ustxtxb_obs_1977_03_25_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

Wastepaper Hall of Fame. It seems that Governor Briscoe once asked Clayton to include some of his thoughts about Texas in a time capsule to be opened 100 years from now, and Clayton has chosen to go public with some of his contributions. Among other things, Clayton said “I hope future generations of Texans will not live in a nightmare world of robot people controlled by the allpowerful central government.” And how about this one: “In the next 100 years it is my prediction that there will be many leaders come to the forefront to guide Texas to the position as number 1 superstar state of the nation.” Of course, the taxpayers pick up the tab for putting this stuff out. The all-male Houston city council has voted six to one to cut city women’s advocate Dr. Nikki Van High tower’s salary from $18,400 a year to $1. What prompted the council to remove Dr. Hightower from the city payroll was criticism from Right to Life committee members and Equal Rights Amendment opponents about her appearance at an International Women’s Day rally March 5. Dr. Hightower was not present when the vote against her was taken and argued later that she had not been a rally organizer, but only a speaker taking part on her day off. Mayor Fred Hofheinz, who had appointed Dr. Hightower to the city post, cast the sole dissenting vote to the salary cut. Billion-dollar baby Associates Corporation of North America, a subsidiary of Gulf & Western and one of the finance companies telling the Legislature it can’t make ends meet without a 25 percent increase in small loan rates, presents quite another view of itself in a current advertising campaign that touts the firm as “the billion dollar resource,” able to make business loans of practically any size. If profits are too low for Associates here in Texas, the company could make its bottom line look better by cutting back on frills like the $50,000-a-season suite at Texas Stadium which Associates rents for Dallas Cowboy home games. While large finance companies are lobbying the Legislature for higher interest rates on loans of $300 to $5,000 \(Obs. called “hip-pocket lenders” are looking to get into the act, too. Senate Bill 728, offered by Sen. Grant cost of loans in the $100-to-$300 range from the current 31 percent to as much as 149 percent. If enacted, the law would also permit a 10 percent “acquisition” charge on loans up to $300. At present, only $100-and-under loans carry such a fee. Under provisions of SB 728, the borrower of a $300 loan would shell out a nonreturnable $30 in addition to the principal itself and the stepped-up interest rates. Chances are the borrower would then be “flipped” that is, his loan would be renewed because he couldn’t meet the payments. Of course, every time a loan is flipped, the borrower pays an additional acquisition charge. According to Sen. Bill Patman \(Dborrow up to $100 are flipped, becoming, Patman says, “perpetual slaves to loan companies.” A banking Bull Not for nothing is State Sen. Bill Bryan around bull. Moore has banking interests in Brazos County. He’s a major stockholder in the new Citizens Bank of Bryan and also owns stock in First Bank and Trust of Bryan and the College Station Savings Association. But recently, Moore showed a real concern for the folks who bank in Hearne, 27 miles to the west in neighboring Robertson County. It seems that there were only two banks to serve the town’s 5,000 people, and one of them was planning to pull up stakes. Moore charged into the arena to prevent the bank from relocating. First he went after the state banking board, which had okayed the move by a 2 to 1 vote. One member of the board who voted for the shift, Jim Lindsey of College Station, was particularly vulnerable. Lindsey’s term had actually expired in 1973, but Governor Briscoe had not gotten around to appointing a successor, so Lindsey continued to serve. After the vote allowing the Hearne bank to move, Moore let it be known that he thought Lindsey had overstayed his time and ought to be re placed. Moore then upped the ante by delaying two of the governor’s appointments to other posts. Briscoe got the message, and in January dumped Lindsey and appointed Sam Carter of Temple to the board. \(In a related move, two of the banks in which Moore holds stock filed suit to enjoin the Hearne bank from leaving town. But Moore’s most direct action came in the Legislature, where he introduced and rammed home a bill to prohibit banks from moving outside the counties where they were originally chartered. “Moving a bank out of a county can bring on an economic situation,” was the explanation Moore offered for his herculean efforts on behalf of Hearne depositors. But as one of his constituents wrote to the Bryan-College Station Eagle, “Whoever follows the Bull of the Brazos should know what he’s walking in.” Moore’s concern had less to do with the bank’s departure than with its choice of a new home. It was moving to College Station, where it would compete with Moore’s banks. Rep. Bill Presnal, also from Bryan, was House sponsor of Moore’s specialinterest banking bill. But he wasn’t just doing a favor for the Bull Presnal holds stock in the Citizen’s Bank of Bryan too. Governor Briscoe, also a banker, signed the bill on March 10. Revolving door Though on the job only since January, Dr. Alan Campbell has resigned as dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and will soon be off to Washington. President Carter has named Campbell cochairman of a new panel on governmental reorganization. Campbell’s quick departure has dismayed faculty members who have seen seven deans three full-fledged and four acting come and go in as many years. Students and faculty alike fear that the revolving door deanshp could hurt the school in its current budgetary troubles with the Legislature. Dolph “No New Taxes” Briscoe chose an embarrassing moment recently to stride onto the floor of the Texas House for an informal visit with legislators. While the governor was desk hopping, the members were rude enough to pass a new motel occupancy tax. The latest bud on the 1978 political tree is Price Daniel Jr., who says he has commissioned a poll to see how he might do in a race for attorney general. Daniel formally filed papers with the secretary of state’s office, listing his brother Houston as campaign treasurer, though the papers did not say for which race the former House speaker is raising money. March 25, 1977 13 Moore called the Bull of the Brazos. A member of the Senate since 1948 and current chairman of the powerful state affairs committee, the Democrat throws his weight with all the subtlety of a charging