[Ed. - When Howard returned to the Dallas airwaves in January 2001, he was asked about this warrant. Apparently it has been dropped, or the statute of limitations ended, but it is no longer in effect...Howard is free to travel to Texas if he desires.]
For those of you wondering what's up with the Texas arrest warrant, the story on this page was in the Saturday, March 30, 1996 edition of the Dallas Morning News, page 24A. Here's an article from the April 6, 1995 edition of the Houston Chronicle giving the Hispanic reaction in Houston when it all happened. And here's the entire audio of the Selena obituary news story from the April 3, 1995 show, so you can judge for yourself what was really said. Warning: this audio file is very long, (4.2MB in .au format, lasting about 10 minutes), so be prepared to wait a little while as it loads. You may also want to check out the Al Brumley article from Nov. 19, 1995, which has a sidebar on the Selena incident as well.
One of the big groups pushing to get Howard off the radio after this incident was LULAC. Pay their boring site a visit, or just give them a call at 1-800-328-7448. Their stand on Howard ended up being a fraud and a publicity stunt, especially when you consider that the AP ran a story on 3/10/95 that LULAC's former national leader, Jose Velez, was going to jail in Nevada for scamming millions of dollars from illegal immigrants for filing false amnesty claims for those immigrants with the Immigration Service.
The lead person on this warrant, JP Eloy Cano, is a dope, and if you want to let him know all about, you can call the Harlingen, TX., JP office at: (210) xxx-xxxx. [Ed. - Eloy Cano is no longer in office as of January 2001, so I removed the number.]
An aside - after Selena was killed in April 1995, many of her fans soaped her name or put her pictures on their cars (and gave those with Howard bumper stickers on their cars lots of dirty looks). As of April 1996, there are still people riding around with this stuff on their cars. Amazing.
That's why an arrest warrant he issued for Mr. Stern remains on the books nearly a year after the radio shock jock made disparaging remarks about slain Tejano star Selena.
"I wasn't doing it for the glory," Judge Cano said Thursday. "I was doing it because it was the right thing to do. I have no regrets at all."
Judge Cano issued the warrant for disorderly conduct after Mr. Stern made offensive comments about Selena and Hispanic culture after the singer's murder on March 31, 1995.
"Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul...Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth," Mr. Stern said on his nationally syndicated show. He also mixed in sounds of gunfire with a tape of Selena's music and ridiculed the shape of her body.
Mr. Stern later apologized for the remarks, which were not broadcast in the Rio Grande Valley.
Enraged Hispanic groups called for boycotts of the show and it advertisers. The boycotts have since been lifted but not the warrant, which was based on a complaint filed by Laura Barboza, Judge Cano's secretary.
The warrant means Mr. Stern could be arrested as soon as he steps foot in Texas. Disorderly conduct is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum fine of $500.
The arrest order can be voided if Judge Cano or Ms. Barboza pull it or if Ms. Barboza dies.
"Mr. Stern apologized for his harsh comments, and I have not heard that he has made any other comments about our culture," said Ms. Barboza, who indicated that she might pull the warrant because she doesn't think Mr. Stern will visit the state anyway.
If it came to a court fight, the American Civil Liberties Union has vowed to defend Mr. Stern's First Amendment free-speech rights.
"I told him we would pick up the case because this is truly a constitutional violation," said ACLU executive director Jay Jacobson in Austin.
Mr. Stern canceled a scheduled Dallas book-signing in December but said it had nothing to do with the warrant.
His agent, Don Buchwald, had no comment Friday about the pending order, saying, "Howard has commented on it from time to time, but he does it on his show. When he comments, he comments on his show."
© The Dallas Morning News - March 30, 1996.
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