Page 10/The Battalion/Monday, December 15,1986
Texas in forefront of private aid
provided for Nicaraguan rebels
DALLAS (AP) — Texans have
been in the forefront of the effort to
funnel private aid to the Nicaraguan
Contras.
Austin businessman Bert Hurl-
but, a key player in the private aid
network, estimates that 50 percent
of all private donations have come
from Texas.
Through myriad organizations
and relief efforts, Texans have do
nated $5 million in aid to the insur
gents over the last three years, he es
timated.
The Contra supporters range
from hard-core Republicans such as
Kay Tinner of Dallas to well-known
moguls such as Nelson Bunker
Hunt.
Many involved in the movement
have praised Lt. Col. Oliver L. North
Jr., who was fired last month from
his post as the National Security
Council’s deputy director after in
formation surfaced about a U.S. sale
of arms to Iran and subsequent di
version of profits to the Contras.
North has been identified by At
torney General Edwin Meese as hav
ing handled the diversion of funds
from the arms sales to the Contras.
“I think the president was right
when he called him a great Ameri
can hero,” said Perry, a conservative
fund-raiser who has been briefed by
North.
Perry has been to Contra camps in
Honduras twice in the last six
months. He estimates that he has do
nated $100,000 in supplies, includ-_
ing medicine and an X-ray machine.
“We’ve got all these areas where
we’ve got these commies in there,”
Perry said, citing Nicaragua as only
one of his concerns. “We’ve got to do
something. We ought to give them
Texas Contra-aid network
reported to be 'drying up'
DALLAS (AP) — As the Iran-
Contra affair unfolds in Wash
ington, Texans who have been a
part of the Contra aid movement
report that their network appears
to be drying up.
The Freedom’s Friends organi
zation, headed by evangelist Wil
liam Murray, has gathered
10,000 Christmas presents at an
Addison warehouse for Contra
families, but he is having trouble
getting them shipped.
The Texans for a Free Nicara
gua organization has 30,000
pounds of medical supplies and
clothing for the rebels stored in
Grand Prairie and one of its lead
ers, Gary Bennett, said the group
doesn’t have the money to ship
the supplies.
Officials of civilian rebel sup
port groups say they’ve had diffi
culty raising contributions and
have faced myriad financial woes
since reports that up to $30 mil
lion from the U.S.-Iran arms deal
was diverted to Nicaraguan con
tras.
They say the controversy has
damaged public confidence in the
private organizations and created
a climate of paranoia among gov
ernment officials who once made
themselves available to help civil
ian groups direct humanitarian
aid to the rebels.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth re
gion, traditionally a leading out
post for civilian aid to the anti-
Sandinista forces, some rebel-as
sistance groups say contributions
have plummeted, stalling ship
ments of food, clothing and med
ical supplies.
Previously, private Contra sup
port groups were able to ship
nonlethal supplies by including
them in shipments transported
through a special State Depart
ment Nicaraguan Office of Hu
manitarian Assistance, created
when Congress approved $27
million in humanitarian aid in
1985.
Now the Nicaraguan humani
tarian assistance office is being
phased out.
enough money to go in there and
lick those guys.”
Former Tennessee congressman
Dan Kuykendall said, “I would bet
you 500 Texans knew Ollie North
personally.” Kuykendall directs the
Washington-based Gulf and Carib
bean Foundation, founded in 1983
by a group of prominent Texans
who wanted to influence Central
American policy.
The group, which included the
late construction baron H.B. Zachry,
has sponsored fact-finding missions
and speaking tours for scholars. Dal
las lawyer David Witts is its treasurer
and counsel, and Midland business
man William Blakemore serves as
chairman.
North was born in San Antonio in
1943 when his father was stationed
there in the Army. Although the
family lived in Texas only until
1948, North calls the Lone Star State
his home, friends and acquaintances
said.
“North looked and acted like a
Texan,” said Kuykendall, himself a
native of Texas. “I would love to see
the guy come back to Texas and run
for Congress. I’ve probably said that
to him 50 times. I love the guy.”
Perhaps North’s closest link to
Texas was Dallas billionaire H. Ross
Perot, whom North secretly per
suaded to put up $2 million in ran
som to win release of American hos
tages in Lebanon. The trade never
occurred, but North spoke often
with Perot by phone, according to a
former NSC staff member.
Tom Shull, deputy executive sec
retary to the NSC from December
1983 to January 1985, recalls North
trumpeting his Texas connections
and his relationship with Perot.
Shull, a San Antonio native, said
he was in the room on occasions
when North spoke with Perot. He
says the colonel spoke of getting Per
ot’s assistance in the private effort to
aid the Contras.
“I remember him saying on many
occasions that Ross Perot was going
to help anyway he can,” Shull said.
Perot said, however, that he had
“never put a penny into any kind of
Contra effort, directly or indirectly.
Ollie never asked me.”
Auto salesman reaches c
to help woman save ranc
GRAND PRAIRIE (AP) — An
auto salesman was so moved by the
plight of a 68-year-old woman about
to lose her ranch to foreclosure that
he has started a door-to-door fund
drive to help her.
May Hess bought the ranch near
the Northeast Texas community of
Talco in the 1950s, but she could
lose it unless she raises $5,400 by
Jan. 2 to pay a loan she took out to
help a sick brother who has since
died.
“This lady is as helpless as any
body can be,” Bill Stewart says. “I
was born and raised on a farm in Pe
tersburg, Texas, and I’ve known
hard times. But not near as hard as
what she’s gone through.”
Hess, who is unable to walk with
out using an aluminum walker or
wheelchair, has only her monthly
Social Security check of more than
$400 and her 30 cows, which
been quarantined until May,
said.
“I’m just counting the days
until January. They aren’t m:
she said, adding that if she lose
ranch, “I don’t care what happe
me.”
Stewart said he trot involved
ha
sh
now
my,”
s the
ns to
reading of her plight and calling th
Farm Crisis Hotline to see he
money she needed.
Then he went up and do>
Street in this Dallas suburl
fellow business owners and
for donations.
That effort brought ir
$2,800 in contributions
from $ 1 to $ 100.
The Omaha, T<
w mu<
rn Main
HsKiiig
friends
i about
ranging
bank that U
discouraged” said Stewaij
only raised another $1,0
“She’s a victim of drain
he said. “She’s a verystroni.
considering what sheili
through. A lot of us n,I-
thrown our hands upandpT
Curriculi
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(Continued frontpage!
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