ustxtxb_obs_1970_04_17_50_00015-00000_000.pdf

We care where our product is served. Beer served in pleasant and wholesome surroundings is the aim of the United States Brewers Association. And we are always striving to do something about it. The USBA is represented by field men around the country. They meet with proprietors of establishments where beer is sold. They work in every way possible to promote a set of high standards wherever beer is served. This USBA effort means even more enjoyable places for America’s great beverage of moderation. UNITED STATES BREWERS ASSOCIATION, INC. 905 International Life Bldg., Austin, Texas 78701 every day, averaging about 20 column inches per day per edition. Finally, on March 27, election eve, a feature writer produced “Civic Center Top Question” for 36 column inches, and then presumably headed straight for Scholz Garten to lather his exhaustion. Just how fairly did the paper cover the arguments against the civic center, while it occupied itself with providing arguments for it? One story on March 27, headed “Citizens Air Civic Center Pros, Cons,” devoted about half of its 14 column inches to some negative man-on-the-street opinions about the proposed Convention Center, including the quotations given at the beginning of this article. For careful readers there was one item on March 18 containing the one-sentence report that the Northwest Civic Association had endorsed the bond issue but voted to remain neutral on the convention center. There was a threecolumn-inch story on March 19 reporting similar decisions on the part of the Travis County Women’s Democratic Committee and the Austin Chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. A final note: Former Austin City Council member Dick Nichols says that it’s a matter of record that the Austin American-Statesman leases the land on which its offices and printing plant stand from Travis County and therefore pays no city land taxes at all. The same is true for the City National Bank and some other downtown businesses. The county tax rate is much, much lower than the city’s. Of course, they do pay city taxes ‘on their capital improvements, but all in all, they have a much better property tax deal than the average Austinite. In common with other cities, Austin’s downtown is rapidly coming to resemble Monument Valley, with occasional large buildings separated by broad blocks of parking lot. The reason is that property owners of the older downtown buildings on city land find it advantageous to demolish their buildings and rent the land for parking space, thus paying no taxes on improvements and only a small ad valorem tax on the land itself. DECK YOES MEETINGS THE THURSDAY CLUB of Dallas meets each Downtown YMCA, 605 No. Ervay St., Dallas. Good discussion. You’re welcome. Informal, no dues. CENTRAL TEXAS ACLU luncheon meeting. Spanish Village. 2nd Friday every month. From noon. All welcome. UT JOURNALISM EXES are meeting in Austin, April 18 as part of Communication Week. There will be a coffee in the Journalism Building from 9 to 11 a.m., a noon luncheon costing $3, and an informal gathering at Scholz Garden at 7:30 p.m. Dallas Sen. Mike McKool of Dallas, in the midst of a campaign for Congress, expresses disappointment that Gov. Preston Smith has not yet appointed the John F. Kennedy Memorial Cmsn., created by McKool’s S.B. 21 in the last legislature. McKool makes the point that the law took effect six or seven months ago. Now, D. Harold Byrd, owner of the Texas School Book Depository from which John Kennedy allegedly was shot, has announced plans to sell it to the highest bidder at public auction April 16. McKool proposed in his original resolution for the state memorial commission that the depository be made a museum and the commission be given powers of eminent domain. He had to drop both provisions to get the measure passed. The commission is vested with discretion to decide how best to memorialize the late President and has no powers of eminent domain. “Personally I’m disappointed in that Governor Smith hasn’t created the commission,” McKool said. He has nominated Mrs. David Richards of Austin and Raymond Nasher, Dallas developer, as members. McKool revealed that he wrote Smith Feb. 19 saying “a number of months” had passed without the commission being created and asking if any members had been appointed. Smith replied that candidates were being screened very carefully and he was concerned that the commission be well qualified to perform its important task. As for the auction, McKool said: “I don’t know of any legal way to stop it. I don’t know any way you can. It’s their private property. I’m convinced that if the building is destroyed, the state or federal government will go in later and reconstruct it, but it will cost a lot more it will be just like the Ford theater was to the Abraham Lincoln assassination. It’s a historic site, and I feel it ought to be preserved, it ought to be maintained. The State of Texas ought to do it. It still can be done if the commission thinks it’s fitting and proper.” He thought someone might bid on the building with the purpose of turning it into a commercial museum with an admission charge. April 17, 1970 15 No action on JFK Commission