Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 15

Murder verdict reached in South Austin shooting Waits at tax office bring call for funds Page B7 City State Page H23 Thursday, February 7, 1985 Austin American Statesman Section Mattox moves nearer trial as review rejected John Kelso Without writing a majority opinion, eight members of the appeals court decided to let the indictment stand. Justice Bill White did not vote. But in a sharply worded concurring opinion, Justice Marvin Teague questioned a state law that prohibited the court from considering Mattox's indictment before he was tried. "It defies logic and common sense that an accused person must first undergo the ordeal of a trial on the merits, and be convicted, before he can urge on appeal that the trial court erred in denying or overruling a pretrial motion to quash the charging instrument," wrote Teague. A posttrial decision that the indictment was faulty would make the trial "nothing more than a dress rehearsal," wrote Teague.

Teague did not discuss the merits of Mattox's motion to throw out the indictment He said only that the motion should have received full review. By Linda Anthony American-Statesman Staff The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals cleared the way Wednesday for Attorney General Jim Mattox to go on trial next week by refusing to review his indictment on commercial bribery charges. Mattox Is scheduled to go on trial Monday on charges of threatening to use the powers of his office to block the municipal bond business of the Fulbright Jaworskl law firm. Mobil Oil and Clinton Manges. Fulbright Jaworski, a firm with headquarters in Houston, represented Mobil.

State District Judge Mace Thur-man and the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin earlier denied Mattox's request to throw out the indictment. Mattox contended that the indictment was inaccurate and unconstitutionally vague. Minton said he expects the trial to last a month. Roy Minton, attorney for Mattox, said he was not surprised that the court refused to review the indictment "No one is expressing what they think about the indictment," Minton said. "I remain convinced that the indictment Is fundamentally defective." Mattox was accused in September 1983 of threatening to stifle the bond business of Fulbright Ja-worski if attorneys for the firm did not quit trying to question his sister about a lawsuit involving the state, Dining hall ranks high Let me describe a dining establishment to you, and you try to guess the name.

Red linen napkins decorate the dark, hardwood tables and booths. Chandeliers hang from the ceilings. Red candles twinkle on the tables. There is a fireplace. One can dine in a room called the Library, an area decorated with two bookcases, some hard-bound volumes, and a desk-sized globe.

No, we're not talking about Steak and Ale. Sit down and remain calm, and I'm dying if I'm lying. I've just told you about the award-winning enlisted men's mess hall at Bergstrom Air Force Base. Recently, this place was named the best dining facility in its class in the Tactical Air Com ni I QfP the State water chief threatening action after sewage spills i Of 1 A 0rf Vs. ssssag overflow li discharpe II sewer interceptor dry well -1-1 pi-i ,11 1, 1.1 pumps (5) I 1 I faulty Staff Photo by Ralph Barrera Mary Gallndo's sign sums up neighborhood opposition to plans for a homeless shelter.

Homeless called content as shelter plans opposed i i valver J) 15. ''BgiwyiAc: broken it t- "I I i I I ill I By Robert Cullick and Max Woodfin American-Statesman Staff The head of the state water agency said Wednesday that two recent spills of raw sewage from Williamson Creek sewer plant in Austin are inexcusable. "I'm mad about it and I'm ready to take whatever action is appropriate," said Charles Nemir, executive director of the Texas Department of Water Resources. The department is In charge of enforcement of wastewater discharge permits. CITY AND STATE officials said the most recent break pumped an estimated one million gallons of untreated sewage into a creek near the plant The spill occurred at the site of a 1.5 million-gallon spill, which happened Jan.

24. Nemir said that "after the first so-called accidental spill" he wrote to Mayor Ron Mullen "telling him that I'm not going to put up with this." Nemir said that his attorneys are reviewing the two spills. He said the actions he is considering include asking Attorney General Jim Mattox to file suit against the city. City Manager Jorge Carrasco said Wednesday that city staff members assured him "that in both cases both spills were the result of an accident that could not be anticipated and prevented." "It behooves the city to do everything possible to prevent things like this from happening," Carrasco said. In another development regarding the sewer plant Wednesday, Rick Lowerre, attorney for the Austin Sierra Club, challenged the emergency discharge permit that allows the city to use small treatment plants constructed at the Southeast Austin facility before receiving official state permits.

A hearing on the request for a temporary injunction is scheduled Monday. LOWERRE SAID the challenge is partially related to the spills of raw sewage. "The Sierra Club is very concerned with city operations at Williamson Creek," Lowerre said. "The more the city messes up, the more concerned we become that everything is going wrong." Regarding the spills of raw sewage, Carrasco said that the contractor working at the plant Peabody Southwest has been "cautioned to do everything possible to assure the integrity of this work" and that he ordered the city staff to review the work site and take whatever precautionary measures are needed. Responsibility for the most recent spill remains uncertain.

Neither the city nor the engineering company the city is paying to oversee construction at the plant has a full-time supervisor on the job. Staff Graphics 6y Sharon Kilday mand. And later this month it will be competing for the honor of best dining facility in the Air Force. WHY IS IT that whenever I'm connected with an institution It really stinks out loud while I'm a member, then gets better after I split? When I was in the Army, the cooks were big, hairy, low-IQ apes with long ashes hanging off the ends of their Pall Malls. When you went through the chow line, they would stick large metal spoons in various containers of goop, and clang the spoon on your tray.

And these guys were mean. When you came in the mess hall, they'd say stuff like, "All right you mens, eat up and get the hell out of here." But it isn't like that these days at the Bergstrom mess. The cooks are pleasant. And the civilian kitchen helpers wear red vests. There is no such thing as K.P., and one Bergstrom troop didn't know what I meant at first when I mentioned those letters to her.

This place is so great that it even has a name. The fancy wooden sign out front of the place tells you that you have arrived at the Crossing. I took my buddy, Kirk Opyt, a Vietnam veteran, out here, and he was astounded. "THAT'S IT?" he asked when he saw the place. "With a fancy sign like that? I'll have my martini dry." The man responsible for designing this eatery is Lt.

Col. Bill Sterling, Bergstrom's Services Squadron commander. He takes this business seriously. When Kirk and I arrived for lunch, Sterling apologized for the fact that the drapes were at the cleaners. The place would look better if the drapes were up, he said.

Kirk and I weren't much worried about the drapes not being around, though. In comparison with the way things were when we were In the military, this was so much nicer. Back when we were in, mess hall people wouldn't have apologized if the ceiling had been missing. They would have just made you build a new one. So let's talk about the food.

During two visits, I saw roast beef and gravy, pepper steak, Mexican food, a salad bar with sprouts and bacon bits and a sneeze guard, baked hams with the little cloves stuck in them, pretty good basic greasy cheeseburgers, and barbecue. YOU HEARD that right Outside sit two gigantic barbecue pits and some picnic tables. Sometimes when the weather's warm, they serve barbecue outside. And sometimes a band plays. Regardless of this wonderful situation, some of the troops crab about the place.

There's an old saying: A crabbing troop is a happy troop. And apparently it's still true today. "I think the food's lousy, unless a general is coming to eat or something," a troop in the visitors center at the front gate told me. The guy's nuts. If I had a time machine, I'd take him back about 15 years and show him what lousy really is.

The two sewage releases occurred at the sewage lift station, where wastewater is lifted from the underground sewer line to the above-ground treatment plant. Sewage flows from the interceptor into the wet well. If there is no jroom in the well, it overflows directly into Williamson Creek. Five pumps in the dry well pump the sewage into the treatment area. Only two pumps were working Saturday, and sew- age was rising into the overflow zone.

Crews decided to try tp use the new pipe, even though It had not been cemented Into place. The force of the pumped sew- age broke the pipe and caused the spill. that was damaged in the earlier spill. The second spill occurred when workers routed i sewage into the pipe Saturday and the repair did not hold. CONSTRUCTION AND repairs costing! $2.5 million were designed by the engineering firm Turner, Collie Braden.

The com- pany also is the construction manager of the 1 project. Don Snowden, Construction supervi-; sor at Turner, Collie Braden, said the com-; pany no longer maintains a full-time! of United South Austin. Pinedo urged the audience to protest to the national office of the Salvation Army, and to underscore that funds for the Austin army are derived from community donations. "Tell them they're not doing a community service" by locating the shelter near residential neighborhoods, Pinedo said. "And they don't deserve our community funds." Pinedo said Schaefer was invited to present a profile of the men and women who would use the new shelter.

Schaefer said his profile was based on interviews with transients who had been arrested for minor crimes such as public intoxication. He said the profile also was derived from a recent study by a University of Texas social psychologist THEY STINK; they're dirty," Schaefer said. "They like freedom. They don't want to punch a clock. Most don't want a steady job.

They're content to be the way they are." He said most of the city's homeless do not commit violent crimes except against each other. But he said they would fill the streets around the new shelter every day at dawn and, again, at dusk. They probably would not break into homes, he said, "but they will steal anything that isn't tied down." Schaefer said almost two-thirds of the homeless had drifted to Austin from elsewhere in the Sun Belt rather than from cities with high unemployment in the North or Northeast He said about half of them never completed high school and more than half suffer from continuing health problems. By Dick Stanley American-Statesman Staff An Austin police officer Wednesday described the city's homeless as mainly content to be dirty and drifting, while a coalition of South Austin civic groups pledged to fight a proposed Salvation Army shelter on South Congress Avenue. "It's more of a social problem," than a police matter, Tom Schaefer, a patrolman for the Police Department said of the homeless who would sleep in the new shelter.

"Homeless? Yes. Destitute? Perhaps. But by and large, they have chosen their lifestyle," he said. Schaefer was a guest speaker before about 100 South Austin residents at a press conference called by the South Austin Improvement Association. The association is a coalition of United South Austin and South River City Citizens, both neighborhood groups, and the South Austin Civic Club, a business and political group.

THE COALITION wants the Salvation Army to keep its facilities north of the Colorado River preferably downtown. Army officials have said they are confident that the new shelter for almost 300 persons will be built as planned on 3.9 acres at 3815 S. Congress Ave. Coalition leaders acknowledged that the army owns the property, has acquired the proper zoning and permits, and has no legal vulnerability in the controversy. "But this is going to be an unpopular move as far as them raising money in the future," said James Austin Pinedo, former chairman inspector on the Williamson Creek site.

The company is also overseeing the $63 million construction of the Onion Creek wastewater plant. "We have a man who only goes over (to checks a few hours Williamson Creek) and Andy Covar, assistant director of water and wastewater, said city operators Saturday worked with Peabody Southwest to try to avoid a sewage spill. Together, they managed to make temporary repairs on a line each day," Snowden said. "We're not provid-; See Sewage, B8 Brownsville management job accepted Channel 24 anchorman Oliveira resigns By Diane Holloway American-Statesman Staff Ron Oliveira, weeknight news anchor on KVUE-TV since 1980, has resigned. He will leave Channel 24 at the end of February to become assistant general manager of NBC affiliate KVEO-TV in Brownsville.

Oliveira said, he hopes to return to Austin if the Federal Communications Commission approves his application, on behalf of Balcones Broadcasting for ownership of Channel 54, a new independent station in Austin. Oliveira and partners Edna Ramon, Edila Paz Goldberg, and Billy Goldberg, are among nine groups applying for the Channel 54 license. Oliveira would become gen eral manager of the new station. "I guess you could say it's taking a risk, but it's always been my dream and my hope to become an owner a part owner of a station," said Oliveira. "It was a tough decision, but I need the management experience if I'm going to run my own station." The applications are still being reviewed, and it could take years for the FCC to award a license for Channel 54, but Oliveira said he is very optimistic about the chances of his group.

Russ Stockton, Channel 24 news director, said several candidates are being considered to replace Oliveira, including weekend anchor Pat Comer and reporter Dick Ellis. 1 -'( 'I Ron Oliveira.