The document discusses J.C. Penney executives who commute weekly between California and Texas where the company's headquarters are located. Some critics say this arrangement slows decision-making and has hurt employee morale. However, Penney argues the travel is needed for the executives' jobs and that permanent relocation did not make sense for some. The commuting arrangement was part of Ron Johnson's agreement to lead the company, and he and other executives often work from California offices on Fridays.

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Some 177 years after a violent divorce
from Mexico, some unhappy Texans
are again touting separation from the
motherland, this time after a presi-
dential election didn’t favor one of
the reddest states in the country.
Perhaps it’s no surprise. Texas is
the only state that has twice tried
breakaways, experiencing the spoils
of victory in 1836 but the torment of
defeat in 1865.
“Let each go her own way,” Peter
Morrison, Hardin County’s Republi-
can treasurer, wrote in a recent Tea
Party newsletter, calling those who
voted to re-elect President Barack
Obama “maggots.”Critics consider
that sentiment nothing but bravado.
Still, the state’s Republican lead-
ers are in no mood to repair a frac-
tured relationship with the federal
government.
Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-
Southlake, has filed a bill designed to
move $1 billion worth of Texas-
owned gold bars from the Federal Re-
serve in New York to a Texas Bullion
Depository.
Gov. Rick Perry quickly expressed
Star-Telegram illustration/Mark HofferState politics
What if Texas
really did secede?
By John Henry
Special to the Star-Telegram
Pros and cons
Plentiful resources could be the difference
Texas is uniquely positioned to survive because of
resources and population. It has one-fourth of U.S. oil
reserves and one-third of the natural gas. The state’s
gross domestic product was $1.2 billion in 2011, which
would make it the world’s 14th-biggest economy.
The challenges would be immense
The uncertainties are overwhelming: How would
Texas manage healthcare and Social Security? How
would it retire its share of the national debt? How
would it repay federal loan guarantees for
infrastructure and transportation projects?
More on SECEDE, 15A
Vote now!
Which Peeps
diorama is the
sweetest? Voting
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Star-Telegram.com
The construction fence is
down; the heavy equip-
ment is gone.
After 2 1
⁄2 years of con-
struction — and several
years of planning — work
on the George W. Bush
Presidential Center on the
edge of Southern Method-
ist University is down to
the finishing touches.
Workers are busy ar-
ranging exhibits, begin-
ning the last phase of land-
scaping and addressing
other final details before
the center, a tribute to the
43rd president, is unveiled
to an invitation-only audi-
ence April 25 and to the
general public May 1.
“What was a dream four
years ago is today a reality,”
Mark Langdale, president
of the George W. Bush
Foundation, has said.
The reality is a 226,560-
square-foot center that
houses a library and a mu-
seum, presidential ar-
chives, a public policy in-
stitute, the Bush founda-
tion and a 15-acre park, all
honoring Bush’s two terms
in office.
The red brick-and-
At Bush
library,
history set
to unfold
7 The center will be
unveiled April 25 and will
open to the public May 1.
By Anna M. Tinsley
atinsley@star-telegram.com
More on LIBRARY, 4A
Weeks before Colorado
prison chief Tom Clem-
ents was shot to death ex-
ecution-style in the door-
way of his home — a
shooting now linked to a
white supremacist later
killed in a North Texas
shootout — corrections
officials shook up the
suspect’s prison gang, the
211 Crew.
The Denver Post has
learned that Clements’
Department of Correc-
tions staff divided a core
group of 211 leaders by
transferring some to an-
other correctional cen-
ter, diluting their num-
bers and strength.
“There was a group up
there, and [prison offi-
cials] decided to break
them up,” said a correc-
tions official who spoke
on the condition of ano-
nymity.
Now prison officials
and others are investigat-
ing whether Clements’
Retaliation eyed as motive in killing of prison director
7 Officials had recently
tried to undercut the
suspect’s gang.
By Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post Ebel Clements
Bud Kennedy
Racist prison gangs are
a growing problem. 1B
More on COLORADO, 16A
Democrats’ budget
survives ‘vote-a-rama’
The Senate votes 50-49 to
approve a blueprint that
would raise taxes on the rich
and trim spending. 5A
Fort Worth council set
to OK police contract
Members say the deal is fair
and modest and won’t
significantly affect the
general fund budget. 1B
For Bennigan’s, it’s
time to begin again
Nostalgia is building for the
Irish-themed casual eatery,
which was left for dead in a
2008 bankruptcy. 1D
A life in pictures
The Dallas Museum of Art is
examining the work of Cindy
Sherman, whose photos
convey depth and mystery. 1E
Inside
Fort Worth, Texas S U N D AY , M A R C H 2 4 , 2 0 1 3 Star-Telegram.com
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2. Mwww.star-telegram.com Sunday, March 24, 2013 3D
I’ve had the ThinkTank
Photo Airport Commuter
backpack sitting around
for a while. And when I fi-
nally got to test it out on a
trip, I was thrilled.
I’ve tried a lot of back-
packs, which claim they
can hold a lot of gear and
not be a strain on your
back, only to be disap-
pointed.
The Airport Commuter
is on the other end. I filled
it up and it held up as ad-
vertised and more.
I loaded it with a pair of
DSLR cameras, 3 lenses, a
flash, extra batteries and
memorycards.Inaddition,
I put a 15-inch MacBook
pro and an iPad in separate
compartments along with
chargers and lots of cables
and accessories.
If I organized it a little
better, I’m sure I could
have added even more.
The harness straps are
padded and adjustable and
include hardware to attach
small accessories.
As with most Think-
Tank products, a built-in
raincoat is included along
with lots of weatherproof-
ing throughout the bag,
which includes water-re-
sistant material.
A medium-sized tripod
or monopod can be at-
tached to straps on the side
of the bag.
Other features include a
cable lock, business card
holder, water bottle pocket
and many storage com-
partments along with cell
foam dividers, which cre-
ate endless possibilities.
According to Think-
Tank, the bag is designed
to meet “international car-
ry-on size requirements,”
which I can say I had no
problem with.
www.ThinkTankPhoto-
.com, $199.75
For big sound
The X-mini capsule speak-
After a while, you forget
you’re even wearing the
great-sounding over-the-
ear styled headphones,
which pair up in seconds
and have a flexible metallic
headband connecting a
pair of soft padded ear
cups.
One side has a few con-
trol buttons for power, vol-
ume, track skipping, pair-
ing, an LED light and a mi-
crophone for hands-free
calls.
Depending on your vol-
ume level, expect about 10
hours of play time out of
the crisp-sounding head-
phones or 11 hours of talk
time.
www.subjekt.com
$99.99
Just the right type
The FAVI SmartStick
Wireless keyboard is pock-
et-sized and pairs with
Bluetooth devices to give
you a standard keyboard in
the palm of your hand.
It’s designed with hot
keys, a laser pointer and
other specific functions for
the Kindle Fire HD and
other Android powered
devices, although I con-
nected it to an iPad and it
worked just fine.
If you’re not a fan of the
virtual keyboard, this is for
you since the backlit letters
and numbers are all where
you’re used to from a stan-
dard keyboard along with
shift keys on both sides.
A small touchpad is also
built-into the right side,
which includes full mouse
control, tap to click and
scrolling.
www.favientertain-
ment.com, $39.99
Carry on with one smart backpack7sGadgets 7 Choices for
big sound in small
speakers or sleek
headphones, too.
By Gregg Ellman
Special to the Star-Telegram
The Airport Commuter backpack Think Tank
FAVI mini
wireless keyboard
FAVI
X-mini capsule speakers X-mini
Subjekt
headphones
Subjekt
ers are one of those “wow”
devices I come across now
and then.
Pocket-sized and por-
table, as advertised, they
are far from small when
you crank them up.
Each speaker measures
about 2 inches in diameter
by 1.5 inch high, but ex-
pand to 2 inches when you
twist open each speaker.
Unless you use the Blu-
etooth, the 3.5 mini audio
jack connection cable that
comes out the bottom of
each speaker is easy to ac-
cess and easy to hide when
not in use.
For setup, just connect
one speaker to your tablet,
smartphone or any device
playing your audio, and
then connect a speaker to
the first.
Each speaker is magne-
tized on the bottom, so you
can attach them together
for easy storage.
They come in many col-
ors in three different set-
ups; wired mono ($39) or
wired stereo ($59) choices
(as tested) or a Bluetooth
stereo system ($79).
It’s powered by a built-
in rechargeable battery,
which has a playback of up
to 18 hours. A USB connec-
tion is on each speaker for
charging (cable included).
www.x-mini.com
Loud and clear
Another choice for Blu-
etooth sound is the futur-
istic looking Subjekt Pulse
Headphones.
woman said the weekly
travels aren’t affecting the
company’s performance.
“Regardless of where
our executives are based,
their work requires exten-
sive travel visiting stores
and distribution centers;
meeting with current and
potential business part-
ners across the U.S., Eu-
rope and Asia; as well as
exploring new develop-
ments for possible expan-
sion,” spokeswoman Kris-
tin Hays said.
While most of the com-
pany’s leaders are based in
Plano, “it’s important that
leaders devote their time
and energy on transform-
ing the company wherever
their job responsibilities
require them to be,” she
said.
“Several of the people
who currently travel to
Plano from other cities are
in the process of setting up
permanent residence here
and are moving to the Dal-
las area,” Hays said. “With
all the travel retail leaders
do, it doesn’t always make
sense to uproot and relo-
cate their families, move
them away from friends
and family to a new city —
only to be gone traveling to
visit vendors, stores or
overseas.”
The company declined
to make the commuting
executives available for
comment.
California Fridays
The merits of telecommut-
ing and office face time
have been debated recently
after Yahoo CEO Marissa
Mayer ordered the staff to
work in the office.
Being side by side with
colleagues fosters collabo-
ration and improves work
“speed and quality,” Jackie
Reses, Yahoo’s executive
vice president of people
and development, said in a
memo to employees when
the change was an-
nounced.
The Penney executives
who live in California often
spend Fridays working in
an office there after de-
parting from Texas on
Thursdays, the sources
said.
Penney, with about
1,100 locations, has offices
in Texas, California and
New York, Hays said.
Remaining in California
was part of Johnson’s
agreement to lead Penney.
He and his wife have
school-age children and
decided it didn’t make
sense to “uproot the family
given his travel schedule,”
Hays said. Johnson was re-
cruited to Penney in 2011
by billionaire investor Bill
Ackman, whose Pershing
Square Capital Manage-
ment is the company’s big-
gest shareholder, with an
18 percent stake.
Penney’s human re-
sources chief, Dan Walker,
is also based in California,
along with Vice President
Sissie Twiggs and Senior
Vice Presidents of Sourc-
ing Amy Leonard and Don-
na Isralsky, the sources
said.
Walker, Twiggs, Fay,
Fisher, Laughrea and Mill-
er have all worked at Apple,
according to the sources,
company announcements,
public records and Linke-
dIn profiles.
In a list emailed to
spokeswomen, Penney
didn’t dispute the names
or the locations from
which the executives are
commuting.
DOPEs
The commuting slows
some decision-making
and has contributed to an
adversarial relationship
between new executives
and long-standing em-
ployees, the sources said.
Three people who
worked in the headquarters
said the acronym DOPE —
short for “dumb old
Penney employees” — has
been used in the office to
refer to the company’s
longtime workers.
Hays said she has never
heard of that term being
used.
“Their claim has no
merit, and it misrepresents
the level of respect and
support we provide to one
another,” she said.
Johnson has cut more
than 20,000 jobs to reduce
costs as his turnaround
struggles to gain traction.
Penney employed 159,000
people as of January 2012,
according to data compiled
by Bloomberg.
Customers have been
alienated by marketing
missteps and a failed tran-
sition away from sales and
coupons. Penney is betting
that Johnson’s plan to turn
most stores into collec-
tions of boutiques will fuel
a return to growth by res-
onating with core shoppers
and new customers.
Former CEO Allen
Questrom, who retired
from the retailer in 2004,
said this month that a
turnaround won’t work
under Johnson and that the
longer the board waits to
fire him, “the worse it’s
going to get.”
The company said
March 12 that Johnson has
no plans to quit or resign.
Gross said: “If you’re in
a turnaround, you want
everyone in the trenches
with you at the same time.
There’s no substitute for
having boots on the
ground.”
Penney
Continued from 1D
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