And how did a state representative come to occupy that particular --and arguably, particularly trivial -- piece of activist turf?
"Well, I go over there every now and again to get my car washed. And I noticed it on the side of the road; there was someone sitting over there conducting business."
Did Wilson ever speak to the Norrises or ask to see the permit under which they conduct their operation?
"I didn't talk to them. You can't do business on the side of the road. He has a mobile permit. I know. I found out about it. I'm a lawyer. That doesn't give you the right to set up and do business on the side of the street."
Informed that HPD's Automotive Permitting Division had only recently told the Press that the Norris business was in fact legitimately permitted, Wilson responded, with heat: "They're wrong!"
Wilson seemed worked up about the line of questioning and admitted as much, inexplicably playing a race card in the bargain.
"I am. Because you called. Because if he [Norris] had been black, there wouldn't be a question about this; you wouldn't even be doing the story. That's why.
"It's not small potatoes at all .... Matter of fact I know guys who are on the street trying to sell roses that get [harassed] by the police all the time. Because those folks don't have permits. And then I see this guy on the side of the road doing business in a permanent position, and nobody bothers him? That's wrong. Now I don't see you doing a story about little guys on the road trying to sell roses and stuff."
Wilson says that no Olajuwon ever solicited his involvement in the dispute, and that he came to his vehemence solely of his own volition.
Wilson claims he's called in complaints "three or four times" on the Norrises, but that otherwise he doesn't recall another instance where he's called in a complaint to HPD on a mobile vendor -- a fact he explains by saying, "I've never seen one like this before. That's the one thing that kinda set me off. To me this guy's blatantly flying in the face of the law and doesn't care. He had a tent out there at first."
Informed that the Norrises have a tent out there now, as usual, Wilson replied with the interesting disclaimer, "Well, see, I hadn't been out there lately."
Which raises one final question, one that's likely to remain unanswered: What exactly was it that got Ron Wilson -- perhaps coincidentally immediately after the Press began asking pointed questions of Afis Olajuwon, and oddly after Wilson "hadn't been out there lately" -- so worked up about the Norrises' little tent that he called in his complaint when he did?
In this sparring game of did-not, did-too, there's no way to prove who's leaning on whom and how hard, but Bob and Clint Norris have a pretty good idea how they'd answer that one. But then again, they're not really sure who cares what they think.
And to add alleged insult to alleged injury, it turns out that if the Norrises hoped to get attention for their business by attaching themselves to Olajuwon's name, the strategy may have backfired. The latest word from HPD media liaison Fred King is that the Norrises may in fact be in violation of their permit. Not for using a mobile license to do business in the same place day after day, as opponents including Wilson have suggested, but for listing the corner of San Felipe and Bancroft as a business address where the Chips and Cracks records may be accessed on a permanent basis. The Norrises could, says King, reapply with a permanent address such as their home, but even then, he says, now that HPD has taken a closer look, the department is taking the position that the street easement itself isn't a legal place for the Norrises to do business. Never mind that a mere two weeks before, HPD had informed the Norrises that everything was kosher. And never mind that a mere one week before, HPD had informed the Press of the same thing.
Bob Norris's response to the news is resigned. "I guess that's what we expected whenever this all started. We're not holding a grudge or anything. If they find a legal way to get us to leave, we'll just leave here and we'll go somewhere else. But for him [Olajuwon] to do what he's doing to us, like I always said, I just didn't feel like we were being treated right."
And son Clint too may finally be ready to pack up and move on.
"It's easy to find another place. We just didn't want to leave because of him [Olajuwon]. I just don't see how come if something is not supposed to happen, that they could let it happen for three years and all condone it. And the city and everybody has always told us that we have a right to be here. I don't know. It just doesn't seem fair."
But at the last minute, as the Norrises prepare to look for a new street corner to ply, some justice may have emerged after all, even if it's only the poetic sort. Turns out that the lube shop doing business under the Dream's & Bros. car wash umbrella is required to have an Automotive Repair Facility Permit from the same HPD division that permits "Chips and Cracks." And the Press has learned that as of Wednesday, November 19, Olajuwon has been doing business for more than two months without one.
E-mail Brad Tyer at brad_tyer@houstonpress.com.
