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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1955)
The Battalion Number 99: Volume 54 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1955 Price Five Cents Shirley Murray To Sing on Senate Show Board Meet New Deans May Be Named The A&M System board of directors will meet Friday at Mineral Wells, with the usual run of spring business sched uled, including financial matters, summer school budgets, construction items, and appointment of athletic council mem bers. Usually reliable sources say that the board will also con sider appointments for some of the four vacant dean positions at A&M. There is no official release of this. The four vacant posts are dean of engineering, dean of agriculture, dean of the Basic Division, and the newly-created dean of student personnel services. All five of the members of the athletic council will come up for reappointment. Th e present members are eligible for reappointment. The board will have to set a budget for the summer schools of all the system colleges, including A&M, and set a budget for the Junction annex. Under construction items, the board will consider a contract for painting dormitories 14, 15, 16, and 17, and will take action on bids For Scholarship Fund Jazz Program Planned Dr. Gene Hall’s College Jazz Festival will be presented here Tuesday by the Student Senate. Proceeds from the program will go toward the Twelfth Man Scholar ship fund. Other acts, all from North Tex as State college, will include the “Oobie Doobie” boys, who appear ed on the Intercollegiate Talent show, and Vocalist Shirley Mur ray. The show will benefit the Twelfth Man Scholarship fund, which is used each year to aid one or two students to come to A&M. Admis sion to the show, which will be at 8 p.m. in Guion hall, will be 50 lents per person. “We hope to raise enough to have two scholarships available ftext year,” said Stew Coffman, chairman of the senate committee in charge of arrangements. The featured band, officially titl ed the North Texas State College Jazz band, was among the top three college bands in the nation in a recent contest sponsoxed by ‘Miimtemen’ Called Out In Test Alert College Station proved last night that its guard is up, when every available member of the local National Guard unit reported for the surprise alert, “Operations Minuteman.” As its part of the nation-wide aleirt, College Station’s headquar ters company, first battalion, 143rd infantry. National Guard, manned guard posts around vital city in stallations, on the assumption that an enemy force had landed in the United States. r The surprise operation was call ed here at 6 p.m., and by 7 p.m. eight officers, one warrant officer, r and 56 enlisted men had reported to the Guard’s armory. Only about seven men were missing, and these were out-of-town, said Capt Bar ney Welch, the unit’s commander. By 7:15 p.m., guards had been posted at the city hall, the power- plant, radio station WTAW and its transmitter, the water works, and the telephone office. A radio net kept all the guards .in touch with each other and the headquar ters set up in the armory. All parts of the operation were carried out according to a prear ranged plan, since the exact time and date of the alert were not known. It was designed as a nation-wide practice to test the ability of local Guard units to assemble quickly, and only a few top Pentagon offi cers knew the date and time. The operation ended here about 10 p.m., but it was to last for 24 hours in some parts of the coun try. Metronome magazine. Hall, direc tor . of the band, also heads the college’s jazz music program in the NT music school. The “Oobie Doobie” boys—Wade Moore and Dick Penner—were one of the best-received acts of the talent show here. They feature bop songs with the accompaniment of a guitar. Hall is an assistant professor in the music school at NT, and re ceived his doctor of education de gree from New York university in June. He developed and now di rects the college’s program lead ing to a major in dance band mu sic—one of the few of its kind in the country. Before entering teaching, Hall had held such varied jobs as oil truck driver, itinerant musician, radio production manager, and public school band director. Legislature Passes Muster Resolution The Texas senate and house of representatives have passed a joint resolution praising the A&M tradition of Mus ter, which will be observed at 4 p.m. today in front of the Memorial Student Center. Gen. O. P. Weyland, commander of the tactical air force, will speak at the ceremony here, and more than 400 other Muster ceremonies are being held throughout the wofld. The resolution reads, in part, as follows: WHEREAS, For more than fifty years the students of the A. and M. College have observed April 21st each year as a suitable day, which they call “Muster Day,” upon which to pay proper respect to the memory of those former students of that institution who have passed to their eternal reward, just as citizens of Texas commemorate the memory of those who fought and won the Battle of San Jacinto; and WHEREAS, The A. and M. College of Texas, the largest military school in the world, is said to have furnished more officers in the United States Army in World War II than any other military institution in our country; and WHEREAS, For a period of more than seventy-five years, the background and achievements of the ex-students of the A. and M. College of Texas have carried forward the ideals, and traditions of those patriots who fought at San Jacinto, now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, By the Senate of Texas, the House of Rep resentatives concurring, that we do hereby commend the spirit of patriotism and achievement which has so long been exemplified by the students of the A. and M. College; that we commend their custom of holding a Muster Day on the same date that the citizens of Texas commemorate the vic- ory of San Jacinto; and that we earnestly urge that in future years the students of said college continue to emulate the patriotic sentiments and performance of those who fought so nobly and effectively in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836; . . .” Three-Day Affair Rodeo To Begin Tonight received in February for addition al power plant equipment. The board will consider auction sale bids on an oil, gas, and sulphur lease on 127 acres of system land in Newton county. Other business will include ap pointments, promotions, leaves, ac ceptance of gifts and grants, and from A&M, the rodeo lines up with By BILL FULLERTON Battalion City Editor The A&M rodeo team members are not going to let any dust settle on their saddles. Only a few days after walking off with the team championship at Arling ton State college, the Aggies are holding their own National Inter collegiate. Rodeo association rodeo. The three-day affair opens at 8 tonight in the A&M rodeo arena across the railroad tracks from Kyle field. Tickets at the gate are 60 cents for students and service men in uniform, and $1 for adults. (See picture at bottom of page) With 11 schools entering teams, plus a host of individual entries the Triangle Bell ranch at Belton, a professional rodeo ranch. Schools entered in the rodeo are, besides A&M, Sam Houston State college, Arlington State college, Oklahoma A&M, McNeese college, Texas Agricultural and Industrial, Southwest Texas State Teachers •college, University of Houston and Southwestern Louisiana institute. Each team is composed of six men, and two alternates may be named if desired. a report from the state entomolo gist. After the Friday meeting, which will be at 3 p.m. in Mineral Wells’ Baker hotel, the board will spend Saturday as the guests of Tarleton State college, a member of the sys tem, and President Joe Howell. The board’s next meeting will probably be sometime around the end of the school year, said Hen derson Shuffler, system director of news and information. At this meeting, the board will set the budgets for the schools, if the Legislature has acted on the over-all appropriations bill by then. ARE FISH COLOR-BLIND? WINDHAM, Maine (^—Fisher men only fool themselves and not the fish when they put their faith in those beautiful, gayly colored artificial fly lures, according to a veteran trout catcher. Mrs. Ethel Quimby, who has been tying flies for 25 years, says that fish are color blind. It is the motion of the fly that attracts the fish, she says. 152 aspiring contestants facing some “fresh and mean” rodeo stock. Stock producer is Duke Gibbs of 850 Seniors To Graduate This Spring About 850 students are can didates for degrees at the commencement ceremonies to be held May 27 in the Whitte coliseum. Dr. Willis Tate, president of Southern Methodist university, will be the commencement speaker that night. Dr. Rob ert F. Jones, minister of the First Presbyterian church, Fort Worth, will deliver the baccalaureate sermon at 10 a.m. in the coliseum. Carl Tishler, head of the physical education department, is general chairman for the commencement ceremonies. Association Head Birdwell Known For Store Work Weather Today PARTLY CLOUDY The weather outlook for today is partly cloudy and warm. Yesterday’s high was 86, low 69. The temperature at 10:45 this morning wa^ 82. Ronhovde Named For Sewage Study I. N. Ronhovde, chief instructor of water and sewage training of the A&M engineering extension service, has been appointed to serve on a committee of the American Water Works association to study Avays and means of establishing a uni form teaching and grading system for water and sewage operators throughout the nation. “If a standard of quality of A\ r at- er and sewage men over the coun try is to be established, then a uni form and effective system of edu cation and requirements for these men must be set up in all states,” RonhoA'de said. He said Texas is one of the few states in the country which maintains a complete and effective water and sewage works training program. By HARRI BAKER Battalion Editor The manager of A&M’s Ex change store, Carl Birdwell, is not heard of too often around here, but he is \A 7 ell known nationally. This weekend Birdwell will com plete a year as president of the National Association of College Stores, an association A\ r hose 775 members serve more than 85 per cent of America’s college students. BirdAvell has been on the organi zation’s board of trustees for five years, and as past-president will serve another year. He has been here for 10 years, all as manager of the Exchange store. In that time he said, the per capita number of books bought by students has increased, indicat ing that Aggies are doing more reading. Reference Books Bought “Lately, students have been buy ing more reference books, like dic tionaries and college outline guides,” he said. This is a poor school for fiction reading, he says. “Most of the students here are in technical courses, and carrying a heavy load,” he said. “They just don’t ha\ r e time to do much outside read ing.” BirdAA r ell was born in Stephen- ville in 1900. He majored in pre engineering at Tarleton State col lege, and was editor of the student newspaper there. Edited Weekly Paper After he got out of Tarleton, he was editor of the wnekly neAvspaper at Stephenville for a few years. “I did just about everything there was to do in the business,” he says. He also taught mathematics in high schools at Decatur and Gross Plains, then managed the book store at Tarleton. He came from Tarleton to A&M in 1945. During Birdwell’s 10 years here as manager of the Exchange store and the Supply center, the store has groAvn to occupy all of its building next to the Gathright hall memorial, and has been almost completely redecorated and reno vated. (See BIRDWELL, Page 2)* World News By The ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON—America’s Na tional Guard rushed to posts of duty last night in a practice mobili zation, first nationwide test of its kind in history. Soon after the Pentagon figuratively pushed an “alert” button, guardsmen were at their posts in armories, scouring the skies in planes, guarding wa terworks, bridges and railroad sta tions or moving in the darkness against “enemy parachutist sabo teurs.” * WASHINGTON — Despite warnings of a veto, the House voted 224-189 yesterday to give a half-million postal workers an 8.2 per cent pay increase. Re publicans sent up the warnings about almost certain rejection at the White House. But Demo cratic boosters of the raise won out after retorting they weren’t so sure President Eisenhower would turn it down and claiming an “excellent” chance or overrid ing a veto even if he should. ★ ★ ★ WASHINGTON — The nation’s top military man and the State Department’s Far East specialist sped yesterday to Formosa for on- the-scene consultations about the “tense situation which continues” there. But Secretary of State Dulles said “no crisis is involved” in the sudden travel orders for Adm. Arthur W. Radford, chair man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Walter S. Robertson, assistant secretary of state. ^ BANDUNG, Indonesia — Red China today wooed the solidly anti - Communist Moslem coun tries of the Middle East by tak ing the side of the Arab states against Israel. The Arabs are represented and Israel is not at the 29-nation Asian-African con ference that opened here Monday. Members of A&M’s team are Billy Steele, president of the A&M Rodeo club, Lowie Rice, George Vincent, Curtis Burlin, Clyde Mar tin and Don Turner. Four Performances Besides tonight’s show, there will be performances at 8 tomorrow night, and at 2 and 8 p.m. Satur day. Friday afternoon at 4, a pa rade in Bryan will be staged with three bands, new cars full of girls, and plenty of horses, headed by the Bryan Saddle club. In addition to regular rodeo at tractions, the show will offer an exhibition and contest by “the most valuable of range animals” — the cutting horse. This contest is ap- pirwed by the American Cutting Horse association. The show also will offer a girls’ barrel race, plus saddle bronc, bare- back bronc and bull riding, steel’ wrestling, tiedown and ribbon calf roping. Various Awards The team having the highest to tal of points will win the team championship trophy. A saddle will be awarded the. contestant naified best all-round cowboy, and a watch to the runner-up in this category. Trophy buckles will be awarded to first place average win ners in each event, a pair of boots to the second, a hat for third, and a shirt and a pair of levi’s for fourth place winners. There are various other prizes for special events. This rodeo is the second meeting this spring-in this district of the NIRA, which is a student affilia tion of the National Rodeo asso ciation. The first was the Arling ton rodeo. Extension Worker To See Atom Test Mrs. Grace Martin, assistant dis trict agent for the Texas Agricul tural Extension service, will be one of four Texans participating in the special program called “Operation Cue” at Nevada’s atomic proving grounds near Las Vegas during the last week in April. Mrs. Martin has been designated by Governor Allan Shivers to rep resent him officially at the govern mental meetings and conferences on civil defense and disaster relief in Las Vegas. The civil defense part of “Oper ation Cue” will include study of the effect of nuclear explosion and fall out on homes, commercial build ings, shelter, food, communications and utilities. Hi if ■ vu LAST.TOUCHES—Members of the A&M Rodeo club put the finishing touches on the Ro deo area, preparing for the NIRA rodeo performances this weekend. Fixing the fence are left to right, Bill Singer, Joe Evans, and Sam Soefje. The horse, ridden by Bubba Casio, will be entered in the cutting contest. Owned by B. A. Skipper jr. of Longview, the horse recently won the cutting contest in Tuscon, Ariz.