THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1978
Page 5
te news
legislators voice stiff opposition
Briscoe’s new tax proposals
neut)
Uik-
Jnited Press International
1 TINj— Legislators did not
* !s s overwhelming support
/ for Gov. Dolph Briscoe’s
" ! ils to bring as much as $1.1
1 n tax relief to Texans, and at
°pl tree of the items drew stiff
ion from some lawmakers.
•tit legislators agreed repeal of
icral sales tax on residential
': , increasing the inheritance
mption and increasing the
lotion value of residential
M eads from ad valorem taxes
by school districts would
y pass easily.
i lithe [governor will probably
lur ?sistance in his effort to push
pti n of a constitutional amend-
I squiring two-thirds majority
wal of both the Senate and
i T to impose new or additional
mixes.
mv. Bill Hobby and several
1 >rs also said they had reserva-
rtaout another proposed con-
'nal amendment creating a
jn on taxes imposed by local
jnents imd setting a limit on
jjiture increases.
have a pretty good system
m,
ormer
that has led to very low level of taxa
tion,” Hobby said. “We have re
sponsible people in state offices and
my basic philosophy is, if it ain’t
broke, don t fix it.”
Sen. Lloyd Dogget, D-Austin,
Taxed income
lower in Texas,
comptroller says
United Press International
AUSTIN — Texas ranks 46th
among the states in the amount of
personal income paid in state
taxes.
State Comptroller Boh Bullock
said in 1977, Texans paid 5.82
percent of their personal income
in state taxes, compared to a na
tional average of 7 percent.
Calitornia s state taxes a-
mounted to 7.75 percent of per
sonal income and New York’s
taxes were 8.04 percent in 1977,
Bullock said.
said the two-thirds legislative ap
proval would handcuff the Legisla
ture with a freeze “on the repressive
taxation system we have today.” He
said the amendment also would pre
vent adoption of refinery taxes or
other severance taxes Railroad
Commissioner John Poerner, a Bris
coe appointee, has recommended.
“You don’t accomplish property
tax reform by freezing the present
tax system,” said Dogget.
Rep. John Bryant said the gover
nor’s proposal would be completely
cosmetic if Briscoe did not submit a
bill Rep. Wayne Peveto, D-Orange,
tried to pass during the 1977 Legisla
ture.
The Peveto bill, which passed only
in the House during the last regular
session, would reform the system of
appraising and collecting property
taxes. The bill would consolidate tax
appraisal offices within each county
and set uniform statewide guidelines
to determine taxes.
Briscoe said he had discussed with
Speaker Billy Clayton, Hobby and a
handful of legislators the possibility
of asking the Legislature to consider
the Peveto bill.
“I’ve asked Don Adams (the gov
ernor’s legal counsel) to review it,”
said Briscoe. “We need to see the
various proposals in the bill and de
termine if they would help. ”
Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Houston,
was among those who said he was
unsure of the impact of Briscoe’s
proposals.
“I’d say it’s about 50-50,” said Le
land, who will succeed Rep. Barbara
Jordan, D-Texas, in Congress next
year.
Most legislators, however, were
hard pressed to show any enthusiasm
for the governor’s proposals. Briscoe
was welcomed with only moderate
applause at the beginning and end of
his 10-minute address to a joint ses
sion of the Legislature.
Rep. Stan Schleuter, D-Salado,
was one of the few who gave whole
hearted support to Briscoe’s pac
kage.
“I support all of them, ” Schleuter
said. “I think this package pretty well
touches everybody that is having
trouble with ad valorem taxes. And I
think we can afford it.”
son-in-law, woman charged
ith murder of missing Winnie family
.United Press International
i^UMONT — A refinery
and a 30-year-old mother of
lejjpcused of kidnapping and kil-
3 of his former in-laws be-
ill feelings related to a di-
,, , vere charged Monday with
nurder. The five bodies were
ed from a common grave
onday.
3 Joseph Dugas Jr., 32, of
ffiur, had been arrested Fri-
l charged with kidnapping,
day Burnett of Nederland,
jd as Dugas’ girlfriend, was
'YJl at 2:30 a.m. Monday.
*t 1 a.m. Monday, deputies
, a l unearthing the bodies of
Phillips, 64; his wife. Ester,
| ()r ir son, Elmer, 31; his wife,
34, and their son, Jason, 4,
■»
tge totes
dence guns
protection
[reunited Press International
LAS — A county criminal
dge who keeps a .38-caliber
tind a derringer within reach
idutearing misdemeanor cases
it. [firmed he confiscated the
s from his court’s evidence
I i l Dallas newspaper has re
elf
ler • Tom Price said he has been
ting guns from his court’s
^3e room for the past two
•Practicing his shooting skills
* *em and using them to arm
against persons who have
ned his safety, the Dallas
ig News reported in a
hted article.
int to be able to blow their
ff if I have to,” Price said.
I j once in a while I get nervous
| et. People say they’re going
mething to me and I want to
to hit them if I have to.”
J said the law which requires
s held as evidence in criminal
/entually to be returned to
timers or destroyed by police
no sense.”
aid instead of returning the
.s he keeps some of them for
; use.
pjYe taken two or three of them
‘ metimes, I shoot them at a
l : range,” he said. “I want to
i.ire I can hit what I’m shooting
^ict Attorney Henry Wade
would have to check to de-
: whether Price’s use of the
s was improper or illegal.
in a private hunting preserve where
Dugas was a member.
Dugas and Burnett were accused
of kidnapping the five from the elder
Phillips’ home at Winnie on July 1,
binding them, taking them to a
wooded area, shooting his in-laws,
then burying them in a 5-foot-deep
common grave.
Jefferson County Sheriff R.E.
Culbertson said Dugas, after initially
resisting questions, led deputies to
the gravesite late Sunday and impli
cated Burnett. The written com
plaint against her said she signed a
full confession.
"He was remorseful,” Culbertson
said. “I think his conscience finally
got to him.”
Dugas once was married to Phil
lips’ daughter, Mary. A justice of the
peace said the family had filed previ
ous disturbance charges against
Dugas and that he had undergone
treatment at Beaumont Neurological
Center in 1975.
Chambers County Sheriff Doil
Pounds’ original complaint against
Dugas said he had told friends of
angry feelings against the Phillips
and that he planned to kill them.
“The man was mad at the old man
and the old lady because they sent
him off to a mental institution for
being off in the head,” said Justice of
the Peace Jack Cravy. “He said he’d
kill them all when he got back.”
Dugas was jailed Monday at
Anahuac, seat of Chambers County,
where the kidnappings occurred, in
lieu of $500,000 bond. Murder
charges were filed against him at
Beaumont, seat of adjacent Jefferson
County, where the bodies were
found.
Cravy, in a hearing at Hamshire
near where the bodies were found,
set Burnett’s bond at $500,000 Mon
day during a hearing interrupted by
her weeping and fainting, perhaps
due to the crush in the grocery store
where court was held.
Defense lawyer Joe Goodwin
pressed for less bond so Burnett
could be with her children. Cravy
said he would schedule a hearing
later to consider lower bond.
Authorities had mounted a mas
sive search for the Phillips after
another of their sons, George Phil
lips, returned to find them gone.
The Elmer Phillips lived at
Woodward, Okla., and had been vis
iting his parents at Winnie.
There were a few scattered spots
of blood in the modest tin-roofed
house in a grove of trees on a 10-acre
plot. A fan, skillet and coffee maker
had been left on.
The first major clue to surface was
discovered unknowingly July 2 by a
couple running an early morning
paper route. Elmer Phillips’ car was
burned in a roadside ditch at the
edge of a bayou 10 miles east of the
Phillips’ home.
But because efforts to report the
car went awry and searchers were
working near the house, it was
Thursday before the car was linked
to the disappearance.
WIDE PIPE SELECTION
CUSTOM BLENDED
TOBACCO
CIGARS - DOMESTIC
& IMPORTED
3709 E. 29TH ST. TOWN & COUNTRY CENTER
ManseTs Sent
300 W. 25th St.
BRYAN
BRAKE SPECIALS
Front Disc Brakes . . .
$43 88
Drum Brakes (including
turning drums, Q88
all 4 wheels). O
Wheel Cylinders Rebuilt , 7 00
eaC h
• Strobe Light Wheel
Balancing
• Shock Absorbers
• Wheel Alignment - Ameri
can & Foreign Cars
• Brake Service
822-2089
779-4862
SPECIAL NOTICE
OPTIONAL BOARD PLAN
Summer students may dine on the board plan during the first session of
summer school at Texas A&M University. Each board student may dine
three meals each day except Sunday evening if the seven day plan is
elected, and three meals each day, Monday through Friday, if the five
day plan is preferred. Each meal is served in the Commons.
Fees for each session are payable to the Controller of Accounts. Fiscal
Office, Coke Building.
Board fees for each plan are as follows:
for the quiet times. ..
elegance in
lingerie
PLANS
SECOND SESSION
Seven Day
Five Day -
- $144.00
$127.00
July 13 through
August 18
1978
X
!oft Touch
707 Texas
Day students, including graduate students may purchase either
of the board plans.