Opportunities come from all over the world.  In my business, I’ve known this since I started my first company, for my “first dollar earned” was actually a peso from Mexico.  As we forge and create into the future, the world we’re building as entrepreneurs will be about being connected together. Its not just a naive vision of the future, its good business, especially given that $40 billion will be invested in Antofagasta over the next 10 years.

Some of you know that I was assaulted last February 2009. The last year and a half has been a healing experience for me. Its also taught me to be patient as I thought the court system would move forward with bringing my attackers to justice. Today, and over the last few days, I’ve come to realize, though, how the court system is broken.

Here’s the story:  on June 21, 2010, one year and four months later, I was witness to a car wreck. A young girl ran her Honda into the back of a truck at the intersection of Andersen and Mopac.  I was the first on the scene; called 911, and spent some time with her, trying to calm her nerves as well as help stop some of the bleeding.  It was a graphic situation, so much so that I wrote a thought about it here, not knowing what else to do to express what had happened. Other than the girl’s injuries, no one else was injured.

Its four months later, and the Travis County Courthouse has called me in with a subpoena requesting that I be present at her court case as a witness to what happened.  Here’s the rub: how is it that the courts can get to a DWI case so quickly, when there’s a criminal assault case, with four attackers, including one that’s already been detained by the police that’s now over one year eight months old?  How is it that our Travis County Court can pursue the DWI case on a young woman (that I don’t know if she was intoxicated or not, but I see no previous criminal intent on her part) yet the system has not aggressively pursued the gang that had criminal intent?

Some photos that you might not want to see for they are graphic.

Self photo after the attack.

Photo after surgery.

APD knows who the attackers are; they stopped one of them, yet let him go.

(The attending physician at Breckenridge said that the cut and bone fracture on my nose happened because I was hit with a piece of metal- brass knuckles or a ring).  Its important to share as well- I’ve not been reimbursed yet for my medical expenses, and I am still chasing this down as well through a very slow State of Texas system. (By law, criminal victims are entitled to be reimbursed for medical expenses while the Court pursues the criminals).

Thankfully I was able to walk away from the attack. With the lack of the Court’s actions, though, you have to ask yourself who this gang has since attacked, and why is it that the Court has not aggressively pursued criminals while it has time to pursue a young woman that didn’t have criminal intent.

“Without justice, there can be no peace. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The attack was senseless, and I don’t know why I was picked.  There was no provocation, and it seemed that the four guys that attacked were not after money, only violence.

During the interim it has deeply touched my heart to see the outpouring of people that have reached out to me. Thank you for doing so, for this has really meant something to me.

In between taking care of my health, dealing with a criminal case, and doing what I love- helping entrepreneurs through building their businesses at the Tech Ranch Austin, I might not be able to get back to you really quick.  I do look forward to connecting with you soon.

Here’s the KVUE news story on what happened.

We’re going to be rallying the community around some new ways of making Austin safer. If you are interested in being a part of making Austin safer, please let me know.

I’ll blog some more about what happened in a coming blog post.

Thanks,
Kevin

Austin Business District’s Open4Business Conference- November 11- with five high impact tracks including Sales & Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Business Law, Sustainability

UT Austin’s Ready to Commercialize event November 17th and 18th- reviewing technologies that are coming out of the University of Texas System.

I will be at both events representing TechRanchAustin as we continue to look for tech entrepreneurs to join us on the ranch.  Please let me know if you will be there- I look forward to connecting.

HOUSE WINE

408 Josephine
Austin 78704-1017
+1.512.322.5210

Here is a map.  This location is very close to the Barton Springs / Lamar intersection.  They have wine and beer inexpensively priced.  Moreover, if you have a good recent war story (whether the outcome was good, or if it created a lot of scar tissue for you) I will buy you your first drink.  (Ok, so I am only going to do this for the first 10 good entrepreneurial-scar-tissue-stories, as we comisserate together.  )  Catch me via twitter if you have any questions, or post a comment here.  I look forward to catching up with you then.

Texas unemployment claims remain well above 2007 levels – Austin Business Journal:.

First, to do so you will need to sign up for an account here:
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/users/register

Here is the first talk to vote for:
The Rise of the Enterprise Tribe
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/1207
Social networks are creating fundamental shifts in the opportunity to start / grow businesses. New social organizations are creating real business impact in getting work done, and helping entrepreneurs succeed. Kevin will share insight based on his book, and work with Bootstrap Austin and entrepreneur networks in Mexico and Chile.

Here is the second talk to vote for:
Building Austin: Best Practices For Growing Our Community
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/1181
Austin community leaders are leveraging social networking to actively build Austin more than ever before. We’ll bring several of Austin’s cutting-edge community leaders, including NetImpactAustin (non-profits), Door64 (employment), Bootstrap Austin (entrepreneurs) together in dialouge to share how they are building the Austin community, and not just holding networking events.

Thank you for your support. By getting these messages out, we will continue to build Austin into an entrepreneurial powerhouse!

Kevin