ustxtxb_obs_1975_06_06_50_00010-00000_000.pdf

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Canales v. Carrillo Rep. Terry Canales Austin The Texas House is writing a new chapter in the Duval County story. State Rep. Terry Canales of Premont, a dutiful member of the Parr faction, talked the House into launching an impeachment inquiry into the business dealings of 229th Dist. Court Judge 0. P. Carrillo, a member in good standing of the anti-Parr faction in Duval. Carrillo; one of his brothers, Duval County Commissioner Ramiro Carrillo; and a cousin, Arturo Zertuche, are all under federal indictment in Corpus Christi on 12 counts of conspiracy and filing false income tax returns. It’s an old story for the Duval duchy allegations concerning peculation of county funds. There are various speculations as to why the House decided to get involved in the Parr-Carrillo feud. Neither faction seems superior, virtue-wise. Joe Allen of Baytown thinks House members didn’t know what they were getting into when they approved Canales’ impeachment resolution. Another school of thought holds that legislators, having sniffed the glory of the televised Nixon proceedings, were more than happy to have an impeachment party of their own. The resolution was the major half of Canales’ legislative program for the .year. He only introduced one bill a measure altering the membership of a Starr County hospital board. This House for bill introduction: \(Three men who introduced two bills each tied for second place T. H. McDonald of Mesquite, Tony Dramberger of San Antonio, and Woody Denson of At least for the first half of the session Canales also led the House in absenteeism. Canales usually hangs out at his South Texas ranch \(last year he was hauled back by the DPS for an the House floor during the early part of the session. But in April Canales started appearing at his House desk almost regularly. It may well be that since George Parr’s suicide \(Obs., the Duval political situation has gotten so dicey that Canales prefers the cooler climes of Central Texas. Speaker Bill Clayton appointed 11 legislators to the Special House Committee. on Impeachment. Eight of the 11 are lawyers. Rep. DeWitt Hale of Corpus Christi is playing the role of Texas’ Peter Rodino. Bob Johnson, head of the Legislative Council, is temporarily acting as both legal counsel and parliamentarian for the committee. Austin attorney Arthur Mitchell is representing Judge Carrillo. The first hearing was a popular spectator sport. The front three rows of seats in the Old Supreme Court were reserved for House members. Clayton popped in for a while, as did Secretary of State Mark White and an assortment of other politicians. Carrillo sat stone-faced as Canales led Cleofas Gonzalez through allegations that 0. P. and Ramiro Carrillo warehoused Duval County equipment in the back of their Farm and Ranch Store and then sold the equipment back . to the county. Gonzalez, a $400 a month warehouser for the county, also worked for free as manager of the Farm and Ranch Store and as bookkeeper for the non-existent Zertuche General Store. He said that whenever the Carrillos sold Duval County equipment the transaction would be recorded on Zertuche invoices. Funds in the. Zertuche account would then be transferred back to the Farm and Ranch Store. Gonzalez alleged that sometimes 0. P. or Ramiro would take money from the Zertuche account and instruct him to record it as “store change.” Gonzalez also charged that Judge Carrillo would write up welfare orders for non-existent residents and then use the orders to buy food for himself. After the first hearing, a number of House members criticized the fact that Carrillo’s attorney was not allowed to question Gonzalez; so on the second night Hale agreed to allow Mitchell to question witnesses through members of the committee. Mitchell promptly said he would recall Gonzalez for interrogation. Under House rules, the impeachment hearing could continue after the Legislature adjourns. If the committee decided to recommend inpeachment to the full House, Clayton could then call his troops back into session. If the House voted for impeachment, then Bill Hobby could call up the Senate for the trial. It would be the first such action in Texas since Gov. Jim Ferguson got thrown out of office for financial peccadilloes and trying to do away with fraternities at the University of Texas. K. N. State kep. Sarah Weddington of Austin failed 33 to 97 in an attempt to remove an appropriations rider that prohibits the state from using Medicaid money to pay for abortions. If the Senate concurs, the state’s welfare system will help poor women finance births but not abortions. Meanwhile, in Washington, Texas Sens. Lloyd Bentsen and John Tower both voted on the prevailing side to kill an anti-ab.ortion rider on the federal Medicaid bill. 10 The Texas Observer Houston Rep. John Whitmire’s bill to outlaw pay toilets crashed and burned when five Dallas representatives knocked it off the House consent calendar. \(This late in the session, failure on the consent calendar virtually guarantees airport’s opposition for his bill’s demise, and later that day a’ group of five representatives knocked another bill off the same calendar one that would have allowed the airport to sell mixed drinks. Whitmire said it was no coincidence. It’s ancient history now, but better late than never: In 1973, the director of the Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial Naval Museum in Fredericksburg, Douglass H. Hubbard, contracted with his son, Douglass H. Hubbard, Jr., to “locate, obtain, and arrange transport of certain military relics relating to World War II Pacific.” Hubbard, Jr., received $6,600 for his services and apparently some travel money to go to Australia and New Guinea to find, among other things, a WW II Japanese fighter plane to put on display in