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SPORTS PAGE 6
LIFE&ARTS PAGE 4
Hula-hooping around Austin
The final four greatest children’s sports movies LIFE&ARTS PAGE 4
Austin transplant tries Texas country in the A-List
THE DAILY TEXAN Friday, July 30, 2010
WEEKEND FRIDAY ‘Right where I belong’
Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
TOMORROW’S WEATHER
www.dailytexanonline.com
Council votes down settlement City to fight civil rights suit in court
‘Vittoria, Vittoria, Vittoria’
in a packed c h a m b e r. The Austin Police Association, led b y Wa y n e Vincent, expressed its opposition Chris Riley to the settleCity councilman ment, while Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pressed the council to settle with Sanders’ family. “If we don’t treat people like human beings — regardless of their backgrounds, resumes and certificates — we’ll have problems on a perennial basis,” Linder said.
By Nolan Hicks Daily Texan Staff Racial tensions, which have been driving the City Council’s debate over whether to settle with Nathaniel Sanders’ family, exploded when Councilman Chris Riley proposed an alternative settlement that would have substantialNelson Linder l y re d u c e d President of the the previAustin NAACP ously negotiated payout. The motion, which indicated the council’s reluctance to adhere to the terms of the tentatively agreed-to settlement, caused several African-American community leaders to leave the meeting room. “Black folks know, in this city, we don’t have a thing called ‘justice,’” said Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “This is white racism at its very best.” He called Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez “cowards” for not supporting the settlement, and criticized council members Riley and Randi Shade for backing a compromise resolution that would reduce the amount of money paid by the city to the Sanders family. “They’re snakes and we’re going to beat them,” Linder said. “Remember Randi Shade. Remember bicycle man Chris Riley; he thinks bicycles are more
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SATURDAY ‘Way before Nirvana’
Bowling for Soup, The Dollyrots and Holy Moly play The Parish at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $15.
Lots of laughs
‘Ditto’
The Paramount Theatre shows the 1990 hit “Ghost” at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $9. Come by an hour before the show to paint your own pottery.
‘I walk the line’
Jeremy Steding and The Band of Bastards, Austin Volunteer Orchestra, Shandon Sahm and more play The Johnny Cash Bash at Threadgill’s World Headquarters starting at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $15 on the day of the show.
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Erika Rich | Daily Texan Staff
City manager Marc Ott speaks to Mayor Lee Leffingwell during the City Council meeting Thursday before a public hearing on a settlement with the family of Nathaniel Sanders.
Members also reject alternate proposal with lower payout, no culpability By Michelle Truong Daily Texan Staff After hours of heated deliberation, City Council members rejected a $750,000 settlement with the Sanders family Thursday for the shooting of Nathaniel Sanders by former Austin Police Department officer Leonardo Quintana in 2009. The motion failed on a 4-3 vote, with Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez and council members Chris Riley and Randi Shade voting against the proposal. Leffingwell said although he opposes the settlement, he agrees with the rest of the council that the proposed settlement does not indicate the city acknowledges the unjustified shooting of Sanders. “After much thought, I think the best [chance] that we have is to let this process go forward and let the
facts and the jury make the decision,” Leffingwell said. “The honest and most open way to see this through is to reject the settlement. Sanders was fatally shot by Quintana in May 2009, and his family filed a federal lawsuit against the officer and the city weeks after Nathaniel died, claiming excessive force and equal-protection violations. The rejected settlement means the Sanders’ suit will now go to court. Before the council rejected any settlement, Riley surprised those in attendance by introducing an alternate settlement totaling $500,000, which he said would allow the city to apologize for Sanders’ death without admitting wrongdoing. The alternative motion was met with disdain from several citizens before being denied by a vote of
5-2. Riley’s motion was supported by Shade, who said it was important in improving relations between the city and East Austin’s African-American community. The Austin Police Accountability Coalition, an activist group composed of concerned citizens, remained neutral regarding the settlement but continues to push for police department reform. “We support the Sanders family as they seek justice, but whether [the council] settles with the family or not, they haven’t settled with the community,” APAC member Tane Ward said. “We need a real system of police accountability, and there is not a working system of police accountability. And that is the reason that there isn’t trust.” The council’s decision was prefaced by reactions from citizens
Repurposing critic Quote to note lauds KUT’s efforts “The beautiful thing about the hoopers is that for a long time, nobody knew about it except the people that were into it, so it was a small community. ... Over the past five years, it’s gone from you may know one or two people who hoop to suddenly 20 or 30 in your immediate circle that hoop.” — Georgina Toland Professional Hula-hooper LIFE&ARTS PAGE 4
Race divide triggers resolution controversy Leader of Austin NAACP demands justice; officials accused of ‘white racism’
The KVRX Summer Concert Series presents Built By Snow, Focus Group, Marmalakes and Federal! State! Local! at the U.S. Art Authority. Doors open at 9 p.m. with a $5 cover.
SUNDAY
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The Flatlanders and the Greencards play a show at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets start at $33.50 and the show begins at 8 p.m.
“Last Comic Standing” season two winner John Heffron does stand-up at the Capital Comedy Club. Tickets cost $15 and doors open at 8 p.m.
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By Collin Eaton Daily Texan Staff After the third KUT “Cactus Conversation” meeting Thursday, a Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe co-founder and vocal critic of the original Jan. 29 announcement to repurpose the Cactus Cafe said he is becoming optimistic about KUT’s new shared management of the Cactus Cafe. “It sounds like [the KUT staff] have a big vision. It sounds like they’re listening to us, and I think they get it,” said Matt Portillo, Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe co-founder. “The Division of Student Affairs people didn’t get it. God love them, but they didn’t get it. I think KUT does understand, and my healthy skepticism is turning into optimism.” About 12 people other than KUT staff attended the afternoon meeting, including Texas musician Darden Smith, freelance writer Spike Gillespie and humorist Mary Gordon Smith, and discussed the “music heritage and opportunities” of the Cactus Cafe. Two representatives from The Ampersand Agency, an advertising company,
were also in attendance. Like all KUT Cactus Conversations, media outlets were not allowed to attend — an effort by KUT to ensure participants felt comfortable and open to discussion. Also in attendence were John Kunz, the owner of Waterloo Records & Video in Austin; Sam Scorpino, a representative in the Graduate Student Assembly; and KUT programming manager Hawk Mendenhall. According to the meeting agenda, the participants spoke about specific artists and the types of music that contributed to the history of the cafe. Portillo said participants in the meeting compared the cafe to clubs in New York that have solid, weeklong booking, and said that there may be an expansion from a oneman booking position to a booking team at some point. “It was scary at the beginning,” Portillo said. “It was like someone was telling you there’s a pot of gold at the end of the sidewalk, but it’s a mile-long sidewalk and you’re blindfolded. Through the blindfold, I can almost see something shiny.”
Soraya Giaccardi and her son Jaron, 3, participate in the ¡Alto ICE! vigil at the state Capitol on Thursday night. The event was held in reaction to SB 1070, the controversial Arizona illegal immigration law.
Erika Rich Daily Texan Staff
Hundreds gather to support Arizona ruling Judge delays enforcement of part of immigration law with temporary injunction
With candles lit and flashlights dimmed to a glow by paper bags, people of all ethnicities hummed along to the music of local band Son Armado and questioned passers-by, “Do I look illegal?” By Destinee Hodge In her temporary injunction, Daily Texan Staff Hundreds gathered on the Bolton delayed provisions of the south gates of the Texas Capitol law, including a section requiron Thursday in support of Arizo- ing officers to check a person’s na U.S. District Judge Susan Bol- immigration status while enforcton’s decision to withhold cer- ing other laws. She also barred tain sections from Arizona’s im- enforcement of parts requiring migration bill and to raise aware- immigrants to carry their papers ness of greater issues of racism and banning illegal immigrants from soliciting employment in in immigration laws.
public places — a move aimed at day laborers who congregate in parking lots across Arizona. The judge also blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants. Arizona asked an appeals court Thursday to lift Bolton’s order blocking most of the state’s immigration law. UT graduate student Rocío Villalobos, the main organizer of the event, said she and her friends thought that in light of the con-
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