ustxtxb_obs_1991_12_13_50_00020-00000_000.pdf

Sam Adams’ Freedom. Fighters a Novel: of the American Revolution by OTTO MULLINAX The freedom-fighter of the American Revolution, as the principal character of this novel, develops swiftly but accurately around the lives of William Mollineaux, one of San Adams’ Lieutenants in Boston, and his nephew J.J. J.J. diligently searches for Laurie Aldrich, a Quaker mistress to Major Percy of General Gages’ British Forces. She is also the dream girl of J.J.’s boyhood infatuation. His quest, kidnapping, and flight with Laurie to the Carolinas is a romantic backdrop to that revolutionary history and the battle of Kings Mountainthe critical battle of the revolutionary war which resulted in Cornwallis’ retreat through North Carolina into Virginia and surrenderending the war. The history of that time is told in faithful detail, since the Revolution itself is the principal character. 250 pps. Paperback FUTURA PRESS P.O. BOX 17427 AUSTIN, TX 78760-7427 $12.95 incl. tax & shipping government. The board agreed to postpone publication of the ad at least until classes resume in January. In the meantime, board members said they would try to revise the rules to prevent publication of incorrect information, which they believe would give them grounds to kill the ad. LUCKY LINARES. Comptroller John Sharp picked his own research director, Nora Linares, to bring the state lottery into existence. Sharp said he chose the 37-year-old San Antonio native out of a field of 650 applicants for the $79,500-a-year post because of her management experience and her knowledge of Texas. The selection of Linares, former chairwoman of the Mexican-American Democrats of Texas who has worked on the staffs of several Democratic officeholders, did not impress Republican National Committeeman Ernest Angelo Jr. of Midland, who wrote Sharp, “With all that lottery supporters and opponents have gone through in Texas, it is disturbing that selection of a lottery director* appears to be nothing more than a roll of the dice.” When the lottery starts in July, the division is expected to have 186 employees, plus contract workers. WHAT’S THAT SMELL? State air pollution regulators have accepted free hunting trips to Temple-Inland’s plush East Texas hunting lodge for years, Texas Air Control Board investigators discovered. Acting on a tip, the agency found that since 1981 five su pervisors and investigators went on trips to the timber company’s hunting lodge on the Neches River near Lufkin. Four were from the Beaumont office and one was from Austin, the agency’s general counsel told the Houston Chronicle. Texas statutes prohibit state employees from accepting gifts, favors or services that might reasonably be expected to influence them in performing their official duties, but the in vestigation concluded the employees were not influenced by the trips when they were dealing with Temple-Inland. The newspaper reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found no evidence that employees accepted free hunting trips. EPA employees cannot accept anything from the people they regulate. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed firing three Houston safety inspectors who accepted free weekend trips from Temple-Inland as recently as December, the newspaper reported. JUST A MISUNDERSTANDING. State liquor officials on Nov. 22 dropped charges against a Jacinto City store clerk who was jailed after she refused to let plainclothes agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission into her security booth until she could call uniformed police. The clerk at Mr. Mercury’s Drive-In store, Maria Delacueva, 47, told the Houston Chronicle she was terrified when three men, who were wearing street clothes and cowboy hats, flashed badges, which she did not recognize, and began beating on the booth, demanding that she admit them immediately. There have been 11 killings and 1,600 robberies at Houston-area convenience stores and gas stations in the first 10 months of the year. Agency officials defended the actions of the agents, who were assigned to desk duty pending the outcome of an investigation. HEALTH CARE REFORM. Enactment of a single-payer health insurance program at the state or national level would have saved Texas state and local governments $1 billion in 1991, according to a consumer-labordoctor coalition. A universal health system would have saved an average of $100 per resident, by reducing spending on care for uninsured residents, replacement of existing Medicaid coverage for eligible poor and eliminating the cost of public employee health benefits, the study found. The study, released by a coalition of the American Federal of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Public Citizen Health Research Group and Physicians for a National Health Plan concluded that .a national health system, with universal coverage, is the only way to control the cost of health care, which the study found was the most important cause of state and local budget deficits. The single-payer approach would streamline the health care financing system by creating a single insurer in each state that would be responsible for paying hospitals and physicians, based on negotiated rates. Patients would choose their own doctors and hospitals and the estimated 33 million Americans currently uninsured would be covered. CLEAN TO THE LAST DROP. U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, has for years been trying, without success, to institute random drug tests for members of Congress. Last month, Barton invited his Capitol colleagues to prove their innocence of illegal drug use by submitting to urinalysis tests; 14 accepted.Though the results haven’t yet been revealed to the public, Barton dubbed the group “The Clean 15.” The House recently adopted Barton’s amendment to appropriate $50,000 for random drug tests of U.S. representatives. The plan could backfire, though: if Barton passes the notoriously unreliable urine test, he won’t be able to use drugs as an excuse for wasting lawmakers’ time and taxpayers’ money on such bizarre stunts while Congress neglects the nation’s real problems. HELP THE HUNGRY ing calls for the Share Our Surplus, Hunters for the Hungry and Summer Food Service Programs. The hotline, set up by the Texas Association of Community Action Agencies, is designed to: Help farmers and other producers distribute surplus food to emergency assistance programs; Increase the amount of food available for the hungry in Texas, particularly in underserved rural communities; Network the activities of emergency food distribution agencies throughout Texas. The hotline has answered numerous calls for the Hunters for the Hungry program, a cooperative effort of deer hunteis, meat processors, Second Harvest Food Banks and the End Hunger Network in Houston to allow hunters to donate legally-harvested deer to the needy. 20 DECEMBER 13, 1991