THE TEXAS B SERVER A Journal of Free Voices November 18, 1977 50 Whatever Bellaire happened Who killed the little town? to D. B. Hardeman lllL V. • 9,r:' 1 1. 0.1•41,rial.' 11141 '0411 West Texas ranchers: What's the beef? A need, a hope, a fear By Ronnie Dugger Corpus Christi Texas needs a politician who will defy the oil and gas indus- try. Huey Long made his reputation among the plain people of Louisiana by breaking out of the same industry's half-Nelson on The Texas Louisiana politicians, but none of our statewide officeholders—with the 13-year exception of Ralph Yarborough OBSERVER in the U.S. Senate— has done likewise. @The Texas Observer Publishing Co., 1977 Ronnie Dugger, Publisher THIS OBI Gov. Dolph Briscoe, who has oil interests of his own, con- readers v tinues his stiff-necked performance as the Charley McCarthy of Vol. 69, No. 22 November 18, 1977 newsstand the ,Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. Atty. Gen. John ables you Hill, running against Briscoe, calls on Texans to "unite" against Incorporating the State Observer and the East Texas Demo- tion at $1 certain portions of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's energy crat, which in turn incorporated the Austin Forum-Advocate. program. Lloyd Bentsen, the senator from oil, insurance and EDITOR Jim Hightower BESIDES T banking, exults in his preliminary victories over Carter in the MANAGING EDITOR Lawrence Walsh scribing, yc Senate on the issue of federal deregulation of new natural gas. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Laura Richardson will arrive John Tower, the senator from cynicism, continues voting EDITOR AT LARGE Ronnie Dugger whichever way the oil flows. Bob Krueger, running for the fore they a Democratic nomination to oppose Tower, leads the fight in the ASSISTANT EDITORS: Colin Hunter, Linda Rocawich, House for the same deregulation of gas. And Joe Christie, run- Susan Reid IN ADDITIl STAFF ASSISTANTS: Vicki Vaughan, Margaret Watson, Bob Sin- scription yot dermann, Kathy Tally, Debi Pomeroy, Teresa Acosta, Eric Hartman, back issue Tim Mahoney, David Guarino, Cathy Stevens, Debbie Wormser this envelop CONTRIBUTORS: Kaye Northcott, Jo Clifton, Dave McNeely, Don Observations Gardner, Warren Burnett. Rod Davis, Steve Russell, Paul Sweeney, Marshall Breger, Jack Hopper, Stanley Walker, Joe Frantz, Ray Re- AND FINAL' ece, Laura Eisenhou•, Dan Hubig, Ben Sargent, Berke Breathed, Eje sues, you an ning against Krueger, complains not that Krueger is trying to rip Wray, Luther Sperberg, Roy Hamric, Thomas D. Bleich, Mark Stin- off American consumers through deregulation, but that he son, Ave Bonar, Jeff Danziger, Lois Rankin can obtain a didn't succeed in his labors on the House side. to cancel yol Meanwhile, Comptroller Bob Bullock has announced that A journal of free voices natural gas prices in Texas have increased 19 percent this year We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the and that Texans pay 97 cents per million cubic feet for natural truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated WHA gas, compared to 47 cents per mcf in the country as a whole. to the. whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the Texas politicians, almost to a one, brag that by permitting the rights of humqnkind as the foundation of democracy; we will Enter my take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will sale of gas intrastate at prices twice the national average, Texas r---1 one year we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests o is doing all right. So what if Texas consumers pay twice as $11.00 the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. much for heat and cooking? The oil companies are getting the which incentives they need to discover more natural gas. In the Con- The editor has exclusive control over the editorial policies and contents of the Observer. None of the other people who gress, the Texas contingent now works mightily to federalize name the condition at home. are associated with the enterprise shares this responsibilit with Pun. Writers are responsible for their own work, but no street The facts of natural gas pricing in Texas prove that the state for anything they have not themselves written, and it.. government has defaulted on its responsibilities to regulate oil puelishing them the editor does not necessarily imply that h1 City, state, zip and gas. The Texas Railroad Commission, which historically agrees with them because this is a journal of free voices. has functioned as the production control division of the oil in- dustry, now serves those interests by doing nothing. By putting PbaztYcr BUSINESS STAFF: Cliff Olofson, Alice Embree, Ricky the oil and gas companies ahead of the people, the bill Cruz commissioners—and Texas politicians generally—have failed (and the state's consumers. Published by Texas Observer Publishing Co., biweekly except for a three-week in val between issues twice a year, in January and July; 25 issues per year. Second-c Nothing exemplifies the situation better than the industry's postage paid at Austin, Texas. Publication no. 541300. predicament in having to choose, prospectively, between Single copy (current or back issue) 500 prepaid. One year, $12; two years, $22; three Krueger and Tower. As political columnist Kemper Diehl wrote years, $30. Foreign, except APO/FPO. Si additional per year. Airmail, bulk orders, and recently in the San Antonio Express, Krueger, the oilmen's group rates on request. Microfilmed by Microfilming Corporation of America, 21 Harristown Road, Glen most effective spokesman in the House, is gunning for the seat Rock, N.J. 07452. of one of their oldest friends in the Senate, Tower. Krueger shamelessly announces a target of $1 million for his campaign Editorial and Business Offices: The Texas Observer through the primary; Tower knows he can get more than that by 600 West 7th Street a factor of two or three for the general election. Just as the oil Austin, 'Texas 78701 512-4:77-0746 (Continued on page 20) A Texas suburb hits the brakes "City of homes? . We don't use that anymore be- "The city fathers were not incompetent for the city of cause it is not appropriate." – A Bellaire Chamber of Bellaire ten years ago. They were incompetent for the city Commerce official of today." – A Bellaire Civic Action Club leader By Mark Addicks southwest metropolitan area. The 1970 Texans have recently been warned by Bellaire census showed that in a community of urban affairs specialists that the prob- Like many American cities, Houston 20,000, there were 1,200 Mexican- lems of urban decay and the desertion of has for 70 years been following a Americans and only six blacks. In 1977, downtown areas are not restricted to the "slash-and-burn" pattern of develop- a prospective resident needed an annual cities of the Northeast and Midwest. ment, marked by a widening circle of income of at least • $25,000 to buy a Dallas and Houston both are losing suburban housing developments around house, which, on the average, cost from population to outlying suburbs, and the inner city. In the early 1900s, Bellaire $55,000 to $60,000. Politically, Bellaire is some urbanologists predict that within (formerly the Westmoreland dairy farm- a conservative place: Republican Bill ten years, problems as grave as those of land) was Houston's finest "trolley sub- Archer represents it in Congress, Walter Detroit and Newark may be hard upon urb," whose residents rode the electric "Mad Dog" Mengden is the state sena- us here in Texas. What have received rails for a 30-minute commute into town. tor, and the electorate has traditionally less attention, however, are the relatively In time, however, more exclusive towns given strong support to the GOP's presi- new problems of the suburbs themselves, grew up beyond Bellaire, and the aging dential candidates and most state and especially those closest to their central "city of homes" suddenly found itself local advocates of the status quo. • cities. The "bedroom" towns of Texas hard against Houston's spreading com- But on Aug. 13, the complacency that might well learn much from the response mercial development. Traffic and crime has characterized Bellaire's public life of Bellaire's citizens to the encroach- problems began to take on big-city di- was altered dramatically. A record ment of Houston's runaway commercial mensions. number of voters-4,646 (or slightly expansion. Bellaire today is a middle-to-upper- more than 50 percent of those –Eds. middle-class municipality in Houston's 11111•1•11•1111111•11111. registered)—turned out to recall their 4111111=111.1111111111111111111■111111•11 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 FOREST I I 0 of C c. n 311'1_ N way borders and in previously residen- W. NORTH (do N. ;51 tial areas, but this was nothing new. In 1965, the council had allowed Texaco to build a huge office complex in North Bel- laire. "Texaco got everything they wanted. It was agreeable to us," recalls Gary Summers, former city manager. • By 1975, houses were being torn down to make way for new office buildings. In t - the 1976 city election, one candidate for EMORIAL PARK LLEN City mayor, Mimi Superville, ran against in- A w Hell Observation (0 PIatIoIN cumbent Joe Poindexter on an anti- Basin' ~4yr • growth platform. Though few people no- .;,‘.. e ..1 ( .9. + A ticed Superville's campaign (Poindexter k • ,......- lg l' _RICHMOND _ -L:7 ',./9q‘C,," —. i ii I 1 4, 4• FREEWAY, sr.., .r., / won re-election with 58 percent of the / 4S, $...,. , .; , i___ ] N' .Puthern vote), Bellaire's growth debate was ,...1--- - ,6T§SONNET Rice ..i.t//'' 1, , Ontversity i , ,.! West .