Page 8 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 1981
State
S ongwri ter
changing tunes
United Press International
DALLAS — Les Chambers,
a 54-year-old country and west
ern composer, is no longer satis
fied with just singing about the
working man’s blues.
At a Dallas press conference
Tuesday, he announced his can
didacy for governor.
“I’m standing up for the
working man so he doesn’t have
to swallow the hogwash of big
oil and other big industries that
control the people who are in
government now,” said Cham
bers.
Running as an independent,
the composer of such songs as
“Goodbye World” and “Wel
come Fool to the Stool next to
Mine” said he will advocate bet
ter pay for teachers, increased
veteran s benefits and the aboli
tion of life sentences for habi
tual offenders if violent crimes
are not involved.
To boost his candidacy.
Chambers said he filed a suit in
U.S. District Court challenging
provisions of a state election law
which he says blocks indepen
dent candidates from petition
ing for places on the ballot until
after the Democratic and Re
publican primaries.
Besides the suit, he hopes his
campaign will be aided by fel
low country singer Dallas Ho
ward, “the sweetheart of Texas”
who will perform for Chambers’
campaign audiences around the
state.
Said Chambers: “She’ll be
the next Dolly Parton.”
Clayton denies seeking LCRA job
United Press International
AUSTIN — Speculation has
surfaced around the Capitol that
Speaker Bill Clayton will take a
$90,000-a-year job as general
manager of the Lower Colorado
River Authority and wait until
1986 to run for governor.
Despite the speculation,
Clayton, who is concluding his un
precedented fourth term as speak
er, maintains he will run for the
statewide office of land commis
sioner in 1982.
“I’ve got no ambition or desire
to go the LCRA,” Clayton said.
And John Scanlan of Austin, an
LCRA board member and secret
ary of the five-member committee
that is screening the 150 appli
cants for the job, said Clayton’s
name has not come up in the
panel’s discussion.
“ He is not being considered as a
candidate as far as I know,” Scan
lan said.
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But a supporter of Clayton who
asked not be identified said the
Panhandle farmer has an unfavor
able rating with Texas voters and
the speaker could choose to accept
the highpaying state job rather
than run for land commissioner.
The supporter said a poll con
ducted by Clayton indicates he
has a higher-than-average nega
tive rating because of his Brilab
trial last year on allegations he
accepted a $5,000 bribe. Clayton
and two Austin attorneys were ac
quitted by a federal jury in Hous
ton last October.
“(Clayton) has some bad poll in
formation going against him and
some friends who say he should
drop out (of the land commission
race) because of that,” the suppor
ter said. “The LCRA job would
keep him in Austin, at a good sal
ary and closely tied to water, and it
could keep him in the spotlight for
a later race for governor.”
Clayton indicated he would
announce his plans around Labor
Day but then said he would not
make a decision until after the
November referendum on his pet
legislative issue. Voters will vote
whether to approve a constitution
al amendment creating a Water
Trust Fund to solve the state’s fu
ture water problems.
Clayton also said helad!
viewed the details of the its
survey he conducted, but
cated he still wants to mi
race for land commissioner
Mauro, former executive a
of the State Democrat I
already has announcedhiit
dacy.
“It looks like I
Clayton said.
Harrelson
judge 5
in
offered guilty pk
slaying, paper saj
United Press International
SAN ANTONIO — Charles V.
Harrelson, suspected by federal
authorities of assassinating a fed
eral judge, agreed to plea guilty to
the slaying but his offer was re
jected because it involved a pres
idential pardon, a newspaper re
ported Wednesday.
Former U.S. Attorney Jamie
Boyd was surprised at the plea
bargaining offer from Harrelson s
attorney, Bob Tarrant, the San
Antonio Express reported in a
copyright story.
Quoting unnamed sources, the
newspaper said Tarrant
approached Boyd four weeks after
Harrelson was arrested in Van
Horn, Texas, on Sept. 1, 1980.
Harrelson was arrested on drugs
and weapons charges unrelated to
the May 29, 1979 slaying of U.S.
District Judge John H. Wood Jr.
Tarrant said his client, pre
viously convicted of a contract kill
ing, would plead guilty to killing
Wood and help federal investiga
tors make a case against others in
exchange for certain guarantees,
the newspaper reported.
Harrelson wanted a guarantee
of no more than a 30 year jail sent
ence, immunity from prosecution
on state capital murder charges
that could carry a death penalty
and immunity for the woman who
purchased the murder weapon,
the paper reported. Harrelson’s
wife, Jo Ann, was arrested recent
ly on charges of using false identi
fication to purchase a weapon
similar to the murder rifle at an
exclusive Dallas sporting goods
store.
Tarrant confirmed he held dis
cussions with Boyd but declined
to reveal their exact nature.
“There was never any plea bar
gain agreement, formally or infor
mally,” Tarrant said. “I talked to
him (Boyd) all about the Wood
case several times.”
Harrelson, currently being held
in the Harris County Jail in Hous
ton, also wanted a presidential
pardon for Tarrant, his Houston
attorney who had been convicted
in 1971 in federal court of posses
sion of unregistered firearms, in
cluding machine guns.
Tarrant was sentenced to three
years probation and has been bar
red from practicing law before fed
eral courts.
The newspaper said Harrelson
wanted the pardon for Tarrant be
cause the Houston attorney was
the only one he trusted to repre
sent him in federal court, the pap
er said.
Boyd, apparently interested in
the offer, secured Bexar County
District Attorney Bill White’s
assurance that Harrelson would
not be tried on state charges and
the former federal prosecutor
proposed acceptance of the plea
bargaining offer by his superiors
with the U.S. Justice Department
in Washington.
But top-level Justice Depart
ment officials rejected the offer
and ordered negotiations to cease
between Boyd and Tarrant, the
newspaper said.
Philip Heymann, then-
assistant U.S. attorney general in
charge of the criminal division,
and Lawrence Lippe, chief of the
litigation section, reportedly
vetoed the plan because of a per
ceived conflict of interest in Tar
rant’s receiving a pardon in ex
change for a guilty plea.
The newspaper said tle|i
Department officials Wi:
lem with Tarrant benefe
deal he was helping to ties
They also objected to dm?
president into a plea buj
negotiation, the newspape
The newspaper said Lj
surprise offer was the
break in the Wood invests
and led federal officials ti
Harrelson the prime
the judge’s killing. TheoSe
a Nov. 20, 1980lineupinlli
that involved Harrelson a
the first public indication
was a suspect in the case
Harrelson has not
charged in the judge s as
tion but federal author*
clearly indicated their beti
he pulled the trigger
Antonio.
Funds needed
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United Press International
AUSTIN — State officials and
the artist who created the monu
ment dedicated to the battle of
Iwo Jima have initiated a fundrais
ing drive to move the original plas
ter statue to a Texas military
school.
Meetings were scheduled for
Dallas Wednesday and Houston
next week to coordinate the effort
to raise $400,000 for the relocation
of the statue to the Marine Milit
ary Academy in Harlingen.
Dr. Felix de Weldon of New
port, R.I., sculpted the monu
ment to commemorate the
Marines who raised the flag on
Iwo Jima during a vicious World
War II battle to take the Pacific
Ocean island away from the
Japanese.
The fund raising drive was
started in Austin Tuesday by Sec
retary of State George Strake.
The 130-ton statue of the flag
raising currently is at de Weldon’s
Rhode Island home. It served as a
model for the bronze monument
in Washington.
Strake said the huge plaster
monument will be cut into 108
pieces and packed for shipping to
Texas.
Liborio Hinojosa of Mercedes,
chairman of the group raising
funds for relocation, said railroads
and the trucking
have volunteered to transp
monument to Texas freeolil
Hinojosa estimateditc
$380,000 to $400,(
base for the monument
academy and completethei
tion.
Strake and Gov. BillClf
both have supported the i
locating the monument at
ingen.
de Weldon said
erected on the Harlingen
will be coated withabi
to protect it from the\
to give it a patina finish,
"We shall assemble i
grounds in Harlingen atth
time the base is beini
structed, and when itisal
hied it will be lifted ontoth
and fixed with concrete,
Hinojosa said the I
built for the monumental
feet high, the monumentc
48 feet high, andaflagpolf
raised by the Marinesinthf
tore is another 30 feet, bn
the total height of then*
in Harlingen to:
He said he hopes t
be unveiled at its newW
Feb. 19, 1982, the 37th 2
sary of the Marine land*’
Jima during World Warli
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