ustxtxb_obs_1966_03_04_50_00011-00000_000.pdf

sen story about “these hungry people,” adding “this was my home town. I was reared here and went to school here. I know that there are a lot of people here who need help.” Orphaned during the Depression, Maldonado recalled his early days of hardship in Kleberg County. “I know what it means when you are hungry. I know what it feels like when you need a piece of bread or a tamale.” Judge Brown suspected that someone had put Maldonado up to making his donation for political reasons. Arriving at the courthouse, Brown said, “All I came down here for was to find out what was behind this. Was this done on your awn motion, or did someone put you up to it?” Maldonado denied the suggestion, saying, “I didn’t want to cause any political turmoil. I came here with a sincere heart.” A SUCCESSOR to Mrs. Riebel has begun work at $420 a month. He is Ed Lopez, a Kingsville service station owner, who had done volunteer work for the county’s needy while working with the Lions Club and the Knights of Columbus. Among his first acts in office was a call for clothing. He said cold weather items particularly were desperately needed. Mrs. Riebel’s earlier position that a sufficient supply was on hand to the contrary notwithstanding. Lopez says he plans to consult with members of the commissioners court to get a few changes approved. “I know there are a lot of people in the county who need help,” he says, “and I know that many with small monthly incomes, not now eligible, should be entitled to some help.” Good judgment and compassion -will have to be used in determining some cases, he went on. “I know we must have rules, but I also know there must be exceptions to these rules in the case of extreme hardships.” Lopez moved to Kingsville in 1941, working in a supermarket and hardware store before opening his service station in 1953. He attended Texas A&I and now attends night classes at Del Mar Technical Institute in Corpus Christi. The conservative, semi-weekly Kingsville paper commented on his appointment: ” He is a successful businessman and will have the judgment to know who needs welfare and who doesn’t. He probably understands as much about the actual needs of the Latin-American population as any man in Kleberg County, and it appears that a number of the welfare cases will be from Latin-American low-income laborers. Being a businessman, Lopez can be counted on not to aid those who simply refuse to work. On the other hand, he will be understanding of the problems of the justly deserving.” IT’S DIFFICULT to fully assess the value of reporting such as Deswysen’s, but it does seem apparent that the disclosure of indifference to human suffering often brings about at least some minor improvements. Many South Texans are pleased to point out what they regard as progress in race relations of the region and in concern for improving the lot of the poor who abound hereabouts. Ten years ago it’s possible that a story such as that of Mrs. Riebel’s phone call to Corpus Christi wouldn’t have made the frdnt page of the newspapersif indeed it would have been printed at all. It most certainly would not have caused her dismissal, nor the improvement in food allotments that came about in January, nor the hiring of a Latin-American who ap …………_……”_, Political Intelligence A Really goof The attention which national political columnists are giving to the U.S. Senate race and the continuing embarrassment of the President and labor is indicated in the Houston Chronicle headline for a Leslie Carpenter .column: “Texas’ Senate race builds into big national show.” Carpenter described Atty. Gen. Waggoner Carr’s primary opposition for the Democratic nomias “insignificant” and said Democrats fear that the intention of Texas Observer editor Ronnie Dugger to seek a spot on the November ballot as an independent will help Sen. John Tower, Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, New York Herald Tribune columnists, wrote that a survey the Republicans bought showed Tower leading Carr at the end of January and opined that Dugger’s entry increased Tower’s chances of reelection. The Austin Statesman carried the column, editing it to read that Dugger’s candidacy would help Tower “imperceptibly,” and blue-penciling out the paragraph about the survey. 1/ Indicating labor’s puzzlement over the Tower-or-Carr question, the Dallas Morning News reported that Tower’s invitation to address the AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education this weekend began: “Dear Mr. Carr.” go/ Stuart Long reports that as attorney general, Carr, with the Highway Department, still is looking into the possibility of price rigging by asphalt supplierS. g/ Jon Ford of the San Antonio Express reported that Carr’s all-but-certain victory in the May primary has led to a campaign spending cutback in the attorney general’s camp. Ford said Carr will save the money for the general election . . . His opponent in the primary, Willoughby, continues to campaign on foreign policy, praising Acheson, Rusk, and Kennedy as his models. “Communists have enough to do . in their own back yard to keep them busy for the next three or four generations,” Willoughby said recently. “If we could take care of what they have right now .. . both ideologies might flourish for the next 100 years.” Incumbent Tower stood up in the Senate to praise Yarborough for his work on the cold war GI bill: “The senior Senator from Texas is responsible, pears to be sympathetic to the problems of the poor. Ten years ago 70 farm workers, humble people, would not have had the courage to march on a courthouse, and if they had, the sheriff probably would have been summoned to disperse them. Instead courthouse personnel were called in to help with the interviews. Small steps, to be sure. But they do offer a prospect. Big Show more than any other person, for the passage of this measure. He deserves full credit for the Senate having enacted this important measure . . . ” . . . Addressing such groups as the Republican Policy Committee, students at San Antonio’s McAllister College, insurance agents meeting in that city, and the Toastmasters Club in Victoria, Tower called for a stronger American fight in South Vietnam . . . Seventeen Texas television stations carried a half-hour filmed report of Tower’s trip to Vietnam last year; an “educational” committee bought the air time . . . Tower had harsh words for a proposed administration cut in aid to school districts in so-called federalbr impacted areas. He said the cuts will cost 240 Texas school districts almost $14 million. “There are places savings can be made,” he said. “But we should not cut corners on our children’s education.” Yarborough Blasts Budget Cuts 1, Now that his seven-year campaign for the Cold War GI Bill has succeeded, to what legislation will Sen. Ralph Yarborough turn his attention? He has decided to give intensive work to his bill to compensate the innocent victims of crime for injuries or property loss. He was one of the co-sponsors of Rhode Island Democrat John Pastore’s resolution to end nuclear proliferation. He has been aligned with Sen. Russell Long, D.-La., on behalf of legislation to preserve public property rights in inventions made possible by. federal research money. He voted for cloture to cut off debate over taking up legislation to repeal 14-B of the Taft-Hartley Act. He is pushing bills for national parks at Guadalupe Mountain, the Big Thicket, and Amistad Dam near Del Rio. Yarborough is now well known as the veterans’ friend in the Senate. He has been given a silver cup inscribed “Man of the Year” in veterans affairs by the National Assn. of State Directors of Veterans’ Affairs, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D.-Mass., commended him for having “started the fight” for the GI Bill many years ago and said actually Yarborough “has been the man of the years for veterans.” The Texas DAV gave Yarborough their distinguished service award last month. Sen. Robert Kennedy, D.-N.Y., commended Yarborough’s March 4, 1966 . 11