ustxtxb_obs_1979_05_25_50_00010-00000_000.pdf

City run-offs Pasadena: Organized labor found reason to celebrate when former longshoreman and State Rep. Jim Clark defeated three-term city councilman Verne Cox in the May 7 run-off for mayor. Clark had run second to Cox in the original election, which featured nine candidates competing for the office. Campaign issues in this highly industrialized, largely unionized city of 95,000 were not the stuff of which “good copy” is made: drainage, bus routes, garbage disposal, street repair, and the like headed the list. Cox, a retired Postal Service supervisor, spent much of his time stressing his experience in city government, winning the endorsement of the Pasadena Citizen, which called him a “decision-maker type of person.” Clark, on the other hand, called for “long range planning and management of the city.” Clark credited his victory to unionists’ efforts, saying. “Labor really got out and shook the bushes.” AFL-CIO officials were themselves jubilant. “Here’s a man that’s paid his dues,” state president Harry Hubbard said. “If anybody deserved it, he does.” Fort Worth: Woodie Woodrow Woods, whose most memorable remark to date might well be his comment on pornography”Being a professional plumber, I recognize sewage when I see it”whipped incumbent Hugh Parmer by 10,700 votes in the April 28 run-off election for mayor of Texas’ fifth largest city. The run-off, which turned out a record 54,350 voters, followed the bizarre April 7 election that saw seventh-grade dropout Woods just shy of victory over Yalie Parmer \(Obs., April The three-week run-off campaign was not what you’d call nice. Interesting might be a good word. There were charges and countercharges of dirty tricksterism, and enough name-calling to satisfy even the most avid invective aficionado. At one point, after Parmer charged that “outsiders” were trying to infiltrate his business \(he is a political Woods called the mayor a “baby,” a “con man,” and “sick.” On election day, an angry contingent of plumbers demonstrated outside Parmer’s headquarters, and Mrs. Parmer fainted. When it became obvious on election night that Woods was going to win, Parmer commented, “You .just honest to goodness can fool most of the people some of the time.” Woods even beat Parmer in his home precinct, 321 to 129. Many observers see Woods’ victory as Very Bad News for Fort Worth, signaling the back-door return to influence of the “Seventh Street Gang,” which one long-time activist terms “a red-necked elite” of conservative businessmen. Woods’ initial goals include, among other hair-raising proposals, repealing the city’s financial disclosure ordinance, enacting an arguably unconstitutional pornography control measure, and hustling through rejections of utility rate increases without holding public hearings, thus eliminating what one of the old-line councilmen called “the dog and pony show” of local citizen participation. Corpus Christi: Retired Army colonel Luther Jones became mayor of Corpus Christi in the April 28 run-off against anti-establishment maverick Jason Luby. Luby, who had placed first in the April 7 field of four candidates \(Ohs., votes in the final balloting, which drew only 30.3 percent of the city’s eligible voters. The Corpus Christi Caller Times pegged his defeat to “anglo votes, plus a low turnout by Mexican-American voters. Mayor-elect Jones, who headed the establishment-backed “Unite Corpus Christi” slate, focused his campaign on the numerous conflicts Luby had had with the city council during his earlier tenure as mayor. Jones was confident that his administration would not be similarly disturbed. He might be right, since the run-off victory of UCC candidate David Diaz gave the slate four out of seven votes on the city’s governing body. Laura Richardson No offense, boy In a May 4 Fort Worth Star Telegram interview, newly appointed U.S. District Judge David Belew said that his membership in the all-white River Crest Country Club was not an issue during his confirmation hearings because “no niggerno black ever applied for membership.” The newspaper also reported that Belew referred to the government form which asks about membership in clubs that exclude blacks as “the questionnaire about niggers.” But Belew denied that he is a racist, claiming to have “done more for Negroes or blacks or whatever you call them than just about anybody.” Black leaders were not charmed. The Legislative Black Caucus and the Fort Worth chapter of the NAACP joined in demanding Belew’s resignation. Black caucus chairman Rep. Craig Washington of Houston told the Observer, “Belew should have learned his lesson a long time ago. If he’s a good lawyer, he should be more careful about choosing his words. I’m sure that’s the way he feels in his heart, but what most con cerns me is that he has the unmitigated gall to articulate that.” The Star-Telegram, exhibiting a benign tolerance, defended the judge in an editorial entitled “Give Belew a Chance.” The article said that while the term “nigger” is offensive and judges should not use it, “he said he was sorry and that he was not a bigot or a racist. We believe him.” The paper showed a measure of concern for Belew’s feelings even in the early stages of the controversy. StarTelegram supervisor Glen Guzze says the controversial Belew interview was originally run intact made the remarks in ordinary conversation rather than as a joke; therefore, the paper printed the word “nigger.” But in the next edition, managing editor Phil Record deleted it because he thought these were “old quotes” and that Belew had not been given a chance to respond. In later editions and in follow-up stories, the judge’s epithet was reinserted. As for the judge, who would not return Observer phone calls, he told the StarTelegram that he is sorry it happened, “but I’m not going to resign. That’s the way I feel, so let ‘er rip.” Carrie Ettredge because the judge 10 MAY 25, 1979