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District Court Judge Scott Jenkins issued his verdict today on HB1751, ruling for the Texas Entertainment Association and striking down the fee as unconstitutional. For background information on the fee, check out this post, and TAASA’s statement on the ruling can be found online here.

NBC 10- Texoma
Dance club where 12-year-old danced won’t be closed

Fox 34 Lubbock
Council Unanimously Approves Sex Offender Ordinance

Temple Daily Telegram – by Billy Crawford
Research shows 34 registered sex offenders living near area schools

The Monitor – by Jennifer L. Berghom
Former UTPA professor to discuss his photo essay on human trafficking

McLemore will speak at the University of Texas-Pan American on Saturday about his experiences photographing those involved in the trafficking.

Tyler Morning Telegraph – by Casey Knaupp
Man Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Girl On Trial

SMU Daily Campus
SMU sinks to new lows

While the student accused of the assault has been referred to the Dean of Student Life, the woman has declined to file criminal charges. It is dead wrong to assume that this woman withdrew charges because she was, in fact, guilty of bringing the trouble on herself. Victims often hide behind a veil, thinking that ignoring the issue will help it disappear. Wrong. Did our student body, the supposed authors of the Juicy Campus posts, ever pause to think that accusing the girl of initiating the attack would cause her to withdraw her accusation as a last attempt to salvage her own self-respect?

News 8 Austin
Police searching for man suspected of sexual assault

Galveston County Daily News – by Chris Paschenko
Teacher charged with sexual assault

SMU Daily Campus – by Meredith Shamburger
SMU PD investigation of assault ends, man referred to Office of Student Life

A woman called police last Thursday at 2:08 a.m. saying that a male student affiliated with the SAE fraternity had put an unknown substance in her drink, taken her to a storage area in the SAE house and assaulted her. Police have not identified the substance in the woman’s drink.

The investigation ended after the woman decided not to press charges, and SMU PD no longer views the matter as a police investigation, according to Chief of Police Richard A. Shafer. SMU PD issued a campus alert about the situation last Thursday.

Tyler Morning Telegraph – by Kelly Prew
Suspect in Alleged Jacksonville Rape Identified

The suspect of an alleged rape at Jacksonville High School that allegedly happened in early January has been identified, JISD Police Chief Marvin Acker told the Tyler Paper today.

Tyler Morning Telegraph – by Casey Knaupp
Trial Deals With Club Where Kids ‘Performed’

Child Protective Services began investigating a reported case of drug abuse and child neglect. What they found was ongoing sexual abuse and exploitation of four young children.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram – by Robert Cadwallader
Council gives initial nod to sex-offender restrictions

NBC 9- El Paso
Stash House Bust

The first officer on the scene noticed someone loading marijuana in a trailer hitched to a red Ford Expedition. The officer found more pot inside the house. He also discovered seven undocumented immigrants, many of them children. At this time we don’t know if they were being held against their will or what condition they were in.

Cleburne Times-Review
Sexual assault suspect sought

Austin American-Statesman – by Steven Kreytak
Prosecutor: man handcuffed, raped woman after offering ride

Dallas Morning News – by John Lavo
Letters for Tuesday

Mr. Ernst uses incredibly bad reasoning in asserting that legal prostitution in Germany somehow contributes to lower rates of rape and lower incidents of sexually exploited children in that country…

By Wendy Murphy
The Patriot Ledger

OK, so Bambi – or Kristen – or whatever her name is this week – is a truly pretty woman. But that’s where the similarities between the prostituted woman used by recently deposed New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the famous Julia Roberts movie end.

There’s nothing “pretty” about prostitution, notwithstanding the glamorization of the Emporer’s Club as a kind of Neiman Marcus-version of what goes on for 25 bucks in dilapidated drug-fueled shacks in inner-cities across the United States.

Nearly all prostituted women were abused as children and end up selling their bodies out of desperation, drug and mental health problems, or because the trauma they suffered as kids literally trained their brains to believe that sexual exploitation is a form of affection.

Despite this shocking data, prostitution is often depicted as a desirable lifestyle, characterized as an expression of women’s free choice. No surprise there; it’s to be expected in a society where myths are perpetuated to facilitate all sorts of entitlements on behalf of the powerful.

And in classic hypocritical style when it comes to American attitudes toward women, our culture celebrates prostitution while condemning it as a crime. Worse, though designed to punish equally the men and women involved in the crime, the laws are enforced disproportionately against women. The johns and pimps are rarely brought to justice. Is it any wonder Eliot Spitzer thought the odds were good that he could avoid prosecution?

Prostitution causes other crimes, too, including child sex abuse and child pornography. When the claim is made that women have a “right” to sell their bodies, ACLU-types push the point and argue that children as young as 13 should be able to claim a similar right to sexual freedom. Read more

Washington Post – by Linda Sieg
Japan’s Okinawans rally against U.S. military crimes

Washington Post – by Jeff Carlton
Sex Offender Running for Mayor in Texas

KHOU- Houston
Harris Co. deputies shoot, kill convicted sex offender while serving warrant

Dallas Morning News – by Brett Barrouquere
Prosecutors: Case ex-soldier belongs in civilian court

CBS 11 Dallas/ Fort Worth – by Joel Thomas
New Database Lists More Sex Offender Information

ABC 9 Lufkin – by Tashun Chism
Sexual Assault Trial Punishment Announced

KGBT- Harlingen
Few Clues on Spring Break Gang Rape

Fort Bend Herald
Women’s Center hosting Pirates and Parrots event

Washington Post – by Jane Sutton
Canadian says U.S. interrogators threatened rape

A young Canadian prisoner held at Guantanamo said in legal documents that U.S. interrogators repeatedly threatened to rape him and Canadian government visitors told him they were powerless to do anything.

FortBendNow
Sheriff’s Office Investigates Sexual Offense Near County Jail

Austin American-Statesman
Hutto man sentenced for sex assault

CBS 4- El Paso
Former Teacher Charged With Sexual Abuse

NBC 11- Lubbock
Lubbock City Council Considers Register Sex Offender Ordinance

Tyler Morning Telegraph – by Kenneth Dean
Murders, Disappearance Share Common Suspect

ABC 9 Lufkin – by Jessica Cervantez
A Medical Expert Takes The Stand in Sexual Assault Trial

Athens Daily Review
Area eye doctor indicted

Feministing reports that Maxim has published a how-to guide for stalkers. Check out their commentary on it, and make sure you write a letter to Maxim and let them know that stalking is a serious, often deadly crime fueled by the desire to control another person.

I read this infuriating story on Feminste about an undocumented immigrant whom a bailiff forgot about in a jail cell for four days with no food, water or access to a toilet. The bailiff who forgot about her has been suspended for thirty days but will keep his job.

Washington County Cpl. Jarrod Hankins acted without “intentional misconduct” when he left Adriana Torres-Flores in the 9 1/2-by-10 1/2-foot cell, Sheriff Tim Helder said.

Hankins “became busy and simply forgot” about the woman last Thursday, leaving her in the cell with only a jacket until Monday morning.

“I realize some people may have expected Hankins to be terminated. However, my philosophy is if an employee makes a mistake while trying their best to perform their duties, I will try to salvage them,” Helder said in a statement.

Feminste wonders what would have happened to this deputy had the woman in question been white, a citizen and middle class. I agree that the consequences would have most likely been far more severe. It’s hard to believe that the victim’s undocumented status did not affect how this negligence has been viewed. The fact that her treatment has not been viewed by the police department as severe enough to merit a firing (at least!) says a lot about how little we value non-citizens, especially those who are people of color (in this case Latina). This devaluing of “the other” (people of color, people with disabilities, LGBT people, the elderly, etc.), viewing them as less important or valuable, lays the groundwork for oppressing these groups in many ways, including through sexual violence.

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