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Tuesday, June 6,1989
Page 5
Rep. Bryant announces
run for attorney general
m
AUSTIN (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. John Bryant
said Monday he will run for Texas attorney general in
1990 and made public his personal tax returns, chal
lenging other candidates to follow suit.
“I have no conflicts of interest,” Bryant said. “I am
involved in no business deals. I am totally indepen
dent.”
The Dallas congressman distributed copies of his
federal tax returns for 1983 to 1988 and a personal fi
nancial statement showing assets of $337,000 and debts
of $195,500. He said other candidates for attorney gen
eral should do the same.
“I am calling on each person who files for this very
powerful office to release their income tax returns for
the last five years ... to erase any doubt that any client
or business relationships could present a conflict of in
terest,” Bryant, 42, said.
He said attorney general candidates, who must be
lawyers, should also make public a list of their clients
and those of their law firms in addition to all sources of
income.
“Americans today feel a widespread distrust of public
figures in general and government officials in partic
ular,” Bryant said. “Wall Street financiers, TV evangel
ists, university athletic programs and corporate officials
all face a skeptical public.
“The public is particularly skeptical of our profes
sion, and I believe each of us who aspires to be our
state’s chief law enforcement officer is obligated to re
veal all the sources of our income, as well as our assets
and debts,” Bryant said.
Attorney General Jim Mattox is expected to run for
governor in 1990, and several Republicans and Demo
crats are eyeing his job.
Besides Bryant, Democrat John Odam, a Houston
lawyer and aide to former Gov. Mark White, has de
clared his candidacy for attorney general.
Others considering the office include state Rep. Dan
Morales, D-San Antonio, and Republican Roy Barrera
Jr., a former Bexar County district judge who ran for
attorney general in 1986.
State Rep. Patricia Hill, R-Dallas, and Texas Railroad
Commission Chairman Kent Hance also have ex
pressed interest in the office.
Bryant, a Texas state representative for five terms
beginning in 1974, has been elected to four terms in
Congress.
A lawyer and Lake Jackson native, Bryant joined the
U.S. House of Representatives in 1983 and serves on
the committees for energy and commerce, the judi
ciary, the budget and veterans’ affairs.
According to Bryant’s tax forms, he earned $110,496
in 1988, $25,530 of which was “business income,”
mostly derived from speaking fees, he said.
Bryant said the amount was in line with the approved
level of one-third of his congressional salary of $86,283.
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CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) — The
city’s balmy summer weather can
turn a lawyer’s freshly pressed, crisp
shirt worn under a wool suit into a
wrinkled, sweat-soaked mess.
Judge Robert Blackmon is offer
ing relief.
Guayaberas — those locally popu
lar Latin American-style short-
sleeved shirts with all that pocket
space — are now acceptable garb in
Blackmon’s 117th District Court.
“With the summer comes the
heat. These guayaberas are loose
and flowing. They are very comfort
able,” said Blackmon, who also says
he likes the way they look. “They are
worn all over the civilized world.”
Guayaberas, often worn in locales
such as Mexico, Puerto Rico and
Cuba, are sometimes referred to as
“Mexican wedding shirts.”
No lawyers have yet dared to wear
them in Blackmon’s court this year,
and none of his fellow judges has
followed his lead. The jurists say,
kiddingly, that only police officers,
gringos and tourists fancy the shirts,
while Blackmon defends them as
fashionable and functional — an at
tractive camouflage for those with
protruding pot bellies.
According to Blackmon’s order,
“Counsel appearing in this court
may wear in lieu of coat and tie a
one-color guayabera.”
The order was effective May 1
and will last through the hot sum
mer months, Blackmon said.
He stressed that the shirts should
be “properly fitting,” and he prohib
its wide-open collars with gold
chains on a chest.
The local rules regulating conduct
in Nueces County courts state that
“all male lawyers shall wear coats
and ties while in attendance of the
court, unless otherwise permitted by
the court.”
While there are no rules for fe
male attorneys’ clothing, Blackmon
said they also are welcome to wear
guayaberas.
The judge said he has issued the
guayabera rule almost every year
since he first took the bench in the
country court-at-law No. 1 in 1979.
He has served as a district judge
since 1987.
Blackmon said he occasionally
dons a long-sleeved black guayabera,
given to him by Alice attorney Hom-
ero Canales, instead of his more
bulky calf-length judicial robe.
“No formal attire looks better on a
man than a proper-fitting guaya
bera,” Blackmon, captain of the U.S.
Navy reserves, said. “The military
service goes to summer uniforms.
Why not the courts?”
Because, his fellow judges say, it’s
cool indoors and the shirts present a
less-than-lawyerly image.
Some examples:
Judge Joaquin Villarreal, 347th
District Court: “We’ve got good air
conditioning in my courtroom. No
body wears guayaberas anymore but
the tourists and the gringos.”
Judge Eric Brown, 28th District
Court: “I basically think they’re real
unflattering shirts. Only cops wear
them because it hides their guns.”
Judge Margarito Garza, 148th
District Court: “Not in my lifetime
— not in my courtroom. The next
thing somebody will want to do is
come dressed in shorts or blue jeans.
You’re not coming to a beach party.”
Judge Mike Westergren, 214th
District Court: “I’m kind of old-fash
ioned in some ways.”
Judge Jack Hunter, 94th District
Court: “It would be nice to sit on the
bench in shorts and Topsiders, but
I’m not sure we can do that.”
Blackmon said the likely reason
why attorneys have not taken advan
tage of his rule yet this year is be
cause most of them also have busi
ness in other courts.
Attorney Jorge Rangel, a former
district judge and avid guayabera-
wearer, said he sports the shirts to
the courthouse, but only when he is
not scheduled to be in a courtroom.
“People say, ‘You look like a bar
ber.’ And then they look at my hair,”
joked Rangel, alluding to his balding
pate.
Civil-law attorney Larry Coffey,
who works for the law firm of Red-
ford, Wray 8c Woolsey, said he
would not wear a guayabera any
where.
“I don’t look good in short-
sleeved shirts,” Coffey said. “My
arms look like noodles.”
Coffey said he also would be re
luctant to wear anything but a coat
and tie in front of his client.
“The client is paying for a certain
image as well as an ability,” he said.
But attorney Mark Woerner, who
practices criminal-defense law and
some civil law, likes Blackmon’s rule.
“I’d wear something like that,”
Woerner said. “I’m a casual kind of
guy. I’d wear shorts if they’d let me.
“I may even go home and get (a
guayabera) and just visit the 117th,”
Woerner said.
Pine beetle ‘emergency’
threatens Texas’ forests
AUSTIN (AP) — About 440 spots
infested by Southern pine beetles in
national forests in Texas have been
found, the U.S. Forest Service said
Monday.
The spots range from a single tree
to groups of up to 100 trees, officials
said.
“Their rate of activity is seven
times that of last year,” said National
Forest Supervisor Mike Lannan in a
statement issued by the service’s Luf
kin headquarters. “We hope it’s not
the beginning of an epidemic, but it
sure doesn’t look good.”
Lannan said insect traps set by
Texas Forest Service researchers on
the Davy Crockett National Forest
have confirmed the presence of a
large number of beetles.
Lannan said extra employees are
being hired to help control the out
break.
“We view the infestation as an
emergency and treat it as we would a
wildfire,” he said. “As the situation
worsens on a district, we shift em
ployees who normally work on other
jobs to beetle control work.”
If the situation requires it, he said
Forest Service employees would be
brought in from other states.
Lannan said Southern pine
beetles typically are attracted to
older pine trees. The insects burrow
to the cambium layer between the
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All parts, accessories and
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Pacific Garden Chinese
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The
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Corpus Christi lawyers get relief
from the heat with Latin clothing
bark and wood, killing the trees by
girdling them or infecting them with
a fungus.
After a tree dies, new adult beetles
move on to a nearby living tree.
Lannan said the Forest Service
tries to prevent epidemics by cutting
down bug-infested trees plus a buf
fer strip of about 80 feet around the
advancing edge of each infested
spot.
He said 53 spots had been treated,
and the cuts have been averaging
about an acre in size.
Officials said 227 of the Southern
pine beetle spots are on the Davy
Crockett Forest’s Neches District
east of Crockett. That includes 15 in
the Big Slough Wilderness Area.
In other areas of East Texas,
about 75 new beetle spots have been
found in the Sam Houston National
Forest north of Houston.
The Angelina National Forest east
of Lufkin reports 66 new spots, in
cluding 17 in the Upland Wilderness
Area. About 20 new spots have been
found in the Sabine National Forest
west of Toledo Bend Reservoir, and
50 new spots have been located in
the Davy Crockett National Forest’s
Trinity District near Apple Springs.
New Art Exhibits
Texas A&M University
MSC FORSYTH CENTER GALLERIES
(South Gallery)
INDIA: The Land and the People
The Photographs of Beatrice Pitney Lamb
(North Gallery)
INTRODUCTION: LESLIE BEVIS
(Upstairs Gallery)
BILL ZANER: Portraits of Texas
The Public is Invited to an
OPENING RECEPTION
Tuesday, June 6,1989 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
in the MSC Forsyth Center Galleries
(Continuing in the Main Gallery)
Art from the Bill and Irma Runyon Art Collections
Nineteenth Century English Cameo Glass
including masterworks by George Woodall
Selections of American Painting 1880-1920
Located in the Southwest Comer of the Memorial Student Center opposite the Post Office
Admission Free
ATTENTION TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM EMPLOYEES
TEXAS HEALTH PLANS IS DEDICATED TO PROVIDING TEXANS WITH QUALITY,
CONVENIENT HEALTH CARE, INCLUDING:
NOW MORE THAN 40 PARTICIPATING PHYSICIANS IN THE BRYAN/COLLEGE STATION AREA
Charles R. Anderson, M.D.
Fred Anderson, M.D.
Gene F. Brossman, M.D.
Clyde Caperton, M.D.
Francis Cherian, M.D.
Rany A. Cherian, M.D.
William S. Conkling, M.D.
Mahesh R. Dave, M.D.
Naline M. Dave, M.D.
David R. Doss, M.D.
Ernest A. Eimendorf, M.D.
*this list is subject to
Joseph Fedorchik, M.D.
James B. Giles, M.D.
Asha K. Haji, M.D.
Karim E. Haji, M.D.
John J. Hall, M.D.
Robert A. Howard, M.D.
R.W. Huddleston, M.D.
Noreen Johnson, M.D.
Michel E. Kahil, M.D.
Kenan K. Kennamer, M.D.
James M. Kirby, M.D.
change
J.C. Lee, M.D.
James I. Lindsay,, M.D.
Mark B. Lindsay, M.D.
William H. Marr, M.D.
Kenneth E. Matthews, M.D.
Michael F. McMahon, M.D.
Henry McQuaide, M.D.
Gary M. Montgomeiy, M.D.
Robert H. Moore, M.D.
Jesse W. Parr, M.D.
AniUS. Patel, M.D.
Kanup Patel, M.D.
Sudhir D. Patel, M.D.
Barry F. Pauli, M.D.
H. David Pope, Jr., M.D.
Kuppusamy Ragupathi, M.D.
Mark Riley, M.D.
Haywood J. Robinson, M.D.
Kathleen H. Rollins, M.D.
Karl M. Schmitt, Jr., M.D.
Randy W. Smith, M.D.
Douglas M. Stauch, M.D.
Mehendra Thakrar, M.D.
NEW THIS YEAR - VALUE ADDED DENTAL PROGRAMS
* Dental - THP Members can receive the following dental care:
In BRYAN at HARGROVE DENTAL CENTER
* 15% Discount on dental services such as General, Children's, Periodontal
and Cosmetic Dentistry, Oral Surgery, Dentures, Bonding, Cleaning,
Fillings, Root Canals and Crowns
This program is not part of your regular Texas A&M Benefit Package. Payment for Dental Services is soley your responsibility
COMPREHENSIVE BENEFITS
PROVIDED WITH NO DEDUCTIBLES OR ROUTINE CLAIM FORM HASSLES
Primary Care Physician office visit (well child care, immunizations, etc.) $5/Visit
Authorized Referral Consultant Visits $5/Visit
Maternity (pre & post natal care) $5/initial visit only
Medically necessary hospitalization
Surgery (inpatient & outpatient). X-rays & Lab work
Prescription drugs
Eye glasses or contact lenses
Routine eye exams
100% Covered
100% Covered
$5 per prescription or refill
THP will pay up to $80
THP will pay up to $35
MONTHLY PREMIUM RATES
Employee only
Employee and one dependent
Employee and family
$110.68
$249.04
$343.14
ENROLLMENT ENDS JULY 17, 1989. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL GREG JORCZYK OR KEVIN
O'CONNOR TODAY AT TEXAS HEALTH PLANS
Texas (512) 338-6154
Health OR
Plans, Inc. (800) 234-7912