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.
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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.
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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
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Sports Editor Paul McGrath
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