Mineral Wells Index (Mineral Wells, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 68, Ed. 1 Friday, July 23, 1982 Page: 1 of 12
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Mineral Wells Index
BO"®CE ditto LIB Rar V
POBOX 939 *RY
Ml NBRAU WBLLB TX 3M97
A Newspaper Dedicated To The People It Serves
82nd Yore Volume No. 68
One Section 12 Pages
Friday. July 23.1962
Twenty Five-Cents
Mineral Wells, Texas
EAST SOUTH
H95
TURN
Court inquiry
in MISD case
recessed
Israeli jets pound PLO center
from the Syrian • controlled Bel
the civil suit. But the code of ethics was followed.
cover-up at nuke plant
Inside
INDEX
Senate passes record tax hike
Council work
session slated
Weather
•Fifty House members, including two
Fred Barker said the
connection with the
schemes to bilk
the elderly and
No criminal charges have been filed
against the school officials or other
persons to be investigated in the
inquiry. If evidence warrants the filing
of such charges, the accused will stand
trial in a separate proceeding on the
misdemeanor charges lodged against
them.
Classified.......
Sports..........
Comics..........
DearAbby .....
Bridge..........
Crossword Puzzle
Astrograph......
Lifestyles........
TV Log ..,......
Obituaries......
The Israeli command said the attack
was in retaliation for 75 Arab cease-
fire violations in the two weeks since
the July 11 cease - fire.
Lebanese police estimated at least
five people were killed and 12 wounded
in west Beirut by the bombing, the first
in a month. The Palestinian news agency
WAFA claimed more than 62 people
were killed.
The Syrians did not announce their
of the computer study after the scope
of the problem was realized.
“They wrote that letter to cover
themselves and they put the pressure on
us not to even look into it,** he said.
Walsh, 29, quit last month after
working at the plant for a year.
He said officials of Texas Utilities Co.
refused to conduct computer analysis of
all effects of superheated air on pipe
supports, increasing the risk of pipe
breaks and radiation releases during a
serious accident.
A spokesman for Texas Utilities,
When Luna said he did not know of
any restrictions on his representation of
the board members under the code of
ethics, Barker presented a copy of the
code, which Birdwell and the attorneys
retired to discuss.
When court reconvened, Luna said
FORT WORTH (AP) - A former
engineer at the Comanche Peak nuclear
power plant says the plant’s operators
are covering up a safety problem that
could set construction back two years
and cost millions of dollars to correct.
Mark Walsh said Thursday he quit his
job at the plant after computer studies
showed thousands of pipe' supports
might break if temperatures in the
reactor shot up as a result of a loss of
coolant.
He said the plant supervisor drafted a
memo March 8 invalidating the findings
and the Bekaa Valley Thursday with the
heaviest Suiting in more than a month.
U.S. Presidential envoy Philip C.
Habib met with Syrian Foreign Minister
Abdul Halim Khaddam in Damascus
today and was tq hold talks later with
President Hafez Assad. Sources close to
the negotiations said Habib is proposing
that Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon
exercise stricter control over Palestinian
guerrillas there to prevent new clashes
with Israeli troops.
Habib has been negotiating to get the
estimated 8,000 trapped guerrillas out
of west Beirut and find another country
to take them.
But Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister
Yehuda Ben - Meir charged that the
PLO “is just playing for time, is dealing
in deceit and has no intention of
leaving.’* He warned that Israel has
“other means at our disposal to get the
PLO terrorists out of Beirut.*’
An Israeli military communique held
Syria responsible for the killing of five
Israeli soldiers Wednesday by guerrillas
were surprised moments later by a flashing red light fixed atop a Mineral Welk
police vehicle. Police Chief Don Fairrel said the department will be issuing warning
tickets for the first few days.
MINERAL WELLS AREA
— Generally sunny and hot
on Saturday with low tonight
in the mid 70s. High Saturday
near 100.
Sunday through Tuesday
the forecast calls for hot,
sunny days, fair and warm
nights. Lows mid 70s. Highs
near the 100 • degree mark.
In congressional business Thursday:
-The House dealt Reagan a setback in
his defense program, voting 251 -159 to
ban funds to produce a new generation
of nerve - gas weapons. Approved 257 •
142 was a request for $4 billion for the
B • 1 bomber.
-The Senate Environment Committee
voted unanimously to order a
multibillion • dollar cleanup of sulfur
dioxide emissions from Midwestern
power plants. The emissions have been
blamed for causing acid rain.
-The Senate Budget Committee
-Looking for a way to rein in the
burgeoning federal dairy program, a
House Agriculture subcommittee
endorsed industry • backed legislation
intended to give farmers an incentive to
end excessive production.
•Rep. Bobbie Fiedler, R - Calif., a
member of the committee that hires
teen • age pages for Congress, said that
pages are so unsupervised that she
wouldn’t sponsor one “under the
current system.’’ She testified before
the House speaker’s Commission on
Waves of Israeli jets dive - bombed
Yasser Arafat’s PLO headquarters in the
besieged Moslem sector of the Lebanese
capital for an hour Wednesday while
Israeli tanks and artillery gunners
blasted Palestinian and Syrian positions
for two hours along a 25 - mile stretch
of the Bekaa Valley, in eastern
Lebanon.
approved a three • year plan for $12.2
billion in spending cuts, including $2.5
bfllion from the food stamp program.
The plan includes a cap on cost • of •
living increases for three million former
(AP) — Israeli warplanes divebombed
guerrilla - held' west Beirut for the
second day today, concentrating on
PLO positions on the edge of the Bourj
el • Barajneh refugee camp near the
paralyzed international airport.
Associated Press correspondent Terry
Anderson reporting from Yasser
Arafat’s administrative nerve center in
west Beirut’s Fakhani neighborhood
said at least three bombs were dropped
near the area.
“Barrage after barrage of anti -
aircraft fire was sent into the sky and
the planes came in low and slow,’’
Anderson reported.
The Tel - Aviv command said its jets
attacked Palestinian tanks and artillery
positions near the airport and the Sabra
quarter, a Palestinian neighborhood on
the Mediterranean coast.
It said the attack began at about 1
p.m. (7 a.m. EDT) and was still going on
an hour later.
The thunderous roar of raiding jets
and PLO - fired missiles shook the
whole of the Lebanese capital. Lebanese
state and privately owned radio stations
reported many guerrilla targets were
ablaze as jets made bombing runs on the
10 - square mile besieged enclave.
There was no immediate word on
casualties.
PLO military centers in and around
the sports complex of west Beirut were
seen taking direct hits. The same block
was hit in almost every air raid Israel has
mounted in Beirut since Israeli forces
invaded Lebanon June 6 to crush the
guerrillas.
Israel had threatened the Palestine
Liberation Organization and Syria with
new assaults after hitting west Beirut
misconduct lodged against Millsap ISD
board members and officials and
members of the Citizens for Better
Schools was recessed for a month after
testimony from one witness was heard
Thursday in Parker County Court.
Parker County Judge Gerald Birdwell
recessed the court until 9 am. on Aug.
24 to allow school officials time to
obtain attorneys to represent them in
the proceedings, which will determine if
sufficient evidence exists to file criminal
charges.
The action followed the
withdrawal of attorney Earl Luna of
Dallas, who had been retained by the
board to represent the school district in
a civil suit challenging the results of the testify, Luna informed the court that
five House
district’s May 22 bond election.
County Attorney Fred Barker
contended that Luna’s representation of
the individual board members in a
criminal proceeding violated the legal
code of ethics because Luna was taking
public money to defend the school
district, a subdivision of the state, in a
separate lawsuit, resulting in a conflict
of interest.
While Luna first contended that he
was eligible to represent the board
members in the inquiry, which also
includes investigation of allegations of
wrongdoing during the bond election,
he later withdrew from the case,
acknowledging the defendants needed
to obtain criminal
represent them.
Before testimony
which owns more than 87 percent of
the plant, said that federal safety
regulations do not require such tests and
that the nuclear industry has
determined they are unnecessary.
George Hendrick said the plant was in
“absolute compliance” with pipe
support standards set for nuclear plants
by the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers.
Comanche Peak is under construction
near Glen Rose, about 90 miles
southwest of Fort Worth.
...6-8
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...12
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10-12
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Valley and said: “If the Syrian*
continue with this conduct, the Israel
this weekend
City councilmen and department
heads will get together this weekend for
an informal work session to discuss
plans for the formulation of the 1982 -
83 budget.
The meet! ig will begin Saturday at 9
a.m. at the • entron Lake House In the
Gaines Bond Subdivision on Possum
Kingdom Lake. The tint session will last
until 7 p.m. On Sunday, the council and
department heads will meet from 1 pm.
to 6 pm. at the same location.
No formal action will be taken, but
the meeting is open to the public. The
Oentron Lake House may be reached by
driving west on U.S. 180 to Brad, then
taking Texas Highway 16 north to the
Gaines Bend Subdivision.
Danger Area
Local area motorists, familiar with the flashing yellow light at the US 180 East -
Farm Road 1195 intersection at Holiday Hills Golf Course, should be aware that
the stop (red) light is now in operation just as in the downtown areas. A significant
number of drivers were observed ‘running* the red light Thursday "afternoon and
casualties, while Israel said Arab fire
killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded
vuuwuw w>wi wi» vvuuuvk, No Israeli planes were hit by PLO
Defense Force will act in the place, at anti - aircraft barrages.
the time and with the might which it The Tel Aviv command said it still
chooses.” considered the cease - fire in force. But
the attack reflected the Israeli
government’s growing frustration with
the failure of Habib and the Reagan
administration to find new homes for
the 8,000 PLO guerrillas trapped in west
Beirut
The U.S. envoy flew to Damascus for
urgent talks with President Hafez Assad
and other Syrian officials, who say they
will accept Palestinian leaders in their
country but not rank and file guerrillas.
In Washington, White House
spokesman Larry Speakes said Habib
would go from Damascus to Israel,
Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He said the trip
was not in response to the Israeli attack
Wednesday but had been planned
before it occurred.
Speakes said Habib was following up
the meeting of the Syrian and Saudi
foreign ministers with Reagan Tuesday.
Pritchard was not required by law to
testify, unless the court also granted
him immunity from prosecution, and
said the superintendent “chooses not to
testify.?
Barker said the only basis for refusal
to testify is that the testimony may
tend to incriminate the witness, and he
asked Birdwell to call Pritchard and
grant immunity “so we can find out the
truth.”
He also leveled another conflict of
interest charge at Luna, who objected to
what he said were Barker’s “personal
remarks, which he said were
“completely out of line.”
Barker, however, said he had first
attorneys to raised the issue in chambers before the
inquiry began so Luna could “gracefully
began, Luna withdraw,” and said since Luna had not
requested that the proceeding be done so, it was his responsibility to see
combined with
County Attorney
civil suit had no
criminal proceedings and said the court
of inquiry was not concerned with the
validity of the bond election. He also
charged Luna was “turning this into a
show rather than a matter of law.”
Birdwell ruled that the court would Barker had told him that if evidence is
sufficient at the close of the court, he
would be filing charges against the
board members in connection with “one
or more criminal offenses each.”
Though Luna said he had not seen
the evidence, he said if such evidence
exists, “it will make the interest of these
trustees different than the interest of the
school district as an entity and would
require me not to represent them.”
He then asked the court to allow* the
officials time to employ other legal
counsel before the court continued. *
Barker, though he pointed out
criminal charges have not been filed
against the board members said the
officials’ rights “are already In
jeopardy,” and agreed they needed an
opportunity to obtain attorneys.
However, he asked that information
he had subpoenaed Pritchard to bring to
the court be turned over to the court
clerk and that the clerk also take into
possession evidence obtained from Mrs.
Stevens.
Barker indicated the inquiry would
be a lengthy proceeding, stating he had
at least 13 or 14 witnesses he knows will
be called to testify. And, he said, “I
know there will be more, though I don’t
know who they are yet.”
Committee expects to write its version
of a tax increase next week, and early
indications are that the panel will accept
much of what is in the Senate bill. But
leaders said there is no assurance the
Democratic • run House will pass any
tax increase in this election year.
By Sue Sterling Luna objected to the tape as
Staff Writer “hearsay” evidence, and chided Stevens
A special court of inquiry convened for failure to comply with the subpoena
to investigate allegations of criminal by not furnishing the original tape.
Birdwell denied Barker’s request to
listen to the May 11 portion of the tape,
and said he would accept the original
tape into evidence at a later date.
While the hearing was purportedly
held to accept documents into evidence,
Luna cross - examined the witness, then
complained that the court’s ruling was
not being followed and state’s attorney
“has just gone ahead with testimony.”
However, Barker said the only time
the proceedings had detoured from
inquiring into physical evidence was
during Luna’s cross - examination into
Mrs. Steven’s motives in making
complaints against the board. •
When Barker then called Pritchard to
continue to obtain physical evidence
and proceedings were moved from the
county courtroom to the district
courtroom on tha second floor of the
courthouse to accomodate the overflow
crowd of spectators.
Barker’s first witness was Dorothy
Stevens, a member of the Committee
for Quality Education, that had
opposed the $995,000 bond issue for
construction of a high school
gymnasium complex. The bond issue
passed by only seven votes.
Stevens identified a report she said
she had made to Barker about a political
sign near the absentee voting site at
Millsap Supply Co. in the April 3 trustee
election, and also ■ identified
photographs of the sign that she said
were taken by C.M. McCulloh, also a
member of the committee and a
candidate in that election.
The sign reportedly stated that the
Citizens for Better Schools supported
incumbents Lowell Byrd and Bobby
Goen for re - election.
Stevens also identified a seven - page
list of checks issued and checks
reportedly missing from records she
said she,-McCulloh, Martin Brown and
Billy Bates had obtained. And she
submitted a copy of a tape recording
she said was made during meetings on
May 11 and May 13 with school
Superintendent Thomas Pritchard, at
which he denied the group access to
school records until after the' bond
election.
Ex-engineer claims
. • • • ■ • ■
WASHINGTON (AP) - A bill
containing the largest tax increase in
history - $99 billion over the next three
yean - was passed on a virtual party -
line vote by the Republican - controlled
Senate early today and sent to the
House.
The measure bill would boost taxes
on cigarettes, telephone service and
families with large medical expenses;
impose a 10 - percent withholding tax
on interest and dividends; and take back
more than one • third of the record tax
cut that Congress voted for business last
year.
The measure, which carries President
Reagan’s endorsement, also would cut
about $17.5 billion over the next three
yean from federal spending for
Medicaid, Medicare and aid to the
needy.
The House Ways and Means
Republicans, rent Reagan a letter
protesting administration policy for
developing the capability to wage a
protracted nuclear war.
-The Senate Labor Committee
decided to conduct a closed - door
inquiry into how the FBI handled its
background investigation of I^bor
Secretary Raymond J. Donovan.
•The Postal Service urged a House
Post Office subcommittee to work to
close loopholes officials said are being
used by mail - order
consumers, especially
the disadvantaged.
-Members of
subcommittees accused Anne Gorsuch,
head of the Environmental Protection
Administration, of gutting enforcement
programs and allowing industries to
“call the shots.”
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Bennie, Bill. Mineral Wells Index (Mineral Wells, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 68, Ed. 1 Friday, July 23, 1982, newspaper, July 23, 1982; Mineral Wells, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1171721/m1/1/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boyce Ditto Public Library.