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=20 =20 This is the first analysis of 'Twingate' that points out the obvious. John= Williams exposes the exploitation of an unfortunate incident by two Austin= promoters who are also Democrat activist. The conduct of the teenage twi= ns is indefensible; Chuy's conduct is outrageous. =20 =20 The girls made a silly mistake; Chuy's made a calculated grab for commercia= l promotion, at best, and engaged in despicable dirty political activity at= worst.Chuy's smug press release confirms either or both conclusions. =20 The twins will pay a price for their conduct. I hope every parent, conserva= tive, and other decent Texans that abhors shameless exploitation of the und= erage girls, will ensure that Chuy's pays a price for their conduct. =20 I will not set foot in Chuy's and ask that everyone with a sense of decency= join in expressing their outrage at Chuy's despicable conduct. In Texas we= have the choice of an abundance of Tex-Mex in less hostile environments. =20 Jack Rains Houston=20 =20 P.S. I urge you to share your thoughts on this subject with your friends an= d family. =20 =09=09 HoustonChronicle.com =09 HoustonChronicle.com logo HoustonChronicle.com Houston4u pe= rsonal start page Pick a section Home Page Business Classifieds Col= umnists Comics Community Directory Entertainment Features Forums Health Hel= p Inside Story Marketplace Metropolitan Page 1 News Search Archives Site Ma= p Space Sports Travel Weather Section: Local & State Section: John Willi= ams: Politics Current stories in this section: Williams: The 411 on C= huy's decision to call 911 Taiwan leader's stay in Houston goes peacefull= y State candidates jockey for position Gift for yodeling sets young sin= ger apart from others Dr Pepper, Tx. celebrates drink plant's 110th Fan= access is a big hit for Enron 3-alarm fire guts Atascocita church 2 ho= spitalized after pickup nearly runs down officers Powerboat racer Carmody= killed in accident Legislators requesting vet school Attorney general = intervenes in lawsuit against DNA bank State seeks to regulate Web doctor= s, druggists Pair riding to 30 big-league parks for charity Challenger = ekes out win in Montgomery runoff Tour boats operator faces charges 4th= wildfire burns near Fort Davis Mars conquers the evening skies this mont= h Track coach Jack Petty dies Crime Stoppers: Five men sought in shooti= ng Houston's international scene Area briefs =09 Printer-frie= ndly format June 4, 2001, 12:54AM The 411 on Chuy's decision to call = 911 By JOHN WILLIAMS Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle The first call f= rom Chuy's restaurant at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday went to the 911 dispatcher in A= ustin. The emergency? Two underage women wanted alcoholic beverages. One = had an I.D. of another person old enough to drink. It may be the first ti= me a restaurant has considered underage drinking worthy of an emergency cal= l in the home of the state's biggest university, said Becky Stewart, emerge= ncy services director for the Capital Area Planning Council. CAPCO manages = Austin's regional 911 system. But the two in question had familiar names.= They were Jenna and Barbara Bush, the president's 19-year-old twin daughte= rs. Perhaps the call is understandable. No big-dollar restaurant wants to= risk its liquor license by serving alcohol to someone under 21. Tip for = newsmen questionable The second call from Chuy's management, however, is h= arder to defend. Chuy's tipped the Austin American-Statesman to the scoop = about the president's partying scofflaws. Amid deadline pressure and ethica= l questions, the newspaper didn't print a report until Thursday. By then,= the Bush family affair, rightly or wrongly, was everybody's business. It w= ent international. Chuy's was mentioned in newspapers worldwide. "That ca= n't be bad for business," mused an Austin political consultant and frequent= Chuy's diner. The success story of the restaurant chain may shed a littl= e more light. Chuy's was started by Michael Young and John Zapp in a city= that loves its Mexican food. Young has been the main mover and shaker, hel= ping expand the restaurant chain to Houston, Dallas, Arlington and San Anto= nio, and starting other profitable businesses. Described by one friend as= having a Willie Nelson grin, Young is a laid-back Austin denizen and minor= Democratic player in Travis County politics. Young has strong opinions a= nd occasionally attends party fund-raisers, though acquaintances said he ha= s not taken front-line positions on any major issues. He has an amazing a= bility to get attention for his restaurant. When Kenneth Starr was invest= igating the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair, Chuy's sold more than 1,00= 0 T-shirts with a cartoon of Clinton shaking his finger and saying, "I did = not have Tex-Mex with that woman." Young also appeared for free in a Sout= hwest Airlines commercial with the airline's legendary boss, Herb Kelleher.= Young got the gig, which garnered free publicity for his restaurants, thro= ugh adman Roy Spence, a friend and business partner who runs in Democratic = circles. Last year, Spence and Young joined others to create Glazing Sadd= les Ltd., which owns the Krispy Kreme doughnut shops in Austin and San Anto= nio. "I like Michael because he has built a culture where his people do t= he right thing, they are a big family," Spence said. "His people serve the = customers right, they prepare the food right, they take care of business ri= ght." Twins' actions hard to explain Was it right to dial 911? Many eate= ries might have refused to serve the Bush daughters and left it at that. = The twins' behavior is likewise hard to defend or explain. The incident cam= e two weeks after Jenna Bush made national headlines when she pleaded no co= ntest to an earlier underage drinking charge. Did they believe no one in Au= stin would recognize them, or notice the Secret Service agents nearby? Th= e White House has described the incidents as private family matters. If the= twins' mother, first lady Laura Bush, and grandmother, former first lady B= arbara Bush, decide to apply a dose of old-fashioned tough love, it couldn'= t be any more painful than Thursday's front-page headline in the New York P= ost: "Jenna and Tonic. Bush daughter in new booze incident as twin sister w= atched." For Chuy's, it's a different matter. Perhaps the restaurant mana= gement, with its Democratic ties, is privately reveling in the Republican f= irst family's public embarrassment. The restaurant did not return calls a= bout its decision to publicize the incident. But Thursday afternoon, the = restaurant released a statement -- or more precisely, an understatement: "W= e sincerely regret any inconvenience this has caused the first family." = John Williams' e-mail address is john.williams@chron.com . Return to top= =09 Click on banner for more information = Change Your Mind! Change Your Life! section C, page 3 =09
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