ustxtxb_obs_2005_11_18_50_00005-00000_000.pdf

Milagros, Retablos and Arte Popular 0, TRADING COMPANY FOLK ART & OTHER TREASURES FROM AROUND THE WORLD 209 CONGRESS AVE AUSTIN 512/479-8377 OPEN DAILY 10-6, FREE PARKING BEHIND THE STORE www.tesoros.com i i it RI Stalia international Headquarters Come Visit us for LUNCH! In addition to our organic coffee, pizzas, empanadas, pastries and pies, we now prepare made to order sandwiches, salads, and even black bean gazpacho. 36015. Congress oft E. AINioe Penn Field under the water tower Chr.r.k s ;a ‘0’ T.C2;1 :3 Via’ Rove to vote in Kerr County? Hierholzer was dispatched to investigate. “What you and I think of as residence is not what the courts have deemed a residence,” the sheriff says. Under Texas court rulings, your residence is basically wherever you decide it is, so long as you plan to eventually live there. “You have to know, what was their intention when they signed [the voter registration card],” Hierholzer says. “I had to prove that [Rove] made a false statement in putting down his address as here. If they didn’t intend to return, then it’s voter fraud.” Hierholzer combed through records for all the Roves’ land holdings, including their vacation house in Key West, and their voting records going back 20 years. He questioned Texas Secretary of State and Rove pal Roger Williams. Hierholzer said he was surprised to learn that the secretary of state, who oversees elections, is appointed by the governor \(who’s running for who owns car dealerships outside Fort Worth, has little experience with elections. Hierholzer then talked on the phone with Rove, who said he intends to live in Kerr County when his work in Washington ends. Ultimately, the sheriff found no evidence to contradict what Rove said. After reading the sheriff’s report, the county attorney announced that he wouldn’t file charges and that Rove was free to vote in Kerr County. As far as his mansion in Washington, Rove was forced to pay an estimated $3,400 in back taxes covering the years 2002 and 2003, according to the Post. CIRKKKUS IN AUSTIN Protesting the Ku Klux Klan is a bit like denouncing cockroachesunderstandable but not exactly pertinent or much in dispute. While recent protests in Austin against the death penalty and the war in Iraq drew only a few hundred people, an estimated 3,000 protesters showed up on November 5 at Austin City Hall to yell, chant, wave signs, and gawk at the dozen members and supporters of the San Angelo-based American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Rally Against Legal Fag Marriages.” In other words, AWKKKK was there in support of Proposition 2, the November 8 ballot measure to amend the Texas Constitution to ban gay marriage. To protect the dozen Klan members, the Austin Police Department sealed off several blocks around the city hall and deployed 200 cops, many in full riot gear, as well as a helicopter, and four patrol boats in nearby Town Lake. Of a dozen protesters interviewed by the Observer, not a single person reported actually seeing a Klansman and most were shocked to learn that the police force present guarded just a handful of people. One cop conceded that the whole operation was “a big waste.” The Klansmen and Klanswomen present didn’t sport the usual white but instead wore black military-style garb, and some covered their faces with Confederate-flag bandanas. “We’re asking Texas to support Proposition 2 because God supports it, not because the KKK supports it,” said Grand Dragon Steven Edwards in front of city hall. Edwards tried to present the AWKKKK as a reasonableone might say, politically correctKlan outfit. “We are not a hate group,” he explained. “We hate the lifestyle, not the person.” That’s a line often employed by many Christian conservatives who oppose homosexuality. It’s never good to have the Klan echoing your talking points. And many conservative organizations supporting Proposition 2 were distressed that the Klan came out in favor of the ban on gay marriage. Kelly Shackelford with Texans for Marriage, a main group backing Prop 2, acknowledged that the Klan’s Austin rally was bad PR, but speculated that, “the other side had something to do with these guys showing up.” That other side, meanwhile, couldn’t agree on what to do about the Klan rally. Some, including Austin Mayor Will Wynn, called on Austinites to ignore the event, while radical groups such as Anti-Racist Action planned direct action to shut the Klan down. No Nonsense in November, the anti-Prop 2 campaign led by former state Rep. Glen Maxey, held a 2,000-person-strong march on the south First Street bridge in front of city hall. No Nonsense decided to make the day about gay rights and Proposition 2 and not the small band of racists holding court in front of bored reporters. “I come to this place standing with my back to those who hate me, looking literally and figuratively into the eyes of thousands of Texans who have stepped out of their fear,” Maxey told the crowd. Many Texas media outlets had been hyping the Klan rally for almost two weeks. On the day of the event, though, several reporters expressed remorse for turning the AWKKKK’s lackluster event into a spectacle. Said one reporter, who asked not to be named, “If they called themselves the San Angelo Club of White Dorks no one would have shown up.” continued on page 30 NOVEMBER 18, 2005 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 5