ustxtxb_obs_1970_02_20_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

Print Bill Paid Land Cmsr. Jerry Sadler reimbursed the state $5,000 for the printing of the booklet that gives his side of the sunken treasure flap \(Obs., commissioner is sparing with details as to how he arrived at that figure. Political Pressure Probed Austin A federal grand jury in San Antonio was scheduled this week to look into alleged attempts to pressure and intimidate Rep. Bill Heatly’s legislative opponents. Both Leon Williams of Quanah, Heatly’s. Democratic opponent, and Zack Fisher of Memphis, the Republican candidate for Heatly’s House seat, gave information concerning iregularities to the grand jury, U.S. Attorney Segal Wheatley affirmed. Persons subpoenaed to testify in the probate include Williams, Fisher, State Treasurer Jesse James, Houston banker Vincent R. Kickerillo, Memphis banker Jack I. Davis, and Jim Hays, a Clarendon Republican and president of the Palo Duro Scenic Road Association. It was rumored that Charles Ford of Longview, a businessman, might be an important figure in the investigation. Heatly, a powerful, sometimes dictatorial Democrat in the Legislature, said he has not been subpoeaned and that he does not even know his opponents. An equally powerful figure in his home district, Heatly has rarely been challenged for his House seat. After announcing that he would oppose Heatly, Williams lost his job as head of the Quanah Chamber of Commerce \(Obs., wife, a Hardeman County home demonstration agent, was told by the state’s Agricultural Extension Service that she would have to resign because of conflict of interest. The 1968 Civil Rights Act provides a $1,000 penalty and a one-year prison sentence for a person who “intimidates or interferes with . . . : any person because he is or has been … qualifying or campaigning as a -candidate for elective office.” The State Senate Several liberal state senators face serious opposition this year. Sen. D. Roy Harrington of Port Arthur is being challenged by conservative Beaumont Mayor James McNicholas. Don Kennard of Fort Worth is opposed by two state representatives, foe Shannon and Doyle Willis \(whom Kennard defeated in 1962 to Antonio will face liberal Rep. David Evans in the Democratic primary. Neither of the two incumbent Republican senators are up for re-election, and the party hopes to gain a few more seats by challenging Democrats in five districts. The winner of the primary fight between conservative Rep. Jim Wright and Oscar Mauzy, a leader of Senate liberals, will face Republican Ray Zauber, a Dallas newspaper editor. Rep. James R. Nowlin has switched to the Republican party to run for the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Kothmann and Lamoine Holland and former Rep. Don Hand have entered the Democratic primary for Berry’s seat. Two Republicans, Howard Moon, a former conservative member of the Houston School Board, and Abe Farrior, owner of a welding company, are running for the nomination to replace Sen. Criss Cole of Houston, who recently was appointed by the governor to a judicial post.’Former state Rep. Donald K. Shipley, businessman George H. Polk, and attorney James P. Wallace-are in a three-way race for the Democratic nomination. GOP Rep. Malouf Abraham of Canadian will be the Republican nominee for the seat being vacated by Grady Hazlewood, a senator for 30 years. Democratic contenders are Mrs. Nancy Moyer, wife of state Rep. Hudson Moyer; State Rep. Walter Knapp; Jack Hazlewood, a nephew of the senator; and Max Sherman. In South Texas, Sen. Wayne Connally of Floresville faces Democratic opponent Erasmo Andrade. Sen. Tom Creighton of Mineral Wells in North Texas is being challenged by Walt Steimel, a Fort Worth attorney. According to the Dallas Morning News, Steimel is backed by labor and liberal groups. These six senators are running for re-election without opposition: Chet. Brooks of Pasadena, J. P. Word of Meridian, Murray Watson of Mart, David of Lubbock, and Jack Hightower of Vernon. All are considered conservative, except for Brooks, who is a liberal. 6 The Texas Observer Rep. Bill Heatly, the House’ Appropriations Committee chairman, flew back from the Miami Beach Democratic fund raising dinner last week on Gov. Preston Smith’s plane. Arriving at the Austin airport, Heatly flew off to his Paducah home in a General Land Office plane. He said $3,600 was for materials, $1,200 was for employees’ time, and $200 for profit to the state. A breakdown of the materials used, the employees occupied on the project, and for who many hours was not provided. Sadler earlier had said he would reimburse the state cost plus 40%; the profit the state ultimately received, according to his sketchy breakdown, amounts not to 40% but 4%. Rep. Frances T. Farenthold, Corpus Christi, one of the legislators who has been most critical of Sadler, has written the six members of the Legislative Audit Committee, to complain about the “singular vagueness as to how the cost [of the booklet] is being calculated.” On the Audit Committee are the House speaker, the lieutenant governor, and the chairmen of the House Appropriations and Revenue and Taxation Committees, and the chairmen of the Senate Finance and State Affairs Committees. Jeff Burke, the Rio Hondo diver who did some salvage work on the gulf treasure and who was instrumental in alerting Sadler and other state officials to the work being done in the gulf by an Indiana firm, tells the Observer that Sadler has finally been legally notified of the $1,525,000 slander suit that Burke has filed ‘against Sadler. Burke alleges that Sadler maligned him in press statements last summer while discussing the treasure situation with newsmen. Burke says he filed the suit last October but Sadler wasn’t served with the legal papers until early January. Travis County authorities evidently had trouble finding the land commissioner, who frequently is out of Austin. Welfare payments evidently are due a cut in Texas on April 1, the cuts to be made in payments to families with dependent children and in Medical assistance. Welch Demurs According to The Houston Post, Mayor Louie Welch rebuffed a suggestion by National Republican Committeeman Peter O’Donnell that he run as a GOP candidate for governor. Welch and O’Donnell reportedly met in HouSton in January, and O’Donnell showed Welch the results of a 1968 poll showing that Welch has a strong name identification factor among Texas voters. Welch, who was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1968, later notified O’Donnell through a third party that he’would not run. So far this year Houstonians have been averaging more than one homicide a day, and the most popular weapon by far is the handgun.