Legal Cases

Consists of a photocopy of an oral deposition filed by James Hancock on March 13 and 14, 1958, and includes two photocopied photographs.
A businessman and manufacturer, Hancock was the owner of Hancock Manufacturing Company of Lubbock, Texas. He filed a civil suit against Robert C. Johnson, Jr. and the Johnson Manufacturing firm in March, 1958.

Includes correspondence, legal materials, financial reports, a City Council Agenda, notebooks, memorandums, brochures, newsclippings, and other materials relating to the public life and career of Marshall and the legal cases in which he was involved.
Marshall was a Lubbock, Texas, attorney and civic leader. He served on the City Council during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1980, he was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the City of Lubbock.

Contains printed material on Richardson Seed Farms and sorghum seed production, and how the same would be effected by the proposed nuclear waste repository in Deaf Smith County, Texas.
A farmer, Richardson was president of Richardson Seed Farms, the only farm in the United States that produces varieties of high quality foundation seeds. He was also vice-president of POWER (People Opposed to Waste Energy Repositories), an organization in which citizens of Deaf Smith County, Texas, were involved in the nuclear waste issue.

Waste Deposit Impact Committee (Texas)
Records, 1973-1988
9,651 leaves

Contains correspondence, legal material, organizational by-laws, and technical reports. The collection bulks (1985-1987) with the records of the assistant directors for geotechnical assessment and socioeconomic assessment.
This is a local government agency created to monitor the activities of the U.S. Department of Energy and its attempts to develop a repository for high-level nuclear waste in Deaf Smith County, Texas.

NUCLEAR WASTE TASK FORCE RECORDS

POWER RECORDS

STAND (Serious Texans Against Nuclear Dumping) RECORDS

Contains correspondence, financial and legal material, printed material, literary productions, photographs, and scrapbook material. The collection bulks (1937-1963) with the financial, legal, and operational affairs of the Cosden Petroleum Corporation. The collection also includes a clipping file and U.S. District Court transcripts pertaining to R. L. Tollett's 1943 trial for his violation of the Connally "Hot Oil" Act. All defendants were found not guilty on charges of producing excess oil or withdrawing excess oil from storage.
Based in Big Spring, Texas, Cosden Petroleum Corporation operates an oil refining business producing gasoline, jet fuel, asphalt, synthetic plastics, and other petrochemicals. Founded in 1929, the company provided fuel oil to Texas and Pacific's steam locomotives. After 1937, the company was reorganized into a corporation. It remained an independent corporation until 1960, when W. R. Grace, Inca., purchased 53 percent of its stock. In 1963, Cosden leased its service stations to American Petrofina, Inca.

State of Texas v. Jack Hall
Collection, 1931
2 microfilm reels : negative

Contains a transcript of the trial and a population census of Crane County.
Jack Hall, a rancher in Crane County, Texas was tried and convicted for the shooting of T. C. Barnsley, a Crane County politician, over a land dispute (1931). The dispute centered around old time ranching and the new oil interests. The court proceedings took place on a change of venue in Reeves County, Texas, with Roy Biggs as the District Attorney, and J. A. Drane as the District Judge.

The collection consists of the office files of one of the plaintiff attorneys in the Single Member District Discrimination Suit filed in Lubbock, Texas.
Daniel H. Benson is a Lubbock, Texas, attorney, and represented the plaintiff in the Single Member District Discrimination Suit.

Includes correspondence, photographs, newsclippings, and other items relating to the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1974.
Blanchard was a state legislator, who was born 1924 at Denison, Texas, and reared near Sudan. He attended Texas Technological College, and sponsored the bill that created the Lubbock State School. Blanchard died 1982 in Austin, Texas.

Culver, Barbara Green, 1926-
Papers, 1970-1975
9,111 leaves

Includes correspondence, financial material, literary productions, printed material, and scrapbook material concerning Judge Culver's activities in youth programs and Texas politics. The collection bulks (1973-1975) with materials pertaining to the Texas Constitutional Revision Commission, including reports, expense sheets, newsclippings, drafts, and literary productions. Also includes materials on the White House Conference on Children and Youth, and the Midland County Conference on Children and Youth.
An attorney and judge, Culver was born 1926 in Dallas, Texas. She was awarded her B.A. by Texas Technological College (1947) and L.L.B. by Southern Methodist University (1951). She served as county judge (1962- ) for Midland County, Texas, and also as a State District Judge. Culver is also a member of the Texas Constitutional Revision Commission (1973), the White House Conference on Children and Youth (1970), and the National Advisory Council on Education of Disadvantaged Children (1971-74).

Davis, James William
Papers, 1949-1968
3,309 leaves

Includes correspondence, journal articles, research files, committee files, organizational files, and printed material concerning the activities of the constitutional revision committees in Texas. The collection bulks (1957-1968) with articles and research and committee and organizational files.
A university professor and political activist, Davis taught political science at Texas Tech University (1938-1974), specializing in state government and constitutional law. He served on two Texas Constitutional Revision Committees and was recognized by a resolution in the Texas Legislature in 1971.

Texas Constitutional Convention (1974)
Collection, 1960-1975
11,323 leaves

Includes correspondence, daily journals, committee reports, convention publications, photographs, financial documents, news releases, speeches, printed material, and other miscellaneous materials. The collection bulks with copies of the convention's daily journals (1974) and printed materials (1973-1974), such as copies of "Texas Constitutional Convention News" and "Texas in Action" reports.
The convention was held in January 1974 to attempt the revision and/or rewriting of the Texas Constitution. However, as with previous attempts, the proposals failed to achieve the necessary approval of two-thirds of the voters required for ratification.

Consists of a copy of the proceedings by the Trial Panel of the Faculty Advisory Committee. The proceeding concerns the Tenure Hearing for Kirk B. Turner in 1963.
Turner was a professor of Animal Husbandry at Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech University. In 1962-63, the Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences attempted to dismiss Turner, and a hearing was scheduled for the Faculty Advisory Committee to determine if dismissal of a tenured professor was appropriate.

Includes correspondence, reports, charts, graphs, financial material, maps, photographs, patents, legal documents, scrapbook material, newsclippings, handbooks, newsletters, and other printed items, all relating to Shurbert's association with the Texas Water Development Board.
Shurbert was associated with the Texas Water Development Board. In 1963, he was the plaintiff for the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 to determine the legality of a depletion allowance on his tax return for irrigation water. This landmark case against the U.S. government established a redefinition of water as a natural resource and brought about the need for better conservation measures for the Ogallala Aquifer.

The collection consists entirely of 1979 correspondence regarding the (then)current status of the ongoing legal battle between Texas and New Mexico over the allocation of the waters of the Pecos River.
In 1949 Texas and New Mexico agreed to the Pecos River Compact which allocated the water of the Pecos River between the two states. In 1973, Texas filed suit claiming that New Mexico had violated the terms of the agreement in that between 1952 and 1972 New Mexico had failed to deliver more than one million acre-feet of water. In 1987 the Supreme Court determined that the delivery short-fall was 340,100 acre-feet. Texas then sought repayment of this amount of water delivered over a 10-year period or, in the alternative, damages up to $900 million. Negotiations between the two states were conducted up until early 1989, when it was announced that Texas would accept a cash payment of $14 million for violations of the 1949 Pecos River Compact.

Rassman, Emil C., 1919-
Papers, 1946-1975
23,944 leaves

Contains correspondence, financial information, and legal and legislative material. The collection bulks (1946-1969) with papers concerning the Pecos River Compact Commission. Of special interest are Rassman's activities for the Texas Chamber of Commerce and the West Texas Chamber of Commerce.
A Midland, Texas, lawyer and civic leader, Rassman was born 1919 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He received a B.A. from Washington and Lee University (1941) and his L.L.D. from University of Texas (1947). He is a member of Rassman, Gunter, and Boldrick law firm in Midland, Texas, and a member of various professional organizations. His professional activities include: Director (1972-75) and Chairman of the Board (1974-75) of the State Bar of Texas, and president of West Texas Chamber of Commerce and Texas State Chamber of Commerce (1973-74). He was also active in the Texas State Chamber of Commerce.

Wilson, James Charles, 1895-1968
Papers, 1915-1973
34,391 leaves

Consists of materials related to the Pecos River Compact Commission. Materials include correspondence, financial and legal material, scrapbook material, minutes, programs, and general office files. The collection bulks (1945-1964) with legislative material, including transcripts of hearings, national and state legislation, state reports, and statements to Congress.
A rancher, farmer, and Pecos River Compact Commissioner, Wilson was born 1895 in Oak Grove, Louisiana. He was a veteran of World War I and moved to Pecos, Texas in 1917. He joined the Pecos Mercantile where he worked until taking up farming full-time in the late 1940s. He founded Texas Cotton Industries and Big Bend Gin Company, and is credited with building the Pecos River Basin into a large cotton growing area through extensive irrigation. Wilson served 19 years as the Texas Commissioner of the Texas-New Mexico Pecos River Commission. He died in 1968.

Includes correspondence, financial material, legal material, literary productions, and printed material. The collection bulks (1977) with a court transcript of a legal hearing of the Texas Water Development Board on February 16-18, 1977, on weather modification.
An attorney from Littlefield, Texas, Kirby represented Irving P. Krick, Inca. of Texas, a California based weather modification company, in their legal fight to obtain a permit to alter weather formations in West Texas.

Owen, Gene
Papers, 1872-1981
3 microfilm reels : negative