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TEXAS
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The Battalion
Number 68: Volume 55
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1956
Price 5 Cents
Holidays Leave Three Aggi
Dimes’ March,
Square Dance
Set Jan. 14
Dead
The annual Bryan - College
Station March of Dimes
square dance will be held in
DeWare Field House Jan. 14.
Everyone interested in
square dancing- and the March pf
Dimes is invited. The dance is
being sponsored by the Promenad-
ers Club of College Station. All
talent and refreshments are being-
donated.
The following committee has
been appointed to make final ar
rangements for the dance. Mrs. R.
R. Lyle is Committee chairman and
Joe Mogford, co-chairman.
Mr. and Mrs. Manning Smith are
in charge of the program; co-chair
man, Sam Kennedy. Dr. Milton
Nance and Lewis Haupt are in
charge of finance. Dr. and Mrs.
H. A. Luther, Dr. and Mrs. George
Potter, Mrs. Lewis Haupt and
members of the Pi-omenaders Club
are in charge of hospitality.
Mrs. L. R. Richardson, Mrs.
Palmer Barker and Mrs. J. C. Gold
smith Jr., refreshments; Mrs. Ran
Boswell, R. R. Lyle and Bryan Rec
reational Club, concessions; Mrs.
Richard Downwai-d and Mrs. Don
ald Burchard, publicity and Ewing
Brown, arrangements, completes
the committee.
“In addition to helping others,
all attending will have an evening
of entertainment, dancing and re
freshments,” said Mrs. Richard
Downward, publicity chairman. The
dance begins at 7:JO p.m.
IAES Adds New
4-H €lub Leader
Peggy Lou Wilsford, assistant
county home demonstration agent
in Tarrant County since July 1954,
has joined the headquarters staff
of the Agricultural Extension Serv
ice as an assistant state 4-H Club
leader. She will be located at Col
lege Station.
Miss Wilsford is a native of
Grayson and a graduate of North
Texas State College. She was a
4-H Club member for eight years,
and in college was a member of
Phi Epsilon Omicron, an honorary
and professional home economics
fraternity.
Silver Taps Held
Here Last Night:
Richard
Burlin
Norman Scott Daigle
Jan David Broderick
Lawrence Welk
Town Hall Gives Bonus
Town Hall will present their
first bonus attraction of 1956
Thursday night with their presen
tation of Lawrence Welk and his
Champagne Music.
Welk comes to A&M boasting the
highest Hooper rating of the cur
rent popular television shows and
Student Activities Office predicted
that this will be the most popular
program to be seen here in quite
a while.
Recently completing a tour
Skrabanek Attends
Di\ R. L. Skr-abanek of the De
partment of Agricultural Econom
ics & Sociology recently attended
a meeting in Chicago of the Inter
regional Land Tenure Research
Committee. Purpose of the meet
ing was to formulate plans for the
1956 Land Tenure Research Work
shop and to consider possibilities
of future research in the field of
land tenure.
Forestry Program
Offered at A&M
There’s good news for young
Texans who want to follow a career
in forestry, according to Dr. Ver
non A. Young, head of the Range
and Forestry Department.
"You may now obtain the first
“two yeai-s of training for an ac
credited forestry course of profes
sional calibre at A&M,” Dr. Young
said.
In addition, he added, “Each ac
credited foresti-y school of the
South has agreed to accept stu
dents from this two-year course,
permitting them to obtain degi-ees
in forestry upon completion of a
two-year program at the selected
school.”
through the midwest, Welk’s
“Champagne Music” bi'oke box-of
fice records in every city in which
they played. They appear over
ABC television network every Sat
urday night in their own one hour
show “Lawrence Welk and his
Champagne Music.”
Featured vocalist for Welk is
his “Champagne Lady,” Alice Lon.
A native Texan she attended high
school and junior college in Kil
gore where she was a member of
the famous Kilgore College Ran-
gei^ettes. She started her career
at the age of six, singing for civic
organizations and over the local
radio station. By the time she
was 10 years old she was appearing
on her own sponsored radio show.
Welk will bring to A&M what is,
according to manufacturers, the
most expensive accordian ever
made in the United States. Re
quiring a year to complete, the ac
cordian cost $5,000 and has some
14 automatic switches and an elec
tric volume control.
Welks’ home is North Dakota
whei’e he became interested in his
fathers’ accordian and this led to
his furnishing music for community
dances and the forming of his first
orchestra which was heard over
station WNAX in Yankton, S.D.
When Welk struck out for “big
time” he rose quickly to the front
and during the last seven years has
enjoyed an immense following—be
ing featured on all major radio
networks, scores of hit recordings
have carried his Label, Paramount
movie shorts have enabled thou
sands to enjoy “Champagne Mu
sic,” and now he is firmly estab
lished in TV.
The program is scheduled to be
gin at 8 p.m. and Town Hall sea
son tickets are good for the show.
Individual tickets can be purchased
at the Office of Student Activities
on the second floor of Goodwin Hall
and will also be on sale at the
dooi\ General admission tickets
for students will be $1 and $1.50
for non-students. Reserved seat
tickets are $1.50 and $2.50 for stu
dents and non-students respective
iy-
News of the World
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — France’s hopes of es
tablishing a stable government
have been doomed by an election
that nobody really won. Balloting
Monday by a record number of
Frenchmen only strengthened one
extremist party, established a new
one, and left no single party or
group of parties .powerful enough
to rule alone. Unofficial returns
last night from all of France and
Alice Lon, Champagne Enchanter
Sings Here Thursday Night With Lawrence Welk
some overseas precincts showed:
1. An impressive gain of 52 seats
in the National Assembly for the
Communists, the lai'gest single
French party. 2. A startling suc
cess — 49 seats — for the' antitax,
avowedly obstructionist followers
of Pierre Poujade. 3. An Assem
bly majority again split between
the left and right wings of the
center, moderate parties whose
leaders have been alternating in
short-lived, shaking coalition gov
ernments for years. This unre
solved sti’uggle of the center par
ties appears certain to push the
unwilling forcqs of Premiere Ed
gar Faure and ex-Premier Pierre
Mendes-France into each others
arms if they are to survive.
★ ★ ★
COLUMBUS, Ohio — All was
calm last night at the gates of
the Westinghouse Electric Corp.
plant here where strike violence
flarecl yesterday morning, send
ing eight persons to the hospital
and 88—including 12 women—to
jail. The mass demonstration
which brought the violence had
been called to protest the back-
to-work movement in which the
company said some 1,700 of the
4,000 hourly workers had return
ed to work at Columbus.
★ ★ ★
AUSTIN—Some type of federal
control over public schools is in
evitable unless local and state
school boards solve their own
problems, the State School Board
was told yesterday. Texas’ dele
gation took a stand opposing any
sort of federal aid and federal con
trol in the public school system.
A majority of the states’ delega
tions approved federal aid but not
federal control.
Announcemerits In
Activities Office
January graduates who order
ed announcements can pick them
up in the Office of Student Ac
tivities beginning at 1 this after
noon.
Students who did not order the
announcements and who would
like to have them should come to
the office, located on the second
floor of Goodwin Hall, and put
their name on the list for any
extras available.
According to W. D. (Pete)
Hardesty, business manager,
they should come by as soon as
possible, since only a limited
number of the extra announce
ments will be available.
Consol idated Exes
Form Association
The newly-organized A&M Con
solidated Alumni Association be
came a reality at a meeting of
more than 100 returned alumni
Christmas night.
A&M Consolidated School, orig
inating as a “step child of Texas
A&M College,” reached formal ma
turity at the Christmas night ses
sion, the second annual alumni re
union, when ex-students approved
plans for a formally organized ex
students association drafted by
Robert Lee Hunt, class of 1946.
Allan Madeley of College Sta
tion, class of 1939, is the first
president of the Association. Plans
for its first year of existence are
now under way.
Other officers who will serve
with Madeley include Lou Burgess
Cashior, ’49, vice-president; R. L.
Hunt, Jr., ’46, secretary-treasurer.
Fertilizer School
Opens Tomorrow
A Fertilizer Short Course will be
held by the A&M Agronomy De-
pai’tment tomorrow and Friday.
Registration will be in the Ser
pentine Lounge on the second floor
of the Memorial Student Center
from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow.
-Meetings will be in the Assembly
Room of the MSC. A banquet will
be held tomorrow night at 6:30 in
the MSC ballroom.
Silver Taps was held last nig’lit for three A&M students
killed during 1 the Christmas vacation. Two of the students,
Norman S. Daigle and Richard H. Burlin, died in a fiery
crash near Ellinger, about 12 miles east of La Grange on
highway 77, l3ec. 18.
The other student, Jan David Broderick, was killed by a
shot fired from a .38 caliber pistol early Saturday morning.
Ronald Edward Menter Sr., confessed slayer of the victim, em
was to be returned to Houston early today.
Menter is a former mental patient. He said he had
spent four months in a New Hampshire institution after a
nervous breakdown several years ago. The victim was shot
in the forehead at close range.*—
Broderick was a senior bus- A f-|f-|-g151 S § 1 a SYR1#* V*
iness administration m a j or
from the Panama Canal Zone.
He was found early Saturday
morning' about 50 feet from a
blacktop road near Hempstead, and
was still breathing when discover
ed. A clothing bag, blood-stained
pillow and a school book lay close
by.
Menter said, in a written state
ment, that he had met Broderick in
El Paso. They headed foi’ Hous
ton where the victim planned to
stay until school opened again.
He said they drank from a whis
key bottle and pulled off the main
highway near Hempstead. An ar
gument developed over buying beer
before going to sleep. Menter quo
ted Broderick as saying, “I ought
to shoot you.”
There were three loaded guns, all
belonging to Broderick, in the car,
Menter said.
“I picked up the .38 and fired
over my shoulder, shooting him in
the head,” Menter said.
Investigators said an autopsy
showed that the gun was held
against the victim’s hdad.
Hocks Guns
After the shooting, Menter said
he drove to Shreveport and hocked
the guns in a pawnshop there. He
later purchased a .25 caliber pistol
in Vicksburg, Miss.
He then drove on to Noi'folk,
Va., where he said he picked up two
women and two sailors. The two
women were with him when he was
arrested in Newark, N.J.
He was ai’rested when a Newark
motor vehicle inspection officer no
ticed a radio transaction between
Menter and a junk dealer. When
asked for his license, Menter gave
the officer that of Broderick’s but
was unable to give the correct birth
date listed on the license.
The slug recoveied from the vic
tim, will be used for ballistics com
parison.
A 17-yeai’-old girl identified the
slain student as her boyfriend. She
said she had met Broderick last
summer and had been going with
him ever since.
Funeral services were held yes
terday in St. Thomas Episcopal
Chapel for the 20-yeai’-old student.
He was buried in full dress uniform
with military honors. Seniors in
Company infantry, the slain ca
det’s unit, acted as pall bearers.
(See STUDENTS, Page 2)
For Kiwanians
Set for Monday
The 11th annual College
Station Kiwanis Club installa
tion banquet will be held at
7 p.m. Jan. 10, in the Memor
ial Student Center ballroom,
according to Joe Sorrels, chair
man of the Education and Fellow
ship Committee.
Main speaker for the event will
be Jim Bowmer of Temple, former
lieutenant governor of Division IX
of Kiwanis International. He will
be introduced by Sid Loveless of
College Station, also a former lieu
tenant governor.
“Tickets for the banquet are
$1.75 each,” said Sorrels, “and we
urge all members to bring their
wives and any guests.”
Officers to be installed include
Charles LaMotte, president; Woody
Briles, first vice-president; J. B.
Longley', second vice-president; K.
A. Manning - , sceretary; and Charles
Richardson, treasurer. Installing
officer will be Earl Huffer of
Huntsville, present lieutenant gov
ernor of Division IX.
Outgoing officers are Bob Cher
ry, president; LaMotte, vice-pres
ident; Briles, second vice-president;
Bob Shrode, secretary; and Ed
Ivy, treasurer.
Phone Numbers
Changed During
Aggie Holidays
The New Year in our area
finds everyone searching dil
igently through the phone
book to be sure to call the
right number. Numbers in
the area served by the Southwest-
States Telephone Company
Were changed to the new seven
digit metropolitan numbering plan
at 10 p.m. Dec. 28 of last year.
The new equipment in College
Station was formally cut into the
new system, with about 100 civil
leaders including city officials of
College Station and Bryan gather
ed for t;he ceremony at the recently
opened building on Sulphur Springs
road.
A&M Chancellor M. T. Harring
ton threw a switch; College Sta
tion Mayor Ernest Langford pulled
some fiber cards from the number
relays; woi kmen of the company
pulled out thousands more; and the
new Victor 6 exchange was in op
eration.
At the same hour Bryan phones
were put on the new system
through existing equipment, some
of which was installed 1’ecently.
Fbav number changes were made,
most of them having’ been taken
cai’e of when the equipment was
put in.
The switching for the seven-digit
system is in preparation for join
ing the inter-toll network which
goes into effect Feb. 5. This sys
tem is only one step removed from
eventual customer-toll dialing, ac
cording' to company officials. Op
erators will still put through long
distance calls, but with greater
speed and efficiency.
Weather Today
CLEAR
Continued clear and cool is the
general forecast for the College
Station area. Yesterday’s high of
72 degrees dropped to 34 degrees
last night. The temperature at
10:30 this morning was 55 degrees.
UT Graduate
Talented Shirley
Lands A&M Job
By BILL FULLERTON
Battalion Editor
A&M’s been called a lot of
names, but it has a new one now:
“A Place To Get Away From It
All.”
The pretty girl with the pony
tail haircut didn’t know she was
talking about A&M at the time
she made the above statement.
She merely meant that she wanted
to take a long vacation from school,
after getting her Baccalaureate De-
Miss Shirley Cannon
University of Texas Graduate Joins MSL
gree in speech at the University
of Texas.
Another prediction, or intention,
Miss Shirley Cannon told The Daily
Texan, UT’s student newspaper,
was “I’ll probably come back and
work on my Master’s Degree.”
Well, she did go back to the
University, but she didn’t stay—
and no one at A&M will have any
complaints. For Miss Cannon, who
turned 21 only six days ago, is the
new program consultant for the
Memorial Student Center.
She is just now beginning to get
acquainted with the job, and de
clined to make any observations
about Aggieland and future plans
in her work until a little more time
has elapsed. But A&M is not new
to her, since she appeared here last
year on the Intercollegiate Talent
Show. Her performance there, a
Spanish dance routine, endeared
her to the heart of the entire au
dience.
Miss Cannon’s talent is not con
fined to taking paid in shows; she
has been on the organizing and di
recting end of stage productions
also. She was an assistant to the
director for the annual Round-Up
Review at UT, and had charge of
organizing the Blue Bonnet Belles.
But she has said that she loves
show business, either being in the
shows or just watching them. Her
record at Texas would indicate that
probably the only watching she
was able to do was from the wings
—waiting to go on with her num
ber. *
Some of the activities she has
participated in include, besides last
year’s Talent Show here, Texas
Stars twirling team, Texanne tap-
dancing team. Union Charm Com-
(See SHIRLEY, Page 2)