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BUMPERSTRIPS: 4 for 50c, 15 for $1, 100 for $3, 500 for $14, 1,000 for $25. Send check and Zip Code; we pay postage and tax. Illp FUTURA PRESS . Phone 512/442-7836 1714 SOUTH CONGRESS P.O. BOX 3485 AUSTIN. TEXAS 1 recent years. The Committee fot Good Schools, organized a few years back, achieved power after working effectively to develop issues and organize voter support. Their success is a distinct contrast to the amateurish efforts in support of Rep. Curtis Graves’ campaign for mayor, as recounted in this and the Nov. 21 issues of the Observer. An Austin grand jury has passed over the case of Dr. Harry Hermon, the psychiatrist who was arrested by local police for unlawful possession of marijuana, even though he had a federal license to work with the plant. Hermon and the Austin authorities disagreed over whether the researcher was licensed to grow marijuana. Dr. Hermon was arrested in a midnight raid at his home last June. Since then he has moved to Buffalo, New York. Although future grand juries have the prerogative to take up the case, it appears to be dead. Texas’ contribution to the Department of Justice under Richard Nixon is Will Wilson, head of the criminal division. Wilson is quoted on former Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark as follows by Richard Harris in The New Yorker of Nov. 22, 1969: “Clark’s trouble was that he was philosophically concerned with the rights of the individual. Our concern is more an orderly society through law enforcement. Clark put too many restraints on the law-enforcement agencies. He was like a football coach warning his players not to violate the rules when he should have been telling them to go in there and win.” The Austin Geriatrics Center, Inc. has this month received the tax exemption from Internal Revenue that was delaying construction of a proposed nursing home \(Obs., It still is questionable whether the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare will now permit financing arrangements it approved under the Johnson administration to be carried out. The Nixon administration has made it clear it opposes the project. AGC, whose directors are personal friends of LBJ, retained the Washington law firm of Arnold and Porter to handle arrangements with IRS for acquisition of the tax exemption; that firm is the one that LBJ associate Abe Fortas was with before joining the Supreme Court. A Matter of Priorities Austin It was to have been a routine proclamation-signing in Gov. Preston Smith’s reception room around mid-morning earlier this month. There was the usual collection of onlookers, photographers, television news cameramen, reporters, aides to the governor. They talked to one another in small clusters while awaiting the arrival of the state’s chief executive. Two proclamations were on the agenda to be signed that morning in what had been billed earlier as a “mini-press conference”: one designating the week of December 10-17 as Human Rights Week in Texas and the other designating Saturday, December 6. as Hook ‘Em Horns Day in honor of the pending football clash between the University of Texas and the University of Arkansas. The three persons present for the human rights proclamation signging were told by a governor’s aide that their document would be signed first “because this other thing might take a little longer.” Governor Smith appeared shortly after 10 o’clock, was introduced to three teachers from Houston: Mrs. Valerie Johnson, head of the Houston Teachers Association, which had pushed hard for the designation of a week for human rights in Texas; Miss Anna Barrett and Fred Holt, two other HTA officials. Mrs. Johnson and Miss Barrett are black. The room, filled now with about 40 persons, fell quiet as the governor dutifully read from the proclamation which said, among other things, “All our citizens should strive by teaching, through our educational systems and otherwise, to promote respect of these basic rights and responsibilities.” As the governor signed the document, a 12 The Texas Observer state photographer dutifully took the customary photograph of the governor and the representatives. No television cameraman shot film of it. No one in the room moved or spoke during the brief Santa Smith Austin Memo from Harold Dudley, Gov. Preston Smith’s aide, to the state government’s department heads: As you may know, state law declares December 25 a holiday. Governor Smith, utilizing discretion allowed by law, has delcared for our offices a three-day holiday, December 24, 25, and 26. We felt you may wish to have this information now so that you could so advise your employees early. I think it would be well if you would let your employees know that the governor [italics original] is giving the two days additional. ceremony. There was no applause. The onlookers seemed almost embarrassed by it all. “All right. There you are,” the governor told the women as he handed them the proclamation. Mrs. Johnson looked up to the governor: “Words cannot express how much we appreciate this, governor.” 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 “All right,” dismissed Smith, and the women moved away. They were replaced almost immediately by Texas head football coach Darrell Royal and two members of the football team. The governor gripped their hands and grinned happily. Television floodlights came on, and cameras ground noisily as the event was recorded on film. Wire service photographers’ flash units lit up the scene for 1 /60th of a second. Radio newsmen turned their tape recorders on and pushed the microphones forward. Reporters began taking notes furiously. Governor Smith launched into a reading of his proclamation on the upcoming football game. It was laced with home-spun language and noted that Texas was ranked No. 1 and Arkansas No. 2 in the national football standings and that Saturday’s game would be the game of the year nay, the game of the century. Most of those in the audience who were not there to record or report the event were smiling. There was a murmur of approval as the ceremony ended and as the governor and the football heroes posed for that “one more” photograph. Among those smiling through this event were three teachers from Houston.