Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 9

Rubella cases up Rubella (German measles) cases have quadrupled in Texas in the past yev, according to a study prompted by cases at the University of Texas. Page B2. It was do or die Two lives were in the balance as an armed robber gave Robert Atkinson a count of 10 to open the narcotics safe at the drug firm where he works. Page B4. (CMnuSttmt(B Tuesday, June 21, 1977 Austin, Texas Page Bl ay tn inters picture john kelso during probe misiraiice CI :3 Staff Photo HALE, LEFT, AND CLAYTON LEAVE COURTHOUSE They wouldn't say what was discussed By DAVE MAYES Staff Writer House Speaker Bill Clayton made a surprise appearance Monday before a Travis County grand jury that's been investigating the state insurance department's regulation of a troubled Dallas insurance firm.

Clayton was accompanied by Rep. Dewitt Hale of Corpus Christi, and together they spent more than 90 minutes meeting with the panel behind closed doors. When they emerged, neither would give any clue about the purpose of their meeting or the subject of their discussions. "We're just here on a friendly visit," Clayton said, grinning. But the fact that Clayton has the power to order legislative investigations and that Hale is the chairman of the House Investigations Committee may indicate that there was more on the agenda than the "exchange of information" the speaker said took place.

The grand jury is believed to be concerned about whether some parts of the Texas insurance code are being adequately enforced by the state agency. A study by Hale's committee, using the grand jury's findings as a starting point, could determine how well the agency is meeting its regulatory obligations and whether departmental policies and provisions of the code are adequate. The insurance department's handling of the Great Commonwealth Life Insurance Co. (GCL) of Dallas in 1976 has caused a split within the agency itself. and forcing LeBlanc to cease active management of the firm in mid-1976 were the proper steps to take in handling the problem.

To take LeBlanc to trial on code violations that carry minor penalties, they say, would only hurt the public image of the insurance company the most. Clayton said he thinks the grand jury will make some statement on its three-month-long investigation before its term expires at the end of the month. The state attorney general's office has been guiding the probe, and a spokesman recently said that the office plans to pursue the possibility of civil penalties against LeBlanc. The department has decided not to seek civil or criminal sanctions against GCL owner Roger LeBlanc of Baton Rouge despite the fact the agency's own examiners have documented 15 suspected insurance code violations and traced many of them to LeBlanc's activities. Some within the department say the agency should have "thrown the book" at LeBlanc.

John McKelvey, who directly monitored GCL's activities for the department's holding company section, resigned a year ago essentially because the agency did not take a harder line in regulating LeBlanc. But higher echelons in the department have said taking the company under state supervision in late 1975 Only good fan is a Red Sox fan This was back before the lively ball. In Boston Avenue Grammar School in Winslow, Maine, we were subjected to one type of thinking very conservative. One year the entire class was fingerprinted, and I recall a teacher reading an article from some sort of publication for youngsters that told us President Eisenhower was always kind to his parents but that Mao Tse-Tung, on the other hand, was wont to smart off to his mother and daddy on a regular basis. The implication was obvious.

The article meant simply that Dwight D. Eisenhower cheered for the Boston Red Sox and that that dirty old Mao must have been a sniveling, snot-nosed, drooling, whimpering, cowardly, no-good Yankee fan. There were no in betweens, no halfways, no grays in our young heads. Pledging allegiance to the flag was good. Throwing clay balls so hard they stuck to the ceiling was fun, albeit bad.

Gene Autry was a hero. All the guys who gave him a rough time for ordering a milk at the bar were bad guys. Ted Williams was a saint. But Mickey Mantle, Gil McDougald, Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, Johnny Mize, Gene Woodling, Allie Reynolds, Yogi Berra and Eddie Lopat made up the biggest bunch of human slime the Good Lord ever assembled under one dugout. Oh, yeah.

And that went for Hank Bauer, too. It didn't matter that every time Don Buddin made a good stop he'd throw the ball into Row way up behind first base. It didn't matter when Billy Klaus stole third with the bases loaded. It made not one hoot when George Susce you may not remember George Susce threw a pitchout with the bases empty. Sure they were lousy, but the Red Sox were clean, upstanding fellows.

They played in New England, and the guys in the pinstripes weren't "from around here," a very heinous sin in those parts in those days. The Yankees represented something very far away and very ugly. I remember the first time I went to New York. "Bettah keep your money inside your underweah," my father told me as I prepared for the trip. When tourists from "down country," from New York way, stopped to ask directions for Millinocket, we children would send them back toward Portland as a little joke.

It was at least partially their fault, we figured, the Yankees had won 103 games and the Red Sox had scraped through at 69-85. What brought all this to mind is a phenomenon that is occurring now. It is one with which I am unfamiliar; it is one I'm sure will die a quick death. It is this: The Red Sox are in a head-to-head battle with the Yankees, and they are beating them. They whomped the tar out of them three straight last weekend by hitting 16 home runs.

They took a 2-game lead over the swine and are in first place. The Red Sox have won two pennants since I've been cognizant of them, but neither of those times were the Yankees the main competition. Now the duel is on, and maybe justice will be served for a change. I hope so. I shook hands with a guy the other day who admitted to being a Yankee fan, and, as could be expected of such a person, he had one of those grips that made you feel like you were holding hands.

Southwest Austin mall planned Mo Pac By DAVID FRINK Staff Writer Plans to build a major shopping mall in Southwest Austin will be announced shortly by an Indianapolis developer. The mall, to be built on a 104-acre site on Loop 360 just beyond where the southern extension of MoPac will someday intersect it, has been "on the drawing board" for several years, according to Melvin Simon, who has built similar malls in other sections of the country. Reached at his Indianapolis office, Simon said that work on the Austin shopping center is going well and that the proper permits should be in the hands of Austin city officials within a few weeks. He would not elaborate on plans for the mall, however, referring all questions to a Fort Worth-based Realtor who bought the land from Austin developer Sid Jagger two years ago. Sid Uberman, the Fort Worth Realtor coordinating plans for the shopping center and who is also handling tenant leasing for the project, said Monday that five major department-store chains have expressed interest in putting stores in the mall.

Like Simon however, Uberman would not supply any details about the mall or reveal the purchase price of the land. "I'm not at liberty to tell you these things. All I can say is that we've sent the city some engineering plans involving elevation and drainage, and we'll be sending more plans in the next few days," he said. ilannei stnpinf center 'S' FOR SUPERMAN? This Austin worker is no super human; he merely scales tall buildings with the aid of a few cables and pulleys. The job awaiting him atop a letter of the Sheraton Crest Hotel's sign is one familiar to any housekeeper changing the light bulbs.

(Staff Photo by Lon Cooper) Graphics by Howard Paveflia Gigantic flag waving again Abortion decision causes uncertainty By MARK KILPATRICK SUff Writer Old Glory is waving in all its 40-by -60-foot splen-, dor again above the mobile homes along Ben White Boulevard. Credit an anonymous tip from a woman who suspected that the huge flag being cleaned in a backyard by her neighbors was not your usual store-bought variety. She called Howard Ragland Monday morning and told him she thought the flag was the one stolen from high above his Western Homes Friday night. Sure enough, when Ragland and police officer Tom Shaffer went to the house in the 500 block of West Croslin Street about noon, they found a young couple working on the flag in their back yard. Their dog had had an accident on the state's largest free-standing U.S.

flag and the couple was trying to clean it up, Ragland said. "They claimed they found it at Lake Austin Sunday night," Ragland said. He added that he was, just happy to have the flag back and would not file charges against the couple. Ragland had left the huge flag on its 100-foot perch Friday night after stiff winds and a twisted rope prevented its usual sunset lowering. The next morning, he discovered the specially sewn $2,400 flag missing.

He offered a $250 reward for its return, but the woman and her husband who steered Ragland to his Stars and Stripes wanted no part of it, he said. Mary Ellen Felts, head of the local Right to Life organization, said, "I feel that abortion on demand shouldn't be financed by tax dollars." Jamie Clements, chairman of the state welfare board, said the abortion issue will be brought up for discussion at Monday's meeting. Those near the poverty level in Texas have had trouble getting abortions since early May, when federal family-planning grants ran out of money. Brackenridge Hospital had been doing 10 to 15 abortions a week until the federal Title XX funds expired. Spurck said that that number has now declined to two to five a week.

Some patients are being referred to San Antonio for abortions. Monday's Supreme Court rulings stated: The Constitution does not give a woman a right to have the government pay for an abortion that is not medically necessary. Federal welfare law does not give the woman any such right. Public hospitals have no duty to perform abortions that are not medically necessary. Those decisions follow congressional action last week that blocks federal 'payments for abortions effective Oct.

1. ByABBYKAIGHIN Staff Writer Texas Welfare Department medical director Marlin Johnston says that Monday's Supreme Court ruling "seems to open the whole (abortion) issue back up in a very lively way." But Johnston and other state welfare officials were reluctant to say whether the court decision means no more "elective" abortions for Medicaid recipients until they hear from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Brackenridge Hospital administrator Bob Spurck said that the ruling means doctors will probably "increase the use of the words 'medically necessary' in describing a patient's need for abortions. Clinic card holders are entitled to get abortions at Brackenridge, just as they are eligible for any other medical service.

In response to a wire-service article that said that "few states are likely to choose to pay for abortions for women on welfare rolls," Spurck said, "That means an increase in the number of people on the welfare rolls." Mayor Carole McClellan said she was surprised by the court ruling and that both she and City Manager Dan Davidson are having city attorneys review it. mmmmmmmmmm mms 'mmmsmmmmm wmmmmmnmm A y'Vx -I Suff Photo by Ed Mtlcik HOWARD RACLAND EXULTS AS HIS HUGE FLAG RETURNS HOME An anonymous tip led to the recovery of the 40-by-60-foot banner 1 "I tried to get it to them," he said. "They really didn't care about the reward; they just said they enjoyed driving by and seeing the flag.".