High School playoffs

sports:
1c, 4C
n Moody vs. Calallen:
powerhouses set for
regional finals.
XXXXXX
n Sinton and
Robstown: Teams
XXXXXXXXX. XXXXXX
out of playoff run.
n bishop: dramatic
comeback sends team
to regional finals.

$1.50
50 cents Sunday, May 31, 2009 n first
city edition

90°/69°
Partly sunny

Quick Read
City cites tough choices in budget
n Mayor says INSIDE twice-a-week garbage col-
lection to once a week be-
n Budget proposal includes
cutback ideas a series of small increases
in fees for residents. 11A
ginning next May.
The $651 million budget
concern him prepared by city staff mem-
bers is subject to the City
parks and medians will be Council’s changes, and it just
Sara Foley mowed every four weeks started reviewing the 260-

Hello
foleys@caller.com / 886-3767 instead of every three. page document last week. It
Residents who want to trim must be approved in July and
Corpus Christi could their own trees won’t be will take effect Aug. 1.

Future
Today’s paper has a
start looking a little more able to dispose of clippings Mayor Joe Adame said
ragged as a result of $5.8 as often because brush will he’s a lready concerned
million in suggested budget be picked up by trash col- about where the costs were
cuts. lectors six times a year in- cut.
listing of Class of 2009 Those high weeds that stead of 10. “If you’re not picking up
college graduates from the city’s neighborhood T h e m o s t d r a m a t i c trash a nd not mowing, Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times

Texas A&M University- services department mows change for residents, which that’s real contrary to the Saul Sifuentes (left) and George Gallegos with the city of
Corpus Christi, Texas when property owners ig- still must be approved by pride campaign we have Corpus Christi’s solid waste department pick up trash along
A&M University-Kings- nore warnings won’t get the City Council to go into Bradshaw Drive on Friday. The city is considering limiting
ville, Del Mar College and clipped, and grass at city effect, is a switch from Please see BUDGET 11A trash pickup to once a week, starting in 2010.
Coastal Bend College.
graduation section

State holiday
For Garcia
A state holiday will
honor Dr. Hector P. Gar-
cia after Gov.
Rick Perry
signed it into
law Saturday.
On the third
Wednesday
in September,
Hispanic Heri-
tage Month,
the state will remember
the civil rights leader.
local, 1B

Dream run
finishes short
Susan Boyle dreamed
a dream, and
it very nearly
came true.
But her reality

The
show journey
finished Sat-
urday with a

modest
second-place
finish in “Britain’s Got
Talent.”
Page 2

mogul
n Film giant knows what’s important
MIKE BAIRD Steven was really just regenerating his
POLICE study bairdm@caller.com / 886-3774 career as it faltered a couple times.”
video options Hot pursuit of humanity’s wrongs is
Hollywood mogul Sidney Sheinberg, Sheinberg and his wife, Lorraine Gary’s,
Corpus Christi police a Corpus Christi native credited with passion.
officers are testing a discovering Steven Spielberg, resists It’s the reason he spotted “Schindler’s
handful of digital cam- talking about himself. Yet the 74-year- List,” which hit his heart, he said. “It’s the
eras in their vehicles to old former president and chief operating best story ever told.”
evaluate options as the officer of MCA has plenty to say about
department looks to people suffering worldwide. Corpus CHristi roots
replace the VHS cam- With Sheinberg overseeing the televi- With Gary, an actress and his wife of
eras it has been using sion and movie divisions 53 years, Sheinberg has
for at least five years. for MCA, it released top Interactive lived in the Hollywood
grossing movies in the graphic: limelight for decades —
local, 1B 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It Listen to him literally helping run
also won four Oscars for Steven Spielberg the show and she often
Best Picture, including talk about his the focus of the camera
New rules to “Schindler’s List,” Spiel- relationship with lens. He’s been dubbed
cross border berg’s first Oscar for Best
Director.
Sid Sheinberg on
Caller.com.
by media as an iron-fisted
czar whose climb to the
New rules requiring “Sid said, ‘I’m buying top impacted many fa-
passports or new high- this book for you, and I am mous people’s careers.
tech documents to ordering you, sir, to do it,’ ” Spielberg said But his family and those who have
cross the United States’ in an interview with the Caller-Times. been close to him for decades say Shein-
northern and southern Sheinberg last month told University berg’s gotten a bad rap, and that the glit-
borders are taking ef- of Texas School of Law students that ter world power-player is not the cur-
fect Monday. while his tombstone might note him as mudgeon he’s been profiled to be. They
nation, 3A Spielberg’s mentor, it is not the only leg- say he is a sentimental grandfather who
acy he hopes to have. prefers doting over dogs and blowing
“As if Steven’s a mountain or lake I bubbles with his grandchildren.
locals discuss discovered,” Sheinberg said during a visit
to Corpus Christi. “My identification of
“I never felt I was being raised by a

Sotomayor Please see SHEINBERG 10A

Tuesday’s announce-
ment of Sonia Soto-
mayor’s Su-
preme Court
nomination
was, on the
Legislators get to work on busy weekend  “We
still
face of it,
good news to n House gives INSIDE aren’t passed have to wait
until lawmakers return to
The fund was hit hard in have 48
2008 with hurricanes Ike
many women, final approval to n Texas House passes contro-
versial states’ rights bill. 6B
Austin in two years — with and Dolly. House and Senate hours’ worth
Leanne Libby at least one big exception. lawmakers sounded optimis-
writes. state school deal n Bill to allow schools to buy
electronic books goes to Monday is also the offi- tic Saturday they’ll be able to of oppor-
local, 1B
By JIM VERTUNO
governor’s desk. 6B cial start of hurricane sea-
son, and Republican Gov.
meet Perry’s demand.
“I t h in k we’re rea lly
tunity to do
To subscribe:
Associated Press Rick Perry has threatened close,” said Sen. Leticia Van good. We’re
— were in final negotiations to call the Legislature back de Putte, D-San Antonio.
883-3800
AUSTIN — Time is running as the last weekend of the into special session if they Even Per r y sou nded still working,
out on the Texas Legisla- 140-day session turned into don’t find a way to replenish
ture. a mad scramble of attempts the Texas Windstorm As-
conf ident a deal will be
reached.
talking, and
Several big issues — in- to craft compromises. sociation, the state-backed that’s good.”
cluding restoring the state’s The session ends Mon- insurer of last resort for resi- Please see LEGISLATURE Gov. Rick Perry
windstorm insurance fund day, meaning any bills that dents of 14 coastal counties. 5A
10A » Sunday, May 31, 2009 » C A L L E R -T I M E S

from the cover

SHEINBERG from 1A “I’m sure it will satisfy its seems to think that he still
target audience,” Sheinberg has not done enough.
Hollywood icon,” said Bill said, “but it’s no ‘Schindler’s “We devote a lot of our
Sheinberg, 48, the younger SHEINBERG List.’ ” time,” he said, “and are
of his two sons. “His repu- SELECTED
SELECT
CTEDD Time is catching up to working now to open an
tation for being brash is not DATES
T S Sheinberg, he confessed. investigative committee
the father I’ve known. He’s “I’ve got few friends and is Houston. We need as
still a hometown man, and few interests,” he said. “I’m ma ny people as we ca n
when we came to Corpus 1952 Graduates finding it hard to grip that find to report what’s going
Christi over the years, Dad from Ray High I’m 74.” on.”
would change back into an School He recently had a tumor He received the Ameri-
easygoing Texan, once he 1958 Law de- removed from behind his can Jewish Committee’s
put his boots on.” gree from Colum- left eye, and his oldest of Human Relations Award in
Sid Sheinberg’s mother, bia University seven gra ndch ildren is 1982 and the National Con-
Tillie (Grossman) Shein- Law School planning a marriage, he ference of Christians and
berg, was one of 11 Russian said. Jews Humanitarian Award
immigrant children who 1959 Joins MCA legal
“When I look in the mir- in 1983. Amid a plethora of
department
came to South Texas in the ror,” he said, “I can’t believe professional achievements
early 1900s. Most came that guy is so old.” and awards, he received the
wit h h is g ra nd mot her AIDS Project Los Angeles
Rebecca Grossman. They A life’s passion Commitment to Life Award
ran the Grossman family Sheinberg’s example of in 1991.
department store on Arte- funding and fighting for Along with his wife in
Michael Zamora/Caller-Times
sian Street. human rights impacted 1995, they were awarded
Sheinberg graduated Hollywood mogul Sid Sheinberg, a Corpus Christi native, talks Spielberg, he said. t he Si mon W ie sent h a l
May 29, 1952, from Ray 1970
970 with Rosalyn Wolfson last month during a family gathering at “There are many people Center ’s Hu m a n ita r ia n
High School, went on to Universal
niversal Television the Vietnam Restaurant in downtown Corpus Christi. in my life who by example Award for raising more
Columbia College and the have loosened my purse money than ever raised
University of Texas Law 1969 Offers very deep and loyal friend- run my company, Dream- strings,” Spielberg said. “Sid previously. Most recently,
School. He left Texas and Steven ship,” Spielberg said. “I Works, today by those ex- was one of them.” he was presented the 2008
transferred to Columbia Spielberg immediately dropped out amples.” A constant Sheinberg Human Rights Award by
University Law School television of college, which my dad and his wife have shared is Death Penalty Focus and
where he was na med, contract didn’t understand. ... That Reflecting on life their commitment to civil the Leadership Award by
among other accolades, began a great association In 1995 after the sale liberties. They are vigilant the National Gay and Les-
a James Kent Scholar, the with Sid that has survived of Universal, Sheinberg advocates, supporters and bian Task Force.
highest honor for a gradu- decades, and we remain saddled up with his two sponsors in the internation- “Sid is one of our most
ating senior. the best of friends.” sons, Jon and Bill, to spur al Human Rights Watch, a effective advocates,” said
Under Sheinberg’s tu- a family-run movie pro- nongovernmental organi- Kenneth Roth, executive di-
Rise to the top telage, Spielberg’s work duction company, Bubble zation that investigates and rector of the Human Rights
He joined MCA’s legal smashed box office records, Factory. exposes human rights vio- Watch, which today has
department in 1959. raking in billions interna- “We were being bugged lations and holds abusers an annual budget of about
“I was the seventh man tionally. In 1975, “Jaws” set by a New York Times report- responsible. $45 million and operates in
in a seven-man office,” he the stage for big earnings er one day, and I finally told The battle began more about 80 countries.
said. with $460 million in do- Bill, ‘Tell her I can’t come than half a century ago Sheinberg has been a
Sheinberg soon was mestic and international to the phone because I was when Sheinberg was at law bold financial supporter
merged into business af- 1975 “Jaws” tops the box sales. “E.T.: The Extra-Ter- busy blowing bubbles with school in Austin. who has brought countless
office. During Sheinberg’s
fairs and then into new restrial” in 1982 sold out my grandchild,’ ” the elder He said he left the school people into the organiza-
tenure Universal will have
projects for television by some of the highest
theaters, turning $750 mil- Sheinberg said. after a black woman was tion, Roth said.
MCA chairman, the late grossing films in each of lion. And “Jurassic Park,” She put it in the story, elected school sweetheart “ T he i nte g r it y Sid’s
Lew Wasserman. In De- the next three decades. released in 1993, fetched he said, and someone later but wasn’t allowed to keep known for has vouched
cember 1970, Wasserman $913 million. started calling the family’s the title. for our credibility with
a p p oi n te d Sh e i n b e r g , “Sid’s a very fair man new entertainment com- “We all know today that many supporters,” he said.
then 35, as president of who has little tolerance for pany Bubble Factory. it was wrong,” he said, “but “When he endorses an or-
MCA’s Universal Televi- people who are not fair,” “I liked it,” Sheinberg it was just as wrong then.” ganization, people trust it.
sion. In 1973, he was pro- Spielberg said. “He has a said. “So it stuck.” His next return to Aus- ... Sid is relentless, perhaps
moted to president and very rugged side ... but not T he busi ness moves tin, 26 years after leaving part of the reputation he’s
chief operating officer of without a lot of humor. For slowly, he said. the law school, was for earned. But he’s used it
MCA. the first 10 years I knew “We’re not dependent on the 1982 premiere of “The to take this organization
“I was fortunate to have 1980-90s Buys rights to him, he called me sir, which it to eat,” he said. “But we’re Best Little Whorehouse in around the world to sup-
a mentor who had faith in “Schindler’s List.” Film made me come to attention. proud of our work.” Texas,” he said. port researchers on the
me,” he said. “Lew gave wins seven Oscars But his warm smile, chuck- It recently finished what Despite repeated rec- ground in war zones and in
me a lot of responsibility, including Best Picture. le and pat on the back really Sheinberg called a low-bud- ognition for his advocacy oppressive settings, to ex-
and I tried to keep him sort of made you feel like get film, “The Devil’s Tomb,” and commitment, includ- pose human suffering and
informed, but there were tell him, “Do what you you belonged to something starring Cuba Gooding Jr. ing personally visiting the to pressure governments to
things I did I now wish he want, you’ve got my vote.” akin to a family. Universal It’s a science fiction horror president of Colombia to end abuse.
had stopped.” “I’ve tried to live my in those days was my favor- movie that hit DVD shelves urge a crackdown on para- “It’s the right use of his
By 1985, Sheinberg was life smart enough to know ite family, and I’ve tried to Tuesday from Sony. military activity, Sheinberg talent.”
the sixth highest paid ex- when to have a partner and
ecutive in the country to pick people who had an-
at $4.6 million annually, swers I didn’t have,” Shein-
ranked directly beneath berg said. “I certainly don’t
Lee Iacocca. consider myself a natural
Bill Sheinberg talked born genius. Luck has a lot
about his elevator rides as a to do with life.”
kid to the top of the “Black

Problems are in disgu ise.

Tower,” a 16-story black Spielberg’s big shot
glass monolith that Was- Spielberg said his men-
serman built for MCA’s tor is extremely modest.
world headquarters. Sheinberg f irst sum-

opportu nities
“Coming down the ele- moned Spielberg to his
vator you’d hear people on office in 1969 after seeing
the floors you approached “Amblin’,” a 26 -minute
talking about their lives short film that Spielberg
before the door opened,” made as a college sopho-
he said. “Then they’d see more.
my dad and conversation “He came right out with
stopped. He must have it and offered me a seven-
done something right. year contract to direct
There was a profound al- television at Universal,”
legiance among employ- Spielberg said. “I felt like
ees. It was clear they knew it was a dream, and this
he defended the interest of wasn’t really happening.”
those who worked at the Spielberg was so dum-
company.” founded by the offer that
The 1990 sale of Uni- he didn’t respond, then
versal, MCA’s movie divi- stuttered when he did.
sion, to Japanese company “I don’t k now wh at
Matsushita left Wasser- Sid was thinking, but I
man and Sheinberg still in believe he sensed in my
control. But it was unsuc- pause that I had received
cessful nearly immedi- a better offer. He said
ately because the Japanese s omet h i n g I ’ ve neve r
economy tanked and, ac- forgotten: ‘I’m different
cording to previous re- here at MCA than people
ports, the Japanese owners at other studios. I will be
dd en op po rt un it ie s. Th in k ab ou t it.
and Hollywood managers your friend and support-
Problems are hi
ne comes up
didn’t get along. er not just in success, but
Sheinberg didn’t want also in failure.’
m et hi ng is n’ t w or ki ng , so m eo
to share details about re- “This was the greatest
When so
grets, but said there were moment of my life. And it
times Wasserman would was the beginning of our
. W e ca ll it “b ui ld in g a be tter m ousetrap.”
with a solution
ay Am er ic an s – an d Am er ic an Bank – do
“I always have excellent
It’s the w
care and service. All of the
n’ t fr et ab ou t pr ob le m s. C om e talk to us
staff has been helpful and things. So do e and
understanding.” - Emily O.
on ey to le nd , in si gh t to sh ar
Emily O. instead. We have m
Leslie H. Young, M.S., CCC/A
m is m . As al way s, w e’ re he re fo r you.
908313

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