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The Battalion
STATE & LOCAL
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Friday, August 4,1989
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Spokesman says company is attempting
to embarrass Mattox by sending letters
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A time-
share company prosecuted for fed
eral and state fraud has been send
ing letters to newspaper editors
praising Texas Attorney General
Jim Mattox, but a spokesman for
Mattox said Wednesday that the
company is trying to embarrass the
attorney general.
“You know the old adage, ‘With
friends like this who needs ene
mies,’” Ron Dusek, a spokesman for
Mattox, said. “It fits perfectly in this
situation. Except this company is not
our friend,” Dusek told the Asso
ciated Press.
Officials of the firm, Freedom Fi
nancial Corp. of Dallas, say the let
ters are to thank Mattox for work on
Nuclear plant
to shut down
for refueling
HOUSTON (AP) — The
South Texas Nuclear Plant’s Unit
1 will begin shutting down Friday
for refueling, plant officials say.
The unit, which has been in
commercial operation since April
1988, will undergo a 55-day shut
down that will allow for testing,
maintenance and modifications,
plant spokesman Glen Walker
said.
Walker said operators will re
place one-third of the fuel in the
reactor. All operations within the
reactor core will take place under
a protective blanket of water la
den with boron, a chemical that
absorbs neutron radiation and
prevents any reaction from tak
ing place, he said.
The refueling is done by re
mote control and involves remov
ing 36 exhausted fuel assemblies
from the center of the core, mov
ing partially used assemblies into
the center and installing new fuel
assemblies around the sides.
dt
new laws aimed at curbing real estate
and time-share abuses, the San An
tonio Light reported Wednesday.
7’he company said legislation
passed during this year’s regular ses
sion is “good for the consumer and
good for the industry.”
But Dusek said the letter-writing
campaign was an attempt to dis
credit Mattox because the attorney
general’s office pursued the com
pany on fraud charges.
“It was one of our biggest and
most important cases,” Dusek said
“We got the maximum penalty that
state law would allow. We also went
on “60 Minutes” and embarrassed
that company and its owners pub
licly.”
Freedom Financial recently paid
$1.5 million to the federal govern
ment and $89,000 to the state for
fraud charges.
“It appears that they are now at
tempting to embarrass the attorney
general,” Dusek said, referring to
the company.
In addition, the newspaper re
ported, Freedom Financial officials
gave Mattox $12,000 in campaign
contributions while the attorney
general was pursuing deceptive
trade practices penalties against the
company.
Freedom Financial pleaded guilty
U You know the old
adage, ‘With friends like
this who needs enemies.’
It fits perfectly in this
situation. Except this
company is not our friend.”
— Ron Dusek,
spokesman for Mattox
in 1988 in Beaumont to federal con
spiracy and mail fraud charges in
volving Texas and Missouri promo
tions for time-share properties that
implied people had won cars, cash,
jewelry, furs or other valuable
prizes.
Austin resident wants
to bronze Treaty Oak
if it dies, replant replica
AUSTIN (AP) — If the struggling
Treaty Oak dies, an Austin foundry
operator wants to cast it in bronze
and replant the metal replica —
which could weigh 15 tons — on the
site where the tree has stood for cen
turies.
“The city owns the tree,” John
Kasson II said. “All I can do is plant
the seed of its rebirth in bronze and
hope the city or some public-spirited
E eople from the private sector get
ehind the idea and help us make it
a reality.”
Kasson guesses the project would
cost more than $ 1 million.
The live oak, estimated to be 500
years old
spread of
with the
and having a branch
110 feet, was poisoned
herbicide Velpar last
spring.
Police have accused Paul S. Cul
len, 45, of Elroy, with poisoning the
tree, allegedly as part of a ritual. He
remains jailed on a charge of felony'
criminal mischief.
Kasson said he hopes the tree,
which is being treated by foresters
from around the country, recovers.
“This is not the time to bury
Treaty Oak,” he said. “We need to
keep praying and pulling for the
tree to heal. No statue can take the
place of nature.”
The 1989-90 Texas A&M University
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At the same time the company
agreed to settle the state’s consumer
protection lawsuit and paid $50 res
titution to each defrauded Texas
consumer.
Campaign finance reports filed
with the Texas Secretary of State
show Freedom Financial officials Pe
nelope M. Wilson and Gary Nation
contributed $6,000 each to Mattox’s
campaign while the attorney general
was pursuing action against the com
pany in 1987.
A separate source with access to
Mattox’s financial data said Tuesday
that Mattox also received $10,000
from Robert Mead, the company’s
president in 1986, the Light re
ported.
Bush decides not to run
for governor; candidates
plan to claim supporters
AUSTIN (AP) — The decision
by Texas Rangers baseball club
owner George W. Bush to sit out
the 1990 governor’s race has left
the remaining Republican hope
fuls claiming his supporters.
Bush, the president’s eldest
son, had been seen by many as
the GOP frontrunner if he de
cided to run for governor.
But this week he announced
that the only race which interests
him is for the American League
pennant.
Former Secretary of State Jack
Rains and Midland oilman Clay
ton Williams, both of whom ha''**
announced their candidacies, say
they will attract Bush’s support
ers.
Railroad Commissioner Kent
Hance, who is preparing to an
nounce but hasn’t yet, made a
similar prediction.
And T. Boone Pickens, the
Amarillo oilman-corporate
raider, said Bush’s decision has
no bearing on his, which is ex
pected within the next few weeks.
State GOP Chairman Fred
Meyer said Bush’s withdrawal
should please all the party’s gu
bernatorial hopefuls.
Chairman: Clement’s vendetta
might end 20 employees’ jobs
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas Aeronautics Commission
Chairman Richard Emerson said Thursday 20 state em
ployees will lose their jobs because Gov. Bill Clements
has a personal vendetta against him.
But the governor’s staff refuted the charge and said
they are working to secure funds to maintain those jobs.
Clements signed a bill into law that would restructure
the Aeronautics Commission into the Texas Depart
ment of Aviation.
The new department comes on line Oct. 18, but
funds for the old one run out on Sept. 1 because of an
earlier veto by Clements.
Emerson said the commission’s 20 employees will be
let go.
“Those people down there are going to be out of a
job at the end of this month, just to get even with me,”
Emerson said. It is wrong for people to be put out of
work “because of a personal vendetta,” he said.
But Jay Rosser, deputy press secretary for Clements,
said Emerson was wrong.
“Our office is now working to find other sources of
funding,” Rosser said. “There is no intent legislatively
or in the governor’s eyes to abolish those jobs.”
Rosser said the effective date of the law was delayed
until Oct. 18 because of a parliamentary problem when
the Senate passed the bill, but failed to take a record
vote.
“The goal is to restructure that agency to the benefit
of aeronautics and aviation in Texas,” Rosser said.
“Clearly, the objective is to ensure those jobs are in
place Sept. 1,” he said.
Emerson opposed Clements’ earlier attempts to
merge the Aeronautics Commission into the Texas De
partment of Highways and Public Transportation.
He said the small agency would get lost in the massive
highway department.
Also, he bucked Clements’ no-new-taxes pledge by
advocating an aviation fuels tax, which has been op
posed by the airlines.
Emerson said Texas is the only state in the country
that doesn’t assess an aviation fuels tax.
Emerson, the Caldwell County Republican Party
chairman, said he had in the past supported Clements,
also a Republican.
But he said, “It will never happen again. I’m very bit
ter because of what has happened, because of this petti
ness and what happened to a lot of really dedicated and
nice people.”
The Aeronautics Commission primarily assists small
airports in planning, construction and financing of avi
ation facilities.
Under the restructuring, the department will handle
the same duties in addition to channeling federal avi
ation funds to airports.
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