Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 10

In the state Spouse in Harris suspects executive slain by mobsters Identity of burned body sought as wife describes fear of slaying to r. ilk -f --jr -May- AP Charles Allen takes kindly to a puppy visiting the Veterans Administration center in Big Spring. Animal visits lift spirits of patients Humane Society aids in therapy at West Texas veterans center HOUSTON (AP) Authorities were trying Monday to identify a badly charred body they found in the burned car of a Harris County businessman. The wife of the owner of the car, which was left in a field, said she thinks the body is her husband's and that organized crime figures from Miami killed him for failing to repay a $250,000 loan. The body was found Friday in a sports car owned by Edward Gerald Baker, 52.

He is chairman of Vanguard Groups International Inc. of Houston, which handles oil investments and securities. The office of the Harris County medical examiner had not identi-; led the body Monday. But Baker's wife, Sandy, said she thinks the body is his because his ring was found in the car. t.

Baker has been missing since vt Thursday morning, when his gar-: dener found that the business-man's home had been burglarized, 2 authorities said, ij'rl Sandy Baker said her husband told her on the telephone about 3 Ja.m. Thursday that organized crime figures from Florida were with him because he failed him," said Sandy Baker, 49, who married Edward Baker six months ago. "He told me they were going to kill him." Sandy Baker said her husband told her that he might die, and that if he did, she should be strong. "He said, 'You'll hurt at first, but youll be okay, Sandy Baker said. She said Baker had sent her to her daughter's Austin home Tuesday because he feared she was in danger.

Sandy Baker said she and her husband went to Miami about six weeks ago to "pacify" the people who loaned Baker the $250,000. The Bakers tried to arrange another way to repay the loan, she said. "I didn't understand all of the business," she said. "He tried to keep me out of the business. He didn't want me to know anything.

He said I was safer that way." But she said she thinks her husband's death is the result of organized crime. "We had received word that he had possibly received money from the Mafia," said Ronnie Phillips, a Harris County sheriffs detective. Houston private detective Clyde Wilson said Sandy Baker hired him to protect her and investigate the case. repay a aov.vuv loan. ZZ 'He knew thev were eoine to kill BIG SPRING (AP) D.T.

marches up to the hospital steps. Her mission: to perk up the patients. She's a veteran. It's her sixth trip. The mechanical doors open.

She struts her stuff, head held high, as she leads the way to the elevator. She knows where she's going, what her duty is. She and other homeless dogs make trips to the Veterans Administration Medical Center twice a month with members of the Big Spring Humane Society at the other end of their leashes. The pet therapy program using Humane Society animals began in July. "It's an excellent program," said Adrian Banowski, recreation therapist at the center in West Texas.

Hospitals and nursing homes across the nation have begun using the treatment, he said. The Humane Society will soon be taking pets to the Big Spring State Hospital twice a month, said Ronda Dee, a member of the Humane Society. "Most people have had pets in their life, so most people are receptive to pets," Banowski said. "A bond between animals and people is one of the closest we could have." Bringing pets to the hospital for visits "allows the residents to care for something," he said. "When we come, a lot of them seem really happy," Dee said about the patients.

"They start telling you about a dog they once had. "It makes you feel so good to see them happy, because I know they don't get out much." At first the pets and the patients kept their distance, Banowski said. The patients "really didn't understand what we were there for," Dee said. "The first couple of times, they weren't as warm as they are now." "Our ultimate goal would be to have some gerbils, parakeets, and maybe a house dog, if that's possible," Banowski said. But because the nursing home unit is on the sixth floor, it would be difficult to care for pets.

Aquariums have been placed in the nursing home and intermediate care units. Pet therapy is popular, Banowski said. Southwest veterans hospitals including those in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Big Spring have held a teleconference on the therapy. "We exchanged ideas: what programs were working, not working, some of the advantages of pet therapy, some of the disadvantages." Banowski said those taking part in the conference agreed that pet therapy seems to lower patient blood pressure and heart rate and increase feelings of self-worth and self-esteem. One disadvantage noted about the therapy was a sometimes negative attitude on the part of the staff.

"People are really reluctant to change," Banowski said. "So anything new, like a pet therapy program, they just kind of wait and see." The most important part of a pet therapy program is "cooperation with the staff and the administration," Banowski said. "You need that support, and we're getting that" Banowski is asking members of the VA staff to bring their pets to the hospital for a day to visit the patients. Responsibility for care and upkeep of the pet is important and can sometimes be a problem, he said. But the "advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages." "We want to continue the program," Banowski said.

"It's really worthwhile." Toxao dlgost Officer slain near accident in Amarillo Compiled from newt mtvIcm AMARILLO An off-duty Ama-rillo police officer was shot to death Monday afternoon while approaching a car that sped off an expressway into the back yard of a home 100 yards away, authorities said. Sgt James Mitchell 43, was shot several times in the chest and once in the head, Sgt Tom Porter said. Police arrested two Florida men Monday night on top of an elementary school about six blocks from the shooting and an Austin man in Qovis, N.M., where the FBI caught him as he tried to board a freight train after he abducted a woman, officials said. The Austinite kidnapped an elderly Amarillo woman several blocks from her home and forced her to drive him to Qovis, said Amarillo police Lt Keith Ferguson. The man let the woman go when he arrived in Clovis, said Jerry Harris, jail supervisor in Curry County, N.M.

Police confiscated a weapon when the first two suspects were arrested and another weapon from the Austinite when he was arrested. The officer, who was in uniform at the time, was shot when he got out of his car and approached the accident involving a car with Florida license plates, said Ralph Fletcher, a police spokesman. "When the officer approached the three suspects, they shot him," Ferguson said. "The officer saw (the accident) happen and approached them, and they shot him. The reason why is not known." Dallas resident found guilty of shooting teen DALLAS Jurors convicted a 65-year-old woman of aggravated assault Monday for shooting a high school student after what she described as years of abuse she suffered from youths at his school.

Jurors deliberated just more than an hour before returning the verdict against Betty Minyard Stein, who acted as her own defense attorney at the trial. Mrs. Stein could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison after jurors finish hearing character witnesses and deliberate on the punishment She was cited for contempt of court Thursday when she called Assistant District Attorney Jim Nelson "stupid" and "you simple-minded thing." State District Judge B.D. Moye ordered Mrs. Stein to spend three days in jail after the trial.

The July 24 shooting took place outside Highland Park High School, across the street from her house, as Ward Huey III was leaving the school. San Antonio gunman shoots ex-wife, kills self SAN ANTONIO A 53-year-old San Antonio man shot his ex-wife near a middle school playground Monday and then turned the weapon on himself, police said. John Diaz died in surgery less than an hour after the shooting at Twain Middle School, a spokesman at Medical Center Hospital said. His ex-wife Dahlia Rivas, 47, a sixth-grade science teacher was in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and stomach, authorities said. Ms.

Rivas, who had taught at the school 11 years, had just driven into the parking lot and gotten out of her car when she was met by her ex-husband, said a spokesman for the San Antonio Independent' School District Prison rodeo in 1985 shows $100,000 profit Inmates expected to ride at least one more year HUNTSVILLE (AP) Texas nricrtn AffiHolc eat1 MatiHqw tVi a Town braces for wagon train chaos Sulphur Springs on alert for crowds at Sesquicentennial procession cent to the Walls unit in Huntsville. Another firm is being asked to estimate the cost of installing aluminum bleachers capable of seating 30,000 spectators. Hughes said any study of the future of the rodeo also should consider how much time the rodeo takes from normal duties of prison officials and staff. Some thought also should be given to the possibility of moving the rodeo away from the Walls unit because the prison "desperately needs recreation land" there, Hughes said. In other matters, the board approved several construction projects, including a $60 million, prison at Coffield and an $11.7 million expenditure for expansion of the Diagnostic Center of the system in Huntsville.

Coffield was selected as site for the new unit earlier this year. The new prison will be paid for with money from the sale of department land. Expansion of the Diagnostic Center will remove serious crowding problems at the Huntsville facility, Director Lane McCotter said. The center initially was designed to handle 400 inmates a month but now is processing 2,000 inmates each month, he said. McCotter also won board approval Monday for a pilot project to allow low-risk inmates to do lie service work in the community under the sponsorship of department chaplains.

The religious-oriented program, modeled after a similar federal program, will start with five inmates, each living with a family in the Houston area. yi M7VU wUIU 1UUUUUJ WW state prison rodeo last month made about $100,000, and the chairman of the prison board predicted the 54-year-old tradition would continue at least another year. "I'd like to see us look not whether to keep the rodeo, but how to structure it, keep costs down, and whether we need outside help," said Alfred Hughes, chairman of the Texas Board of Corrections. Commissioner James Parsons suggested, and the board agreed, to set up a committee to study the rodeo and report the findings to the full board in January. Hughes said the board "will vote to keep the rodeo" when the matter comes up in January.

The rodeo, held on the four Sundays of October, was given a mandate this year to show a profit or face extinction. "The bottom line is that we had a $100,000 profit, which may change by plus or minus 10 percent," James Lynaugh, deputy director for finance, told the board at its meeting Monday. Lynaugh said exact figures are expected after the state auditor's office reviews rodeo finance and takes into account new practices that make the rodeo comply with the fiscal year instead of the calendar year. Lynaugh, after receiving compliments from board members, tributed the success of the rodeo last month to "a whole lot of luck." Meanwhile, he said prison have asked four firms to provide- estimates on what it would cost to repair the rodeo arena adja House press secretary. Brady was wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan.

Oliver said that he is not concerned about controlling the members of the wagon train, but he is afraid that the mass of spectators might present a problem. "We will assemble and attempt to organize very carefully our people," he said. "This thing is a logistic nightmare." The association business manager, Quentin McGown, agreed. "Within our ranks, that first day will be bordering on Insanity. This will be a busy site," he said.

For the most part, the wagon train will be self-contained, having its own veterinarian, food and water suppliers, and outriders, Oliver said. But the horses, wagons, and support equipment will need 100 acres just to rest overnight Because of safety concerns, some of the campsites will not be open to the public, McGown said. McGown and Oliver both cautioned against local riders from "saddling up" and joining the wagon train. SULPHUR SPRINGS (AP) Sulphur Springs is a small town with small-town problems. Those small-town problems could grow into full-scale chaos Jan.

2. On that day, Sulphur Springs, a town of 16,000 about 80 miles northeast of Dallas, will bid goodbye to the Texas Sesquicentennial Wagon Train, setting out on a six-month trek across Texas. The town, best known for its dairy farming, is preparing for a media blitz and what is expected to be tens of thousands of onlookers. Officials of the Texas Wagon Train Association met recently with Sulphur Springs law enforcement officials to plan crowd control to ensure a safe voyage for the wagon train. "People control will be the major hurdle," said association chairman Charles Oliver.

People will start coming to Sulphur Springs Dec. 27, he said. "From there, it will build quite rapidly, I suspect" Among the dignitaries expected to attend the ceremonies are Gov. Mark White and Jim Brady, White "If someone wants to saddle up here at the start site, that's a no-no," Oliver said. "We want people to come see us, but don't saddle up and come.

"Contingents will want to move along with us. But they will have to travel behind us, on their own," Oliver said. Members of the wagon train would be drained if they had to put up with a new bunch of people having a fresh party every night" The slow-moving train will also not be a welcome sight for many motorists who are unlucky enough to be caught behind the four-mile procession. "We're not going to be a real help to traffic flow wherever we are around the state," Oliver said. The train will be separated into two contingents, which will be traveling an hour apart at 4 mph.

The maximum number of wagons will be 150, with a maximum of 300 horseback riders accompanying them, Oliver said. The entire procession is staggering to imagine, he said. "There's no doubt this thing is Texan in proportion." Loeffler oil complaint in governor's race lets GOP officials off hook i In nna tolevlclnn rnmmprHal rprontlv mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm vla onnAimAamar Hnn rnmitin tt i In one television commercial recently vice announcements tion Committee. promoting voter He now runs a grocery Dave McNeely I fir- -HQ-. i SjT Republican 1 niikAfnotArlol candidate Tom Loeffler says in a unveiled by Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Loeffler, the announcer A says: "When" he stands up for Texas oil, he stands tough.

These Texans'U tell you that when all those Tip O'Neills in Washington tried to tax our oil out of business, Tom Loeffler was more than a match." The interesting part about that statement is that in recent months, it has been the administration of President Reagan that has been doing the most to try to re-, move tax incentives for oil and gas. In another of the new advertisements, Loeffler announced, "I want to bring that Reagan Revolution home to Texas." Loeffler's staff explained that the statement about his toughness on oil was meant to talk about his entire five-year congres-; sional career. They conceded that though some Democrats would also like to do away with some of the oil Incentives, it was indeed the Reagan administration that had proposed them as part of the effort at tax reform. registration ana securing runds from both major parties to promote newspaper announcements of the impending voter registration drive." AND SO ON. Hill County Judge Larry Wright of Whitney has announced he will run in the Democratic primary next year trying to unseat State Rep.

Bob Melton, D-Gatesville, who represents District 57 in the Texas House of Representatives. Wright 34, had worked for former State Rep. Neal T. "Buddy" Jones of Hillsboro during Jones' one term in the House, and Wright worked for brief periods for other state representatives. He was appointed to the county judge position in 1981, elected on his own in 1982, and quit that job Just before the 1985 legislative session to work for Republican State Rep.

Richard Williamson of Weatherford. Wright quit that job after a month to become clerk for the House Liauor Reeuin- siore in wnioiey, near nuisDoro. Alvarado businessman and rancher Don McNiel has ruled out a race for the 6th Congressional District represented by Republican Joe Barton of Ennis. McNiel is concentrating his sights on the 12th Congressional District represented by House Majority Leader Jim Wright of Fort Worth. McNiel earlier had considered running in the 6th District either as a Democrat or a Republican.

But he now says that if he runs, it will be as a Republican against Wright the Democrat who has held the seat more than 30 years. "We're still just doing some considering on if said McNiel, who ran fourth in the 1978 Democratic primary in the 6th District where Phil Gramm was first elected to Congress. "But there's absolutely no decision on that," McNiel added. Political editor Dave McNeely writes a regular column of analysis and comment rn Tpra oolitics. A commercial that he A stands tough for JUL Texas oil.

LJa NO SHRINKING VIOLET. high-profile Bonilla family is working to keep it that way through the new vehicle of the Mexican American Democrats. Ruben Bonilla was elected chairman of that group in August and since then has been fogging out press handouts as though he were a candidate for some office. The latest effort is a copy of a letter he. sent to Texas Secretary of State Myra McDaniel, urging her to join with the partisan Mexican American group in trying to boost voter registration among Hispanics.

"I could foresee a number of areas wh our office rnnM rnnrHnti vAtpr- registration campaign with yours," Bonilla wrote. "If you are amenable to join strategies or if it is permissible by law, I would appreciate being so apprised following your receipt of this letter. For example, I could foresee the Mexican American Democrats signing off on a letter being sent to Hispanic households in Texas; ap-pearinir with vou in statewide nubile ser.