The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 142, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 14, 1988 Page: 1 of 20
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WEATHER
THURSDAY NIGHT: Mostly
cloudy, low near 60. Friday:
Mostly cloudy, high In mld-80s.
For the 24 hours ending at 8
a m. Thursday, high tempera-
ture was 79 degrees and low
was 53 degrees.
Volume 66, No. 142
Telephone Number: 422-8302
Thursday, April 14, 1988
Baytown, Texas 77520
25 Cents Per Copy
Blast victim’s kin
seek $202.5 million
By ELAINE RICHARDS
The wife and son of a Cove
man killed Monday in an explo-
sion at Placid Refining Co. in
Mont Belvieu are suing Placid
and subcontractor Allwaste Ser-
vices of Texas for $202.5 million.
Twenty-nine-year-old Walter
G. Gunter, an Allwaste
employee, died when a vacuum
truck while he was using to
siphon sludge out of a Placid
storage tank exploded.
Gunter’s wife Elaine M.
Gunter and son David A. Gunter
are named as plaintiffs in the
suit, which was filed Tuesday by
local attorney Glenn Vickery in
Chambers County District
Court.
The plaintiffs are asking for
$22.5 million in actual damages
and $90 million in punitive
damages from each of the two
defendants for their “reckless
conduct” in the incident.
The suit claims Gunter met his
“untimely death ... by reason of
the gross negligence” on the
part of the defendants.
Judge Carroll Wilborn granted
a temporary restraining order
prohibiting the defendants from
“changing, altering and-or
destroying the vacuum truck
and accident scene...”
Vickery said a hearing is
scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday
to obtain an injunction making
the restriction permanent.
.Meanwhile investigators are
still trying to determine what
caused the vacuum truck, com-
monly known as a “guzzler,” to
blow up. Placid’s Mont Belvieu
facility is in the process of clos-
ing down and has not been opera-
tional for at least 30 days, ac-
cording to Placid spokesman
John Farrell in Dallas.
Placid’s attorney Ed Murphy,
of the Houston firm Clann, Bell
and Murphy, said Wednesday
that an investigator from the Oc-
cupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) finished
his stucjy at the Placid site Tues-
day, and further investigation is
expected into ATCO, the Sour
Lake contractor that hired
Allwaste to perform vacuuming
services at Placid.
Murphy said Placid had not
yet been served in the suit, but
Vickery said papers are on their
way to both defendants’ agents
in Dallas and Missouri City.
Beavers vies for regent seat
Baytown native James L.
“Popeye” Beavers is a can-
didate for the May 7 Lee College
Board of Regents election.
Beavers, 56, said people in-
volved with Lee College should
be willing to put education first.
He said he’d be interested in
considering the possibility of Lee
College offering
an even greater I
variety of voca- J
tional courses, [
such as truck
driving, than it I
already does.
“I think the I
issues should be I
weighed and a
decision be
made for stu-
dent, college and community,”
Beavers continued.
JAMES BEAVERS
“The present economics,
which can change rapidly, will
have a lot to do with these deci-
sions,” he said.
“The board needs to be aware
of what is happening and res-
pond accordingly,” Beavers
said. “We should keep abreast of
policy making, budget approval
and the tax rate.”
A graduate of Robert E. Lee
High School and Rice Universi-
ty, Beavers retired from Exxon
after 31 years of service.
He belongs to the Baytown
Evening Optimist Club and the
Southwest Football Officials
Association.
Members of St. Joseph
Catholic Church, Beavers and
his wife, Shirley, have six
children and six grandchildren.
BCTA to honor legislators
Baytown Classroom Teachers
Association will honor four state
legislators for their service to
public education.
A reception honoring Sen.
Gene Green and Reps. Tony
Polumbo, Dan Shelley and Ed
Watson is set for 4:15 p.m. April
19 at the Robert E. Lee High
School commons.
, Pearce Street Journal - -
Taxing problem
A new kind of AIDS will affect
millions of Americans the next
couple of days. It is “Annual In-
come Deficiency Syndrome.”
There is no known cure.
-FH
Around Town
PAUL AND Ustain Landriault
help a friend rescue a duck . . .
Cheryl Epperson talks about be-
ing visible ... J.P. Nolan
recognizes a one-of-a-kind vehi-
cle.
Freddie and Peggy Real look
forward to attending the annual
Bob Wills Day April 30 in
Turkey. This will mark the 10th
year for Real to attend the event
honoring the memory of his
country-western music idol.
LeAnne Haddox joins the 49ers
.. . Edgar Williams asks about
the date for an upcoming event
. . . Virginia Sherry schedules
some appointments.
Don Laverentz describes a
long drive . . . Kathy Bailey
looks forward to summer . . .
Neita Hamman-Golding stays up
late decorating.
Elaine Hall, BCTA president
and Carol Barrett, Texas
Classroom Teachers Association
legislative chairperson, will pre-
sent awards to the four men who
represent Baytown and the
Baytown area.
BCTA members invite citizens
to attend the reception.
Hance to speak
at crawfish boil
MONT BELVIEU - West
Chambers County Chamber of
Commerce has set its 1988
Crawfish Boil /or May 10.
Serving will begin at 5:30 p.m.
at the McLeod Park pavilion,
10717 Langston Road.
Kent Hance, railroad commis-
sioner for the State of Texas, will
speak beginning
at 7 p.m.
The program,
coordinated by
Dr. Ronnie
T r i e e , the *T
chamber’s W'jjjg'
special events
chairman, will ^P'k| |
include presen- Hk flULI
tation of the «„„**<*
chamber’s an-
nual “Person of the Year”
award.
Also, a special display will
recognize five-year chamber
members.
Tickets are available for $10
each at the chamber office,
located on Highway 146 in Mont
Belvieu next to Gordon Speer
Properties. Tickets also are
available from chamber board
members.
One more way to serve yon
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HOME OWNED 8 OPERATED
NOTICE
Spring
Outdoorsman
Coming to you
April 21,1988
Ron Craft
Chevrolet-Subaru
3401 N. Main
427-9525
LOOKING FOR A HOME
TOMMY SAXON, Baytown beekeeper, came to the rescue
Wednesday when a swarm of bees was reported in median
bushes on Rollingbrook at Garth. Saxon put the queen in a hive,
the others followed and they are now at home in his yard. The
bees, which Saxon said had divided a nest and were looking for
a new home, were too full of honey to sting, the beekeeper said.
(Sun staff photo by Angle Bracey)
County clerk office
to open branch
here in September
Two employees will be hired
By BRUCE GUYNN
A branch of the Harris County
Clerk’s Office is scheduled to
open in Baytown in September.
The current Harris County
budget, approved recently by
Commissioners Court, contains
funds to hire two employees to
staff a Baytown branch office.
Salaries are included for a
branch office head and a deputy
with monthly incomes of $3,128
and $1,698 respectively.
Plans call for the placement of
the branch office in the Harris
County Courthouse Annex at 701
W. Baker Road.
County Clerk Anita
Rodeheaver said she hopes the
Baytown branch office is utilized
to such a point, that more
employees will eventually have
to be assigned there.
Rodeheaver said Baytonians
will be able to obtain marriage
licenses, file assumed names
and order certain certified
copies at the branch office.
However, property and court
“documents will noTbe able to be
filed at the branch office. These
will have to be filed at the main
office in downtown Houston, ac-
cording to Rodeheaver.
The Harris County Clerk’s Of-
fice will open two branches this
year. The other will be at the
North Shepherd Annex in
Houston and will open in June
with a two-member office staff.
The opening of the Baytown
and North Shepherd offices will
bring the number branches of
the Harris County Clerk’s Office
to eight.
Closest to Baytown are the
branch offices in Pasadena and
Clear Lake.
On Oct. 2, Rodeheaver met
with a group of Baytown civic
leaders, including Mayor Em-
mett Hutto, to discuss the
possibility of opening a branch of
her office here.
One of the primary reasons
cited was for the convenience of
the 100,000 people living in this
area.
Mattox gets ‘sludged’ by Highlands residents
AUSTIN — A spokesman for Attorney General Jim Mattox said the
state is doing all it can to help Highlands residents who live near a
waste dump they claim is making them sick.
But the people of Highlands are not convinced. To drive their point
home, they delivered a jar of sludge from the dump to Mattox on
Wednesday.
“Let’s see if they would like to have it for a while. We’re sick of
having it,” said Norval Wilburn, a Highlands resident who made the
trip to Austin.
Mattox has filed a lawsuit against Liberty Waste Disposal Co.,
owner of the dump, alleging more than 5,000 violations. But
Highlands residents said the state’s lawsuit ignores more serious
allegations, including adverse health effects they say the dump has
caused.
The jar was left with a receptionist in Mattox’s office. The sludge
was collected by Rick Abraham, an organizer for the National Cam-
paign Against Toxics. A private laboratory determined the
substance includes several hazardous chemicals.
“We say that is proof the stuff is bubbling up outside the pit. But
the state attorney general is not suing them for that issue,” Abraham
said.
Abraham and the Highlands residents met Wednesday with Nancy
Lynch, director of the Environmental Protection Division of the at-
torney general’s office.
Ron Dusek, spokesman for Mattox, said the state’s lawsuit against
the dump owner refers to the material as “industrial waste” instead
of hazardous waste, because “by doing that we can get bigger fines
and penalties.”
He also said new wells are being installed to monitor the site and
test for hazardous waste.
Highlands residents also have filed a lawsuit against the dump
owners.
“We’re dead serious about this. We want the attorney general to
see and smell what people in Highlands have lived with for years,”
Wilburn said, adding that area residents have suffered nausea,
headaches, respiratory problems and skin irritations.
In a letter to Mattox, Highlands residents said, “We are tired of
your office covering up for big companies that poison us, and other-
wise violate the law.”
The dump was opened in 1971 and stopped accepting waste in 1983.
NAACP spring
awards banquet
scheduled May 7
The Baytown chapter of
the National Association
for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP)
has set its fourth annual
spring awards banquet for
May 7 at* Brady’s Landing
in Houston.
Ms. Cleo Johnson, presi-
dent of Houston’s Black
United Fund, will be the
guest speaker.
Depending on the Na-
tional Basketball Associa-
tion playoff schedule,
Robert Reid of the Houston
Rockets also is expected to
be a guest. This year, Reid
is chairing the Black
United Fund’s first com-
munity campaign.
Awards that will be
presented during the even-
ing include scholarships to
several high school
seniors, an academic
achievement award to a
high school senior, the Bar-
bara Jordan award for
outstanding community
service by a female and the
Martin Luther King award
for outstanding community
service by a male.
James White will serve
as master of ceremonies.
For ticket information,
call 424-3756 or 453-7949.
Mediation stalemated on hijacked jet
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Thirty-two
passengers remained trapped inside a hijacked
Kuwaiti jumbo jet for the 10th day Thursday, and
Algerian mediators said attempts to negotiate an
end to the ordeal had reached a stalemate.
Negotiations were suspended after mediators
were unable to persuade Kuwaiti officials to meet
the hijackers’ demands, a ranking Algerian of-
ficial said. Talks with the hijackers were called off
at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday (6:45 p.m. EDT) to give
negotiators time to ffst, and there was no sign of a
breakthrough.
The hijackers, thought to numbef about eight,
are armed with grenades and guns and have
threatened to blow up the plane and kill their
hostages.
The Algerian mediation team, headed by In-
terior Minister Hedi Khediri, and a delegation of
nine Kuwaiti officials led by Mohammed Saud Al-
Osaimi, a deputy foreign minister, were expected
to meet again Thursday.
The Algerians met at least twice on Wednesday
with the hijackers, who have killed two hostages in
embassies in Kuwait in 1983.
Kuwait has refused and its defense minister,
Sheikh Nawaf A1 Ahmed A1 Sabah, on Wednesday
affirmed his county’s “unwavering and principl-
ed stance of rejecting blackmail,” Kuwait’s news
agency reported.
“If they merely wanted to restate their known
position, there was no need for them to send their
high-level delegation to Algiers,” an Algerian of-
ficial told The Associated Press on condition he not
be further identified.
He said Kuwait’s “intransigence” had brought
the negotiations to a standstill. The remarks ap-
peared to confirm unofficial reports that Algeria
was trying to pressure Kuwait into a more flexible
position.
Food and water were taken Wednesday after-
noon to the blue-and-white Boeing 747, which the hi-
jackers call the “plane of martyrdom.” It baked
under the North African sun on an isolated patch of
tarmac at Houari Boumedienne airport.
At 7 a.m. Thursday (2 a.m.*EDT), the hijackers
agreed to allow the jet to be moved about half a
mile to allow the plane of Zambian President Ken-
a bid to force Kuwait to free 17 pro-Iranian ex-
tremists jailed for bombing the U.S. and French neth Kaunda to land safely for a state visit.
Texas Air focus of federal investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Transportation Department
says concerns about the
economic health of Texas Air
Corp. prompted its investigation
into the management and
finances of the country’s largest
airline cora|)any.
Transportation Secretary Jim
Burnley announced the in-
vestigation Wednesday as the
Federal Aviation Administra-
tion also disclosed a proposed
$823,000 fine against a Texas Air
subsidiary, Eastern Airlines,
and a separate safety probe of
the Miami-based carrier.
Texas Air called both in-
vestigations unwarranted and
blamed them on pressure from
union leaders who “have
mounted a continuing campaign
of distortion and lies” about
safety at both Eastern and
another subsidiary, Continental
Airlines.
Continental is the country’s
fourth largest airline, while
Eastern is the sixth largest.
Together they carry nearly 20
percent of the nation’s air traf-
fic.
Eastern has for months been
embroiled in a bitter confronta-
tion with its labor unions, which
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Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 142, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 14, 1988, newspaper, April 14, 1988; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1053050/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.