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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1973)
rIE BATTALION Wednesday, February 7, 1973 College Station, Texas Page 5 Texas House Subcommittee Approves Ethics Bill For Legislators more than ar, hi AUSTIN </P) — A House sub- iinmittee approved an ethics bill f ( r legislators and state officials tdu ^ es P' te objections from a T exas Supreme Court associate PTe nate.i gt j ce t j iat p ro bably was un- ■ eh 1 em ’ ^institutional. lary fj '|Rep. Jim Nugent, D-Kerrville, - 1 1 ethics bill’s sponsor, also com- as ,, '■'n^Bained of the subcommittee ver- 11 e P^lon and said he hoped the full * ear el, pE 0US e State Affairs Committee ceived »| ould override it. The earliest the committee can act is Monday. Associate Justice Jack Pope said the subcommitte had disre garded his advice and kept judges under the bill. He called this “un equal treatment of the branches of government.” The Texas Con stitution, he explained, already puts judicial behavior under scru tiny by the Judicial Qualifications Commission. Nugent said there was a pos sible violation of the constitution al right of privacy in requiring disclosure of stocks, bonds, notes, real estate and business interests “held” by state officials. He urged that only property “ac quired or sold should be covered by the disclosure provision. “Between now and when the state affairs committee meets, ... I am going to try to get with Judge Pope and go through this bill section by section and attempt to draft a bill that satisfies his concept of constitutionality and mine and see if the full commit tee might not be inclined to ac cept that substitute rather than the one handed out by this sub committee,” Nugent told news men. Rep. Larry Bales, D-Austin, subcommittee chairman, said he disagreed with Nugent’s view of the bill’s constitutionality. Rep. Jim Mattox, D-Dallas, who offered the revised bill approved by the subcommittee, said it was necessary to require disclosure of financial interests “held” by an official. “The public should be entitled to know what assets a man holds when he is in a public position so they would know why he voted in a particular way,” Mattox said. Included in the bill is a require ment that retainers, such as those received by some lawyer legis lators, be reported. A 12-member ethics commission would enforce the act, investigat ing complaints and reporting vio lations to the attorney general and district attorneys of counties where they occurred. Rep. Jim Clark, D-Houston, rec ommended that the size of the commission be cut to nine, includ ing a newsman, a law professor, a government professor and a lobbyist. Bales indicated he might back Clark’s proposal as an amend ment. The subcommittee voted to ap prove the substitute bill was 3-1, » ALBERTSONS DRUGS & FOODS BANQUET FROZEN BONELESS FULLY COOKED WECME Ip DINNERS ALL VARIETIES & COMPARE OUR QUALITY! BANQUET COOKING BAGS Timi/rx/r SWIFTS PREMIUM BUnERBAU 10 11. I UKKCYb jomi. 35* FISHSTICKS.M” 4 49‘ CHICKEN FRIED STEAKS 86< catfish steaks...::::™:'::: 98< RAT TRAP CHEESE....^™: A 79' SLICED SLAB BACON ..S=.. “ 89< K.C. SIRLOIN STRIP...::™"". 3.*2” SMOKED 'A PORK LOIN ..:™r .^l 18 11411 'BANQUET FRIED* CHICKEN i FREEZER QUEEN FROZEN MEAT VARIETIES TO CHOOSE FROZEN FOOD DEPT! c DELICATESSEN-SNACK BAR FAMILY PACK 2 HOT BBQ CHICKENS C O O 1 PINT PINTO BEANS ▼ 1 PINT COLE SLAW onlt A ALL BEEF BOLOGNA 2 39* CORN ON THE COB »1 3 » TOP QUALITY ICEBERG LETTUCE HEAD C %:' — v gmi il CC WASHINGTON EXTRA FANCY mM T M a L j|£ i,*; CARROTS.. - :::^. .2."; 38! RADISHES.”. 2 is 27. GREEN 0NI0NS.J1......2—27 MUSHROOMS 99 itUtoAtWi LAMBRECHT FROZEN PIZZAS CHEESE, t PEPPERONI, <¥ SAUSAGE OR HAMBURGER 12 01. PKG. NOW'S THE TIME TO STOCK YOUR FREEZER & SAVE!!! ViJ\ ALBERTSON'S FROZEN POTATOES SHOESTRING 20 OZ. PKG. FIAV-R-PAC ORANGE JUICE GRAPE JUICE. WHIP TOPPING 4 OZ. JANET LEE 1 FOR JANET LEE OZ. PKG.. WEST-PAC FRO ZEN CORN CUT 10 OZ. PKG. WEST-PAC GREEN BEANS CUT a oz. PKG. GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKES BAKERY RANCH ROLLS 30e*| BANANA CREAM PIES 8 IN. SIZE 79' EGG SESAME BREAD 16 OZ. LOAVES t CHOCOLATE ECLAIRS FOR ONLY LIMIT RIGHTS RESERVED HOURS MON. THRU SAT. • A.M. to 12 P.M. SUNDAY P.M. [aJ SKAGGS V ALBERTSONS ^DRUGS & FOODS LUX LIQUID DETERGENT 22 OZ. I ALL DETERGENT 9LB. 13 OZ. BOX University Drive at College Station with Reps. Dan Kubiak, D-Rock- dale, and Hilary Doran, D-Del Rio, absent. Rep. Joseph Sage, R- San Antonio, cast the “no” vote. Doran walked in a few minutes later and said he, too, would have voted against the substitute be cause of the constitutional ques tion raised by Pope and Nugent. He referred, smiling, to those who voted for the bill as “dumb dingbats.” The ethics bill is part of House Speaker Price Daniel Jr.’s “re form” program. An ethics bill was passed in 1971, but the late Atty. Gen. Crawford Martin held it unconsti tutional because, he said, a finan cial disclosure section violated the right of privacy. Marijuana Reform (Continued from page 1) Longoria said, “I think in the state of Texas we’re doing in justice to young people who possess a small amount of mari juana.” In outlining his plan, Meier said studies show that up to 25 per cent of the marijuana offend ers in Texas prisons are under 25, and most are in for the first time. Several other persons — moth ers, students, ministers and law officers — told the committee it was an injustice to put a 17-year- old in prison for “passing around a joint.” Raymond Frank, the newly- elected sheriff of Travis County, recommended that possession of under three ounces should carry “no jail sentence.” “I am interested in a realistic marijuana law,” said Dist. Atty. Smith in testimony before the committee. He sharply attacked Sen. An- dujar’s bill as having a “ridicu lous” breakdown. He said for under two ounces a person would be a misdemeanor but for three he’d be a felon. “We need to get away from that,” he declared. Smith, who described Austin as the “mari juana capital of Texas,” also as sailed the bills for not distin guishing marijuana from other forms of cannabis. He then endorsed the Meier proposal, saying it was “an at tempt to treat marijuana in a complete fashion.” The Rev. Gayle White, a Rich ardson minister, asked the com mittee to avoid the breakdowns altogether. Alcohol, aspirin and tobacco are controlled by the gov ernment, he said. “Why can’t we legislate con trol of marijuana as we do other drugs.” Most questions from commit tee members concerned probable acceptance of a marijuana bill by the legislature. Would it appear lawmakers were endorsing the use of drugs? Would district at torneys and judges like the bill? Would a jury grant convictions? Was there sufficient leeway in penalties for varying amounts of marijuana? One question not asked was whether marijuana was harmful. All testimony concurred with Sen. Gammage: “If there are long- range damaging effects we don’t know what they are.” Or Smith, who said, “It’s not a question whether marijuana is harmful — I know it isn’t.” FOR BEST RESULTS TRY BATTALION CLASSIFIED Improve Your Children’s Reading Skills At The Reading Improvement Center 846-3812 A JLLEN Oldsmobile Cadillac SALES - SERVICE “Where satisfaction is standard equipment" 2401 Texas Ave. 823-8002 PAWN LOANS Money Loaned On Anything Of Value. Quick Cash For Any Emergency. See Us For Ready Cash Today. Texas State Credit Pawn Shop 1014 Texas Ave., Bryan Weingarten Center