NumberS: Volume 54
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1954
Price 5 Cents
Defen se Off 5 cersHear Proposals
Some Names Known
In Hat Stealing Case
DEATH CAR—This 1954 Ford convertible was the one in which Don G. Dart, A&M
senior, was killed Saturday night on Farm Highway 60 about five miles west of the
college. Slightly injured was Mrs. Maria Fuller, of Bryan. The car was a total loss.
Fatal Accident Probe
Luther Uncovers Evidence
A waitress at the Texan Drive-in
has been the only witness able to
give Highway Patrolman O. L.
Luther any definite information as
9
BULLETIN
r Patrolman Luther said just
before noon today that he had an
affidavit from Mrs. Fuller giv
ing her description of the acci
dent and saying that Dart was
driving the car at the time of
the accident.
Luther said the investigation
is complete for now, but the case
is not closed.
He said he had gone as far as
he could until more information
turns up.
to who was driying the car in
which A&M Senior Don G. Dart
was killed Saturday night.
The waitress told Luther she
had begged Dart not to get in the
car with Mrs. Maria Bryan Fuller,
who was also injured when the
car turned over on Farm Highway
60 about five miles west of the
college, shortly after leaving the
Texan.
The waitress said she walked to
the door with the couple and saw
Mrs. Fuller get behind the Steer
ing wheel, Luther said.
“The last time she saw them,”
he said, “Dart was standing by
the car and Mrs. Fuller was be-
News Briefs
THE CADET CORPS will go into
woolen winter uniforms Oct. 29, at
the breakfast formation. Ties will
be worn all day when the corps
begins wearing the green uniforms.
SENIOR CLASS meeting will be
next Monday, and anyone who
wishes to place an item on the
agenda can do so by contacting
any class officer, said Conrad Cum
mings, senior class president.
* * *
THE UNITED NATIONS club
vill have a “birthday party” Fri-
nay night in honor of the United
Nations anniversary. Ide P. Trot-
er, dean of the graduate school,
will speak at the meeting, which
will be in the YMCA at 7:30. The
public is invited.
* * *
JOHN H. (Dixie) SOUTHERN, of
the department of agricultural ec
onomics & sociology, recently ad
dressed the Denton Chapter of the
American Association of Univer
sity Women on “The United Na
tions—A Force in the Struggle for
Peace.”
P. J. WOODS, of the history de
partment, addressed the Pre-Law
society Tuesday night on “Jury
duty and what the lawyer has to
contend with when picking a trial
jury.”
hind the wheel. She did not see
them drive away.”
Luther also questioned several
A&M students who were at the
Texan when Dart was there. How
ever, none of the students could
give him any information as to
who was driving.
Luther has not been able to con
tact Mrs. Fuller in order to get a
statement, but he said he hoped to
talk with her today.
“The information I have now is
about as much as I can get with
out Mrs. Fuller’s statement,” he
said.
Others questioned in the case in
cluded three A&M students who
passed the car in which Dart was
riding just before the accident.
Luther also talked to witnesses
from Somerville who were in the
automobile that was being passed
by Dart and Mrs. Fuller when the
accident occurred.
Great Issues Opens
Program Nov. 10
William G. Pollard, executive di-
I’ector, Oak Ridge Institute of Nu
clear Physics, will be here Nov. 10
for the first Great Issues.
Pollard will talk on “Secrecy,
Security and Science,” at the Me
morial Student Center.
Non-students or students who
did not pay their activity fee can
purchase a season, ticket at the
main desk of the MSC or from in
dividual ticket sellers.
Tactical officers have indicated
that they have names of some of
the A&M students who took hats
from Texas Christian university
band members last Saturday.
The officers indicated to Lt. Col.
Taylor Wilkins, assistant comman
dant, that they have one name and
“possibly more” of the students in
volved.
Wilkins said he expected disci
plinary action to be taken against
the student by Friday. He said
he thought they would not be sus
pended, but that they probably
would be put bn conduct probation
and campused, at least.
None of the missing hats have
been discovered. Unit comman
ders wpre instructed to inspect ca
det rooms in an effort to find the
missing hats and return them to
TCU.
The incident occurred at the end
Student Senate
To Meet Tonight
Student Senate will hold a
regular meeting in the Memo
rial Student Center senate
chamber at 7:30 p.m. today.
Aggie sportsmanship at
football games, and a maga
zine saving drive for veter
ans’ hospitals are on the agen
da.
of the A&M-TCU football game
here, as the TCU band and A&M
cadets were both lining up on the
sidelines.
Several A&M cadets took hats
from band members heads before
the band marched off. Some of the
band members from whom the hats
were taken were girls.
Four Students
To Attend Banquet
Four A&M journalism students
will attend a banquet at the West
ern Hills Motel in Fort Worth,
Oct. 22.
Bob Boriskie, Alford Bruton, Jon
Kinslow and Jerry Sonnier will be
four of the 27 college students to
be honored at the banquet.
The banquet is given in honor of
students who participated in the
internship program sponsored by
the Texas Daily Newspaper asso
ciation. Each student will give a
five-minute speech on his intern
ship.
Newspaper interns were Boris
kie, San Angelo Standard Times;
Bruton, Jacksonville Progress;
Kinslow, Dallas Morning News;
and Sonnier, Kilgore News Her
ald.
Donald D. Burchard, head of the
journalism department, will accom
pany the group to Fort Worth.
Morgan Calls Meeting
‘Highly Successful’
Basied on AP Reports
Defense, air force, and army spokesmen heard the more-
benefits proposals of the nation’s nine military colleges yes
terday in a meeting that A&M’s President David H. Morgan
called “highly successful.”
The meeting, which was in Roanoke, Va., was called by
the military colleges to ask the defense department for more
benefits for their students.
Four proposals were presented at the meeting. The As
sociated Press did not know if any action was taken on them.
The proposals were as follows:
• An established place in the defense program of the
nation so graduates of military colleges are commissioned and
integrated into component armed services.
* • An open enrollment for
Day Student contracts to qualified stu '
Filings Open
For Council
Filings ai*e now open in
room 1-H, Puryear hall, for
day student representative to
the Civilian Student Council.
The filings will remain open
until 5 p.m. Monday and the
election will be held from 8
a.m. until 5 p.m. Wednesday
in the same room where filings
are being taken.
The election, authorized by
the council Tuesday, is to fill
the vacancy on the council for
which no students filed in the
previous election.
Amendments II
Vote M.ay Aid Building
(Editor’s Note: This is the
second in a series of three ar
ticles on the proposed amend
ments to the Texas constitution.
Absentee balloting for the Nov.
2 election is now in progress at
the office of the Brazos county
clerk in Bryan.)
Texas voters will decide on 11
proposed changes in the state’s
basic law Nov. 2. The first three
proposed constitutional amend
ments were discussed in yester
day’s Battalion.
No. 4: State Building Fund
This amendment would transfer
the unneeded part of the Confed
erate pension fund to a state build
ing fund.
Now, two cents of each $100
property valuation goes to the
Confederate pension fund, estab
lished in 1928. The fund takes
care of Confederate veterans, of
which Texas has one, and widows
of Confederate veterans, of which
Texas has about 450.
As of last March, the fund had
a $5,530,149 surplus. This money
cannot be used for anything eDe
without a constitutional amena-
ment.
The first buildings proposed are
a courts building and an office
building. The state now pays more
than half a million dollars annu
ally in rent, about $250,000 in Aus
tin alone.
Each year the agency that ad
ministers the Confederate pension
fund would say how much of the
two cents tax money they would
need, and then the rest would go
to the building fund, which would
be administered by a state build
ing commission.
The amendment also provides for
building memorials to Texas Con
federate veterans and veterans of
the War for Texas Independence.
No. 5: State Salaries
The constitution fixes the sala
ries of the governor, attorney gen
eral, treasurer of the general land
office, comptroller, secretary of
state, and legislators.
This amendment would give the
legislature the power to fix these
salaries, instead of having to have
a constitutional amendment every
time a salary raise is needed.
The following annual salaries are
now paid these officials: governor,
$12,000; attorney general, $10,000;
treasurer, $6,000; comptroller,
$6,000; secretary of state, $6,000.
The amendment would also boost
(See AMENDMENTS, Page 3)
dents, provided military col
leges maintain high standards
of academic performance, con
duct, and application to military
duties to eliminate the unfit.
• Graduates mf military colleges
be commissioned into regular for
ces instead of reserves.
• Reserve commissions be
granted those graduates who are
not commissioned in the regular
services. 1
The military college administra
tors went on record as not seek
ing federal funds other than those
given other schools offering RO-
TC. This move is counter to the
original proposal of asking for an
increase in the subsistance pay.
The group established a Council
of Military Colleges, with Morgan
as president. He said that other
such meetings would be held “in
the near future.” Morgan presi
ded at yesterday’s meeting.
A military college is one that
requires its students to wear the
uniform habitually and live under
military discipline, as differed
from a civilian college, which re
quires that its students wear the
uniform only to ROTC class and
drill.
The nine military colleges are
A&M, Virginia Polytechnic insti
tute, Virginia Military institute,
Norwich university. The Citadel,
Clemson, North Georgia college,
New Mexico Military institute, and
Pennsylvania Military college.
Only eight of the nine were at
the meeting, according to the As
sociated Press, but the AP did not
know which one was absent.
Col. Joe E. Davis, commandant,
also represented A&M at the meet
ing.
Weather Today
Thei’e will be scattered clouds
this afternoon clearing by 8 p.m.
tonight. Yesterdayls high was 855,
low 50. The temperature at 11:30
this morning was 78.
4,400 Each Meal
Feeding Aggies Is Big Job
Feeding 4,400 students in two
huge dining halls is one of the
largest operations at A&M. This
I'esponsibility rests not at all light
ly with bespectacled, genial Jay
Peniston.
Peniston has been supervisor of
dining halls for 10 years and con
nected with the college for more
than a quarter century.
You can take his word that Ag
gies are fed as well, both in quali-
1f; and quantity, as the students of
a l iy other campus. He sees to it.
Last year, for example, more than
340 tons of meat wei’e served. All
that—and 200 tons of potatoes!
“Freshmen still are our heart
iest eaters,” Peniston says. “Sec
ond helpings are the rule for all,
but the Fish will average about
20 per cent more per man than
upperclassmen.”
Meals in Sbisa hall and Duncan
hall are served family style by
174 student waiters. There are
161 permanent employees on the
staff. Food is served hot and the
Aggies take an average of 20 min
utes at the table.
“Menus are figured one week
jiCiead,” Peniston said, “but still
are subject to changes for the wid
est possible variety of food. The
menus are posted daily for the
students to see at breakfast.”
In addition to beef and other
meat and potatoes, students get a
salad, vegetable, dessert, bread,
butter and drink with every meal
except breakfast. The latter in
cludes cereal, eggs and sausage,
toast and coffee or milk.
The cost per man is $1.23 per
day.
Special menus are prepared for
athletes, who eat in Sbisa hall at
odd houi's under direction of the
coaches.
Peniston is only the foui'th man
in the last half-century responsible
for feeding the Aggies.
Fifty years ago Bernard Sbisa
held the position of supervisor of
subsistence, training W. A. Dun
can to succeed him. Both of these
men are now dead. Duncan in turn
trained J. C. Hotard, who resigned
in 1944 to open a cafeteria in
Bryan.
Remodeling Halls
At pi'esent both Sbisa hall and
Duncan hall are undergoing exten
sive remodeling which is a dream
come true and a long fight won for
Peniston. Tile floors, lower ceil
ings, new lighting, air-conditioning,
panel walls and complete redeco
ration with new tables and chairs—
plus draperies — are in the plans.
The dining halls are among the
largest anywhere: 370 tables of 10
places each in Duncan; 210 tables
in Sbisa, plus banquet room and
basement space. During the last
World War a record 8,400 students
were seated in the two halls.
Peniston recently added a dieti
cian to his staff, Mrs. Sara G.
Groves. A graduate of the Uni
versity of Georgia, she has had
wide experience in schools, hospi
tals and commercial establishments
over a period of 17 years.
Ray Smith, head baker, is an
other newcomer to the staff. Most
of the other key personnel have
been in the business of “feeding
Aggies for 10 years or more.
P. L. Berdine, dining room stew
ard at Sbisa, is completing 30
years on the job.
W. C. Dahlkemper is directly
responsible for the preparation of
food in both halls. Oscar C. Plantt
and W. P. Yeager are chefs at
Sbisa and Duncan, respectively.
L. B. Moon is dining roopi steward
at Duncan hall.
The major detail of ordering
groceries falls to C. M. Sykes, pur
chasing agent. Last year his sup
plies would have filled about 12
railroad box-cars; 727,500 boxes of
cereal; 2 million half-pints of milk;
411,600 pounds of flour; 100 tons
of sugar; 68,820 dozens of eggs.
Mi's. Louise B. Brown is office
manager in the smooth and effi
cient operation.
During his tenure, both before
and since taking over as supervi-
(See MESS HALL, Page 3)
THEY FEED 4,400 DAILY—J. C. Peniston, center, is su
pervisor of the two dining halls here where two-thirds of
the student body converge three times daily for chow.
Flanking him are his key aides, left to right: William C.
Dahlkemper, steward; Mrs. Sara D. Groves, dietician; Os
car C. Plantt and W. P. Yeager, chefs at Sbisa and Duncan
halls, respectively.