ustxtxb_obs_1969_08_01_50_00022-00000_000.pdf

ing in Washington that youngsters confined at Gatesville State School for Boys, a reformatory, are beaten, tortured, and abused on a regular basis. Graves charged that the school has no psychiatric care provisions for disturbed youths, and that guards and staff members are untrained and often brutal. “The symbol of authority in Texas is still a big leather belt and cowboy boots,” the black legislator said. “The prime qualification for a law enforcement job in Texas is to own a pair of cowboy boots and have a high school diploma.” Graves, interviewed by the Washington Star, indicated he quite likely will run for mayor of Houston this fall, saying he’ll announce a decision in late August. He would like to serve two two-year terms as mayor, should he run, Graves said, then run for Congress “something I’ve always wanted to do.” He said he considers himself “fire insurance” for Houston. The biggest problems faced by Mayor Louie Welch, should Welch seek reelection, are, according to Graves, corruption and police problems. Welch has been under fire often in recent months, being questioned by the local press as to possible conflicts of interest, particularly regarding some real estate transactions. “If he does run,” Graves says of Welch, “he’ll be out of the game. … And if he doesn’t run, it’ll be some chamber of commerce type picked by the downtown establishment. There is no obvious successor.” Graves told the Star that the composition of the Houston electorate is favorable to his election; 30% of the voters are black, 7-8% brown; the rest includes liberal, intellectual, and labor forces that “have been my backbone. … If I can pick up 13% of the white vote, I’ll win. … The only problem is money. I figure 22 The Texas Observer EL CHICO, jr. Burnet Road & Hancock Dr., Austin Beer patio under the stars Fast service & carry-out Delicious Mexican food Dinners $1.15 to $1.45 An operation of R & I INVESTMENT CO. Austin, Texas Alan Reed, President G. Brockett Irwin, Vice President MARTIN ELFANT Sun life of Canada 1001 Century Building Houston, Texas CA 4-0686 S. it’ll take 100 G’s.” Graves professes not to be worried by the defeat of Thomas Bradley, a black, for mayor of Los Angeles. Bradley “aligned himself with the black power people,” Graves said. “Although I communicate well with the militant element, and am probably the only one who understands their problems in the Legislature, I don’t think they can help me in a hostile community like Houston could be in a race-type campaign, which I’m not going to run.” Despite his surprise statement to the Texas House of Representatives during its closing days in May that he indeed would be a candidate for re-election as speaker in 1971 and planned to be around for a long while, Gus Mutscher may be having some second thoughts on the subject. Primary among the reasons being cited quietly around the Capitol for Mutscher’s possible retirement is that he is not particularly effective as the leader of the House especially in comparison to his predecessor, Ben Barnes. Unlike the ambitious Barnes, Mutscher does not command the following in the House necessary to be very effective. To a degree, he has allowed Barnes, as lieutenant governor, to lead him witness the passage of the one-year, no-new-taxes general appropriations bill last spring. A new factor to be considered now is Mutscher’s recent marriage. Rumors abound these days that the new Mrs. M. is unhappy at the prospect of a continued occupancy of the speaker’s apartment in the west wing of the Capitol. The long-rumored retirement of Homer Leonard, the chief lobbyist for the Texas Brewers Institute, an organization which has helped finance a major portion of Mutscher’s political career thus far, is gaining in popularity these days, and Mut In My Opinion Austin The thing that most pleased me, during the thrilling event of putting man on the moon, was the recurrent statement or suggestionby newsmen and citizensthat, as wonderful as Apollo 11 was, we must give more attention to problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality here on earth. This sentiment became almost a cliche during the television coverage I saw. I find it a hopeful sign that at a time this nation was achieving the scientific triumph of mankind’s life on earth, many of us, nonetheless, rather than feeling only pride, and pride alone, were at the same moment wondering soberly about the quality of life on this, our native planet, and in the nation that had brought off the moon mission. scher is said to be the favorite to succeed Leonard. Mutscher’s earlier statements that he would be around next session and that he held pledges of support more than enough to assure his re-election managed to throw cold water on the efforts of several legislators to win pledges of their own to become Mutscher’s successor. The campaigning up to that point had been fierce, albeit behind the scenes. But in recent weeks there has been a resurgence of that activity, and the leading contender at the moment is Rep. Rayford Price of Palestine, who was Mutscher’s chief lieutenant in the regular session and who is expected to resume that role in the upcoming special session. Price, who, if anything, is more conservative than Mutscher and apparently even more willing to do the lobby’s bidding, has been visiting other legislators, business leaders, and newspaper editors around the state, carefully laying the groundwork for a move to be the next speaker. Close behind him, however, are several others, including Rep. John Traeger of Seguin and Rep. Jack Ogg of Houston, another Mutscher faithful. Another contender was removed from the race recently when Gov. Preston Smith named Rep. Randy Pendleton to be the state’s liaison Alton Ice. Pendleton reportedly will receive a $23,000 annual salary in his new job. Ice was hired by Gov. Preston Smith and then removed by him after only four months. Ice, a former public relations man for the National Education Agency, is returning to Texas to take another state post, serving as staff director of the advisory council on vocational-technical cation. From a purely sentimental standpoint I was pleased that President Kennedy’s committing this nation, in 1961, to landing a man on the moon during this decade had been realized. It was of JFK that I thought during the dramatic moment of touchdown Sunday afternoon. But I believe Kennedy would, had he been permitted a full eight years as president, have redirected and re-ordered our country’s priorities, recognizing, as many of us now do, that scientific achievement is mocked by failure to express humanitarian concern for all our colleagues here on earth, and to extend to all the opportunity for freedom. The days, months, and years since Nov. 22, 1963, have been, generally, disheartening times for many of us in this country edu Earth and the Moon