Monday, January 18,1988/The Battalion/Page 9
s; Wright fights to protect thrifts
P as government begins cleanup
DALLAS (AP) — House Speaker
Jim Wright vowed to continue polic
ing regulators and protecting Texas
thrifts as the government embarked
on a massive cleanup of the state’s
struggling savings and loan industry.
Wright said regulators must be
monitored as they embark on a
three-year savings and loan cleanup.
But he said he is willing to give new
Federal Home Loan Bank Board
Chairman M. Danny Wall “the bene
fit of the doubt” as he works to stabi
lize the embattled FHLB system.
Wright’s remarks come on the eve
of a long-awaited thrift industry
cleanup. Under the “Southwest
Plan” that will be considered Tues
day in Washington by the FHLB
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Memorial
to recognize
Janis Joplin
PORT ARTHUR (AP) — Had
she not died 17 years ago, Janis
Joplin would have been 45 years
old tomorrow. Her birthday has
been chosen as the day her home
town will come to terms with its
famous child of the ’60s.
More than 17 years after her
death at age 27, the life and
achievements of the legendary
rock and roll and blues singer will
be showcased and recognized in
Port Arthur with the dedication
of the Janis Joplin Memorial.
Sponsored by the Greater Port
Arthur Chamber of Commerce
and the Port Arthur Historical
Society, the dedication will fea
ture a concert and the unveiling
of the Southeast Texas Musical
Heritage Exhibit, featuring an
original, bronze, multi-image
sculpture of Joplin by Douglas
Clark.
Until enough money is raised
to either build or buy a perma
nent building for the singer’s me
morial display, the memorial will
be housed at the Gates Memorial
Library on the Lamar University
at Port Arthur campus.
On display and on permanent
loan from her family are Joplin’s
Bible; two signed high school
yearbooks; one of her gold re
cords; jewelry; and a 5-foot-tall
wooden Christmas decoration she
painted at age 10.
Also on display are framed
copies of newspaper and mag
azine articles about her and the
record jackets and records of the
albums “Janis,” “Janis Joplin-
Farewell Song,” “Pearl,” “Janis
Joplin’s Greatest Hits” and “Jo
plin in Concert”; and original
photographs of her.
board, regulators would enact a se
ries of thrift mergers, acquisitions
and closings.
But a “megathrift” cleanup ap
proach is the wrong solution for
Texas and the nation, the Demo
cratic leader from Fort Worth said.
“We should not cultivate a future
where there is nothing but fewer
and fewer financial institutions that
are more and more remote from the
people who depend on them,”
Wright told the Dallas Times Herald
in an interview published Sunday.
“When the decision-making proc
ess on loans is remote and inaccessi
ble, it creates a sense of despair and
impotence among borrowers,” he
said.
And Wright said regulators had
better reverse a budding trend if
they expect him to support requests
for additional thrift cleanup funds.
Experts claim about $50 billion in
funds will be needed to complete an
industry cleanup — far more than
the $10.8 billion regulators already
have gained.
Critics say Wright shouldn’t have
intervened in the closing of Addi
son-based Vernon Savings and
Loan. Wright asked regulators to de
lay the thrift’s closing so it could ex
plore a Wall Street deal to take most
of its bad loans off the books.
The deal fell through and the
FHLB Board declared Vernon insol
vent a few months later, at a cost to
the thrift insurance fund of $1.3 bil
lion.
“I’m not ashamed of what I have
done,” Wright said. “It’s a natural in
stinct to want to salvage something
rather than see it torn down and de
stroyed, to protect citizens from the
unreasonable exercise of power by
appointed agents of the govern
ment.”
Wright also said attacks by the me
dia and the opposition are frustrat
ing but will not stop him from
continuing to fight.
“I’m not ready to give up being
quarterback,” he said. “I’ve got to
keep my mind on throwing the next
pass — I can’t stop to cry foul on the
last play.”
Inspection records indicate
many Dallas bridges unsafe
DALLAS (AP) — Inspectors have
found that a majority of bridges in
Dallas County are in various states of
disrepair and do not meet Texas
safety standards.
Nine of 150 bridges in the county
are beyond repair and should be re-
E laced and two of those could ecl
ipse at any time, according to state
inspection records.
Records showed that only 10 of
the 150 bridges studied met safety
standards.
A car carrying a woman and her
two children skidded off a Lake Ray
Hubbard causeway last week. Sub
standard guardrails, such as those
along the Rowlett road where 26-
year-old Betty Stenline and her
daughters Tawana, 6, and Crystal, 5,
plunged into the lake are more com
mon than structural instability,
according to inspection reports.
City and county officials said they
were not aware of many of the
bridge problems because state in
spection records are not generally
sent to them until the bridges have
been inspected by private engi
neering consultants.
A survey conducted in 1986
showed that 45 of the county’s 627
bridges were not sturdy enough to
carry normal loads and should be
limited to light load traffic.
Sixteen bridges were recom
mended closed in 1986.
Of the 150 bridges studied and
each 1987-88 inspection reviewed,
41 had structural problems.
Other problems noted in the re
ports included substandard guard
rails and flooding problems.
Some 128 bridges have guardrails
that do not meet state standards and
68 are blocked by debris and silt
which could cause flooding, accord
ing to the records.
Cliff Keheley, Dallas director of
public works, said substandard
guardrails and blocked waterways
are considered serious problems.
Those kinds of problems receive
quicker attention than structural
problems do.
“Anything wrong with basic safety
equipment like the railings is an im
mediate problem that should be re
medied,” he said.
Expert says federal officials
must fight ‘terrorism at home’
DALLAS (AP) — An attack on do
mestic terrorism that preys on the
poor should be waged by federal of
ficials, the chairman of the Federal
National Mortgage Association told
conventioneers at a home builders’
trade show.
“We’ve gone through this era of
worshipping greed and personal ag
grandizement, and I think there is
some receptivity in the country to re
new the commitment of the country
to compassion for people who are in
really bad straits,” David Maxwell
said Saturday.
Maxwell called life in poor neigh
borhoods “terrorism at home” and
said the government can’t ignore it.
“A new policy must help to build
and sustain safe communities where
housing is a means to an end, not a
dead end,” he said.
Maxwell also addressed problems
facing first-time home buyers, say
ing the typical buyer is a couple with
two incomes that still finds housing
out of reach. Family incomes re
mained flat between 1973 and 1984,
when inflation is taken into account,
he said.
“The median-priced home now
absorbs nearly twice as much family
income as it did in 1973,” Maxwell
said.
Maxwell, who is vice chairman of
the National Housing Task Force,
said during this election year candi
dates should be reminded that hous
ing is a vital part of the economy.
The task force will make recom
mendations for new housing legis
lation in March. The report will be
highly influential but chances for
housing legislation this year are slim
because of the November election,
Maxwell said.
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Texas college ordered to improve its finances
DALLAS (AP) — Officials with a
Henderson County home for disad
vantaged children said a plan to
transfer the home’s funds and assets
to financially troubled Bishop Col
lege isn’t correct, a newspaper re
ported.
Bishop College was given until
March 31 by the U.S. Department of
Education to improve its finances in
order to qualify for $400,000 in fed
eral aid.
One of the conditions the educa
tion department placed on the col
lege was to transfer about $4 million
in funds and assets from St. Paul In
dustrial and Training School, a Hen
derson County home that was or
dered closed by a state district judge
in 1984.
But St. Paul board member Joe
Thomas of Malakoff said reports
that the assets will be transferred are
probably not correct, the Athens Re
view said in its Sunday edition.
Close family members of Alice
Smothers, operator of St. Paul with
her late husband J.W. Smothers for
more than 50 years, said they were
shocked at the news.
“I haven’t heard anything about it
and I’m surprised,” said Ben Smoth
ers, who is Alice Smothers’ daugh
ter-in-law.
Neither of her sons, Clay Smoth
ers of Dallas, also a board member,
or Ben Smothers, could be reached
for comment.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, St.
Paul was home to hundreds of black
children who attended school and
tended crops.
In 1984, allegations of sexual mis
conduct at the children’s home re
sulted in charges against three
Smothers family members — Clay, a
former state representative, Ben and
Claiborne Smothers, and Greg
Hines, an employee at the school.
Children under 18 were removed
from the home but it continued to
operate and care for some adults.
Hines was convicted for rape of a
child. Clay, Ben and Claiborne
pleaded guilty to misdemeanor as
sault charges.
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