text:
PHP MapScript Installation¶
- Author:
Jeff McKenna
- Contact:
jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
- Last Updated:
The PHP/MapScript module is a PHP dynamically loadable module that makes MapServer's MapScript functions and classes available in a PHP environment.
The original version of MapScript (in Perl) uses SWIG, but at that time SWIG did not support the PHP language, so the PHP module had to be maintained separately and was not always in sync with other mapscripts. As of MapServer 7.4.0, PHP/MapScript is also available through the SWIG API.
The original PHP module was developed by DM Solutions Group and Mapgears and is currently maintained by Gateway Geomatics and other contributors.
This document assumes that you are already familiar with certain aspects of your operating system:
For Unix/Linux users, a familiarity with the build environment, notably make.
For Windows users, some compilation skills if you don't have ready access to a pre-compiled installation and need to compile your own copy of MapServer with the PHP/MapScript module.
Which version of PHP is supported?¶
PHP MapScript was originally developed for PHP-3.0.14 but after MapServer 3.5 support for PHP3 was dropped. As of the last update of this document, PHP 5.6 or more recent was required, and PHP 7 is recommended.
The best combinations of MapScript and PHP versions are:
MapScript 7.4.0 with PHP 7.0 and up (through the new SWIG API)
MapScript 4.10 with PHP 5.2.1 and up
MapScript 4.10 with PHP 4.4.6 and up
As of MapServer 7.4.0, PHP 7 is available through the SWIG API, and all existing MapServer users are encouraged to update their scripts for the new SWIG syntax; see the MapServer Migration Guide for example syntax.
How to Get More Information on the PHP/MapScript Module for MapServer¶
For a list of all classes, properties, and methods available in the module:
through SWIG (and PHP 7) see the SWIG API
for the legacy module, see the PHP MapScript API reference document.
More information on the original PHP/MapScript module can be found on the PHP/MapScript page on MapTools.org.
The MapServer Wiki also has PHP/MapScript build and installation notes and some php code snippets.
As many users rely on MS4W for MapScript, you can also see user-contributed PHP 7 scripts through the SWIG API, on the MS4W wiki.
Questions regarding the module should be forwarded to the MapServer mailing list.
Obtaining, Compiling, and Installing PHP and the PHP/MapScript Module¶
Download PHP and PHP/MapScript¶
The PHP source or the Win32 binaries can be obtained from the PHP web site.
Once you have verified that PHP is installed and is running, you need to get the latest MapServer source and compile MapServer and the PHP module.
Setting Up PHP on Your Server¶
Check if you have PHP already installed (several Linux distributions have it built in).
If not, see the PHP manual's «Installation on Unix systems» section.
MS4W (MapServer For Windows) is a popular product maintained by Gateway Geomatics that contains Apache, PHP, and PHP/MapScript ready to use in a zipfile or installer. Several Open Source applications are also available for use in MS4W.
Windows users can follow steps in the Installing Apache, PHP and MySQL on Windows tutorial to install Apache and PHP manually on their system.
Window users running IIS can follow iis.net's howto for installing PHP.
When setting up PHP on Windows, make sure that PHP is configured as a CGI and not as an Apache module because php_mapscript.dll is not thread-safe and does not work as an Apache module (See the Example Steps of a Full Windows Installation section of this document).
Build/Install the PHP/MapScript Module¶
Building on a Linux Box
NOTE: For UNIX users, see the README.CONFIGURE file in the MapServer source, or see the Compiling on Unix HowTo.
The main MapServer configure script will automatically setup the main makefile to compile php_mapscript.so if you pass the –WITH_PHP=ON argument to the configure script.
As of MapServer 7.4.0, you can pass the –WITH_PHPNG=ON argument for the new PHP 7 support through the SWIG API.
Copy the php_mapscript.so library to your PHP extensions directory, and then use the dl() function to load the module at the beginning of your PHP scripts. See also the PHP function extension_loaded() to check whether an extension is already loaded.
The dl() function was deprecated as of PHP 5.3.
The file mapscript/php/examples/phpinfo_mapscript.phtml will test that the php_mapscript module is properly installed and can be loaded.
If you get an error from PHP complaining that it cannot load the library, then make sure that you recompiled and reinstalled PHP with support for dynamic libraries. On RedHat 5.x and 6.x, this means adding «-rdynamic» to the CLDFLAGS in the main PHP3 Makefile after running ./configure Also make sure all directories in the path to the location of php_mapscript.so are at least r-x for the HTTPd user (usually "nobody"), otherwise dl() may complain that it cannot find the file even if it's there.
Building on Windows
For Windows users, it is recommended to look for a precompiled binary for your PHP version on the MapServer download page or use the MS4W installer.
If for some reason you really need to compile your own Windows binary then see the README.WIN32 file in the MapServer source (good luck!).
Installing PHP/MapScript¶
Simply copy the file php_mapscript.dll to your PHP extensions directory (pathto/php/extensions)
Using phpinfo()
To verify that PHP and PHP/MapScript were installed properly, create a ".php" file containing the following code and try to access it through your web server:
if (PHP_OS == "WINNT" || PHP_OS == "WIN32")
If PHP and PHP/MapScript were installed properly, several tables should be displayed on your page, and "MapScript" should be listed in the "Extensions" table.
Example Steps of a Full Windows Installation¶
Using MS4W (MapServer for Windows)
Download the latest MS4W base package.
Extract the files in the archive to the root of one of your drives (e.g. C:/ or D:/).
Double-click the file /ms4w/apache-install.bat to install and start the Apache Web server.
In a web browser goto http://127.0.0.1. You should see an MS4W opening page. You are now running PHP, PHP/MapScript, and Apache.
You can now optionally install other applications that are pre-configured for MS4W, which are located on the MS4W download page.
Manual Installation Using Apache Server
Download the Apache Web Server and extract it to the root of a directory (eg. D:/Apache).
Download PHP and extract it to your Apache folder (eg. D:/Apache/PHP).
Create a temp directory to store MapServer created GIFs. NOTE: This directory is specified in the IMAGEPATH parameter of the WEB Object in the Mapfile reference. For this example we will call the temp directory «ms_tmp» (eg. E:/tmp/ms_tmp).
Locate the file httpd.conf in the conf directory of Apache, and open it in a text viewer (eg. TextPad, Emacs, Notepad).
In the Alias section of this file, add aliases to the ms_tmp folder and any other folder you require (for this example we will use the msapps folder):
Alias /ms_tmp/ "path/to/ms_tmp/" Alias /msapps/ "path/to/msapps/"
In the ScriptAlias section of this file, add an alias for the PHP folder.
ScriptAlias /cgi-php/ "pathto/apache/php/"
In the AddType section of this file, add a type for php files.
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
In the Action section of this file, add an action for the php.exe file.
Action application/x-httpd-php "/cgi-php/php.exe"
Copy the file php.ini-dist located in your Apache/php directory and paste it into your WindowsNT folder (eg. c:/winnt), and then rename this file to php.ini in your WindowsNT folder.
If you want specific extensions loaded by default, open the php.ini file in a text viewer and uncomment the appropriate extension.
Place the file php_mapscript.dll into your Apache/php/extensions folder.
Installation Using Microsoft's IIS
(please see the Running MapServer on IIS document for uptodate steps)
Install IIS if required (see the IIS installation procedure).
Install PHP and PHP/MapScript (see above).
Open the Internet Service Manager (eg. C/WINNT/system32/inetsrv/inetmgr.exe).
Select the Default web site and create a virtual directory (right click, select New/Virtual directory). For this example we will call the directory msapps.
In the Alias field enter msapps and click Next.
Enter the path to the root of your application (eg. «c:/msapps») and click Next.
Set the directory permissions and click Finish.
Select the msapps virtual directory previously created and open the directory property sheets (by right clicking and selecting properties) and then click on the Virtual directory tab.
Click on the Configuration button and then click the App Mapping tab.
Click Add and in the Executable box type: path/to/php/php.exe %s %s. You MUST have the %s %s on the end, PHP will not function properly if you fail to do this. In the Extension box, type the file name extension to be associated with your PHP scripts. Usual extensions needed to be associated are phtml and php. You must repeat this step for each extension.
Create a temp directory in Explorer to store MapServer created GIFs.
This directory is specified in the IMAGEPATH parameter of the WEB Object in the Mapfile. For this example we will call the temp directory ms_tmp (eg. C:/tmp/ms_tmp).
Open the Internet Service Manager again.
Select the Default web site and create a virtual directory called ms_tmp (right click, select New/Virtual directory). Set the path to the ms_tmp directory (eg. C:/tmp/ms_tmp) . The directory permissions should at least be set to Read/Write Access.
FAQ / Common Problems¶
Questions Regarding Documentation¶
Is there any documentation available?
The main reference document is the SWIG API (or the legacy PHP MapScript reference), which describes all of the current classes, properties and methods associated with the PHP/MapScript module.
To get a more complete description of each class and the meaning of their member variables, see the MapScript reference and the MapFile reference.
The MapServer Wiki also has PHP/MapScript build and installation notes and some php code snippets.
Where can I find sample scripts?
Some examples are included in directory mapserver/mapscript/php/examples/ in the MapServer source distribution. A good one to get started is test_draw_map.phtml: it's a very simple script that just draws a map, legend and scalebar in an HTML page.
A good intermediate example is the PHP MapScript By Example guide (note that this document was created for an earlier MapServer version but the code might be still useful).
As many users rely on MS4W for MapScript, you can also see user-contributed PHP 7 scripts through the SWIG API, on the MS4W wiki.
The original example is the «Gmap demo», download the whole source and data files from the MapTools.org download page.
Questions About Installation¶
How can I tell that the module is properly installed on my server?
Create a file called phpinfo.phtml with the following contents:
<?php dl("php_mapscript.so"); phpinfo(); ?>
Make sure you replace the php_mapscript.so with the name under which you installed it, it could be php_mapscript_74.so on Unix, or php_mapscript_74.dll on Windows
You can then try the second test page mapserver/mapscript/php/examples/test_draw_map.phtml. This page simply opens a MapServer .map file and inserts its map, legend, and scalebar in an HTML page. Modify the page to access one of your own MapServer .map files, and if you get the expected result, then everything is probably working fine.
I try to display my .phtml or .php page in my browser but the page is shown as it would it Notepad.
The problem is that your PHP installation does not recognize «.phtml» as a PHP file extension. Assuming you're using PHP under Apache then you need to add the following line with the other PHP-related AddType lines in the httpd.conf:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .phtml
For a more detailed explanation, see the Example Steps of a Full Windows Installation section of this document.
I installed PROJ (formerly `PROJ.4`), GDAL, and other support libraries on my system, they are recognized by MapServer's «configure» as a system lib but at runtime I get an error: «libproj.so.0: No such file or directory».
You are probably running a RedHat Linux system if this happened to you. This happens because the libraries install themselves under /usr/local/lib but this directory is not part of the runtime library path by default on your system.
(I'm still surprised that «configure» picked PROJ as a system lib since it's not in the system's lib path…probably something magic in autoconf that we'll have to look into)
There are a couple of possible solutions:
Add a «setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH» to your httpd.conf to contain that directory
Edit /etc/ld.so.conf to add /usr/local/lib, and then run «/sbin/ldconfig». This will permanently add /usr/local/lib to your system's runtime lib path.
Configure MapServer with the following options:
--with-proj=/usr/local --enable-runpath
and the /usr/local/lib directory will be hardcoded in the exe and .so files
I (Daniel Morissette) personally prefer option #2 because it is permanent and applies to everything running on your system.
Does PHP/MapScript have to be setup as a CGI? If so, why?
Yes, please see the PHP/MapScript CGI page in the MapServer Wiki for details.
I have compiled PHP as a CGI and when PHP tries to load the php_mapscript.so, I get an «undefined symbol: _register_list_destructors» error. What's wrong?
Your PHP CGI executable is probably not linked to support loading shared libraries. The MapServer configure script must have given you a message about a flag to add to the PHP Makefile to enable shared libs.
Edit the main PHP Makefile and add «-rdynamic» to the LDFLAGS at the top of the Makefile, then relink your PHP executable.
Note: The actual parameter to add to LDFLAGS may vary depending on the system you're running on. On Linux it is «-rdynamic», and on *BSD it is «-export-dynamic».
What are the best combinations of MapScript and PHP versions?
The best combinations are:
MapScript 7.4.0 with PHP 7.0 and up (through the new SWIG API)
MapScript 4.10 with PHP 5.2.1 and up
MapScript 4.10 with PHP 4.4.6 and up


text:
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As one of the original architects and pioneers of Six Sigma at Motorola, he was responsible for the research and development of advanced Six Sigma engineering models and methods. While serving the Motorola Government Electronics Group, Dr. Harry also held the positions of Member of Technical Staff, Group Operations. Before this, he held the position of Manager and Principal Staff Engineer, Advanced Quantitative Research Laboratory. He also served as a Quality and Reliability Engineer when he first joined Motorola.
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Prior to beginning his professional career, he was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant. His tour of duty included serving as an infantry platoon leader and later as an executive officer and company commander. He was also certified as a nuclear-biological-chemical warfare officer and was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain.
Significant professional contributions include creation of the Six Sigma Breakthrough Strategy and the Six Sigma Black Belt concept. In addition, Dr. Harry authored the first substantive publication on Six Sigma. This book was designed to articulate the philosophy, theory, and application of Motorola's Six Sigma Program and was published under the title "The Nature of Six Sigma Quality." In addition, Dr. Harry was responsible for the research and development of an advanced mechanical design engineering tolerancing system, for which he received a major engineering award from Motorola. The design algorithms have since been translated to functional engineering software. This work was published by Motorola, Inc. under the title "Six Sigma Mechanical Design Tolerancing."
Another major contribution was the research and development of an RF/Microwave design analysis and optimization procedure. This work was published by Motorola University Press and used by Motorola, Texas Instruments and other noted corporations. Dr. Harry was directly responsible for the research and development of a process characterization methodology, as well as the supporting mathematical statistics. This work was published by Addison-Wesley under the title "Six Sigma Producibility Analysis and Process Characterization."
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subset: commoncrawl


text: Elizabeth I is a two-part 2005 British historical drama television miniseries directed by Tom Hooper, written by Nigel Williams, and starring Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I of England. The miniseries covers approximately the last 24 years of her nearly 45-year reign. Part 1 focuses on the final years of her relationship with the Earl of Leicester, played by Jeremy Irons. Part 2 focuses on her subsequent relationship with the Earl of Essex, played by Hugh Dancy. The series originally was broadcast in the United Kingdom in two two-hour segments on Channel 4. It later aired on HBO in the United States, CBC and TMN in Canada, ATV in Hong Kong, ABC in Australia, and TVNZ Television One in New Zealand. The series went on to win Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe Awards. The same year, Helen Mirren starred as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, with which she dominated the award season.


text:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon misled Congress by providing inaccurate or vague information about sexual assault cases in an effort to blunt support for a Senate bill that would make a major change in how the military handles allegations of sexual misconduct, an Associated Press investigation found.
At issue is whether local district attorneys and police forces failed to act on allegations of misconduct against U.S. service members. According to the Pentagon, there were some 90 cases that military commanders insisted on taking after civilian authorities said no.
The results buttressed the Pentagon's position that curbing the authority of commanders to decide which crimes go to trial — as the Senate bill proposes — will mean fewer victims will get justice because there will be fewer prosecutions.
But in a number of the cases, the steps taken by civilian authorities were described incorrectly or omitted, according to AP research and interviews. There also is nothing in the records that supports the primary reason the Pentagon told Congress about the cases in the first place: To cast top military brass as hard-nosed crime fighters who insisted on taking the cases to trial after civilian law enforcement said no.
The records were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, which provided the documents exclusively to AP. The nonprofit group on Monday said it found no evidence that any case was prosecuted at a commander's insistence.
Former Navy pilot Lt. Paula Coughlin, a member of Protect Our Defenders board of directors, called on Congress to hold hearings on what she called "this latest deception."
Military representatives defended the accuracy of the information sent to Congress.
The bulk of the cases involved soldiers. Army spokeswoman Tatjana Christian said the case descriptions were written by service attorneys who had "personal and direct knowledge of the circumstances." She said they contacted the local authorities in each case to ensure the description was accurate, although there is no indication of that in the summaries. The Army declined to make a service official available for an interview.
Previously, the more than 90 cases had been discussed publicly only as statistics that underpinned the Pentagon's objections to the Senate bill, the Military Justice Improvement Act.
Three years ago, Navy Adm. James Winnefeld, then the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned a Senate panel that if approved, the bill would result in fewer sexual assault cases going to trial. Winnefeld retired from military service last year.
In response to the AP's reporting, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Richard Osial described the information that Winnefeld provided the committee as a snapshot based on data that was supplied by the military services. "He had confidence to go with it," Osial said.
The consequences could be significant if lawmakers believe they were misinformed. A backlash may stoke additional support for the Senate bill that's failed to pass largely because of the military's strident opposition. Another vote on the legislation could come as early as June.
The legislation aims to stop sexual assaults by stripping senior officers of their responsibilities to decide whether to prosecute sexual assault cases and giving that authority to seasoned military trial lawyers. Protect Our Defenders, a nonpartisan organization, supports the bill.
"Someone at the Pentagon should be held accountable," said retired Col. Don Christensen, the organization's president and the former chief Air Force prosecutor. "Whether you agree or disagree with the policy, every senator — especially those who repeated the claim or based their vote on the claim — should be outraged."
The often unflattering image of civilian law enforcement projected in the records also runs counter to the close working relationships local prosecutors told AP that they've forged with the uniformed legal staffs at military installations in their jurisdictions — far from the contentious political climate in Washington.
Civilian prosecutors said it's not unusual to transfer a sexual assault case to the military for investigation or prosecution, particularly when the incident occurred off post and involved two or more service members. Yet these referrals are routinely depicted as refusals, leaving the impression the charges would not have been pursued had military authorities not stepped in.
"It's offensive that they would say they would prosecute cases that we would not," said Jaime Esparza, the district attorney for El Paso County, Texas, where the Army's 1.1 million-acre Fort Bliss is located.
At Fort Drum in upstate New York, the Army took credit for prosecuting a soldier who had been previously convicted for the possession of child pornography but was never discharged from the service. The soldier, whose identity AP could not confirm, also failed to register as a sex offender. After being allowed to stay in uniform, he groped a girl and also sent her sexually explicit messages. He then was court-martialed and sentenced to five years in prison.
Kristyna Mills, the district attorney in New York's Jefferson County, where Fort Drum is located, disputed the Army's conclusion that her office turned the case down. She said the decision to allow the Army to take it was a "collaborative effort" made with the legal staff at Fort Drum.
"It is extremely rare that my office 'declines to prosecute' a case unless there are serious evidentiary issues that we feel cannot be overcome," Mills said.
In another case, the sheriff's office in Macomb County, Michigan, launched an investigation of Marine Corps Staff Sgt. D.C. Hagler, who was suspected of child pornography and indecent exposure, according to the records. But Hagler was stationed in Iraq. So the sheriff asked the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to take over what had become an international probe. Yet this is among the cases cited by Winnefeld as an instance where the military had to step in after civilian authorities wouldn't act.
Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Clark Carpenter said the service is "not in a position to characterize" Winnefeld's testimony. Carpenter said the individuals who prepared the summaries "had personal and direct knowledge of the circumstances" and that the Marine Corps does not provide information to Congress unless it's first been "reviewed by a higher authority."
The Senate legislation, which is sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., was first introduced in the spring of 2013 and has won the backing of at least 50 senators. But the legislation has twice failed on the Senate floor to meet a 60-vote filibuster threshold.
The dispute over Gillibrand's bill centers on the power that senior officers known as convening authorities have to send charges to trial and select jury members. Gillibrand and a bipartisan group of lawmakers argue that the system is archaic and ripe for bias, particularly for sex crimes. Victims may be reluctant to step forward, fearing they won't be believed or that they'll be retaliated against if they file a complaint.
But the bill's detractors have said fewer sex offenders will be caught and convicted if Gillibrand's bill ever becomes law. And that's where the sexual assault cases factored into the debate.
Winnefeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee in July 2013 that there were 93 sexual assault cases that military commanders insisted on taking after civilian authorities said no. Of the cases that had gone to trial at the time, more than half ended with a conviction, he said.
"I worry that if we turn this over to somebody else, whether it is a civilian DA or a nonentity in the military, that they are going to make the same kind of decisions that those civilian prosecutors made," said Winnefeld, who was the nation's second highest ranking military officer at the time. "I worry that we are going to have fewer prosecutions if we take it outside the chain of command."
Opponents of Gillibrand's bill seized on Winnefeld's remarks. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has cited the cases several times since the admiral testified, saying each one represents a victim who would never have had their day in court if Congress curbed the authority of commanders.
"The importance of these cases is that they show definitively that commanders don't sweep sexual assault cases under the carpet," said Sarah Feldman, McCaskill's spokeswoman. "On the contrary, the numbers continue to prove that commanders aggressively pursue courts-martial."
But there's no indication in the records of any direct intervention by commanders in the 93 cases or others listed in the documents. Each appears to have followed the steps mandated by the military's legal code: Senior officers cannot refer cases to a general court-martial unless uniformed attorneys known as staff judge advocates have first advised them that the evidence warrants the charges. So the argument that excluding commanders from the decision to prosecute will mean less justice for victims is a flawed one, according to proponents of Gillibrand's bill.
"Charges should not be sent to trial to set an example or show a commander is tough," said Christensen, the president of Protect Our Defenders.
Not all the case descriptions had enough information to independently verify if they were correct. The Army convicted Sgt. Cecil Saddler of raping a 10-year autistic girl in a case Winnefeld singled out as heinous. Saddler, who was stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in August 2011.
The Army's description said that the commonwealth's attorney in Virginia declined to prosecute Saddler but provided no additional identification. Virginia has 120 commonwealth's attorneys — the state's name for its elected, independent prosecutors — but no central database that keeps track of cases.
AP contacted the offices of four commonwealth's attorneys near Fort Eustis, where the crime occurred, and none of them had any record of Saddler's case.
Other descriptions omitted key details about the level of involvement by local authorities. A case from San Diego County, California, illustrates that point. The summary said the office of the district attorney in San Diego refused to move forward with sexual assault charges against a soldier because of insufficient evidence. But county court records and interviews provide a much different account.
Army Sgt. Paul Henson was convicted at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in February 2013 of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Carlsbad, California. He was sentenced to two years confinement and was released after serving 18 months.
The assault occurred in July 2010, but the Carlsbad Police Department didn't learn of the incident until nearly nine months later when it received a report from a police department in another state. By then, Henson was long gone from California. But the Carlsbad police investigated the allegations and the San Diego County District Attorney's office issued an arrest warrant for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
After Henson was found guilty in military court, the district attorney's office consulted with the victim and her family and elected not to proceed. She had testified at the Army trial in Kentucky and they were concerned about putting her through another one. But the sexual assault charge against Henson in California wasn't dropped until May 2015.
The imprecision in an Army case description resulted in a serious but untrue accusation against the office of the prosecuting attorney in Pierce County, Washington, where Joint Base Lewis-McChord is located. The summary said the office declined to prosecute a soldier accused of rape and then destroyed forensic evidence that had been collected the day after the assault.
John Sheeran, the office's assistant chief criminal deputy, said Pierce County elected not to prosecute because of concerns the charges couldn't be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. But he said his office did not destroy evidence. That was done by the local police department — which held the evidence — after it was informed no charges were being filed.
That's a distinction with a difference and one that should have been recognized by the Army attorneys who wrote the summary.
"If the implication is that prosecutors are reckless with evidence, it is problematic," Sheeran said. The Army also did not inform local law enforcement that it needed evidence preserved for a possible prosecution, he said.
"Let's not kid ourselves," Sheeran said. "Anybody can cherry pick cases."


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CONWAY Family History
CONWAY of Irish Origin
Ó Connmhaigh - anglicised as Conway, earlier as O Connowe. The root is Connmhach, possibly 'head smashing'. A variant is Mac Connmhaigh, the former certainly early, as found in the Annals of the Four Masters in 1360: 'Gilla na-naev O Conmhaigh, chief professor of music in Thomond, died'. This was a Dalcassian sept, principally of Thomond (Clare and Limerick), later also found in West Cork and Offaly. Woulfe says the name was also found in Cavan and Roscommon ('Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall', 1923). The presence of Conway in considerable numbers in Co Kilkenny in the 1659 'Census' suggests the name spread there also.
Ó Conbhuidhe - anglicised as Conway, Conwy, earlier Conboy & c., the root is 'cu buidhe' or yellow hound. Two families of the name existed in early times: that of the Uí Fiachrach (descendants of Fiachra, brother of Niall of the Nine Hostages, circa 4th century) who inhabited the barony of Tireragh in Co Sligo; and that of the Uí Mhaine (descendants of Maine Mór, an ancestor of the Orghialla i.e. Oriel) in Co Galway.
Ó Connmhacháin - anglicised as Conway and less as Kanavaghan and earlier as (O) Connoughan. The name is possibly a diminutive of Connmhach,v. (1) above. A surname found early on in Sligo, and Woulfe (op.cit.) says also found later in West Ulster and Offaly.
Mac Conmidhe - anglicised as Conamy and Conway. The root is probably 'cú Midhe' or hound of Meath. Meath or Mídhe was the ancient royal centre of Ireland. This name was found mainly in counties Derry and Tyrone in the 17th century.
Sir William Petty's 1659 'Census' of Ireland is an incomplete survey of Irish families and English colonists, undertaken by Cromwell's Commonwealth. Listed as a 'Principal Irish Name' we find:
Co Clare: Bunratty (barony), Conny & Cunny 13 (families).
Co Cork: Kinalmeaky, Connow 9.
Co Offaly: Ballyaboy, Conway 7; Ballycowan, Conway 5.
Co Kilkenny: Gowran, Convoy & Conway 9; Kells, Conway 7; Kilkenny City & Liberties, Conway 6.
Co Cavan is missing from the 'Census'. None found in Co Roscommon.
Co Sligo; Carbry Barony, Canughan 5.
Cos Galway and Mayo are missing from the 'Census'.
Co Derry
Derry City, Henry Conway esq is a 'titulado' or property owner, probably a British settler.
Tyrone is missing from the 'Census'.
Co Antrim
Massareene Barony, Viscount Conway is listed as a property owner in Lisnegarvie parish.
By the time of Griffith's 'Primary Valuation' (1847-64) of Irish households, Conway is found principally in counties Tyrone 184, Mayo 164, Kilkenny 144, Limerick 114, Clare 103, Sligo 96 and Tipperary 88. The Conway spelling was the most numerous form by far with 1594 entries, the nearest variant being McConway with 44.
The birth registration figures for 1890 show most Conways in counties Mayo, Tyrone, Dublin and in Munster generally.
R.E.Matheson's 'Varieties & Synonyms of Surnames...in Ireland' (1901) lists the following 'variants' of Conway, and, unless they were general, the districts where they were recorded: Conaway; Conmee (Magherafelt, Derry); Connaway; Conoo & Cunnoo (Birr, Offaly); McConamy (Cookstown, Tyrone); McConaway; McConomy (Derry; Omagh, Tyrone); McConway (Inishowen, Donegal).
Two Famous Conways:
Kit Conway (1897-1937) born in south west Tipperary, Kit Conway's name is synonymous with heroism, dying in the Battle of Jarama in the Spanish Civil War. His early life was spent working for a local farmer; he was highly motivated to learn, and was largely self educated. He joined the British Army in 1915, despite being a Republican separatist. He soon parted company with them, however, by feigning insanity! He fought in the Tipperary IRA during the War of Independence (1920-21). In the ensuing Civil War (1922) he joined the pro-Treaty Free State Army. He became disillusioned with the brutal conduct of the war by the pro Treaty side and deserted to fight in the last months with his erstwhile comrades on the anti-Treaty side. After helping to rebuild Connolly's Irish Citizen Army in Dublin in the 30s, and joining the Communist Party of Ireland, Conway volunteered to fight with the forces of the Spanish Republic against Franco's rebels in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). He died of wounds received at the Battle of Jarama on 12 February 1937.
William Conway (1913-1977) born in Belfast, became the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in 1963, and was admitted as a Cardinal in 1965. His father, Patrick Conway (Patrick was a popular name among all Conway tribes) was a house painter in Belfast. He was the 'Cardinal of the Troubles' that erupted in the north after 1969. He went on record to condemn both the British Government's decree of Internment and the Provisional IRA's response. He coined the question 'Who in their sane senses wants to bomb a million Protestants into a united Ireland?' He was particularly indignant regarding the tit for tat killings by both sides' paramilitaries; after the shooting of a UDR soldier by the IRA, he used phrases such as 'cruel murder', 'chill of horror', 'barbaric act'...whose agents had 'lost all sense of the sacredness of life and have thereby become less that human'.
CONWAY of British Origin
Conway is also a British name (early on record in Somerset as de Conweye, 1286) one of a number which are identical to common anglicised Irish names (see list below ). Such names borne by Britons were present in Ireland in the persons of officials or settlers in especially the 17th century; see the two Conway 'titulados' in Derry city and Co Antrim, above. This Conway family were originally of Bodrhyddan and Prestatin Co Flint, North Wales and although they may have taken their name from the place Conway/Conwy in North Wales, they may also have received their surname as a variant of the distinct surname Conyers (Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, Hanks, Coates, McClure, 2016; and see below). They held the titles of Baron Conway of Ragley Co Warwick (1624), Viscount Conway of Conway Castle, Carnarvon (1626), Viscount Killultagh of Co Antrim (1626), and Earl of Conway (1629). They also had links with Buckinghamshire and Gloucester. It is their arms illustrated above, 'Sable on a bend, cotised, argent, a rose between two annulets, gules; Crest: a Moor's head' (v. Burke, 'Dormant & Extinct Peerages...' 1883) which are so often seen on websites and in tourist shops in Ireland attached to Gaelic Irish derivations of Conway/O' Conway. This practice occurs also with other well known Irish surnames which are identical to British surnames and has drawn comment from well known Irish authority on arms and family names, Dr Edward MacLysaght R.I.A.
In Wales, the Conway name is strongly associated with the town and borough of Conwy in north Wales, Conway being the anglicised version of the Welsh name. It is today also the name of a Welsh county. This name in turn derives from the river Conwy that flows from Llyn Conwy (Lake Conwy), near Penmachno, to the sea near to the town of Conway.
The surname of the Conway family of Bodrhyddan, Flintshire, north Wales, however is claimed by the family to have been derived from Sir William Coniers, high constable of England under William the Conqueror. One of his descendants, Sir Henry Conway, married Ellen (or Angharad), the daughter of the Lord of Prestatyn. Another descendant, Jenkyn Conway (d.c.1432) married into the powerful Wynn family of Gwydir, Llanrwst.
Unsurprisingly therefore, in Wales the surname was historically associated with the most northerly portion of the country, in particular of course the wider Conway area where it was recorded as a surname during the 16th century, for example a George Conway was baptised in Conwy parish church in 1545, and a Gyles ap Thomas Conway (Gyles son of Thomas Conway) who was baptised in the same church in 1583.
Such early references are also seen on the Hawarden and Cilcain parish registers in Flintshire. In the 17th century, the surname was also recorded elsewhere in north Wales, including for example in Llanycil, Merionethshire (the baptism of an Anna, the daughter of Harris and Jane Conway in 1647) and Llanasa, Flintshire (the baptism of Dorothea, the daughter of Henry and Margaret Conway in 1663).
The surname may also have a Scottish origin: Conway is a parish in Beauly in Scotland, it is a locative name, possibly from Gaelic 'coinmheadh' - billet, free quarters. This locative name may also have given rise to some indigenous Scottish Conways; although many Scottish Conways, with highest numbers in industrial Lanarkshire in 1881, would be of Irish immigrant stock; likewise the origin of many of the numerous Conways of industrial Lancashire (the most numerous county figure in Britain in the 1881 Census).
1659 'Census' of Ireland, William Petty
1881 Census (England, Scotland and Wales)
Primary Valuation of Ireland (1847-64) Richard Griffith
Varieties and Synonyms of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland, 1901, R.E. Matheson
Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall, P. Woulfe, Dublin 1922
Irish Families Series: Irish Families, Dublin 1985; More Irish Families, Dublin 1982, Surnames of Ireland, Dublin 1985, Edward MacLysaght
Welsh Surnames, T.J. Morgan, P. Morgan, Univ Wales Press, 1985
A Dictionary of Surnames, P Hanks F, Hodges, Oxford (OUP) 1988
Dictionary of American Family Names, P Hanks, Oxford (OUP) 2013
The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, Hanks, Coates, McClure, 2016
Appendix of British names which were used as 'models' in the Anglicisation of Irish names.
Boland, Boyle, Brady, Breen, Buckley, Canny, Carey, Conway, Craven, Crowley, Cullen, Curry, Delan(e)y, Farren, Fearon, Foley, Gavin, Geary, Gorman, Hanl(e)y, Heal(e)y, Hurl(e)y, Hynes, Kelly, Kenny, Larkin, Loftus, Long, Luc(e)y, Lyons, Mullen, Rea, Reaney, Ring, Sexton, Trac(e)y, Tunney et. al.
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How to Find a Professional Electrician Near You
If you're looking for a professional electrician in Tucson, there are several tips to help you find the right one. First, research the electrician's reputation. Ask around to see what other people think about them. Also, check whether or not they have the right license and insurance. Make sure you have all of these information before hiring them. Also, check if they have the experience and credentials you're looking for.
Electrician Service List
If you're looking to hire an electrician for your next electrical project, there are some tips to help you find the best one. One of the most important things to look for in an electrician is experience. The best way to tell if an electrician has enough experience is to ask for references. Getting referrals from previous customers will help you determine if an individual is competent and has performed quality work. Additionally, you should always choose an electrician with a warranty, so you know exactly what work you're getting before paying for the work.
While hiring a professional electrician, you should also check their license and insurance. This will guarantee that they'll be doing the job properly and safely. Additionally, licensed electricians have a great track record for customer satisfaction and safety. In addition, they're more likely to provide you with a price quote that is better than other estimates. Finally, you should look for reviews and ratings from previous customers. This will help you eliminate unprofessional electricians from your list.
Aside from testimonials, you should also check their qualifications and experience. A good electrician should have a proven track record and a tangible workspace. If he doesn't have one, look for another one. Another tip is to ask friends, family and co-workers for recommendations. A few other tips to look for an electrician include checking with the Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed against him.
Remember that electrical work can be dangerous, so it is best to let a professional do it. A faulty installation could lead to a fire, shock, or electrocution. Make sure to find a professional who will guarantee his work. You can use the Internet to find electricians near you or through local yellow pages. Once you've narrowed down the list of options, you can ask for an estimate and set up an appointment.
An electrician who has completed training and certification can guarantee a quality service and save you time and money. The right electrician will also have the right tools to complete the job properly. You should always hire an electrician who is licensed and has completed a thorough training and certification program. A license and insurance are important factors to look for when hiring a professional electrician. They can also recommend energy-saving solutions to save you money. Regardless of whether you have an emergency or simply need a repair, it's important to hire a professional electrician for the job.
Electrician Near Me
If you're in need of an electrician, you should investigate your options by asking for recommendations and reading customer testimonials. Check out the credentials of each electrician and choose the best one for the job. You should also consider whether the electrician is licensed and has insurance, since he or she should be responsible for your home or business. Before you hire an electrician, make sure to ask questions such as how much their hourly rates are.
To start your search, create a free electrician profile on Monster.com. From there, you can start clicking on electrician jobs that interest you. You can also sign up for custom job alerts. Expert advice is also available for choosing a qualified electrician. Once you have a few quotes, you can set an appointment for an estimate. Remember to ask for references before hiring a professional electrician to ensure they have the proper training.
Once you've chosen a reliable electrician, you can start preparing for your job. If you're dealing with a power outage, you may need a licensed electrician to fix your electrical issues. In that case, call the local utility company and schedule a time for them to come out. But if you're in need of a wiring job, or fixture installation, a qualified electrician is always the best choice.
Another way to hire a qualified electrician is through Thumbtack or HomeAdvisor. These services allow you to search for local electricians with reviews by past customers. You can also request a free quote on the spot. These professionals will be happy to meet with you and assess your home's electrical system, whether it's just an outlet or a whole house electrical system. They can also help you sell your home if you need to upgrade electrical systems.
Once you've found a local electrician, you can discuss the project with him. You can ask him to upgrade outdated electrical plugs and wiring, or install new lighting fixtures. Your electrician can also help with power outages, troubleshooting, and installation. You can also call them for a home inspection or renovation project. Whatever your electrical needs may be, an electrician can provide you with reliable service and the expertise you need to make your home or office safe.
How Much do Tucson Electricians Charge
An electrician's labor rates vary greatly based on location and the project's size. Some electricians are paid an hourly rate while others charge more for more complex jobs. You can also get a cheaper rate if you combine multiple repairs. When you hire an electrician, make sure you get free estimates and ask for multiple quotes. Remember to consider the quality of the materials used. If the electricians are using substandard materials, you may need to pay extra.
Most electricians charge between $50 and $100 per hour. However, rural electricians generally factor travel expenses into their hourly rate and may charge a separate trip charge of $100 or more. Some electricians charge a flat rate for an entire day. Their rates will vary depending on the project size, the electrician's experience, and his license. However, it is important to remember that older electrical systems cannot keep up with today's modern electronics.
If you need an electrician on a weekend, they will charge more. If you're hiring an electrician on a holiday, you can expect to pay 1.5-2 times the standard rate. Remember that electricians work weekends and holidays, so they deserve compensation for their time. So, ask about their rates before hiring one. When it comes to electricians, you should ask for a quote before the job is started. If you don't get a quote, you'll probably have to pay twice as much.
Wiring a house can be a big job, and it costs several thousand dollars. The average charge for wiring a home is about PS1,200. The cost of replacing a consumer unit, or fuse box, can be up to PS400. However, it may take an entire day for the electrician to complete the job. Another project you may want to consider hiring an electrician for is installing an electric shower. It will likely cost you anywhere from PS250 to PS400, and you may also need a plumber to complete the job.
Apprentice electricians charge between $40 and $60 an hour. They have completed an apprenticeship and passed the Journeyman electrician exam. Apprentice electricians typically charge around $40-$60 per hour and work under the supervision of a Master electrician. Apprentices can handle many tasks, but they may not be appropriate for complicated projects. They can also charge less during off hours or for jobs with more complicated requirements. You'll need to check with a local electrician to determine how much you need to pay.
How do You Price for an Electrician
How to price for an electrician depends on several factors, including the size of the job, the type of electrician and the experience of the electrician. While the larger the business, the higher the hourly rate. However, don't confuse the hourly rate with the amount you'll be paid per job. An hourly rate for an electrician does not include any extra fees for materials or insurance, which can increase the cost. To get a more accurate price, ask the electrician for a quote on each service you need done.
Emergency calls are higher than scheduled appointments, so be prepared for this. Emergency calls usually occur at odd hours like weekends and holidays. Other signs of an emergency call are burning odors, hot electrical panels or power outages. Depending on the grade of electrician you hire, you should be able to charge up to $150 per hour. However, the cost may increase more depending on the time of the day and demand. In general, you should avoid hiring a cheap electrician just because they are able to charge a higher price.
The rate for an electrician varies depending on the type of work and the location of the job. Hourly rates range between $50 and $100 per hour, according to HomeAdvisor. Additional charges include travel costs and materials. Also, be aware that some electricians require a minimum number of hours to complete a job. This can add another $100 to $200 to your bill. You can also ask for a quote for the entire job.
The basic formula for estimating electrical work involves multiplying the cost per hour by the number of hours the electrician is expected to complete the project. Then, add any extra materials that will increase the cost of the project. Once you have the total cost, you can use the hourly rate as a guide to price for an electrician. For residential projects, the electrical estimate should be as accurate as possible. You should know the scope of the work and how much it will cost in order to plan the budget.
The post How to Find a Local Electrician in Tucson You Can Trust appeared first on https://gqcentral.co.uk


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Last night, Catherine and I were out again all night, performing what was ultimately a futile spider experiment on Cordova Spit (TIXEN in the SENĆOŦEN language). The one thing that did go right was that the dawn had some decent light, so I set out early to try to get some photos of sleeping hymenopterans.
I did not end up shooting very many, as I found this absolutely lovely cluster of Coelioxys which were just begging to be shot. These parasitic megachilids are wonderful subjects, and seem to sleep in small aggregations, sometimes with Ammophila wasps. Their preferred perches are the dried seedheads of the Puget Sound Gumweed (Grindelia integrifolia), a fragrant seaside plant that is a good place to find halictids in the daytime.
Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took this morning!


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For many pregnant Chinese, a U.S. passport remains a powerful lure
SHANGHAI -- What can $1,475 buy you in modern China? Not a Tiffany diamond or a mini-sedan, say Robert Zhou and Daisy Chao. But for that price, they guarantee you something more lasting, with unquestioned future benefits: an American passport and U.S. citizenship for your new baby.
Conversely, the Augusta National Golf Club made Bill Gates wait for years to become a member despite Warren Buffett sponsoring him, so who'd want to belong to Augusta? There's probably some golf club in Calcutta that has three million members and they each get one teetime per lifetime (but you get an additional teetime per reincarnation, so you've got that going for you, which is nice), and thus it would be much better to belong to Calcutta Municipal than empty old Augusta National.
Zhou and Chao, a husband and wife from Taiwan who now live in Shanghai, run one of China's oldest and most successful consultancies helping well-heeled expectant Chinese mothers travel to the United States to give birth.
The couple's service, outlined in a PowerPoint presentation, includes connecting the expectant mothers with one of three Chinese-owned "baby care centers" in California. For the $1,475 basic fee, Zhou and Chao will arrange for a three-month stay in a center -- two months before the birth and a month after. A room with cable TV and a wireless Internet connection, plus three meals a day, starts at an additional $35 a day. The doctors and staff all speak Chinese. There are shopping and sightseeing trips.
The mothers must pay their own airfare and are responsible for getting a U.S. visa, although Zhou and Chao will help them fill out the application form.
At a time when China is prospering and the common perception of America here is of an empire in economic decline, the proliferation of U.S. baby services shows that for many Chinese, a U.S. passport nevertheless remains a powerful lure. The United States is widely seen as more of a meritocracy than China, where getting into a good university or landing a high-paying job often depends on personal connections.
"They believe that with U.S. citizenship, their children can have a more fair competitive environment," Zhou said.
Zhou and Chao insist that everything they do is legal, noting that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed in 1868, says anyone born on U.S. soil has the right to citizenship.
"We don't encourage moms to break the law -- just to take advantage of it," Zhou said. "It's like jaywalking. The policeman might fine you, but it doesn't break the law." ...
U.S. officials confirm it is not a crime to travel to the United States to give birth so that the child can have U.S. citizenship. "You don't deny someone because you know they're going to the U.S. to have children," said a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Beijing, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing embassy rules.
The spokesman, who said expectant mothers typically claim they are going to the United States as tourists, compared the baby consultancies to services that help foreign students apply for American universities: "If you have the money, they give you the service. They tell you how to prepare your dossier."
"I'm sure people in Congress would call it a loophole," the spokesman said.
Yes, because people in Congress are constantly sounding off about legal immigration abuses. I typed into Google:
"legal immigration abuses" Congress
and got back:
Your search - "legal immigration abuses" Congress - did not match any documents.
Richburg continues:
Many anti-immigration activists in the United States agree. Some argue that the 14th Amendment -- aimed at guaranteeing citizenship rights to freed black slaves -- was never meant to provide an instant passport to the children of people who are in the country illegally or who travel there expressly to gain U.S. citizenship for their child.
Richburg is an African-American who seems to think the 14th Amendment was passed to provide justice for his ancestors, not perks for random foreigners.
The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department have no specific regulations regarding pregnant foreign visitors, which critics see as an issue....
Zhou, a former marketing director, and Chao, a former television producer in Taiwan, said they have helped between 500 and 600 mothers give birth to American babies in the five years they have been in business. They started with themselves, when Chao went to the United States to give birth to their daughter Fiona, now 4.
Now, they said, their clients include Chinese doctors, lawyers, business leaders, government officials, well-known media personalities -- most of whom do not want media attention and, Zhao said, would not agree to be interviewed.
About 40 percent of their clients come from Shanghai, 30 percent from Beijing and the rest from Guangzhou and elsewhere, including Taiwan. Some, the couple said, were giving birth to their second child to skirt China's one-child policy. Most say they do not intend to live in the United States themselves.
In other words, they do not intend to pay taxes in the United States themselves, if they can avoid it.
And all are affluent, Zhou and Chao said. Unlike the poor illegal immigrants from Central America who try to cross the border to have their babies in America, Zhou said, these Chinese parents fly in on first-class seats.
"They also do some shopping," he said, "So they are contributing to the economy."
The reasons they want American passports for their babies are varied, but most come down to two key factors -- education and setting.
"The mainland [China] moms believe the U.S. has better educational resources," Zhou said. This year, 10 million students are battling for 6.6 million spots at Chinese universities and the chance for a better life. "The competition is too fierce on the mainland," Zhou said.
In their pitch to prospective clients, Zhou and Chao point out that as a U.S. citizen, a child has access to free public education from primary school through high school and that a full education in the United States can be much cheaper than at the top Chinese private schools and universities. ...
Chuo, 35, said her brother and sister both studied in the United States and "my parents paid a huge amount of money for their education" because they were foreign students. Giving her newborn American citizenship, she said, would "provide one more choice for our baby."
Another reason is to get chain migration going uphill, get the kid to sponsor the parents, and the parents sponsor the grandparents, who can be stashed into old people's public housing. I used to live next to an old folks high-rise public housing project in Chicago, which was mostly occupied by non-English speaking Asians. Considering the type-of-neighbor alternatives in Chicago public housing, it wasn't so bad, but I could never see why American taxpayers ought to pay for the lodging and medical care of old people who had never paid taxes to America.
Equally important was the setting. "It's spacious and with no pollution," Christina Chuo said. "We thought it would put us in a good mood looking at the nice scenery, the hills and the water."
Chuo said she and her husband like living in Taiwan and are not interested in migrating to America, except, perhaps, when they retire. She said they got their visas by saying their purpose was tourism. But she worries it will not be so easy for others.
"I am afraid in the future, with more people going to U.S., it will be harder to get a visa," Chuo said.
I wouldn't worry about it.


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During Red Hat Summit we got to record two episodes for the Asylum.
First a live one at the end of JUDCon where we had Mark Little, Pete Muir and James Strachan discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages in the opensource communities JBoss is involved in.
Warning: contains tongue-in-cheek and pieces of British humor :)
Show notes and episode downloads for "A tale about JBoss and Communities"
The second episode we invaded Jay Balunas hotel room together with Karel Piwko and talked about Aerogear, what it is and what is coming.
Show notes and episode downloads for "What is Aerogear"
Have fun!


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For Mercado and her family, last fall was a happy time, one they wanted to record and save in the venerable tradition of the family photo. Johnny Fernandez, Mercado's boyfriend, had just emigrated from Lima, Peru, ending a yearlong separation, and on top of that, it was their son's first birthday.
The photographs they took over several days in late October included pictures of Fernandez reunited with the family at their modest home in suburban Richardson. Others captured their 1-year-old son Rodrigo, and 4-year-old Pablizio, from Mercado's earlier marriage, playing in a neighborhood park. Using the camera's timer, they also took three snapshots of themselves, naked in their bed. They arranged their bodies in ways that showed less flesh than most freeway billboards.
A half-dozen others recorded the kids at bath time. Fernandez took several photos of the boys "playing around," naked and innocent, with the oldest flashing a big smile. Mercado, who says she often bathed with the kids, is in several of the shots unclothed from the waist up, holding her arm modestly across her bare chest.
In one--the photo that would threaten to send Mercado and her boyfriend to prison--the infant Rodrigo is suckling her left breast.
After Mercado dropped off the film for processing, a technician viewed the images and decided they were "suspicious," according to a police report. As required under Texas law, he immediately contacted local police. Mercado says that when she went to pick up her pictures, the clerk told her there would be a delay, and then only returned three of the four sets of prints.
To Richardson police, who arrived at the store that afternoon and apparently made up their minds from the content of the pictures alone, this was nothing short of a felony case of child pornography. "We thought they contained sexuality," says Sergeant Danny Martin, a Richardson police spokesman, explaining why two Richardson police detectives began pursuing a criminal case. "If you saw the photos, you'd know what I mean."
With nothing else to support their contention that the photos were related to sex or sexual gratification, the police and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office presented the photos to a grand jury in January and came away with indictments against Mercado and Fernandez for "sexual performance of a child," a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The charges centered on a single photo, the breast-feeding shot. Fernandez and Mercado say they took it--although the child had ceased breast-feeding--to memorialize that stage of their baby's development.
"We wanted to see if he would take it, and he did," says Mercado, explaining through an interpreter that it was a spur-of-the moment notion to which they gave little thought. "Johnny never saw the child breast-feeding, so this was for memories. For us."
Mercado, who brushed back strands of brown hair from her reddened eyes as she spoke, has a story that has not changed from the start. She told the Richardson police officer who responded to the store's call that she had always taken pictures of her children nude, and that it wasn't uncommon in her native Peru to do so. They were innocent baby pictures, taken for the family's benefit, she said.
Five days later, when a state child welfare investigator and two detectives arrived at her house, Mercado again insisted that she saw nothing wrong with the photos. She allowed the group to search the couple's cramped room, and the detectives went through everything, including their photo albums, apparently looking for more evidence of child porn. They found nothing.
"We fought so hard to come to this country," says Mercado, a 33-year-old who was a nurse in Peru and aspires to become licensed in the United States one day. "For this to happen is unbelievable."
Andrew Chatham, one of three lawyers working on behalf of Mercado and her boyfriend, says it is difficult to imagine a clearer case of over-reaching by police and prosecutors. "Their theory, which is supported by nothing, is that these pictures were taken to satisfy the boyfriend's sexual desires. These aren't pictures that were peddled on the open market. This wasn't on someone's Web site. This is just a mother who took a roll of film and left it off at Eckerd's. The state used them to arrest her, indict her for a felony and take away her kids."
On November 13, the day Richardson police "tossed" or searched Mercado's house, a caseworker with the Dallas County Child Protective Services Unit of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services took custody of the children and recommended to a family judge that they be placed in a foster home. The caseworker's notes state that a supervisor, acting on the content of the photos alone, decided that "the children needed to be removed from their mother's care."
Her hard-rubbed eyes drooping with worry, Mercado says she told the caseworker, "Please don't take our children. We love our children."
In the months since, one of the couple's most onerous problems has been resolved. In late March, a week after the Dallas Observer asked District Attorney Bill Hill about the case, he ordered the criminal charges against both parents dropped. "It has some gray areas to it, but it doesn't rise to the level of a crime," Hill said. He said justice comes from more than isolating facts and interpreting them in a way to make them narrowly fit into a criminal statute.
Still, at press time, child welfare authorities continue to maintain control of the boys, even though a lawyer appointed to represent them says he believes they should go home. In its latest legal filing, the state said it would not consent to releasing the boys until the couple jumps through more hoops, including a lie-detector test they must take at their own expense.
"They ripped out my heart," Mercado says. "Even if we get them back, I don't know how we'll recover from what's been done."
"How could they accuse me of doing something with our own children?" says Fernandez, a lanky 35-year-old who worked as a hospital technician in Peru before embarking on his disastrous start in Texas. "How can they accuse us of being something we're not?"
It wasn't difficult at all.
When Andrew Chatham first learned of the Mercado-Fernandez case from lawyer Steven Lafuente, who the family hired at the outset, he was certain there must be more to it than a picture of a mother with an infant's lips on her breast. "I wondered what I wasn't getting," he says. "There had to be more."
There was not.
Police and child welfare files contain no criminal histories, no hint that there were other suspicions or evidence of child abuse or neglect. Mercado and Fernandez had not been in the United States long enough to have histories of much of anything. She arrived in August 2001, moved in with her parents in Richardson and took a job cleaning a nearby Wal-Mart in the middle of the night. Johnny arrived about 13 months later and went to work cleaning stores, too, before moving on to a job in a budget steak house.
By the time Chatham became involved in the case, which his partner Bill Stovall took on without a fee, the parents were devastated and penniless. "I think the police department and the DA's office select people to prosecute who have the least ability to defend themselves," says Chatham, who says he took the case on principle. "If these pictures were on their way back to some big home in Highland Park, they would have turned around and left. They were going after easy marks."
Mercado and Fernandez--who were released on bonds of $10,000 and $12,500, respectively--borrowed money from their family to get out of jail and drew comfort from the help and encouragement they received from their church.
Maybell Palacios, Mercado's aunt, says her niece is as dedicated a mother as she has ever seen. "She'd be working seven days a week at nights, and when she'd come home tired she had time for her children. To feed them. Wash them. Do their clothes."
Victor Jaeger, pastor of the Iglesia Adventista del 7 Dia de Richardson, says, "The community has been very supportive of them. They see it as a big misunderstanding." About a third of his Spanish-speaking Seventh Day Adventist congregation in blue-collar East Richardson is Peruvian-born.
The pastor says he was prepared to testify on the couple's behalf and explain what appears to him to have been a cultural misunderstanding. Jaeger, who grew up in Peru, says breast-feeding is culturally important in his native country and considered acceptable to do in public, particularly in the country's jungle regions. "My cousin sent me a picture of her newborn, and it was of the baby being breast-fed," he says. "As someone who has lived here for 20 years, I asked myself, 'Why did she send me that picture?' To her, it was nothing."
To memorialize the act of breast-feeding in a snapshot is as common in Peru as wanting to save a photo of a first step, or a first two-wheeler, or a first baseball game, he says.
Jaeger says Mercado and Fernandez, who both have roots in rural Peru, "sat in my office crying" on several occasions. He has come to the conclusion that they are good parents caught in an awful bind.
Their most pressing problem was the breast-feeding picture, which the indictment characterized as sexual, "to wit; actual lewd exhibition of...a portion of the female breast below the top of the areola, and the said defendant did and then employ, authorize and induce Rodrigo Fernandez, a child younger than 18 years of age, to engage in said sexual conduct and sexual performance." In other words, says Chatham, the act of simulated breast-feeding, captured on film, was being portrayed as a sex act. "They're saying the guy who took the picture is a sicko and wanted a photo of this to satisfy his sexual desire."
Through the ages, Chatham says, images of breast-feeding have been viewed more as art than deviancy.
"Look at this," he says, handing over a print of The Lucca Madonna, painted in 1436 by the Dutch master Jan van Eyck. The painting, depicting an enthroned Mary suckling the baby Jesus, hangs in the Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, an art museum in Frankfurt, Germany. "My sister-in-law was an art major in college, and when I told her about this, she said, 'Andy, there are thousands of great works of art portraying the breast-feeding of children. They grace the halls of great art museums around the world. I could have used dozens of others.'"
Adds Stovall, his law partner, "I was just up at Z Gallery last weekend, and there's a print of a woman breast-feeding."
The breast-feeding Madonnas no doubt were done with live models, Chatham says. "You may think it's kooky, but through the ages this is how we've portrayed the bond between mother and child."
In late February, Chatham drafted a legal motion seeking dismissal of the indictments, using The Lucca Madonna as his star exhibit. "The material at issue falls squarely within the ambit of the First Amendment's protection," Chatham wrote in his brief. "The portrayal of the suckling child is found in countless numbers of artwork. Whether the medium is canvas, marble or Kodak film is irrelevant for the purposes of First Amendment protection."
The motion was pending and being studied by an assistant prosecutor in late March when the Observer asked Bill Hill about the Mercado-Fernandez case. "I'll look into it," he said. A week later, he said his assistant thought the case would "wash out of court" on The Lucca Madonna motion, so Hill says he ordered him to dismiss it. "I looked at those pictures and there were some quirky things to them, and I can see where the grand jury had probable cause. But a woman has her breast exposed, and her child is there. I'm not sure that is a prosecutable offense," he says. He says his assistant agreed the case was "weak."
Hill did not fault the work of his assistants who presented the case to the grand jury, or the police who now are reportedly perturbed that their case was dumped. The charges and the couple's arrests were no doubt "traumatic," he says, "but in this instance the system worked."
Not if you are Rodrigo and Pablizio, who have not been returned to their mother yet.
Lieutenant Bill Walsh, head of the Dallas Police Department's youth and family crimes section, says calls from photo labs and computer repair shops are a useful tool in policing child sexual abuse and child pornography. His department makes several important cases a year after being alerted by technicians who stumble across the evidence.
"The law in Texas says all adults must report suspicion of child abuse, but it doesn't set out what the boundaries for that are," he says. Once detectives review the pictures, Walsh says, it is usually a "no-brainer" which ones are the work of abusers and child pornographers and which are innocent pictures of bathing children and "the cute one of the kid whose bathing suit fell off when he ran through the sprinkler." Naked baby pictures and photos of toddlers' backsides are on display in work cubicles and office credenzas all over town.
"We don't see many sticky cases," Walsh says. "Child porn usually isn't subtle."
A photo of a mother breast-feeding, or a couple of smiling kids getting ready for a bath, or, separately, two nude consenting adults, "aren't something we're going to be too concerned with," he says. "The most important thing is to look at the pictures in context. Under what circumstances were they taken."
To make a case against Mercado and Fernandez as parents, Richardson police and CPS investigators made no mention in their reports of any other photos on the four rolls, such as the ones of five kids at a birthday party. They focused only on the naked ones.
"It's like they took something from each one and twisted it to try to make a case," says Lafuente, who is handling the custody side of the couple's legal problems.
In his report to CPS, Richardson Detective John Wakefield wrote, "I viewed the photographs and had concern of possible sexual abuse, inappropriate sexual behavior and possible child pornography from nine [of them]."
The four photos in which Mercado is seen with her forearm closely covering her chest, for instance, Wakefield described thusly: "Mercado is in the photograph topless and touching her breast." In two others he notes that the older boy was "touching his genital area." Mercado told Wakefield, and anyone else who cared, that the boy had a rash and was constantly scratching himself there. She produced a tube of prescription medication to prove he was being treated for the problem, police reports show.
Her explanations and defenses came long before she was forced to hire lawyers, and they have not changed since the day the Richardson officers knocked on her door.
Lafuente says the actions of CPS and criminal authorities tended to reinforce each other, to the family's detriment, as the case has gone along. Meanwhile, nobody was interested in Mercado's and Fernandez's explanations. "I wanted Jacqueline to waive her Fifth Amendment right and testify before the grand jury. They didn't want to hear from her," he says. CPS reports, meanwhile, make prominent mention of the fact that the couple had been indicted on felony charges.
Says Stovall: "The very accusation in this case carries such a bad taste that they automatically assume the worst. I tell you they are charged with possession of child pornography, and you automatically envision the worst possible scenario."
Lafuente says he has been willing to concede that the photos show behavior that some people of a conservative nature might consider inappropriate, such as a mother bathing with her 4-year-old, or being topless around the kids. Yet those hardly rise to the level of sexual abuse. The family lives together in one room, making privacy difficult, but that does not mean Mercado and Fernandez are not loving parents, he says.
At a December 5 hearing on CPS's removal of the children, Lafuente reached a compromise with the state to put them in the temporary custody of Mercado's former husband, who also lives in the Dallas area. Mercado says that in the five months since, he has given her liberal visitation rights, but she and Fernandez cannot be left alone with the children, nor can the children sleep at the couple's house.
They also agreed to attend "group treatment for sexual issues" and submitted to extensive psychological exams.
At the group counseling, Mercado says, she has learned that kids in the United States are subject to the most horrendous abuse. "Their parents are on drugs...They're left with relatives who molest them. It's horrible." None of it seems to apply to her and her boyfriend, she says, although they say they attend the sessions regularly and try to partake.
"It's about as useful as tits on a bull," sniffs Chatham.
In their psychological exams, which they made available for this report, the only problems the experts could discern in interviews with the parents were those heaped on them by CPS and the police. And those, too, seemed to be held against them in the less-than-empirical world of psychoanalysis.
"When asked about problems occurring in his life currently, Mr. Fernandez states that the children have been removed, there is little money for lawyers, and it's all a big injustice," wrote Robert Antonetti, a Dallas psychologist who interviewed the couple earlier this year. "He reported currently feeling anxious, angry at the injustice he is enduring and fearful of what may happen. When asked about coping with stress he said he's been praying a lot."
In his summary and recommendations, Antonetti mentions no evidence of sexual deviancy in either parent. Instead, he concludes that Fernandez "feels very vulnerable to criticism and judgment."
The accusation that you're a sexual deviant who victimizes his own children might tend to do that.
The psychologist divines from his own psychological tests--and no material evidence whatsoever--that Fernandez appeared to be so "anxious to please" that he might be hiding something. "The profile suggests the probability that he attempted to present himself in an improbably favorable light," Antonetti concludes. Hence, the state-hired Antonetti recommended Fernandez be made to take a polygraph test before getting his son back. He recommended Mercado should be hooked up to one, too. He further recommended both should undergo parenting classes, individual counseling and couples counseling.
Two weeks ago, with a deadline looming for the state either to return the children or go back to court and ask to remove them permanently, Dallas Assistant District Attorney April Carter asked the judge in the case to require the parents to take the tests and attend the counseling before anyone goes home. "There are concerns we need to address," says Carter, who is representing CPS in family court. She says the store clerk, the Richardson police, the grand jury and others took issue with the photos and without further proof, "it's not clear whether this was sexual or cultural." She says she believes lie-detector tests would put that question to rest.
At press time, a hearing on that matter was pending. "We're going to fight it," says Lafuente, saying the state has dragged out the matter long enough and has had five months to ask courts to order tests or counseling. He says there might be a disagreement over appropriate parental behavior, but it isn't something that will be settled by psychologists or lie detectors.
Robert Herrera, who was appointed by the family court to represent the interests of the children alone, agrees. "My feeling is at this point the children should be returned to their parents," he says. "I don't know how strongly CPS disagrees with that, but I think this should be resolved without any more trips to court."
If what she and her boyfriend did was wrong, Mercado says, "I'm sorry. I didn't know these pictures were wrong...I just want my children back. They belong with us."