Daily - The Austin Chronicle (2024)

There has been much media and legal speculation about how the State Department decided that they had the authority to grant private security consultants Blackwater USA functional immunity from prosecution over the deaths of 17 Iraqis on Sept. 17. It seems to have raised a fog of confusion over whether the U.S. government has the right to sue a private security firm responsible for potentially criminal activity in Iraq.

Which is interesting, another private security firm is being sued in the U.S. courts for potentially criminal activity in Iraq. The difference? The person who died was American. In October 2005, Army Specialist Christopher Monroe was hit and killed in Iraq by a vehicle driven by employees of Erinys International, a British-run and -staffed security firm that is currently estimated to have 1,000 personnel in-country. On the night of the accident, their vehicles were reportedly traveling at 80 mph down a darkened road with only parking lights. Monroe's family are now suing Erinys through the Houston courts. In a bitter twist, in January 2006, four month's after Monroe's death, Erinys opened a new office in Houston, specializing in "challenging oil and gas environments."

But the case could create a legal and political dilemma. Blackwater's defense could depend on saying the American courts have no jurisdiction, but that would cripple the prosecution over the death of an American serviceman. A decision either way could cause howls of outrage, either from security firms who will say they are being hamstrung by civilian law, or private citizens fearing an unfettered mercenary army, protected by legal precedent.

The first step toward eliminating the much-reviled 100-to-1 crack-to-powder-cocaine sentencing scheme will take effect tomorrow, Nov. 1, when federal sentencing guidelines for crack will decrease by an average of 16 months for most defendants.

The new rules, adopted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission earlier this year, downgrade possible punishments for crack by two so-called “guideline levels” and are expected to effect 80% of all federal crack defendants, said Mary Price, general counsel and vice president of the nonprofit group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which has been at the forefront of the fight against disparate sentencing for crack-cocaine defendants. Notably, however, the new guidelines do not effect mandatory-minimums – rather, they effect all cases that fall above and below the mandatory sentence triggers, and they are not retroactive – although the commission is preparing to tackle the question of whether they should be. If they were to be applied retroactively, Price says that approximately 19,500 current federal inmates would be eligible to have their sentences reduced – including some 1,500 inmates that would be eligible for immediate release.

TODAY'S EVENTS

DAC Nights: Behind the Zines at Dougherty Arts Center

MUSIC | MOVIES | ARTS | COMMUNITY

Last year's UT superstar is this year's Seattle Supersonics rookie. Kevin Durant, one year removed from high school and second overall pick in the draft, makes his National Basketball Association debut tonight on national television. Cable TV that is. After becoming one of the most dominant players in UT basketball history, we'll see how KD adjusts to playing with the big boys. Durant is suffering from sprained left ankle but will most likely participate in tonight's game. Catch his debut tonight on ESPN at 9:30pm against Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. For more, check out this AOL sports blog about KD and his youthfulness.

Two years after leaving UT for the bigs, LaMarcus Aldridge had a career game for the Portland Trailblazers in a losing effort against the San Antonio Spurs last night. Aldridge played 36 minutes shooting 12 of 19 from the field, a perfect three of three from the free-throw line picking up 27 total points as well as two blocks. With first overall pick Greg Oden out for the year, Portland will need all they can get from Aldridge.

When it comes to combat sports, fighters always worry the promoter will take off with the purse. But since King of Kombat CEO Ron Hernandez has also run a payroll company, the money for this weekend's event at the Crockett Center may be a bit more secure. For the start-up entrepreneur, bringing an MMA promotion made sense – business sense. "Dallas has a league, Houston has a league, but there's a lot of fans here and some good gyms."

Even with a 90% sell-out for their first event, back in September, Hernandez has tweaked the product. With three bouts less than the monster 13-fight debut card, Hernandez said he'd learned a lot about pacing the night. "It's organization. We learned about security, about what worked with the fights. We missed out by not interviewing the winners, which we're changing, so they can thank their parents, thank their sponsors. We're putting a bit more emphasis on the fighters, rather than having them going one after another."

What hasn't changed is the ethos of designing the card, because the hard-hitting style worked so well for the fighters and the audiences. "The biggest thing that people talked about was the explosiveness of the fighters. There were seven knock-outs, which is a lot for one card. There was nobody just walking around each other, because we picked the fighters for that."

After last year's bitter campaign and divisive election, the SOS Alliance and ACLU-backed "open government online" city charter amendment was defeated at the polls, having been decried as too expensive and restrictive. City leaders promised to revisit the issue and provide greater transparency – and that was all we heard. Until now.

Tomorrow, City Council adopts a city website redesign with "the goal of significantly increasing the number of online services available to the public." It remains to be seen what those "online services" constitute. Updated access to lobbyist information, more meeting transcripts, and expedited development info, for instance, would be good; rinky-dink sh*t like paying parking tickets online, however, doesn't fit the bill for accountability and transparency. This press release makes clear the city's looking for your input:

Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley, along with Council Members Lee Leffingwell and Mike Martinez, will announce a major overhaul of the City of Austin’s Web site at a news conference 9:30am, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007, at Austin City Hall.

As part of the redesign effort, council members will detail plans for public involvement throughout the process and unveil a Web usage survey designed to gather ideas and suggestions. Council members will utilize computers at the event to be among the first to take the survey.

So there you have it. Continue the push for accountability, folks.

On another note, the presser notes Austin City Connection "was launched in early 1995 as one of the few municipal government sites in the nation." Courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, here's the city website from 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Whoa …

Today could see the last occurrence of an Austin tradition: Escuelita del Alma's annual Downtown Trick-or-Treat. The staff and students of the Congress Avenue child care center will be putting on their scary faces and visiting local businesses, as well as City Hall, from 3.30-5pm. However, since Escuelita is one of the businesses that will have to move out of their current home to make way for White Lodging Services planned Marriott hotel, the future of the walk may be in peril.

The center does have a new home picked out on E. Second, but still has to secure the funds. So it seems the Save Escuelita campaign may be hoping for something more than some gummy worms and a lollipop in their Halloween sack.