WFAA - March 28 - 29, 1971 Part 2

0:00, 9:37, 13:08, 16:34 - (March 29, 1971) State Rep. Tom Bass (D-Houston) addresses the House and says that the Sharpstown Scandal has damaged the image of legislators more than any other issue since he’s been in office and has resulted in the public suspecting that everyone in the Capitol is guilty of some type of financial double-dealing; additional silent footage of the legislative session as the House votes to establish an independent, non-legislative stock-fraud study, as well as to create a separate House General Investigating Committee to look into the issue; State Rep. DeWitt Hale (D-Corpus Christi) is seen at a podium speaking in support of the investigating committee; various silent close-ups of Speaker of the House Gus Mutscher, who, along with other high-ranking Texas politicians, has been implicated in the Sharpstown Scandal; Mutscher addresses the House, saying that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case must be explored; in other business, State Sen. Tom Creighton (D-Mineral Wells) addresses a Senate committee to discuss his proposed bill to legalize abortion in Texas; reporter Rosser McDonald reports on the events in the Texas House and Senate that day; additional silent footage of State Sen. Don Kennard (D-Fort Worth), co-sponsor of Creighton’s abortion bill. 0:34 - (March 29, 1971) The Dallas City Council announces that it will buy a new helicopter for the Dallas Police Department from Bell Helicopter; Bob Martin, a representative of the Hughes Tool Co. (aircraft division), protests the decision, saying that his company submitted the lowest bid, and alleges collusion between the city and Bell (Silent); various shots of a helicopter piloted by a Dallas police officer – the chopper is seen flying overhead, and aerial footage of the Dallas skyline is seen. 1:41, 3:44 - Robert L. "Jerry" Mebus, Tarrant County Commissioner, is interviewed (Silent); Mebus suggests work-around solutions in light of the failure of most of the recent county bond proposals, including building a parking garage on existing county property and storing county records on microfilm; Jerry Park reporting. 1:57, 5:43 - Twins Mary Freeman and Nancy Freeman are seen playing in a backyard with a dog; on November 5, 1964, Nancy donated a healthy kidney to her identical twin sister Mary as part of the first kidney transplant operation in North Texas, conducted at Parkland Hospital in Dallas by a team from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School; a crossfade shot to black-and-white footage from the time of the transplant at Parkland shows local children’s TV entertainer Mr. Peppermint (WFAA’s Jerry Haynes) visiting the girls on November 10, 1964; additional color footage of the Freeman sisters inside Western Hills High School in Fort Worth and of the twins being interviewed about the operation (congenital bilateral hypoplasia) (Silent); Jim Green reporting. 5:15 - (March 29, 1971) A session of the Dallas County Commissioners Court is underway; Ellis Redfearn, representing the group Concerned Citizens for Local War on Poverty, reads a statement about the group’s unhappiness with the way federal funds are being spent on local poverty programs and is especially critical of the Dallas Legal Services Project (DLSP) and its outgoing director, Ed Polk (Silent). 9:07, 10:50, 14:49 - (March 29, 1971) A gunfight at the Jess Stockstill Shooter Supply (2536 Arlington Road/Farm Highway 157) in Grapevine, between owner Stockstill and burglars James Pettit, Jerry Mitchell Uland, and Tommie Ray Pettit set off a series of explosions when sparks from gunfire struck barrels of gunpowder – the series of explosions which resulted destroyed the building and its contents; Tommie Ray Pettit died in the fire, his brother James was hospitalized and in critical condition with extensive burns and gunshot wounds, and Uland was arrested fleeing the scene; brief shot of the building’s smoldering remains and of Uland being escorted to a police car (Silent); additional silent footage of the fire’s aftermath, including shots of charred guns and ammunition; in an interview, Stockstill describes the events of the night; losses were estimated at more than $175,000; Art Sinclair reporting. 16:11 - (March 29, 1971) Alton C. Jarnagin of Sherman initiated an argument with Preston D. Merkel in front of the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Baker (209 S. Lindale) in Richardson; when Jarnagin was denied entry into the Bakers’ home, the argument escalated; Jarnagin fired on Merkel 4 times before turning the gun on himself – he died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; footage of investigators at the scene and of the body being removed by Sparkman Hillcrest ambulance attendants (Silent). 18:40 - A group of young people enter the office of State Sen. Mike McKool (D-Dallas) and hand him an envelope full of documents (Silent).