can hear echoes of 1969 in the protests earlier this year from players at Michigan and Kansas and now also in the James family’s statement (”subjected to actions and treatment not consistent with common sense rules for safety and health”), and you can hear them, too, in the fervent defense of the coach’s prerogative (that means everyone out there bleating stupidly about the “pussification of America”). There are differences, sure. The players have more leverage now (the front page of The New York Times is on their side); the coaches, more power (in 1973, the four-year scholarship became a one-year renewable grant, left to the coach’s discretion). And the subject has shifted from the race of the athletes to their health. But the stakes haven’t changed, and in both cases the agitators demanded the same thing: a piece of the coach’s supposedly sacrosanct autonomy. The players will get a sliver, as they did in 1969, and a proud, retrograde sport will move incrementally forward, and football will again be better for it.

Tagged: concussion, Craig James, mike leach, texas tech.

Coming off of his best season ever, when he flirted with a shot at a national championship, Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was a natural for the cover this past September, and, if newsstand sales are any indication, it was the right choice. But boy, the magazine cover curse seems to be in fine working order. Not only have the Red Raiders had a disappointing season, but Leach’s flair for good PR seems to have abandoned him, from his weird press conference following the loss to A&M when he blamed his players’ “fat little girlfriends,” to the news today that he had been suspended from the team and would not coach in the Alamo Bowl while TTU investigated complaints from a player about treatment after an injury. Leach is a brilliant coach and gridiron philosopher (as S. C. Gwynne’s profile made clear), and who knows what this investigation is really all about, but let’s just say this wasn’t the season we (or he) had in mind back in September.

**UPDATE: Well, Mike, it was nice having you around. This report, still unconfirmed, from Deadspin is pretty devastating. Player in question was Adam James, son of Craig James. Injury in question was concussion. This bit of the James family’s statement pretty much says it all:

Over the past year, there has been a greatly enhanced recognition of the dangers of concussions and the potential for long term physical damage to players. At virtually every level of football coaching, cases where children and young men have sustained concussions have generated serious discussion of the importance of correct treatment and diagnosis.

The one place you do not want to be right now is on the wrong side of the concussion discussion. What would Blackbeard do? Torch the athletic facility and leave in the dead of night?

Tagged: mike leach, suspension, texas tech.

For about a decade, TEXAS MONTHLY has been a partner in the Texas Debates. As part of our participation, Senior Executive Editor and unofficial Dean of Texas Political Writers Paul Burka has always been a questioner (as he had been in many previous debates dating back to at least 1988). On January 14, KERA-TV in Dallas (along with a group of sponsors) will be hosting a Perry-Hutchison debate, but Paul will not be a part of it and TEXAS MONTHLY will not be a partner. The Texas Tribune has a story up today about why. Here’s what we have to say about it…

As the negotiations for this debate were being finalized, KERA informed us that it was not comfortable with having Paul as a panelist. In their view some of the things that Paul had written about the Perry-Hutchison race on Burkablog over the past four months had qualified him as an “opinion writer,” and not a straight political journalist, and that according to NPR’s guidelines for debates, which KERA was following, “opinion writers” were not appropriate questioners. This was their position, which of course they are perfectly entitled to. Our position was (and is) that it is entirely appropriate for Paul to be a panelist. He’s been writing about Texas politics for almost four decades, and few people in this state have his institutional memory and depth of political knowledge. Furthermore, in his prodigious reporting in the pages of the magazine, he has always offered opinions—thoughtful, well-researched, insightful opinions based on his decades of observation. The only thing that has changed since Burkablog came along is the frequency of publication. (Or the infrequency, as is sometimes the case when he’s on deadline, like right now. Burka! Where’s your story??)

In particular, KERA was concerned about Paul’s blogging about the KBH campaign. Well, I reject completely the notion that Paul is biased toward one party or candidate. He has always been an equal-opportunity offender. Though he’s been tough on the senator’s campaign during a period in which she’s been down in the polls, he’s also been critical of the governor during that same time frame, both on Burkablog and in the pages of the magazine. Over the course of his career he’s taken massive heat from all sides, which is exactly what a good political reporter should do. It used to be said that if more than two people showed up for a reporter’s funeral he had disgraced the profession. Paul is in the business of making observations, not friends. That’s why people want to read his stuff.

The last thing I’ll say is that this brings up an important point about media in the digital age. Blogs let writers work out their thoughts for the first time, usually without editorial oversight. That’s why they’re exciting. It’s in the nature of a blog to be intemperate. You put up what you think and you moderate it, if necessary, after the fact (much to his credit, I think, Paul often responds to criticisms in the comment threads of his posts). This is why lines taken out of context from a blog usually end up misrepresenting the overall view of the blogger. Needless to say for anyone who is a regular reader of Paul’s, if you were to take in its totality everything that he has written about the Perry-KBH race, going back to December 2008, you would find many posts and passages in magazine stories praising and criticizing both campaigns.

Tagged: debate, KERA, paul burka, texas monthly.

That’s what OU cornerback Brian Jackson had to say last week about traveling to El Paso to play Stanford in the Sun Bowl. According to the Oklahoman, Jackson and other OU players and fans were hesitant to come to El Paso because of the violence in Juarez. 

“They said there’s something going on across the border right there, that it’s not safe,” senior cornerback Brian Jackson said.

 

“They should have moved the bowl game. It’s the well-being. You’ve got to think about our well-being first, don’t you?”

Um, yeah. Did anyone tell Jackson that El Paso is consistently ranked as one of the safest cities in America? Glad to see that this little bit of derangement is working itself out. The Texas Tribune is now reporting that tickets to the Sun Bowl have sold out faster than ever in its history. 

A Schleicher County jury has given a 33-year prison sentence to Allan Eugene Keate, the second FLDS member tried in the ongoing YFZ case that we wrote about in October. San Angelo Standard-Times has the story.

I’m a couple days late on this. As part of their highly entertaining Top Ten Everything of 2009 compilation (which includes everything from Top Ten Tweets to Top Ten New Species) Time named the cover of our March Style Issue the third best magazine cover of 2009, right ahead of W’s October cover (famous model on sidewalk holding a cardboard sign that says “It must be somebody’s fault”) and right behind a June New Yorker cover (drawing of hot dog vendor made with an iPhone app called Brushes). Kudos to TJ Tucker, the best creative director ever from Baird, Texas, and the brains and eyes behind everything you admire about our covers (everything you don’t admire is my fault). From the write-up:

Sometimes the best covers look the simplest; this one conveys a confidence and ease that allows the cover to resonate by way of its familiarity with the magazine’s readers. It’s totally traditional, yet sleek and modern — probably the way Texas Monthly readers see themselves.

We’ll take it. But it does make me wonder: How many TM readers consider themselves “sleek”?

From the magazine:

How to choose a Bum Steer of the Year in such a bummer of a year? We thought we had an answer in February, when U.S. marshals raided the Houston headquarters of Stanford Financial, the house-of-cards money-management firm of the knight from Mexia, Sir Allen Stanford. He spent two days holed up at a girlfriend’s house while we rubbed our hands together, imagining his pugnacious mug frowning out from our January cover. But then he surfaced, and as the story unfolded of his “massive ongoing fraud,” as the Securities and Exchange Commission put it (with gusto!), we began to worry. Ridiculous as his “outside wives,” gold helicopter, and fake British snobbery were, Stanford turned out to be more villain than clown. The sins were too serious. The victims too aggrieved. He didn’t make you want to laugh; he made you want to punch him in the face.

But not to worry. The year was young. Another candidate would come along. Sure enough, on tax day, with tea partiers making merry all around him, Governor Rick Perry obliged, hinting strongly—though erroneously—that if the federal government didn’t watch out, the State of Texas might just have to see about seceding from the union. Visions of the governor storming Washington immediately began to dance before our eyes. There would be pitchforks! There would be torches! Someone would be riding a mule! But this one wouldn’t stay funny either. Next thing we knew, Perry was tied up in a controversy about the possible execution of an innocent man. Not a lot of yuks there. Then he was proclaiming that the president was “hell-bent toward taking America towards a socialist country.” It didn’t make you want to laugh; it made you want to cry.

Meanwhile, a dark horse had entered the race. On September 21, before a television audience of 17.5 million viewers, former House majority leader Tom DeLay pranced into our plans as a contestant on season nine of Dancing With the Stars. Unlike our previous contenders, the Hammer got off to a slow start. The fact that he had made a calculated decision to appear on ABC’s hit reality show, weighing the probable humiliation against the probable goodwill it would generate, initially hindered his candidacy.

Needless to say, any doubts we had were completely obliterated by the first close-up shot of the DeLay buttocks awkwardly shaking from side to side like two elderly lap dogs fighting under a blanket. Over the next three episodes, the former majority leader showed a surprising passion for ass-shaking. Who knew? Who wanted to know? The response from the judges’ table and the morning talk shows suggested that it was not necessary for us to see any more rump, but DeLay carried on gamely, tossing that thing around whenever he had a chance, putting the bum back in Bum Steers. He also favored the knee slide. And his outfits! In an early Entertainment Tonight interview from the rehearsal studio he explained, “Most of my costumes are going to be really classy and tasteful and reflect the grandfather image rather than the extreme fighter image.” That made sense until he came flouncing onstage for his first cha-cha looking like an extra from Boogie Nights. Goodbye, Grandpa. Hello, Fabulous. When you were done cringing, you had to laugh, and in a year as unfunny as 2009, this was no small feat. Thanks, Tom. We needed that.

Preview the rest of the issue (if you can bear to sit through my video) here.

Tagged: bum steers, texas monthly, tom delay.

Texas Monthly alum Robert Draper has a new piece in the Times Magazine on the Perry-KBH primary. It’s a good, long story and you should read the whole thing, but even if you only read the first paragraph, you’ll be treated to this gem from the governor:

With relish, the longest-serving governor in the state’s history recounted its uninhabitable past. “I think it was Sheridan that said, ‘If I owned hell and Texas, I would rent out Texas and live in hell.’ I mean, this was a really hard place. You look at the men that founded it — the Bowies and the Travises, even Sam Houston, in my opinion possibly the greatest leader this country’s ever developed. . . . I don’t think Texas becomes an urbany, really highly cultured place until like the last decade.”

Hmmm, what happened about a decade ago? That’s right, not until culture priest Rick Perry arrived in the governor’s mansion was there anything nice to do in this godforsaken wilderness. Wonder if he’s talking about 101 Dalmatians.

Tagged: 101 dalmations, rick perry.