Tribune-Progress (Bartlett, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 50, Ed. 1, Thursday, September 27, 1979 Page: 4 of 12
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Page 4 Tribune-Progress Thursday September 27 1979
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1
Circleville
Philosopher
(Editor's note: The Cir-
cleville Philosopher on the
San Gnbrlcl Itivcr ponders
the gold situation this week
more or less.)
Dear editor:
While reading about the
skyrocketing price of gold the
other night I had a sudden
disturbing thought.
As everybody knows gold
which sold the other day for
$375 an ounce or $6000 a
pound or $12000000 a ton is
worth so much because it's
scarce. Except for capping
teeth or being made into
jewelry it doesn't have much
widespread use. What can
you do with a bar of gold
except look it up in a vault
and gloat over it? Its sole
value is that it's scarce and
you've got it and nobody else
has.
Then a thought occurred to
me. Say a company is strip-
mining for coal and a
bulldozer operator trying to
dodge an environmentalist
veers off the lease and hits a
vein of gold. Not just a few
nuggets but tons and tons of
the stuff enough gold to
make the present scarce
supply look like a penny to a
billionaire.
Gold then of course
becomes as worthless as the
sands of Arabia. We could
TJ
- Reports
by
AUSTIN One of the
most controversial issues to
face the Legislature during Those representing both
the CGth session was the sides of the question ngrccd
proposed change to the to what was needed to pro-
Texas Deceptive Trade vide n fair law for the
Practices and Consumer people of Texas both con-
Protection Act. sumcrs nnd business persons.
The Legislature created This kind of cooperative
the Act in 1973 "...to pro- effort in providing work-
tect consumers against able fair laws is the busi-
false misleading nnd dc-ness the Legislature should
ceptivc business prnoticss.'bc about for the citizenry
unconscionable notions nnd
breaches of warranty and to
provide efficient and ceo-
nomicnl procedures to se-
cure such protection."
The law lists 22 different
acts as examples of false
misleading or deceptive
practices and gives con-
sumers adversely affected
by practices in violation of
the act n private cause of
action for damages or in-
junctive relief. The net
allows consumers to collect
treble damages court costs
and attorneys' fees where
they prevail in a suit
brought under the act.
Responding to complaints
by the business community
that many innocent business
persons were being held
liable for treble damages
the 6Gth Legislature made
several changes In the Con-
sumer Act. As finally
passed by both houses S.D.
357 limits the kinds of de-
ceptive practices for which
a consumer could sue under
the act to those listed In the
bill and would eliminate the
mandatory treble damages
the Texas Supreme Court
has ruled the act now re-
qulrcs'
tr.ll .. ...Ill U
allowed double the first
Sl.'flnn itumrrinH tn nnu law.
"ff'U8!?1 HndMP th ?Ct;
If the defendant's conduct
was "knowingly" deceptive
judges and juries could de-
clde whether treble dam-
ages should be imposed past
tlve first $1000.
o The compromise bill re-
All oplnlom nd viewpoint In the tribune Progrm do not neceliarll reprewnt
the edltorla I opinions of thlt newipaper
Publlihed weekly In Barttett Tea 74511 by Taylor Newspaper Inc.. Taylor
Texas
Second elass postage paid at Bartlett Texai 74511
STAFFMEMDERS
Mr Dorothy Jean Bartlett
Temple Kallut
Mr Betty Hill
Mrs Barbara Hill
Ronnie Persky
RamlroCortei
Jimmy Howell
Subscription Rates-14 SO per year In Bell Milam and Williamson Counties; tS per
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Any erroneous reflection upon the character or reputation of any person firm or
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be corrected upon being brought to the attention of the editor
Postmaster If undellverable send Form 357 to Tribune Progress Bartlett
Texas74S)1
clear out the vaults at Fort
Knox and use them to store
something useful like surplus
butter. The foreigners
who've been socking their oil
money into gold would be left
stymied and frustrated
looking for something else to
put their unlimited funds in.
What would it be? Where
could they Invest? I've been
giving this problem some
serious thought. Above all
they've got to have
something that's extremely
scarce and almost certain to
stay that way. Diamonds?
Nope. Somebody might
uncover n vein of those.
Plutonium and uranium?
Nope Too likely to be used up
in a nuclear war.
Then it hit me. Whooping
cranes! That's It. Nothing's
scarcer than whooping
cranes. There aren't more
than about 150 or so of the
things and not likely to be
very many more. They're
clearly better than gold you
can't even make wedding
bands out of them and you
don't need an underground
vault tostore them in.
If investors arc smart
they'll get rid of their gold
and buy whoppers. Beats
even wampum and conch
shells.
Yours faithfully
J.A.
The Speaker
f .Ti I . Tfn 1
?l ' 'In
X Off W itf'tyiii
Bill Clayton
presents the legislative pro
cess working at its best
C"i
l W
A courageous and deaf
woman who was ono of
the few to stand up and
protest witchcraft trials
in tho seventeenth cen-
tury this woman petition-
ed against the arrests of
threo friends who wero ac-
cused of being witches.
As a result sho was tried
for witchcraft. The jury
found her not guilty but
after questioning which
sho couldn't hear and
thus couldn't answer sho
was found guilty and
hanged on Gallows Hill in
Salem in 1092. Who was
that ' lady?"Hobocca
Nurso
BARBS
Phil Pastoret
ff he !joe "ts "'" be ln a
color you detest.
WKM?
jHpV '
PJPte.
J'VSVWA
mn&
'
IvHO f'tikO
was vru;
TTOAT z&
JR. jULttUL ' S j
m!
Our local spa is out of this
world thFe happy hour
exists only In tho fifth dimen-
8ion.
Beart about how much push
you have and someone will
suggest you save gas by get-
ting out the ol' hand mower
would You Believe...
The Mexican
Chihuahua weighs bet-
ween two and four
pounds but some tip the
scales at no more than a
pound.
The diamond is the
most durable of all gems
90 times harder than
the next hardest mineral
corundum.
1 1 r I. --"I
WejTfflL-''
n't u Ju5ffijfru
AUSTIN Work crews
have yet to cap the off-shore
oil well spewing barrels of
crude daily into the Gulf of
Mexico but all the early in-
dications of a courtroom
collision between Gov. Dill
Clements and Texas Attor-
ney General Mark White
apparently will be realized.
White told reporters last
week he will sue SEDCO
the drilling company found-
ed by Clements and Mex-
ico's nationally owned oil
company PEMEX sometime
this fall.
SEDCO is now run by
the governor's son D. Gill
Clements while the gover-
nor's stock is in a "blind
trust." Though the governor
may never appear in the
courtroom the political ef-
fect of the lawsuit will re-
main the same: one of the
state's top Democrats will
confront the top Republican
state official.
Will Allege Negligence
White said he will allege
negligence on the part of
SEDCO which had leased
Has this over happened U
you your friends or neigh-
bors?: A homeowner foils to
make his mortgage payments
and is in default. Suddenly a
letter arrives or a phone call
comes and apparently all his
problems are solved. A
"mortgage counselor" or
"credit counselor" says "Don't
worry we can take care of
your problem protect your
credit and even pay your
moving expenses!"
The story just related
involves a new perfectly legal
scheme designed to take
advantage of homeowners who
arc having financial difficul-
ties. This new scheme has been
referred to by some as the
"home equity rip off and it
feeds on inflation.
"Equity" in a home is the
difference between the home's
market value and the amount
of the debt outstanding on the
mortgage. The home equity
rip off relies upon the fact that
most people do not know the
market value of their homes.
All most of us know is how
much of the mortgage is left to
be paid off.
With a typical thirty years
mortgage the bulk of the
payments for the first ten
years goes to interest. Very
little of the "principal" debt is
retired. Because of this many
of us assume that we have very
little "equity" in our homes.
Tho fact is however that
because of Inflation our hpmes
may be worth $10000 or
$20000 more than we think. It
is the equity created by
inflation that is of interest to
the unscrupulous home equity
speculator.
The scheme works liko this:
When a notice of default comes
to tho attention of the
STATE CAPITAL
HIGHLIGHTS
By Lyndoll Williams
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
the off-shore rig used by
PEMEX to drill the blown-
out well.
"It (the blow-out) wasn't
an act of God. This thing
occurred apparently because
of mismanagement negli-
gent operation negligently
maintained equipment
whatever" White said.
He added that SEDCO's
subsequent sinking of the
damaged rig in deep inter-
national waters on July 12
"cast grave suspicions on
everything they (SEDCO of-
ficials) have said" about tho
Company's role in the blow-
out. White said he expects to
delay until after President
Jimmy Carter and Mexican
President Jose Lopez Portil-
lo meet Sept. 28 and 29.
Clements: In Yugoslavia
Clements meanwhile has
been unavailable for com-
ment while leading a Texas
delegation tour of several
Communist-block countries.
Reports indicate he is opti-
mistic about future joint
U.S.-Yugoslavia ventures.
When he returns he will
speculator through business
journals or public records he
gets in touch with the
distressed homeowner. The
speculator may claim to be a
mortgage counselor a credit
counselor a real estate expert
or almost anything else.
Frequently the speculator
GfPr
Berry's World
OW9WNEA
"Gosh It's refreshing
so Insensitive!"
-aB f8L7
find a message on his desk
from Speaker of the House
Dill Clayton saying there is
no political support for a
special session of the Texas
Legislature.
Clements had promised to
call the legislators back to
Austin to pass an initiative
and referendum bill among
other issues but Clayton ad-
vises the legislators who
failed to reach agreement on
the issue last spring would
probably not resolve the is-
sue in a special session.
State Rep. John Dryant
of Dallas who heads the
House minority bloc thinks
Clements should offer a
pure initiative and referen-
dum proposal or none at all.
Demo Chairman Race
In times past a Demo-
cratic Texas governor has
always hand-picked the
chairman of the Texas Dem-
ocratic Party but not this
season.
With 'f Republican Clem-
ents in the statchousc the
crucial Demo leadership
post may be filled by a per-
son emerging after a bona
fide convention ballot not.
one standing in the shadow
of a governor.
Three prominent Demo-
crats arc mentioned for the
job: State Rep. Luther Jones
of El Paso Houston lawyer
John Odom and Democratic
Executive Committecwoman
Carrin Patman of Ganado.
With election of the
chairman over a year away
others arc sure to be con-
sidered. The
Consumer
Alert
by Mark White
Attorney General
will tell homeowners that he
can help protect their credit
rating by buying the property
from them and even pay a few
thousand dollars for moving
expenses and a deposit on a
new place to live.
Another approach is to tell
homeowners that he can solve
Inc
to meet someone who Is
Inf. jrJ A
f uu V""""
THANK)
A YOU J
Ms. Patman is the wife of
State Sen. Dill Patman who
is expected to meet a serious
primary challenge for his
scat from State Rep. John
Wilson of La Grange. Wil-
son who had long eyed the
Speaker's chair instead has
mustered the opposition Pat-
man incurred as a partici-
pant in the "Killer Bee" epi-
sode last session.
Short Snorts
Hilly Goldberg the cur-
rent party chairman will
not seek re-election. Instead
he has announced he will
join the movement to draft
Sen. Edward Kennedy for
the Democratic presidential
nomination.
Col. Wilson E. Spcir di-
rector of the Texas Depart-
ment of Public Safety will
retire on Dec. 31. The vet-
eran law enforcement offi-
cer 62 gave health prob-
lems and age as his reasons
for stepping down
A S20 million miscalcula-
tion by the staff of the Pub-
lic Utility Commission may
result in a higher-than-cx-
pected rate hike for a tele-
phone company.
Southwestern Bell Tele
phone Company may now
be granted the entire $145.2
million hike it requested last
month. The PUC staff had
recommended a $136.4 mil-
lion hike but following dis-
covery of the error it
changed its recommendation
to $156.4 million about $9
million more than the com-
pany can receive legally.
the problem in such a way that
they will not have to give up
their house. To accomplish
this he will buy the property
from them and then rent it
back to them with an "option to
purchase." Thus the
homeowners are led to believe
that the sale is only temporary
that it will solve the
immediate financial difficulty
and as soon as times arc
better they will own their
home again. Unfortunately
since the family was unable to
pay the mortgage they are
unlikely to be able to pay the
rent which usually is greater
than the original mortgage
payment. They quickly fall
behind on rental payments;
their failure to pay rent
cancels the option to purchase
and the family gets evicted.
Whatever the method used
the result is the same. The
speculator ends up with title to
tho property and the family
ends up on the street having
lost thousands of dollars of
equity in their home.
Unless there is a misrepre-
sentation or unless the
speculator takes a grossly
unfair advantage of the
homeowner the scheme is
legal. Consequently the only
effective protection against
the scheme is to know about it
and be forewarned.
If you get a call or letter
promising help for nothing
your house is probably worth
more than you think. Ignore
theso calls and letters. Instead
ask for advice and help from
tho pcoplo who gave you your
mortgage a HUD approved
housing counseling agency or
a licensed real estate broker
who can tell you the value of
your house and if necessary
help you sell It for a fair price
We went on the attack against "angel dust" last year and
early indications arc that we're meeting with some success.
Last fall Congress passed and the President signed the
Bcntsen Bill which clamps down on the illegal manufacture
and sale of this animal tranquilizer.
They call it "angel dust" but
it is the devil's own brew. I call
it the most dangerous illicit drug
In use today bar none.
When "angel dust" also
known as PCP (phcncyclidine
hydrochloride) was developed in
the mid-50s it was viewed as a
promising new anesthetic for use
In operating rooms. Research
though established that it was
causing psychotic reactions In
large numbers of cases. In other
words it was literally driving people mad so it was barred
completely for use on humans.
Today the drug can still be used legally on some large ani-
mals though not all of llicm. The National Park Service
found this out the hard way. They objected to my legislation
as It wound its way through Congress last year claiming my
bill would make It difficult for them to tranquilizc Grizzly
Bears. They dropped that objection when advised by (he Drug
Enforcement Administration that they were not supposed to
use "angel dust" on Grizzly Bears anyway.
A case from the Tiles of the Los Angeles Police Department
shows graphically how "angel dust" can derange the human
mind.
Two officers answered a call Involving a "mental patient"
brandishing a knife. What they found was a young man
under the influence of "angel dust" who attacked them. He
hung onto his knife with a "death-like" grip even though
the officers hit his hand repeatedly with their night-sticks
hard enough to shatter the knife's handle. It took six officers
to finally subdue him and when they did he still clutched the
knife blade in his hand. Later x-rays showed his hand was
broken in four places.
There arc other horrifying cases: a 29-year-old man bit
his forearms almost to the bone after smoking a marijuana
cigarette laced with "angel dust" and experiencing "audi-
tory hallucinations" telling him that his hands had offended
him; a young person drank rat poison to kill the rodents
he believed had infested his body.
In San Antonio early this year "angel dust" was involved
in the "Fiesta sniper" incident In which a man killed two
women and wounded numerous others before turning his gun
on himself.
Sadly "angel dust" is fast becoming one of the most
abused drugs in Tcas and across the nation. The DBA ad-
vised me that confiscated dosage units more than doubled
from 1976 to '77 rising from 1.7 million to 3.5 million.
One reason for the increasing usage is the tow cost only
SI for a 5 milligram "hit." Tor the price of a school lunch an
eighth grade student can literally blow his mind. Possibly
forever.
Any person with u few hundred dollars can manufacture
"angel dust" at home or even in the back of a van moving
around town. He runs the risk of blowing himself up some
very volatile chemicals arc involved but that hasn't deterred
these entrepreneurs of derangement.
The Bcntsen Bill increases the maximum penalty for first of-
fense trafficking in "angel dust" from 5 years and a $15000
fine lo 10 years and a $25000 fine.
The bill also makes it harder to manufacture "angel dust"
by requiring that persons who purchase the chemical piper-
Idinc one of three key ingredients show positive Identifica-
tion. The names of purchasers will then be furnished to DEA.
1 chose pipcridine because a relatively small amount of it
Is produced in this country only 500000 pounds compared
to 27 million pounds of aspirin and because it has relatively
few legitimate uses: curing rubber and as a hardening agent
in cpoxies and some plastics. I want to reduce the nightmare
of "angel dust" without adding to the nightmare of govern-
ment regulation.
Drug Enforcement Administrator Peter Bcnslngcr advised
me in a letter this summer that "your bill is working." Later
in congressional testimony BcnMngcr reported that "There
has been a high degree of compliance with the pipcridine re-
porting requirements" in the new law.
"Angel dust" abuse remains a serious problem in school-
yards and elsewhere around the country. But we are going on
the attack against it and the first word from the field is encouraging.
Kubiak
AUSTIN Many persons
inquired last week about the
progress of gasoho) and I'm
happy to report it is
developing not only in
District 3G but across the
state.
On Monday I addressed a
group of 150 farmers and
ranchers In Wellington nnd
visited with others In Pampa
and Amnrlllo They were all
very enthusiastic about
building several small plants
plus an industrial-size plant
in conjunction with the
fecdlot operation at
Wellington one of the largest
In the nation
Farmers In Pnducah
showed me their "OPEC
Killer" n portable alcohol
plant which can be trucked
from site to site. It makes
over GOO gallons dally which
can be burned straight in
their cars.
Gasohol Is on its way. We
expect to have several of the
small plants in operation in
December nnd four or five of
the large plants operating
within two years.
PROPOSITION TWO:
Legislative Review of
Rulemaking by Executive
Offices.
This Important proposed
constitutional amendment
will appear on the ballot on
Nov. 6
I urge you to vote approve
It as a means of limiting the
influence of the state
bureaucracy
As you know rules adopted
by state agencies often affect
the lives of large numbers of
people. They often have
enormous political im-
plications as well.
In recent years more and
more state legislatures have
decided that rules of
government are too Im-
portant to be left entirely to
bureaucrats who answer only
indirectly if at all to the
Reports
people.
With the proposed
amendment the Legislature
could delegate the power to
suspend or repeal agency
rules The law could also
provide conditions for rules
to take effect.
Arguments against the
amendment maintain that
the Legislature cannot
possibly review all of the
rules and that state agencies
have done a good job in
Texas.
I believe that state agen-
cies have done a good job in
Texas overall but the new
amendment will give the
voters more fo n voice In
determining bureaucratic
rules.
If the proposed amendment
is approved it will become
effective Immediately after
tho votes are canvassed.
MARLIN NEWSPAPER
POLL:
The results of a Falls
County poll by the Mnrlin
Dally Democrat show over 45
percent of voters there gave
Gov. Bill Clements a "poor"
rating.
More than GO percent were
against the governor calling
a special session to consider
initiative and referendum
although only 40 percent
disapprove of the I&R issue
itself.
Over 80 percent gave a
"good-fair" rating to
Congressman Marvin Leath
and myself. Thank you for
those votes of confidence.
This week I will be at-
tending the National Con-
ference of Legislators in
Denver Colorado to discuss
the gasoho! issue.
If anyone has questions
concerning the three
proposed constitutional
amendments or any other
matter please feel free to
contact my office at the State
Capitol or in Rockdale. .
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Tribune-Progress (Bartlett, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 50, Ed. 1, Thursday, September 27, 1979, newspaper, September 27, 1979; Taylor, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth81505/m1/4/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bartlett Activities Center and the Historical Society of Bartlett.