The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 1

SHUTTLE ASTROHAUTS FOCUS ON MEDICAL TESTS PAGE 9-A A 3332 h80 SW MiCROFUELISHING KE7 EAST YANBEli EL PASO, iW Saturday July 15,1995 50 cents Vol. 153, No. 96 Heber Taylor Maco knew how to do it all with style I guess you saw in the paper that Maco Stewart in is to be buried today. In a town of colorful characters, Maco was a rainbow. Years ago, the Stewart family formed the first title insurance company in Texas, got into oil and made a fortune.

Maco in dedicated his life to spending it well. Through the years, Galvestoni- ans heard scandalous stories about his numerous lady Mends and odd tales involving seminaked snow skiing and Indian gurus. There were so many Maco stories it was hard to tell what was fact and what was pure legend. So most old-time Galvestonians would hear the latest and just nod and say, "That's Maco being Maco." Maco, you see, was an original Texas character. And he was Galveston's original Texas character.

Even after he had a heart transplant five years ago, Maco could be seen occasionally in a Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood, working on a bowl of five-alarm chili and a generous serving of single-malt scotch. He owned a house on the Blue Coast in France and had an apartment in Paris. And old friends and acquaintances found it comforting to think that Maco, in legend if not in fact, was still venturing forth each year to hunt for young mademoiselles. During his heyday in Galveston, Maco always projected the image that he was bulletproof, untouchable by the slings and darts of his enemies. And it was something to think of him still out there trying his luck, even as he was taking medicine to keep his heart beating.

The image that sticks in people's minds was from an election in the 1960s, when Maco, then a state representative, ran against state Sen. A.R. "Babe" Schwartz. Those in the know said Schwartz would beat him like a drum. But Maco young, rich and handsome, with a fresh coat of Ivy- League polish put on his white suit and hit the campaign trail hard.

People still remember the white suit, the charm and the band striking up his campaign song, "Fm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover." If there was any luck in the election, it was all Schwartz's. As insiders predicted, Maco was beaten like a drum. In every town, there is a group of young men who are utterly against any other man who happens to be young, rich and handsome. And the fresh coat of Ivy-League polish just made things worse. The story goes that a knot of these young men gathered on the yard of Maco's extraordinary house on English Bayou, which incorporated an old incinerator and was furnished as a playboy's playpen.

Some young men began to yell insults. Some called for him to come out and face the music. Slowly, the drapes parted, and there was Maco, clad in a dressing gown. Then the drapes parted a bit wider, and the knot of haranguers below could see that Maco was facing this crushing defeat with a big smile on his face and with a blonde under each arm. Maco waved to the crowd.

And the drapes closed. I heard the story from a fellow who claimed to have been on the front lawn below, cussing Maco. Ho said Maco had a flair for dramatic gesture. He also said Maco knew how to go out in style. What's up? Tiny planes abuzz over island By HEIDI LUTZ The Daily News GALVESTON The skies over Offatts Bayou were buzzing Friday with the sound of racing planes.

Pilots from around the country and even from as far as Japan landed in Galveston for the annual Unlimited Radib-Controlled Air Race, one of the top four races in the country. Earlier this week, pilots at the races Air race raffle takes off, Page 6-A. broke the world's record for speed in radio-controlled airplanes three times. As of Friday, the fastest plane at the races went 238 mph Thursday. Many of the planes were 8 feet long.

See AIR RACE, 12-A Crew Chief Gregg Hildebrandt, left and pilot Ron Goodrich start the twin-engine "Pond" racer before it flew in races at Scholes Field in Galveston Friday afternoon. (Photo by Marc Pesetsky) SUMMERTIME SIZZLE County workers say beating the heat isn't easy By HEIDI LUTZ The Daily News They can be seen on roofs of buildings, along the county's streets or in the chemical plants of Texas City. Most of the time they are sweating and looking for a glass of cold water. They are the men and women who must work outside in the heat of a Texas summer. Hot tips, Page 12-A.

'We get hot," said Anthony Garner, an employee with the Galveston street department. Til lift up the water keg and let it pour over me." Temperatures during the past week reached the mid-90s. In the Gulf Coast humidity, that can feel like more than 100 degrees. Water is the most common source of relief for those who, like Garner, work long days in the sun. Garner was pouring cement Friday morning at the corner of 21st Street and The Strand.

He's only been with the street department about a year, he said, and takes advice from people who have been around longer. His partner on the project, Lawrence Vallier, has worked outside for more than 18 years. He said orange juice and water are the best things to drink when the heat is on. "If you get overheated, you find some shade," he said. "And See HEAT, 12-A At top, Isreal R.

Herrera, a Southern Union Gas Co. worker, places a bandanna soaked with cold water on his head. Above, Anthony Garner, a Galveston street department worker, tries to keep cool on Friday. At left, Gamer and Lawrence Vallier install wheelchair ramps on the corner of 21st Street and The Strand. (Photos by Marc Pesetsky) Shrimping ban urged Environmentalists call for protection of sea turtles By ROBERT LUCEY The Daily News GALVESTON Environmental groups Friday asked a federal judge for an outright ban on Galveston Bay shrimping and beefed-up enforcement of turtle excluder device regulations in all other waters.

The request was among the materials filed in U.S. District Judge Sam Kent's Galveston court in support of a suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service for allegedly violating the Endangered Species Act. GALVESTON The suit is the latest in a series of legal action by environmental groups trying to protect endangered sea turtles, shrimpers trying to protect their livelihood, and the fisheries service, which regulates both shrimping and turtle protection programs. Kent is expected to review the new case Monday and set a hearing for Aug. 1 to consider the injunction.

That same day, Kent will hold a follow-up hearing on arguments he heard in a related case Monday. At the Monday hearing, Kent said the shrimping season will open as normal today and he will review data on the opening days of the season to determine if the number of turtle deaths increases. Kent will then determine if additional restrictions on shrimping are necessary. In the latest suit, the environmentalists asked Kent to bar the fisheries service from authorizing any shrimping from the western part of Louisiana to Matagorda Bay, including Galveston Bay, for the rest of the 1995 shrimp- ing season. They ask that all Gulf shrimping be barred unless the fisheries service assigns at least 15 full-time agents to enforce requirements for turtle excluder devices, or TEDs.

They also want Kent to order the fisheries service to require shrimpers to use only metal, top-mounted TEDs in the remaining areas of the Gulf. The devices provide hatchways for turtles to escape from nets so that they don't drown. The Gulf shrimping industry has an estimated value of $400 million. Roger Zimmerman, director of the fisheries service laboratory in Galveston, predicted that See SHRIMPING, 12-A Gingrich: Time to legalize drugs? Nation must get tough or look at legalization The Associated Press nation ought to "quit playing games" on illegal drugs and either vote to legalize them or adopt penalties severe enough to get rid of them, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday. "I'm sick of being told we don't know how to do it," Gingrich told a meeting of the Republican National Committee.

He said those who import "commercial quantities, large quantities to sell them to our children" should get the death penalty, and those who purchase illegal drugs should be required to perform two days of public service a week for at least a year. Gingrich spoke at a GOP meeting along with Republicans contending for the party's presidential nomination. The speaker has said he doesn't expect to run but hasn't ruled it out. Tb force the question on illegal drugs, he said he "would be prepared to put it on the ballot in November, either legalize it or get rid of it, but quit playing the games that enrich the evil, strengthen the violent, addict our children and make us look Gingrich pathetic and helpless." White House drug policy adviser Lee Brown issued a statement calling Gingrich's proposal "a simplistic silver bullet." Gingrich is guilty of "political hypocrisy," Brown said, for "suggesting the defeatist alternative of legalization" while Republicans try to cut funds for treatment and prevention programs. i Weather Mostly cloudy with a 60 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms.

High near 90: East wind 1 0 to 1 5 mph. Tonight, mostly cloudy with a chance of storms. Low near 80. GALVESTON BAY East slightly choppy. wind 10 to 15 knots.

See Weather Bay waters Page 2-A Inside Business 11-A The economy has gotten its second wind. There was a June rise in retail sales, factory production increased for the first time in five months and consumer prices were up 0. 1 percent. Health 3-A The tick that carries Lyme disease also carries an illness that has stricken at least 60 people nationwide with flu-like symptoms, killing four, scientists say. Texas 7-A Eight oil companies were sued Friday on charges they have cheated schoolchildren by underpaying royalties.

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