ustxtxb_obs_1978_02_17_50_00024-00000_000.pdf

`Dialogue_ PRICE RECORDS M.AGAZIN ES IN DALLAS: 4528 McKINNEY AVE. RICHARDSON: 508 LOCKWOOD FARMERS BRANCH SHOPPING CTR.. SW CORNER, VALLEY VIEW IN WACO: 25TH &COLUMBUS IN AUSTIN: 1514 LAVACA 6103 BURNET RD. FARM INCOME is the SAME in 1977-78 as it was in 1974 while the price we ALL pay is inflated by 33% UP OVER 200% ON SOME FARM ITEMS THE COST $ PRICE Texas !VIII Farmers Lsi di Union M. 800 LAKE AIR DR. WACO, TEXAS 76710 817 772-7220 WE’D LAC! TO CHANCE THAT TO KEEP EYERYEODr IIIAT1NO Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 600 W. 7th, Austin, Tex. 78701 Appreciation of D.B. I greatly appreciate your recent article on D. B. Hardeman. As the interim academic dean of Incarnate Word College last year I had the opportunity to invite D.B. to be Moody Lecturer at IWC and Our Lady of the Lake University. I remain one of D.B.’s most ardent fans. I never tire of listening to the many stories he has to tell from his many years in Washington. Of much greater importance, however, is what I learn about our political system from listening to D.B. He is truly a remarkable human being and it is an honor -to have such a friend. Larry Hufford San Antonio Border research Alas! You have fallen prey to parroting institutional PR. I refer to your news item “How sweet it is” \(Obs., Although I do not claim to be a neutral observer, I must take issue with the inference you draw from a University of Texas at Austin press release. The implication is that certain scholars have jumped on the “undocumented alien” bandwagon in order to garner research monies for themselves. In actuality, the Border Research Project was conceived well before the last presidential election, and before all the political hullabaloo over undocumented aliens. The problem of immigration of economically deprived Mexican nationals has been with us for quite some time, and it was the thought of scholars and middle-echelon governmental persons on both sides of the Rio Grande that a dispassionate study and discussion of border problems could lead to economic and political solutions. This idea has received endorsement at the highest levels of both governments. Research and scholarly discussion take the time of busy men and women, and that means money. To the extent that current hullabaloo makes such research attractive to philanthropic foundations tuned to applying their money to addressing and resolving current social problems, so much the better. To date, fundraising for the Border Research Project has met with moderate success, but has not produced the plethora of monies suggested by the UT-Austin press advance. I note, in passing, that some of the preliminary ideas circulating partly as a consequence of the Border Research Project have already entered the political arena. I refer to Sen. Lloyd Bentsen’s proposal to establish a bilateral development fund that would be jointly funded by the United States and Mexico to spur economic development in northern Mexico. Scholarly research may indicate where and how such development would do the most good, both for the underemployed, restless Mexicans and for the American workers who are allegedly displaced by undocumented aliens. Wouldn’t, then, the monies spent on scholarly research *De worthwhile? Please don’t take institutional press releases at face value. After all, they may have been written by an aspiring journalist who has yet to learn to control his florid prose. Steven D. Ross Beaumont PUFF masquerade Your nose for sniffing out a big business interest masquerading as a “grassroots, civil liberties concern” seems to have gotten stuffed with tobacco smoke in the “Huff and PUFF” article \(Obs ., your investigative skills to work to see if the tobacco giants aren’t behind the financing of PUFF. Non-smokers who do not want to breathe second-hand smoke are entitled to unpolluted air in enclosed spaces such as buses, airplanes and work places. Those “babes who’ve come a long way” don’t have to take the non-smoking majority with them on the way to lung cancer, emphysema and vascular diseases. Smoking should be in private among consenting adults. You might also run an article on the grassroots organizations that are working to protect the non-smoking sector of our society, as well as the health of the as yet non-addicted. For your information, they are ASH \(Action on Smoking and Against Smoking in Texas. Edith Eisner Houston Reminder. Don’t neglect the 454 public and county libraries in Texaslisted in the Jan. 20 issue that are not now subscribing to The Texas Observer. The communities served by those libraries need the Observer, and we need your help in getting them started with a gift subscription. Most libraries simply don’t have the funds to test the demand for serious magazines by subscribing to everything that is available. They have to rely on your generosity, and they genuinely appreciate contributions made in the form of gift subscriptions. \(When renewal time comes, the librarian will have a justification for making room in the budget for the We appreciate it, too, of course. And there’s a potential financial advantage for you, in that gift subscriptions to libraries are taxdeductible. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 600 W. 7th, Austin, Texas 78701 24 FEBRUARY 17, 1978