ustxtxb_obs_1976_10_01_50_00011-00000_000.pdf

.111110. 14 I October 1, 1976 11 Part III: The savings and loan gambit Austin Investors associated with Frontier State Bank in Eagle Pass and the now defunct Citizens State Bank in Carrizo Springs tried this year to start new savings and loan institutions in their respective cities, but neither attempt succeeded. The Carrizo Springs group withdrew a charter application for Wintergarden Savings Association in June on the same day that Citizens State Bank was closed by the state Banking Department. And the savings and loan commissioner rejected the charter application for Eagle Pass Savings and Loan Assn. after Richmond C. Harper and the Frontier State Bank came under investigation by state and federal authorities. \(For a summary of the scandal to date, see the Sept. Wintergarden Savings Association was apparently the brain child of Ron Bramble, a San Antonio investments counselor who got UT regent James Bauerle and others to buy controlling interest in Citizens State in 1974. \(They later sold the bank to Enrique Carrizo Springs city attorney and a director or officer of Citizens State since 1945, told &A, 1\(1111, Nr 231q r 11 ;$9 2 Olt 14t i 240\( I 555 1 7788899 1 9\( !!$$$223r 4334 ‘3334445 667778889 -&PLO\( fi “???4660000 the Observer that Bramble and Dr. Willard Mertz came to him in 1975 with the idea of starting the savings institution. “They never did buy any stock, but it was their idea,” Farrow said. Bramble and Mertz may never have intended to be among the initial stockholders, since the state Savings and Loan Department frowns upon out-of-territory ownership of S&L’s. Bramble and Mertz, working through Ron Bramble Associates, were supposed to handle the charter application. They hired Austin attorney Vernon Lemens, Jr., and Austin accountant Pete Guzman to assist in the application, but nobody did much work. Farrow, Lemens, Guzman, Henry B. Jackson, a resident of Carrizo Springs, and J. M. Davidson, a former Citizens State loan officer, were put on the board of directors. The March 17 charter application was signed by Urban Farrow, who swore to its accuracy, although Farrow insists that he had nothing to do with preparation of the document. Included was a list of owners of Wintergarden’s 100,000 shares of stock. Each owner was said to have paid $3.40 a Among the alleged stock subscribers were Brodigan, Bramble’s former attorney and Charles Riha, a Carrizo school teacher and rancher who had about $70,000 in questionNone of these men were included on the revised list of stockholders. Accompanying the application was a letter guaranteeing that Bramble had a certificate of deposit worth $290,000 at Texas State Bank in Austin. The implication was that the CD represented proceeds from the stock sale, but the sum was actually on loan from Citizens State Bank. The loan was guaranteed by Farrow and others. Wintergarden’s application was important news to First Savings and Loan Assn. of Uvalde, which has branches all over Southwest Texas. First Savings decided to compete for the charter in Carrizo Springs. The Uvalde folks got busy trying to find nits to pick in the Wintergarden charter, and they hit pay dirt. First Savings officers discovered that some of the alleged stockholders had never even heard of Wintergarden Savings Association. The Savings and Loan Department promptly subpoenaed some of the stockholders to attend a March 29 hearing in Austin. It was at this point that Farrow and the other Wintergarden directors were invited to a meeting at the Bramble Associates’ of DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS, COME OUT OF THE CLOSET! America is the only industrial nation in the world without a viable democratic socialist movement, yet our problems are definitely social. We have no guaranteed medical care, a shameful poverty rate, and an economy controlled by inequitable tax laws, oligopolistic corporations, and high unemployment. Democratic SocialistsCome out of hiding. Make your beliefs public. Join in creating a socialist presence in the United States. As the liberal left-wing of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee seeks to reestablish a democratic socialist presence in the United States in the spirit of Norman Thomas and Eugene Debs. For more information, contact: Austin DSOC Dallas DSOC Houston DSOC 209 West 20th 4924 N. Hall P.O. Box 7296 Austin 78705 Dallas 75235 Houston 77008 478-2095 522-6107 785-1914 La Fonda de la Noche Southwestern Cuisine Liberal Food Conservative Prices 2405 Nueces , 474-7562 Good books in every field JENKINS PUBLISHING CO. The Pemberton Press John H. Jenkins, Publisher Box 2085 6 Austin 78768 tri EARTH SHOE STORE 474-1895 1610 Lavaca Austin, Texas 78701 HALF PIUC RECORDS MAGAZINE 6groa. AUSrut 15P4 LAVACA WACO 251114 COLUMBLIg DALLAS: 4535144\(ININTYAW 1405 tLtt SII9 W.LOVERS Lit 205 S ZANG PRICES.