Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 22, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 28, 1979 Page: 5 of 20
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A
Both sides claim win in ballerina incident
Jazz leader dies
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Should there be retaliation, the Soviets have shown they badly want
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Leon Breeden recalls
Kenton’s contributions
Except for a problem with new air standing in the halls Everybody was
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NTSU and Breeden In 1962. Kenton - method originated by Breeden
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Staff Photo
Grand jury lawsuit
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complaint of an unsuccessful litigant. , County-District Attorney Jerry Cobb
ndicete .
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Retaliation by Soviets
unlikely, officials say
tell school had ever been out. We
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States of "acts of cruelty" to women
and children aboard the jet
Soviet negotiator Evgeny Makeyev
called the settlement "a victory of
justice," adding, “Our stand was
right from the beginning."
However, the Carter adminis-
tration, which has criticized the
Soviets for human rights violations
involving the emigration of Jews. said
it defended Miss Vlasova's freedom to
decide where, she wanted to live
White House press secretary Jody
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Judith Lawrence says goodbye to daughter Jennifer, after dropping
her off at Stonewall Jackson Elementary School for the first day of
school Monday. Jennifer is a second grader this year.
told them the county's accounting
system would make it "extremely
difficult" to determine the exact
amount of money allegedly misap-
plied by Lasater.
Lasater faces trial Oct 1 on five
charges of official misconduct for
incident.
Privately, officials say they feel
that Soviet self-interest will be the
major factor in cooling the tempers
of Kremlin officials who want to hit
back for the incident at the airport
They reason that the Soviets will
be very cautious about continuing or
escalating an embroglio with the
United States as the Senate returns
from its August recess and prepares
to vote on SALT II, a treaty that the
allegedly misapplying $15,405 in tax
office funds
The grand jurors were further
concerned, the suit says, after a
“careful examination and com-
parison" of two management letters
dealing with county operations — a
1974 report by Ernst and Ernst of Fort
Worth and a 1978 report by Hankins.
Powers and Fergerson and Co. — and
were "appalled to learn" that the two
reports were "substantially similar"
in content, indicating that the earlier
report "had been ignored" by county
officials.
"Alarmed at the prevailing set of
conditions which made possible an
environment in which criminal of-
ficial misconduct could poten-
tially exist throughout Denton County
government." the petition states, "the
grand jury resolved that an extensive
investigation into fiscal management
of (county operations) was mandated
»»
The suit contends that the grand
jurors “consulted with" Scofield and
Cobb prior to beginning their inves-
tigation. that they were "directed to
pursue" the probe by both officials
and were "continually advised and
directed in the course of the in- ,
vestigation" by both men
Near the end of their investigation.
By BONNIE BRADSHAW
Staff Writer ____
donated his entire music library to the
School of Music, which was worth an
estimated $50,000 at the time "North
Texas State is much the better for
having him as a very dear, close
friend," Breeden said, telling of a
British tour in which Kenton men-
tioned NTSU and Breeden's progress
at every concert "He had nothing to
gain from helping us. He did it
because he believed in us," Breeden
said.
. V
k
j
STAN KENTON
Bandleader dead at age 87
affair by letting the ballerina board
the' plane
The Soviets acknowledged three
times that the U.S. had a right to in-
terview Miss Vlasova before she
boarded the jetliner, a State Depart-
ment official said. 6V
“It's quite obvious that U.S. of-
ficials could have avoided the whole
incident,” said Wolff
The question then was: Why did
' U.S officials permit the ballerina,
escorted by eight Soviet guards, to
board the plane last Friday without
first being questioned by authorities?
“Someone evidently decided they
could put one by us,” one American
official said Two U.S. diplomats were
en route to New York to talk to Miss
Vlasova when word reached the State
Department that she was on the jet,
officials said.
The State Department said the
Immigration and Naturalization
Service was responsible for seeing
that Miss Vlasova was detained. But
INS officials said it was up to Pan
American World Airways, which acts
under contract with Aeroflot for
ground services at Kennedy.
A spokesman for Pan Am denied
that the airline had been notified to
officials predicted it would come as
harassment of American tourists or
businessmen in Russia
The senior official, who requested
anonymity, said that if the Soviets
ask to exercise a parallel right to
interview Miss Vlasova s husband,
defector Alexander Godunov, they
will urge Godunov to comply under
ground rules similar to those for the
25-minute interview with Miss
Vlasova, which was held in a mobile
airport lounge with Soviet officials
present. ,
And that is all the State De-
partment officially believes the
Soviets are owed as a result of the
I--
sar
Grand jurors are convinced that adequate
grounds exist to support' the initiation
of a civil suit seeking the removal from
office of one or more county officials
3%
L P
. B
Breeden said at least 50 students
went straight from the NTSU music
program int Kenton’s band, which
was started by Kenton in 1941
The band. Artistry in Rhythm, was
an' immediate hit in Southern
California The initial staccato,
driving style, which frequently gave
way to pastel piano passages and
warm reeds, never stood still.
The leader-pianist-composer-ar-
ranger constantly experimented,
reshaping his organization and his
sound. He built an orchestra around
the mellophonium and other non-jazz
instruments in 1964 The group, the
Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra,
became a three-year money loser in
residence at the Los Angeles Music
Center
"I have a problem with myself," the
bapdleader once told an interviewer
"I’m just not much for the past. When
guys come around to talk about the
good old days, I'm not much in-
terested I'm more concerned with
what's happening next.”
In 1959 he organized the Kenton
Workshop for teen-agers, and in 1965,
the Stan Kenton Clinics for Teen-age
Musicians, using the sections practice
F brakes on a few of the buses, the first
A - day of school went without a hitch.
5 Denton principals said Monday.
I
— two
— the
sidents
docked
ock to
d and
Some of Kenton's more popular
tunes included "Eager Beaver,"
“And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine."
"Intermission Riff." “Southern'
Scandal." “Concerto for Doghouse."
"Opus in Pastels," “Concerto to End
All Concertos,” “Painted Rhythm,”
“Jump for Joe," and “Artistry
Jumps."
"He has meant an awful lot to
Denton He was a great human
being." Breeden said
i -
2
m
luu-
-
-$
rhy-
Powell said the incident established a
principle that foreigners have a right
to choose freely whether to leave the
United States
- The standoff came at a time when
the Carter administration is trying to
sell the SALT II arms treaty to some
' senators who think the president has <
been too soft with the Soviets.
And Rep Lester Wolff. D-N Y . a
member of the House International
Relations Committee, charged
Monday that the U S. "botched" the
and the filing of a sworn complaint
with the Commission on Judicial
Conduct against one or more judicial
officers of the county
Pointing out allegations in the
petition are "general" in nature, the
plaintiffs say they are prepared to
replead the allegations more
specifically and that justice would
best be served by disclosure of such
details as requested, if the gag order
is removed.
The suit states that the grand jurors
first became concerned about the
“potential of criminal misconduct"
within county government after
“A living example of the Man of La
Mancha" died Saturday at the age of
67
Stan Kenton, a controversial in-
fluence in jazz for more than 35 years,
died at Midway Hospital in
Hollywood, where he was admitted
Aug. 17 after a stroke
"Stan was the living example of the
Man of La "Mancha. because even
though he was ‘covered with scars’ he
lived the impossible dream He did
things his way without interfering
with anybody else,” said Leon
Breeden, director of North Texas
State University’s 10’Clock Lab Band
and close friend of Kenton
“He was constantly covered with
scars; the critics put him down the
hardest when he was at his best But
he was constantly an example to
many over the cduntry. He kept going
although he lost everything he had
many times."
Breeden cited the example of the
time Kenton made an album with Tex
Ritter "The critics laughed him off It
was not a money-maker Stan said ‘I
did it because I believed in it.”’
Breeden said.
Kenton was closely involved with
DISD school day No. 1:
‘the smoothest possible’
NEW YORK (AP) — A 734 hour
showdown over ballerina Ludmilla
Vlasova’s departure from the United
States could have been settled long
before a compromise finally cleared
the way for her return to Moscow,
iU.S and Soviet officials agree
But they disagreed Monday on who
was to blame for the episode, each
saying the other was at fault in the
diplomatic stalemate.
And both sides claimed vindication
when Miss Vlasova declared she
ehose to return to the Soviet Union
without her husband, Bolshoi Ballet
dancer Alexander Godunov, who de-
fected last week
Miss Vlasova and 52 other Soviet
citizens returned to Moscow early
today aboard the Aeroflot jetliner
detained at Kennedy International
Airport while U.S authorities sought
assurances that she was leaving
voluntarily
In Moscow, the Soviet news agency
Tass said Miss Vlasova * had
"displayed the feeling of lofty civic
duty and courage in the face of police
threats and blackmail” in returning
It did not mention Godunov’s
defection, the most recent in a series
of defections by Soviet ballet stars,
including Mikhail Baryshnikov and
Rudolf Nureyev
Miss’ Vlasova left the United States
following a compromise in which U.S.
officials were allowed to speak with
her in the "non-coercive environ-
ment” they had demanded
President Carter and Soviet
President Leonid Brezhnev re-
portedly took active roles in the
settlement.
The New-York Times reported
today that the two national leaders
exchanged messages during the
weekend in an effort to bring the in-
cident to a conclusion.
Tass said the United States was
guilty of "crude provocation” aimed
at "worsening Soviet-American
relations." It accused the United
missioners to urge that the county
conduct its fiscal affairs in ac-
cordance with state law and to urge
the initiation of an annual outside
audit of county operations
• Address the district judges to
urge the appointment of a county
purchasing agent.
• Address County Judge Jerry John
Crawford to urge that he carry out his
official duties regarding the manage-
ment and supervision of the county’s
fiscal affairs.
In addition to the relief they are
seeking, the grand jurors state in their
petition that they have “good reason
to believe" that during the course of
their investigation:
• One or more former and present
county officials may have hindered
the apprehension of Lasater by
warning him of “impending discovery
and apprehension” through the
"leaking of matters under criminal
investigation which were known to
several Denton County officials."
• That one or more county officials
may have committed perjury before
the grand jury regarding the
"suspected disclosure” of matters
under investigation to Lasater and
their "testimony regarding "a
suspected criminal conspiracy to
coverup this illegal disclosure "
the petition states, the grand jurors
met with the district judge- to discuss
the probe and planned report, and.
made the judges‘ selectively aware of >
certain matters" to be reported.
During its term, the grand jury
interviewed the county com-
missioners. Crawford, Bailey, former
county judge Dan Trammell, former ’
county commissioner Edd Elbert and
Bob Powers of Hankins, Powers,
Fergerson and Co.
Scofield halted foreman Jim
Danielson’s attempt to publicly issue
the report June 28. disbanded the
grand jury and warned the jurors they
would be held in contempt of court if
they revealed anything concerning
their investigation to county officials,
the public or the press
In halting the report, Scofield
maintained that the grand jury could
only issue indictments and had no au-
thority to issue a report, citing a 1972
attorney general’s opinion as the basis
for his ruling.
Other members of the grand jury
named as plaintiffs are: Deborah
Darley, Pam Grennier, the Rev. John
M McCoy Jr., Danny McDaniel,
Lovie Price, Pat Ramsey, Becky Rod
riquez, Jonnie Sargent, T.W.
Spalding, the Rev. Herb Sprawls and
‛ Roland Vela.
intercept the Bolshoi dancer.
U S regotiators said the com-
promise the Soviets finally accepted'
had been proposed on Saturday, when
ill persons were still aboard.
"I have no idea what made them
change their mind," said Donald
McHenry, the chief U.S. negotiator.
A Carter administration official,
who declined to be identified, said the
Soviets apparently knew Miss
Vlasova's intentions, and “permitted
this to become a very public con-
frontation."
Miss Vlasova was interviewed
through an interpreter McHenry
described her as “rather lively, alert
and very informal " He said she had
not asked to see her husband or to give
him a message
Further, the suit states. the grand
jurors "are convinced that adequate
grounds exist to support” the
initiation of a civil suit seeking the re-
moval from office of one or more
county officials on the grounds of
incompetency and official misconduct
*4*
l,
1iin4
1113
• That the grand jurors may have
been "subjected to the commission of
one or more incidents of improper in-
fluence by the manner in which"
one or more public officials “com-
municated certain coercive messages
to them" in connection with the
contents and disclosure of their
report
• That the grand jurors "personally
witnessed" the commission of official
oppression by one or more county
officials regarding a "request to con-
duct an investigation" in connection
with statements made to the Com-
mission on Judicial Conduct in the
“It was the smoothest day
possible," said Doug Key, principal at
Woodrow Wilson Elementary School
Norm Sisk, director of tran-
sportation for the district, said the
problem with the buses was traced to
brake boots recently installed on the
vehicles
"Even though we've test driven
them several times, the new boots
haven't gotten worn down enough yet,
so they're sticking,” he said
“What's been happening is the
• driver will pull up in front of the
school, and when he depresses the
brake all the way it loses air pressure
and the wheels lock up,” he explained
"Since all this happens while the
bus is sitting still, there is absolutely
no danger to the children," Sisk said
"It just means we have to send an
alternate bus to take the children and
get a wrecker to tow the bus back into
the shop.”
While Sisk was struggling with
locked wheels, principals around the
district were feverishly registering
new students.
“With all the little brothers and
sisters. I'm sure there were 60 people
in this office when we came in," said
Joe Brooks, principal at Ginnings
Elementary
However. "By 9:30 you could hardly
Continued from Page 1
discharge their oversight and
supervisory responsibilities" over
Bailey and his staff, that they "duly
investigate reports of official
misconduct and incompetence"
regarding the county auditor's office
and that the judges "consider the re-
moval of" Bailey and the appointment
of another person to his position.
• File a "sworn complaint with or
be interviewed by personnel from”
the Commission on Judicial Conduct
regarding allegations “to support the
suspension and removal from office”
of one or more judicial officers of the
county.
• Address any future grand jury or
law enforcement official to report
“the suspected commission of various
criminal offenses" to which the grand
jurors say they were either “the
victims or the witnesses, or of which
(they) have knowledge" but for which
the grand jury could not "legally or
practically" consider an indictment.
• Initiate a lawsuit in state court
seeking an order “compelling one or
more county officials", to comply with
state law governing the performance
and discharge of duties imposed by
law upon the officials.
• Address the county com-
ratified.
And SALT is about the only aspect
of the Washington-Moscow
relationship that could be affected
by a Soviet desire to retaliate.
There are at present no minor
negotiations that the Soviets could
freeze to show their displeasure All
of the lesser issues have been
sidetracked until the SALT vote
One official did not even think that
cultural exchanges would be af-
fected He pointed out that the
Soviets have frequently suffered
defections by artists and have never
permanently discontinued the ex-
change programs.
Tuesday, August 28. 1979 DENTON RECORD-CHRONICLE Page SA
WASHINGTON (AP) - Carter
administration officials say they do
not expect any major problems in
U S.-Soviet relations as a result of
the conflict over the departure of
Soviet ballerina Ludmilla Vlasova.,
"I don't think there is any basis for
retaliation," said a senior official
Monday, adding that the United
States had only insisted on enforcing
its laws and responsibilities in the
case
in class working,” said Charles Borth,
principal at Newton Rayzor
Elementary
But there were a few emotional
moments for some students
"We had one student start crying, - —
and he was a second-grader,” said
Amanda Bean, principal at Jefferson
Davis Elementary “But it was
nothing like the first day of school last
year when I got kicked and wet on by
one of the kids.”
Weepy eyes weren't found on kin-
dergarten or first-grade students at
Ginnings. Brooks said, "but I did see a
few tears from mothers letting off-the
little ones.”
At the secondary level. "We didn't
have any tears — we had happy
mothers," said Robert Hardaway,
principal at Congress Junior High,
where opening lockers for seventh
graders seemed to be the main task of
the day
Ivan Glasscock, principal at Denton
High School, reported no quivering
lips. but a lot of apprehension.
"Tenth graders with great big eyes
came in here all day long asking
where rooms were," Glasscock said.
The new elementary school zones
initiated this year for the first time
seem to have little effect at most of
the schools However. Art Seely,
principal at Robert E. Lee Elemen-
tary. said the new zones have helped
cut class sizes at his school
/ 1
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Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 22, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 28, 1979, newspaper, August 28, 1979; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1594700/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Denton Public Library.