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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 1975)
Page 2 THE BATTALION TUESDAY, OCT. 28, 1975 Changes may help 'old news' problem A little boy and a lawyer The story of Sul Ross and Richard Coke By DON MIDDLETON and JOHN ADAMS years'^ Texas to hang up his shingle. The colleague was none other than the U.S. Senator from Texas Sam Hous- By ROXIE HEARN Assistant Editor The Ombudsman is a reader service that fields questions, complaints or comments about The Battalion. This column is a discus sion of calls and letters received throughout the week. the night before. This includes arti cles announcing future activities, humorous stories, most editorial For years The Battalion has re ceived complaints about how “old the news is before it reaches print. Although we 11 never give you the news as quickly as radio and televi sion, a change we re undergoing may help a little. material and general features. All other articles (especially those from Associated Press) will be completed the next morning, so the latest up date can be included. The papers will still be on the newsstands between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, but they’ll now include events that became news just a few hours before. Next week the newspaper is start ing a new morning system of pro duction. Right now, all stories are written and edited, all photos prepared and all pages designed the evening before the paper comes out. Usually, The Battalion hits the newsstands at 3 o’clock in the after noon, give or take an hour. This means some stories are almost 12 hours old before they reach print. Another change The Battalion is planning is an increase in produc tion days. Presently, it is published Tuesday through Friday — four is sues per week. In the near future we hope to add at least one more day, Monday. This move will also in crease our timeliness. For example, we won’t have to run weekend hap penings four days after they take place. Will all Aggies who are unfamiliar with the names Lawrence Sullivan Ross and Richard Coke please stand up? Those of you who are standing now have two choices. One, defend yourselves from the wrath of those still sitting or; two, read on and begin to learn about the two men who together did more for Texas A&M than anyone before or since. The story begins on a hot summer day in 1850. The setting is the newly-founded settlement of Waco Village, Texas. On the steps of the Waco House Hotel a curly-headed boy of twelve sat and talked with a 21-year-old newcomer to Texas. The topic of conversation was a horse race that was due to begin on the main street of Waco. Under the new system, only the articles that don t rely upon de veloping events will be completed This week there have also been some staff changes within the news paper, including a change of Sports Editors. A news story explaining the changes appears on page 3 today. The boy, a veteran jockey himself in spite of his tender years, ex pounded his views on the sport of racing while the young man, a lawyer recently graduated from William and Mary College, listened with interest. The Waco House was owned by a gentleman named Capt. Shapely P. Ross. It was the captain’s son, Lawrence Sullivan, who gave the Virginia barrister, Richard Coke, his first lesson in the manly sport of horse racing. “Little Sul,” as his friends called him, was born in Bentonsport, Iowa, in 1838. His father, a rugged frontiersman, brought the Ross fam ily to Texas in 1839. The family came to Waco in 1849 where Capt. Ross acted as Indian Agent and proprietor of the town’s only hotel. Lawrence Sullivan Ross grew up in the same way that his father had, fighting Indians, racing horses and adventuring in the hostile environ ment of the Texas frontier. Small of stature and genteel of appearance, he was respected as a man of courage from his early youth. Ross was educated at Baylor Col lege in Independence, Texas, and at Wesleyan University in Florence, Alabama. Upon his graduation from Wesleyan in 1859, he returned to Texas where he was placed in com mand of a company of Texas Ran gers. At the age of twenty, he was pro moted to the rank of Captain by Gov. Sam Houston. It was L. S. ton. Ross who killed Comanche chief Beta Nocona in hand-to-hand com bat and recaptured Cynthia Ann Parker from the Indian tribe. In contrast to the frail-looking Ross was six-feet, three-inch, 240- pound Richard Coke. Coke was brought up and educated in the style of a refined Easterner. He re ceived his law degree in 1849 and traveled to Washington, D.C., to ask his uncle, a U.S. Senator, for advice on job opportunities. Uncle Richard introduced nephew Dick to a Senate colleague who advised the young man to go to So Coke came to Texas to set up his practice, aiding settlers in land disputes and sowing the seeds that eventually grew into the governor ship of Texas. Coke and Ross became fast friends the moment they met on the steps of Captain Shapely s hotel. And what an unlikely pair they made. Coke the Easterner, a gruff giant of a man who was slovenly in dress and gentle in behavior. Peace- loving by nature, he served with quiet distinction in the Civil War achieving the rank of captain. Often he was awkward in his dealings wit people, and he rose to power j Texas by his determination alone Ross, the Texas Frontiersna was a prim and proper gentleiw who was always attired accordingl the* latest fashion. A fearlesssolditi his prowess on the battlefieldsoftli Civil War earned him national fan and the rank of brigadier general; the age of twenty-seven. Lawrence Sullivan Ross sucoe in Texas politics was largely duel his popularity and reputation as hero. Both men played integral parts; the success of Texas A&M. Ini next couple of weeks well beeipla ing deeper into the lives ofRicliu Coke and Lawrence Sullivan Roa LADIES Part 5 of 9 Voting and election amendment Associated Press AUSTIN, Tex. — Texas new constitutional proposal on voting and elections is as simple as a check mark on a ballot. “Short, sweet and clear,” proc laims constitutional expert John Bebout of the University of Hous ton. “Simplicity itself,” says another consultant, former Yale law profes sor George Braden. In contrast to the proposed suf frage article — proposition No. 3 on the Nov. 4 ballot — a new sec tion on future constitutional revi- quirement. “It is illogical to call for change and then make change difficult, ” he says. Another criticism is that the sec tion is simply not needed. If voters rejected the entire article on amending the constitution, the only thing they apparently would lose would be a new provision re quiring the legislature to ask the voters at least once every 30 years whether they want a convention to consider more constitutional changes. law is a qualified voter unless the person has been convicted of a felony and for that felony is incarc erated, on parole, or on probation or unless the person is mentally in competent as determined by a court.” carries forward a tenet of democra tic government: “Voting by the people in all elec tions must be by secret ballot.” Richard S. Coke. Archives Courtesy LTniversity HMBraBI Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Courtesy Uni versity Archives. The Texas AFL-CIO recom mended that its members support the proposal, calling it a “liberalized voter qualification ar ticle. Special News Analysis Series sion, proposition No. 8, gets a fail ing grade. Botched-up, comments Beb out. “One of the worst constitutional convention sections ever prop osed, echoes Braden. On the proposed suffrage article, a liberal-conservative split har dened over the voting rights of convicted criminals. Conservatives generally felt that criminals should be prohibited forever from voting, and liberal argued that allowing criminals to vote — after they had served their sentence — was im portant in the rehabilitation pro- The legislature, however, may impose “additional limitations” to voting, just as it can do under the current constitution. ENGINEERS OVERSEAS JOBS PEACE CORPS SIGN UP NOW * 10TH FLOOR RUDDER TOWER FOR AN INTERVIEW AND AN INFO PACK ON CAMPUS NOVEMBER 3-6 Extensive language on residency and registration requirements, as well as a prohibition against “paup ers” voting, was deleted because it has been held unconstitutional. The legislature would have so much control over a convention that it could, for example, instruct the convention to revise every thing except the section in the con stitution on the legislature. The Texas Civil Liberties Union said, “It is our belief that the rein tegration into the community of paroled felons and persons receiv ing probated sentences is a part of the rehabilitative process and should be of primary concern to the In an attem pt to stay a step ahead of the courts, however, constitu tional writers stated that the legis lature could restrict voting to prop erty owners in property tax or bond elections and special, limited elec tions that have a “disproportionate effect on property owners. state. A two-thirds vote would be re quired in a constitutional conven tion to submit proposed changes to the voters, and Braden notes that no other state has such a strict re- The proposed section reads: “A citizen of the United States who is at least 18 years old and who meets the registration and resi dence requirements provided by This is a tightrope area as the U.S. Supreme Court has invali dated restrictions in the present Constitution that only property owners may vote in local elections involving spending or borrowing money. What is probably of utmost im portance to Texas voters, however, is a simple 12-word declaration that Che Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the university administration or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community newspaper. Edito rial policy is determined by the editor. Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. HAVE YOU READ THE FINE PRINT IN YOUR HOMEOWNER'S POLICY? If you haven’t—then shouldn’t you be confident that your insurance agent has. We’ll be glad to go over the fine print in your poli cy with you. Bring it by 4101 Texas Avenue. a Anco Insurance SINCE 1873 4101 TEXAS AVE. BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION 846-8848 The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods. September through May, and once a week during summer school. LETTERS POLICY Mail subscriptions are $5.00 per semester; $9.50 per school year; $10.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guaran tee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the ivriter and list a telephone number for verifica tion. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatched credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein are also reserved. Copyright © 1975, The Battalion. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. -Members of the Student Publications Board are: Bob G. Rogers, Chairman; Dr. Gary Halter; Dr. John Hanna; Roger P. Miller; Dr. Clinton A. Phillips, Jeff Dunn, Tom Dawsey and Jerri Ward. Director of Student Publications: Gael L. Cooper. MEMBER The Associated Press, Texas Press Association Editor James Breed I o\ e Assistant Editor Roxie Hearn Production Manager . . . I C. Gallucci Cit> Editor Steve Cra\ Campus Editor Sandv Russo Sports Editor Paul McGrath Photograph) Director Jack Holm only *10, SAT-NOVI WURSTFEST Leaving Lot 00 at 1pm sign up f more info: sec desk RM216MSC beginning Wed Ocf 15 “Kings Point” isn’t a famous brand ... so they offer you a lot for your money! SC-20—$59.95 SC-33-$39.95 LOUPOT’S N0RTHGATE—ACROSS FROM THE POST OFFICE 5 1975 Application Calculators Incorporated University Calculator Center. 1101 T«X*5 You c, Wrang you tf in styl value, zip fla boasts and D Match bush j, self tie are me 100% cordur camel, brown 18. "h screen sweate 100% Camel sizes S long si man-tj printei 65% 4 35% n blue. S And tl washa IN I' ACRO PC a