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Today in the Batt
Federal Funds . . .P. 3
Navasota P. 4
Japan P. 5
Vol. 68 No. 45
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, November 19, 1974
Board hears report
TEA wants minority recruitment
By ROSE MARY TRAVERSO
Staff Writer
The recruiting of qualified minor
ity teachers by A&M Consolidated
School District was recommended
n a Texas Educational Agency
TEA) report presented to the Con
solidated School Board at its meet
ing Monday night.
The report shows that in 1965-66,
the first year of complete integra
tion, there were 75 Anglo and 12
Negro teachers. During the current
school year the district has emp
loyed 171 Anglo, one Mexican-
\merican and eight Negro teachers.
The TEA examination of faculty
and stall assignment within the dis
trict showed that the percentage of
minority teachers in each school is
substantially the same as the per
centage of minority teachers in the
district as a whole.
The report also stated that minor
ity participation in the extracurricu
lar activities is generally very high
but, there was no minority partici
pation in some school activities such
as cheerleading, yearlxmk stall and
the Paper Tiger stall'. There, was
minority participation in these or
ganizations in previous years.
The TEA suggested that capable
minority students be encouraged
through counseling to enroll in ad
vanced academic courses, since
there is presently minimal enroll
ment in advanced mathematics and
physics classes.
Other areas of concern to the
TEA were lack of department and
grade level heads, open-flamed un-
vented heaters in kindergarten
music/play rooms and poor mainte
nance of the middle school facility,
said Fred Hopson, school superin
tendent, who presented the TEA
findings.
Hopson said that department and
grade level heads would be hired “if
we can afford it.”
Explaining that the TEA inspec
tion was made on a rainy day. Hop-
son said that “poor maintenance” re
ferred to the muddy condition of the
Middle School’s cement floors. He
said the TEA representatives sug
gested tiling the floors.
The TEA representatives pointed
out that there were only two
magazines and no newspapers in the
elementary school libraries and the
libraries needed to “weed” out old
books, Hopson said.
The TEA complimented the con
dition of school libraries, the in
structional program and the “very
happy group of professionals who
enjoy their work and assignments,”
Hopson said.
In other action Monday the board
approved a proposal to issue free
passes for any school activity in the
district to all College Station resi
dents 65 years or older.
The program, called the Golden
Pass, would not cause any expense
or reduce the receipts the district is
currently receiving, Hopson said.
A contract for the TAMU Driver
Education Program which includes
a $7 per student price hike was ap
proved by the board.
Due to rising costs in all prog
rams, the students will pay $35 for
the “unique, multiphase program,”
Hopson said.
Other area schools’ and private
instructors’ courses, which do not
include the multiple-car driving
range, skid pad exercises or in
transit audio-visual sessions, begin
at $45 plus, Hopson said.
A directive to the school superin
tendent that the collection of
$124,437 in delinquent taxes be
pursued by “whatever legal means
are available” was passed by the
board. Scheduled with the collec
tion of taxes is a loan for $60,000 to
meet payroll and operating ex
penses.
The loan, which will be repaid by
Dec. 1, will be the last one of its
kind necessary, Hopson said.
A recommendation by the Policy
Committee that the building use fee
schedule be rewritten rather than
changing existing policies was ac
cepted by the board.
Youth, civic or community
oriented organizations will be
charged lower rates than commer
cial groups or those without a tax
exemption certificate for use of the
buildings.
During the last year, the district
received about $500 from youth
groups but at the new rates about
$55 is expected, said Nancy
Donaldson, committee chairman.
Since records of the building fees
previously collected are incom
plete, predicting how much differ
ence the reduced rates will make
“involves a lot of guesswork, ” Hop-
son said.
Bell Co. executive
tells of corruption
in suicide message
Fred Hopson, A&M Consolidated school superinten
dent.
Texas' porno law
faces federal panel
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — South
western Bell Telephone Co.’s top
executive in Texas left a suicide note
which said, “Watergate is a gnat
compared to the Bell system, an
attorney said Monday.
The note was left by T. O. Gravitt
of Dallas, who was Southwestern
Bell vice president for Texas until
he took his life by carbon monoxide
poisoning Oct. 17.
San Antonio attorney Pat
Malone, who represents the Gravitt
family, first confirmed the existence
of the letter and its author. Con
tacted by The Associated Press,
James H. Ashley of San Antonio, a
dismissed Bell executive who was a
friend of Gravitt, confirmed the
contents.
Gravitt was under investigation
by his company at the time of his
death. Ashley was subsequently
fired in the same investigation.
Now, Ashley and Gravitt’s family
have filed a $25 million damage suit
against Southwestern Bell, accusing
the company of conspiracy which
resulted in Gravitt’s death.
Ashley said the Gravitt family
brought him the letter, which has
been turned over to attorneys.
“You might say the late Mr.
Gravitt gave me my game plan.
We ll see how good it is in court,”
said Maloney of Gravitt’s letter.
“But I really am inclined to think
that a man like Gravitt, making his
last statement on this earth, would
have little reason to lie.”
The letter makes specific refer
ences to alleged Bell contributions
to politicians, to lofty Bell execu
tives using company jets for per
sonal affairs and to a political slush
fund to be used by executives who
were given salary raises.
It is handwritten.
Gravitt, 51, composed the letter
in the study of his Dallas home and
left it there. The next morning, he
shut the garage door, climbed into
his car and turned on the ignition.
Tasty competition
The “Eat the Hell out of Rice Kris-
pies” contest was sponsored by the
MSC Council as a special project,
Friday before the Rice game. Col.
Thomas R. Parsons, Corps com
mandant, competed in the event.
Judging was based on who could eat
the most Rice Krispies in a set time
limit. (Photo by Jack Holm)
A panel of three federal judges in
Houston, which will determine the
future of the Adult Library Club and
14 other Texas clubs through a re
view of the state’s obscenity law,
questioned attorneys for law en
forcement agencies Friday.
The federal judge’s opinion is ex
pected in about two weeks.
The Adult Library Club bad been
closed for about a year after police
raids and county court orders. It has
recently re-opened after a restrain
ing order was issued in September
by a federal district court in Hous
ton barring law enforcement agen
cies from making raids and taking
any other action against the chibs.
The panel’s ruling will affect State
court cases pending against the
operators of theaters and bookstores
for adults in College Station, Au
stin, San Antonio, Beaumont, San
Angelo, Fort Worth, Wichita Falls
and Dallas.
Managing Judge John Singleton
questioned the lawyers represent
ing the police on attempts made to
suppress the sales of sexual materi
als.
Lawyers on both sides predicted
any decision by the panel would be
appealed all the way to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Arguments Friday tried to pin
point police enforcement of pornog
raphy laws. They centered on ob
taining search warrants, seizing
materials and the threat of tempor
ary injunctions against club ac
tivities until the law is decided
upon. The judges questioned the
charging of movie house operators
with showing obscene materials and
again for the use of a “criminal
instrument”—the movie projector.
Singleton questioned the Bexar
County District Attorney Keith
Burris about the seizing of the film
projectors from the Fiesta Theater,
which was showing “Deep Throat. ”
“In a book case would you have to
have the linotype in evidence in
order to test the obscenity of the
book?” Singleton asked.
Burris said seizing the projectors
was necessary for the state’s case.
Singleton replied, “You say in
order for the state to make a case on
the film they have to make a seize on
the projector?”
“Yes sir,” said Burris.
“Inconceivable!” Singleton said.
It s a long way from Gastonia...
and Earl Scruggs is still movin
Briscoe
Cash questioned
By KEN STROEBEL
Special to the Batt
Earl Scruggs has come a long way
from Gastonia. It was in that North
Carolina town that the 15-year-old
Cleveland County native first per
formed on radio.
And he’s not through making
tracks yet. Currently on a five-day
tour, Scruggs is visiting the enter
tainment capitals of the nation—Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Boulder
and last Friday evening, College
Station, Tex.
But the G. Rollie White Col
iseum audience found him different
from the Earl Scruggs that invented
Bluegrass and for two decades kept
it alive and well and living in the
South.
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Dolph
Briscoe has been ordered to appear
in state district court in connection
with a $15,000 cash contribution he
received during his 1972 election
campaign.
Briscoe, in a deposition taken last
week and made available Monday to
The Associated Press, said he did
not report the donation from South
Texas rancher-banker Clinton
Manges because he intended to give
it back. The money was never used,
the governor said.
T want to make this point,” Bris
coe told The Associated Press Mon
day night. “If I had it to do again, I
would do the same thing.
“I’m convinced I was right in not
accepting the money. It has not
been utilized in any campaign or for
any other purpose and I’m con
vinced I did the right thing,” he
said.
Briscoe said the original cash is
held by his attorney, Joe Reynolds
of Houston. Reynolds supplied a
transcript of the deposition to The
AP.
Contents of the deposition were
mentioned in an affadavit filed
Monday in 53rd District Court by
Terrence O’Rourke and Reymond
Needham, lawyers for Frances
Farenthold in her election law viola
tion suit against Briscoe.
Mrs. Frenthold is seeking $2.5
million in damages from Briscoe
under the new campaign disclosure
law. She alleges Briscoe received
contributions for his 1974 election
campaign before appointing a cam
paign manager as required by the
new law.
Her lawyers seek to make the
1972 Manges contribution a part of
the case, Reynolds said.
Reynolds told the AP: “There is
no violation of the law . . . none
whatever. Briscoe never accepted
the money and the guy Manges said
he’d take it back. Manges was sup
posed to have picked it up. ”
Mrs. Farenthold’s attorney,
O’Rouke, asked state District Court
Judge Herman Jones, in the Mon
day affadavit, to order Briscoe to
protect the cash and preserve it
from any alteration.
Jones ordered Briscoe to appear
in court before 9 a.m. Nov. 25 to
show why O’Rouke’s motion should
not be granted. Briscoe could send
his attorney to court, however, and
does not have to appear personally.
Manges, a prominent rancher-
banker, has a long association with
(See CAMPAIGN, page 4)
Earl Scruggs
“I had been doing the same thing
for 20 years,” Scruggs said. “That
was really what got me so impatient
with Bluegrass music. I suddenly
realized I was very stale. Unless
you’re happy with what you’re
doing, you’re not gonna project
yourself excitedly.”
“I felt I had gone as far as I could
go with the type of music I was play
ing a few years ago,” he said. “Until
I formed the Earl Scruggs Revue, I
was practically playing the same
numbers night after night, that I
had been playing for the past 15
years or so. I just feel the banjo is an
instrument that can be used in many
forms of music if you phrase it cor
rectly. So, I added drums and elec
tric instruments to the group to give
it a more modem sound.”
And the instrumentalists,
Scruggs said, weren’t exactly stran
gers. On electric bass, harmonica,
guitar, spokesman and lead singer is
Earl’s son, Gary. Also on guitar,
five-string banjo and slide guitar is
son, Randy. Earl’s youngest son,
Steve, plays rhythm guitar, bass
guitar and banjo. Drummer, Jody
Maphis, lives near the Scruggs’
home. Josh Graves, who is known as
the world’s best dobro guitarist,
serves to link the present with the
past in country music.
This arrangement is advantage
ous, says Scruggs. “With six
months’ experience together, we
were as good as a band that might
have worked together for several
years.” And, Scruggs said, “The
boys are quite talented and I don’t
say that just to be bragging. They
are good. ”
That becomes evident when the
Revue takes the stage. Their music
is fast, rollicking and varied, from
gospel to boogey. The blues from
Gary’s harmonica are the bluest
sounds since the SMU game and
Daddy Earl’s left hand sprints up
the banjo neck as his other fingers
run in place.
Earl is featured in a couple more
square dance club recruiters on the
five-string. Then there it is, unmis-
takeable formula blues, complete
with a Ray Charles-type piano part:
Everybody wants to laugh, nobody
wants to cry,
Everybody wants to laugh, nobody
wants to ciy.
Everybody wants to go to heaven,
nobody wants to die.
“Randy’s gonna retune his acous
tic guitar,” announces Gary,
“and play another song which ap
peared on the Kansas State album.
It was written several years ago by a
lady named Joni Mitchell.
It’s phenomenal: Hundreds of
Ags, clearly impatient for the in
evitable “Foggy Mountain Break
down,” warm to “Both Sides Now, ”
even after the mention of Kansas.
Then the Revue does a number
“named from a community in which
we were born and raised. It s called
the ‘Flint Hill Special . The Revue
launches into another fast one, with
Gary romping on the guitar, if one
may romp on the guitar, then it’s
Earl’s turn, then Gary ’s harmonica,
then Earl again, then the
whooping-s tom ping-yelling en
semble again.
Now it’s Steve’s turn. “Steve’s
gonna take the banjo and right aftei
I was bom he wrote a song that was
called Earl’s Breakdown’. And
Gary leaves you wondering if
there’s a connection. As Steve’s
right hand becomes a controlled
blur, there’s time to notice his blue
jeans are flared. His denim shirt is
embroidered too, but not to the ex
tent of his banjo pickin’.
For one of the characteristics of
Bluegrass is a technique called im
provisation, which also charac
terizes Dixieland jazz. It involves
the performer beginning with a cen
tral, simple, well-known theme and
“going to town, or making up his
own ornamented variations as he
goes along.
Syncopation is also common to
the two types of music. This in
volves accenting a beat that would
not normally be emphasized. Music
from “The Sting” by Scott Joplin, for
example, is syncopated.
So the inference lingers that
Bluegrass evolved as a poor man’s
Dixieland, a jazz that somehow
lost—or gained—something on its
way to—or from—the farm.
By now, Steve’s banjo has turned
pink under the spotlight and a pair
of black headphones are bobbing
furiously behind the speaker boxes.
Then there’s only one song left.
“In 1948, announces Gary, “Dad
wrote a song. It was the first song he
ever wrote. And later it was used as
the theme for a movie. It’s called the
Foggy Mountain Breakdown’. ” The
whooping-stomping-yelling part
starts immediately, then dies^—a lit
tle. The Revue’s own music builds
to a feverish run as the clapping
starts.
Actor Warren Beatty called the
Scruggs residence to secure permis
sion to use that song for the theme to
“Bonnie and Clyde.” In 1969, Earl
was awarded a Grammy for it.
And he still doesn’t read music.
They play other songs but the re
collection of that ovation
lingers: Earl, squinting, reeling
away from the crowd, grinning to
the sons behind him. “Hoo-wee,”
he yells under the roar, wiping the
sweat from his brow.
Which prompts the memory of
something he said in the dressing
room with a cold, stale sack of
Whataburger french fries at his
elbow. T’ve been very thankful and
feel honored,” he said. T’ve been
very, very fortunate. It’s very nice
to be able to do what you want to do
when your kids get up and still do
what you like.”