THE TEXAS SE Tor. ned of Free Voices RVE September 23, 1977 50 010 jolt° Ondegi 6.,\S‘ Mu tro iesf* .:Silic.c/dscro MatagePaortilo antis 1.1kfira $:;`64 A,f 0 / uy°Y 0 El Viet* Of or abons d. 140a0( t0 0 Chtehl pi0i V 00 Esgwoutes 0,0°' &air. RO Teusiept 8nace •- 0 • de ', 0 Carno•Par Pert Lae Managua oComalep opc,,,ingo ama Per oLa Lt•erlad 1.10e 110.\.. JutOal pa 4, illadlaTcotearg: Tomes' - ---E, r•P sit!rt., FZi ° 1 01 Zi■pote Mornto end ime • Lake o • ertoiall'ae\'''' i. an Frai2sme. • '1% ■tmetepe •n M.KUel.t0 SS Nicaragua ,, 4 s.01,nt ■ Arne, CD% arios Eckhardt and the lobbies • Dugger on Box 13 • The N-bomb: report from ground zero Texas and the canal treaty • Speaker's race shapes up early • Getting wet in Denton Grappling for the gavel Austin Like so many late-summer dust devils, political candidacies are swirling across Texas. It's something of a feat to keep track of all the press conferences, office openings, fund raisers, and barbecues. But while public attention has been fixed on the The Texas start-ups of various gubernatorial and congressional campaigns, the pursuit of one of the most important posts in state govern- ment, the speakership of the Texas House, has been carried on OBSERVER ©The Texas Observer Publishing Co., 1977 well out of the public eye, with almost no coverage in the daily Ronnie Dugger, Publisher press. There will be only 150 votes cast on balloting day in January, Vol. 69, No. 18 September 23, 1977 1979, but those contending for the speaker's gavel are already engaged in close-order combat with wining-and-dining routines Incorporating the State Observer and the East Texas Demo- crat, which in turn incorporated the Austin Forum-Advocate. EDITOR Jim Hightower MANAGING EDITOR Lawrence Walsh ASSOCIATE EDITOR Laura Richardson EDITOR AT LARGE Ronnie Dugger PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lois Rankin ASSISTANT EDITORS: John Gjedde, Colin Hunter, Linda Rocawich, Susan Reid STAFF ASSISTANTS: Vicki Vaughan, Bob Sindermann, Margaret Watson, David Brinn, Chris Hearne, Kathy Tally, Debi Pomeroy. Teresa Acosta, Mark Richardson, Eric Hartman, Tim Mahoney, David Guarino, Cathy Stevens CONTRIBUTORS: Kaye Northcott, Jo Clifton, Dave McNeely, predominant. So far, it appears that the race is to be run mainly Wade Roberts, Don Gardner, Warren Burnett, Rod Davis, Steve Rus- in bars, restaurants, hotels and Mexican resorts. sell, Paul Sweeney, Bruce Selcraig, Marshall Breger, Jack Hopper, Three representatives are in the running—Buddy Temple Stanley Walker, Joe Frantz, Ray Reece, Laura Eisenhour, Dan Hubig, Ben Sargent, Berke Breathed. Eje Wray, Luther Sperberg, Roy Ham- (D-Diboll), Bill Sullivant (D-Gainesville), and incumbent Bill ric, Tom Bleich Clayton (D-Springlake). A fourth House member, Tom Schief- BUSINESS STAFF: Cliff Olofson, Alice Embree, Ricky fer (D-Fort Worth), is ready in the wings, prepared to make the Cruz race should Clayton falter or unexpectedly bow out. Sullivant, a former Clayton supporter who feels that two A journal of free voices terms for Billy or anyone else is plenty, ran up more than $280 We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the on his Diner's Club and American Express cards in June and truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated July on behalf of his candidacy. He also favored a spot called to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the Arthur's Deck Club with $190 worth of business, and he lists a rights of humankind as the foundation of democracy; we will $300 expenditure on April Fools Day under an "entertainment take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or mifrepresent the truth to serve the interests of of representatives" heading. the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. But the highest roller of all is Buddy Temple, whose financial The editor has exclusive control over the editorial policies reports reveal a reach-for-the-tab reflex and a breadth of and contents of the Observer. None of the other people who taste that extends from Houston's exclusive Elan restaurant to are associated with the enterprise shares this responsibility that plebeian establishment, Austin's Scholz Garten. Begin- with him. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not ning with a three-day blitz in March, when he laid out about for anything they have not themselves written, and in $670 at Scholz's and $750 more for musical accompaniment by publishing them the editor does not necessarily imply that he Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys, Temple spent almost agrees with theni because this is a journal of free voices. $600 in July and August to entertain the ladies and gentlemen of the Legislature at the Veranda, a trendy watering hole in the Published by Texas Observer Publishing Co., biweekly except for a three-week inter- capital city. Temple knows how to spread the jam around—he val between issues twice a year, in January and July: 25 issues per year. Second-class parted with $76 at Houston's Shamrock Hilton, $75 at the Fair- postage paid at Austin, Texas. Publication no. 541300. Single copy (current or back issue) 500 prepaid. One year, $12: two years, $22; three mont in Dallas, $162 at the El Paso Hilton, $53 at Austin's years, $30. Foreign, except APO/FPO, $1 additional per year. Airmail, bulk orders, and Headliners Club, and $60 at Garland's Holiday Inn. group rates on request. In June it was Acapulco. "My family owns a home in Mexi- Microfilmed by Microfilming Corporation of America, 21 Harristown Road, Glen co," says Temple, "and I have taken a few representatives Rock, N.J. 07452. down there, but I haven't paid their transportation costs, and Editorial and Business Offices: The Texas Observer when I take them down, I always pay the rent that we would 600 West 7th Street charge, although normally I would get the house free. And I Austin, Texas 78701 512-477-0746 (Continued on page 22) 7.0434).7.7 The canal opens: S.S. Ancon passes Culebra Cut on first transit of new waterway, August 1914. By Debi Pomeroy -- Notzethe e 'public Jimmy Carter put on a Lyndon Johnson special in Washing- debate on ti Congress ton this month, attempting to rally the country and persuade with posfc corralled Congress to embrace the treaty he signed with Panama. The in tletr o, ` 10,. of many President orchestrated a gaudy signing ceremony at the Pan in the House undswell of opposi American Union building, hauling in a dozen or so leading titm to ratificOtO ssives. who support establishmentarians to serve as props-people like former presi- the treaty orb its me importance of dent Gerald Ford, AFL-CIO president George Meany, auto charge magnate Henry Ford, and diplomat emeritus Henry Kissinger. But President Carter apparently has forgotten what candi- oodcast ha- date Carter knew so well: endorsements and Washington ex- newspaper ads, travaganzas aren't worth much. What counts is the folks back e reactionaries home, and in this case a resurgent American right wing has ha or months, stirred a tempest in the hinterlands. giving all Not that everyone in Texas or anywhere else is sitting around this has our breakfast tables muttering about the fate of "our" canal, but 24 rf on there is a sense of mass hysteria over the treaty question. Actu- the ire seven ally, the latest Gallup Poll shows only 46 percent of the public are w icatton against the pact, with 39 percent in favor. here a Against: Rep. Sam Hall, D-Marshall colonialism and it is in the best interest rity reasons." Collins argues that if the "I am not in favor of Senate ratifica- of the United States of America to reach canal were to close, U.S. shipping costs tion of the treaty. I would like to leave an agreement somewhat consistent with would double and the increase would be the situation there just as it is." Hall says the modern world." Wilson says that of passed on to consumers. He gauges op- he's received more mail (300 to 400 let- 60 anti-treaty letters received by his of- position in Texas at 95 percent and says ters, "running 99-1 against the treaty") fice, about 90 percent are mimeographed the high figure says something about on the treaty than on any other topic ex- and "probably from a rigidly conserva- Americans everywhere standing up to cept gun control. tive organization." Washington. Against: Rep. James M. Collins, For: Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Lufkin R-Dallas (via press aide Walt Kelly) No telling: Rep. Jim Mattox, D-Dallas "I support the treaty. The days of the "Rep. Collins is vehemently opposed (via press aide J. D. Arnold) canal as an important military asset are to the treaty and spoke before one of the "Congressman Mattox is very Cons- over. Only 20 to 25 warships went anti-treaty protests on the day of the cerned about the constitutional preroga- through last year, and none of the car- signing. He opposes it because of the tives in this matter, and the treaty is Sen- riers can even get through. The canal way the treaty will affect commerce, be- ate business, therefore he has no position would be extremely vulnerable to guer- cause the canal is bought and paid for on the treaty, though he will study it with rilla attack. It is a destructive symbol of and clearly ours, and for national secu- a special eye toward national security." THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 For: Rep.