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SEPTEMBER 21, 2006
THURSDAY
VOLUME 96, ISSUE 13
San Marcos to reimburse developer for Yarrington Road construction
Cotton Miller/ Star photo DIRECTOR SPEAKS: Luis Valdez the writer/director of films such as Zoot Suit and La Bamba, speaks at the Evans Liberal Arts theater Wednesday night about his life and career.
By Zach Halfin Special to the Star The San Marcos City Council adopted a resolution Tuesday that will provide funds to reimburse a land development company for expenses incurred during the construction of an overpass on Yarrington Road. The resolution allocates approximately $6 million in new tax revenue to compensate Carma Texas Inc., a land development firm that specializes in master plan communities. Carma will be reimbursed for construction costs for the $8 million bridge that will allow future expansion of Yarrington Road to bypass Post Road and the Union Pacific rail line. Through an inter-local agreement, the city and Hays County will devote portions of property tax revenue collected from the community. Carma is developing to repay the company’s construction costs. The city will use approximately 90 percent of the new property tax revenue to repay Carma. Hays County agreed to devote 50 percent of the new revenue to repay the company until a $1 million self-imposed limit is reached. Carma will fund $1 million out-ofpocket for the cost of a basic “at-grade” crossing. “This is an unusual arrangement with the developer, who at their own risk will construct an $8 million overpass and will only be repaid if they actually build and sell homes in their neighborhood,” said Dan O’Leary, San Marcos city manager. Shaun Cranston, Carma’s senior development manager, said the overpass will provide access to residents of the company’s master plan community, which is scheduled to open February 2007 and will contain around 2,100 homes. “As you may know, Yarrington terminates at a T-intersection at Post Road, and the bridge we are discussing this evening will fly over Post Road and over the Union Pacific railroad and form the first leg of the outer Loop 110 around the city,” Cranston said. “We have an 11-acre school site we set aside land for public facility, (a) potential fire station or other types of use the city would like to see. The first model homes should be under construction See CONSTRUCTION, page 4
Police patrol for safety, violations at San Marcos River By Jacqueline Davis The University Star Tubers on the San Marcos River may have recently encountered police officers from three nearby counties while floating downstream. The officers were keeping a close eye on river safety and may continue to do so in the future. San Marcos River Foundation officials are continuing their efforts to boost law enforcement on the San Marcos River by hiring off-duty officers from Hays, Caldwell and Guadalupe county to patrol for law violations, river trashing and public intoxication. Dianne Wassenich, the foundation’s executive director, said the first effort took place Labor Day weekend during peak tubing hours. The foundation will
continue to fund law enforcement efforts to patrol the river until problems subside. “We worked a task force at the river,” said Deputy Mike Thielen, Hays County Sheriff ’s Department spokesperson. “The concern was about underage drinking, possible drug use and disorderly conduct.” Thielen said there were five or six arrests during Labor Day weekend. Arrests at the river usually entail possession of drugs, furnishing alcohol to a minor, or assaults resulting from fights. Officers gave out various citations for littering, public lewdness and disorderly conduct. Thielen said the efforts did not focus only on college students. Officers did not approach anyone without See PATROL, page 4
ROWDY RIVERS: An increased police presence on the San Marcos River, headed by the San Marcos River Foundation, aims to help curb lawlessness on the water through he use of offduty officers from Hays, Caldwell and Guadeloupe counties.
Valdez’ writing fills ‘deep hole in his soul’ Zoot Suit author addresses protest and discrimination against Mexican-Americans
By A.N. Hernández The University Star Luis Valdez writes plays to fill a “deep hole in his soul.” He writes to protest the stereotypes and discrimination Mexican-Americans have experienced in the United States. As part of this year’s Common Experience theme, “Protest and Dissent,” the Emmy award-winning playwright spoke Wednesday about racial injustices that inspired him to write his play, Zoot Suit. “I want to ask you a question — to whom does the future belong?” Valdez asked the hundreds in the Evans Liberal Arts Teaching Theater. “Every generation, as they mature and take life into their own hands, hit the streets. They begin to express their feelings and begin to express their ideas and participate in the world.” Valdez, 66, said the experience of being raised in a segregated society made him become
a writer. He talked about an incident that happened when he was 1 year old and his family lived in a horse barn. Valdez’ back was scalded by water spilled from a makeshift stove. Rather than being given intensive treatment, a salve and bandage were placed on his back. Hours later, he was released from the horse barn in his mother’s arms. “As far as society was concerned, we were just field hands with our own culture,” he said. Valdez said his childhood was nomadic. His family was poor migrant workers in California who followed the ebb and flow of the California harvests. Cotton, cherries, apricots, peaches and plums were all harvests family members reaped with their hands. “You would pick the cotton, dump it in the sack and put it on the rack,” Valdez said of his time in the fields among other minority migrant worker groups. In 1965, he founded El Teatro
onlineconnection For an audio feature on Common Experience guest speaker Luis Valdez, log on to www.UniversityStar.com Campesino, a traveling theatre made of farm workers, who often performed in the fields and on truck beds. Hardships inspired his writing efforts rather than break his spirit. He also urged students to do the same. “You can take a negative and turn it into a positive if you just spin it around and turn it on its head,” Valdez said. “You can turn your life around.” He discussed his commitment to the Sleepy Lagoon murder case that inspired his play, Zoot Suit. Valdez said “it was his privilege” to study the 12 men whose lives were changed indefinitely by the 1942 murder trial and then “boil it down to the theatre.” “What Zoot Suit is about is the criminalization of people who
look brown,” he said. Valdez said the Sleepy Lagoon trial preceded the Zoot Suit riots of Los Angeles by a year. In 1943, the Zoot Suit riots were a result of escalating cultural tensions between the newly returned military men and Mexican-American civilians. Hannah Rogers, economics freshman, was present at Valdez’ speech. She said she didn’t know what the Zoot Suit riots were until she read the book over the summer as part of her University Seminar class. ”I didn’t know why he wrote the play. I just never understood why he would,” Rogers said. ”I mean, him not having a safe See VALDEZ, page 3
From Soldier to Student: The struggles of the ‘new battlefield’ By Katie Reed Special to the Star When Tom Hauser returned from Vietnam he had to make the transition from military to civilian life. Now Hauser helps those returning from the service make that same transition. Hauser, one of many military veterans enrolled at Texas State, now conducts his battles in a new environment — the classroom. “You definitely have to make a lot of adjustments mentally and emotionally and some take longer than others,” he said. The GI Bill of Rights provides soldiers the opportunity to further their education after serving their country. Instead of high school memories fresh on their minds, they have memories of combat. “We are accustomed to living life at 100
miles an hour and everything needs to be done right away with no room for error, as people’s lives very well depend on the essence of speed and perfection,” said Dan West, a Marine veteran and business administration graduate student. “At work or in the community, we return to where the speed of life is more like 10 to 15 miles an hour where learning from error is commonplace.” It can be very frustrating, West said, because the majority of his fellow students, the university faculty and staff, and even his own family cannot begin to understand the experiences he has been through while active in the military. For those veterans attending college, getting acclimated to the change of pace is not always the greatest obstacle. Most are older than the students they share the classroom with and the lack of discipline amongst their
new peers makes adjusting difficult. “It is kind of frustrating coming back to school with people half my age who are still trying to mature. We have different perspectives and expectations of school,” said Bob Roberts, geography graduate student and Navy veteran. After transitioning from soldier to civilian life, military veterans often experience symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, including high stress levels, flashbacks, panic attacks, extreme guilt and nightmares. “It’s definitely weird adjusting to student mode,” said Jordan Wylie, criminal justice freshman and inactive Marine. “The PTSD is very weird. I’ll have anxiety attacks and sometimes it’s hard for me to be around See STUDENT, page 4
‘Gaydars’ put to test with Activists for Sexual Minorities panel By Eloise Martin The University Star Texas State students were asked to “Guess Who’s Gay” Wednesday night during a panel presented by Activists for Sexual Minorities. The event featured four Texas State students who answered general questions about their lives, such as “Are your parents accepting of your lifestyle?” and “What is your opinion about Brokeback Mountain?” Audience members then used the answers to determine each panelist’s sexual orientation. The panel was facilitated by Jeffery Gordon, philosophy professor, who said the purpose of the event was to learn how stereotypes can affect everyone and also to test the audience’s “gaydar.” Jacob Boles, anthropology senior, guessed two of the panelists’ sexual orientation correctly. During the question and answer ses-
Bryn Legget/ Star file photo
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sion, Boles asked if any of the panelists had tattoos to help decide his vote. “With a lot of my friends, the placement of the tattoos kind of go with their orientation,” he said. “But it didn’t help tonight. You can’t judge someone by it.” The audience of about 40 people guessed the sexual orientation of two panelists correctly. No one in the audience could correctly identify the sexual orientation of all four panelists. The audience voted 23-5 that Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, undecided junior, was straight. When Atwater-Rhodes returned, she announced that she was “as queer as a 3-legged duck.” Atwater-Rhodes, originally from Massachusetts, said defending See GUESS, page 4
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