ustxtxb_obs_1973_03_02_50_00024-00000_000.pdf

sweatshirt that had “Clyde’s Barbecue Honolulu” printed on the front of it. Pancho called him “Snakearm” for his way of spiking the ball. He’d go up against some other cat at the net, his brown body rising and his blue-black hair gleaming in the sun. There were a few players who could out-jump him, but suddenly his brown arm would shoot up and push the ball down, way down and over the other side of the net, spike and score. Of course, it was grossly illegal, but the Sunday Afternoon Volleyball Team never did bother much with rules. Pancho would yell, “Snakearm strikes again!” and Hoyt would throw back his head and laugh, with his white teeth gleaming in his brown face. Now Hoyt was not one of the great intellectual giants ever to grace the earth. He didn’t much care about getting ahead or making money or such: he just liked to live. Surfing, the outdoors, friends, beer, pot, a little interest in politics, books and women. Women fell for him. The funny thing is that he wasn’t a stud. Hoyt didn’t fear to show gentleness. If a body was depressed for one reason or another, but still clowning through the Sunday game as the best of ways to forget about it, Hoyt was the one who’d come up quietly later on, plop himself down and ask, “You wanna talk about what’s wrong?” Hoyt cared about his friends and offered that caring with no strings attached. You didn’t have to be cool or funny or beautiful or smart to have Hoyt care about you. Just what he called “good people.” He didn’t withdraw his caring for some extraneous reason such as the fact that you’d just made a jackass out of yourself. He never got into the game where your 24 The Texas Observer Cool score goes up and down with every move you make. Most of the people at the Austin-American seemed to think he was the super-freak weirdo of all time. He didn’t think too much of them, either. At the Times-Herald, he didn’t really have When a youth values his life more than his country it’s treason. When a giant corporation values its profits more than its country it’s just good business. Just what the hell kind of logic is that? Brooks Walling, 424 Lookout St., Lake Elsmore, Ca. 92330. Erase record Rep. Joe Salem has introduced a bill which would expunge the records of certain marijuana violators as well as reduce marijuana penalties in Texas. Better than this would be the decriminalization of the drug and the passage of a general expungement statute providing for the expungement of the “criminal records” of all those convicted of conduct which is later decriminalized and of the records of those who have been arrested but were acquitted or otherwise discharged without conviction. E x p ungement might likewise be appropriate in other circumstances, too, such as five years. after conviction .or completion of sentence if there have been no intervening crimes. These so-called “criminal records” get in the way of rehabilitation and in many cases poorly serve the interests of justice. For example, many judges will refuse to convict a youth of shoplifting or similar charges because they don’t want to stigmatize the youth and wreck an otherwise productive life. L. R. Mora, 40 Holiday Inn, Emerald Beach, Corpus Christi, Tex. Reform aborted enough time to make friends. He was shot to death as he got out of his car by the garage of his apartment sometime after he left work at 1 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 2, 1971. His body was discovered at 3:30 a.m. It has never been discovered who did it or why. M.1. IDialogue Love letter No. 1 : . . At any rate, it is delightful to be able to read the TO and see people as they never appear in any other Texas This is just a love note. You are good medicine for body blows received in the ole psychic gut. Kay Torrans, 3855 Medford Road, Ft. Worth, Tex. 76103. Love letter No. 2 During my first semester at UT \(fall, magazine, and I’ve been .a “reader’ and a subscriber since. As I am from New York and not a Texas resident, I had little knowledge of politics in the state, but I have gained much insight from the Observer. In light of the limited and conservative scope of Austin’s newspapers, your articles provide me with information of political wheelings and dealings undisclosed in them. Your concise but very informative listing of important musical and art events completes my attraction to the Observer. Sam Lux, 709 W. 26, #2, Austin, Tex. Strange . . Some said that the Legislature wouldn’t pass an abortion bill this session, and they now think the Supreme Court decision insures the validity of that prophecy. I wish they would look again, and focus on the constitutional revision proposals that have passed. Before we lament too long, remember that the Legislature terminated its pregnancy with reform well before the seventh month. There was no danger that good government could have survived alone in the atmosphere of Texas politics, and since our state officials did not wish to rear such a child for long, it’s just as well we didn’t get our hopes up. Linda Guillery, 1901 Nueces, Austin, Tex. 78705. Love letter No. 3 Ms. Ivins is a delightful person and, indeed, a charming writer. And I remember her once saying that she was torn between writing for those outside the state seeking some knowledge of the inside and those of us inside seeking some information in addition to a little reassurance of our sensitivities. Someone tell her please that her piece on Price Daniel, Jr., was one of her finest and upon reading it, this Texan learned as well as laughed. Makes one wonder what the Observer would be without her. Joe Taylor, 308 So. West, Arlington, Tex. 76110.