Brazos County rejects charter 3 to 1
%
V
ts!
By STEVE GRAY
City Editor
and
JACK HODGES
Battalion Staff Writer
[(was apparent last night around 9, at the
xas Data Center in Bryan, that the voters
Brazos County, by a margin of three to
, were overwhelmingly objecting to the
;ht-part revision of the Texas Constitu-
n.
Bidlot returns from across the state late
esday indicated that voters were reject-
;theproposed revision anywhere from a
three-to-one to a five-to-one margin.
A little more than a third of the regis
tered voters turned out in Brazos County,
with College Station voters generally favor
ing the amendments and Bryan residents
rejecting them.
It took only two hours for all the votes to
be tabulated with reporters and election
judges anxiously awaiting the final results.
As each precinct turned in its votes, the
defeat of the proposed revision in the
county became more evident.
County Judge William Ft. Vance, who
said he was generally in favor of the new
constitution, said he thought the vote
would be a little closer. Vance, who spent
most of the night at the data center observ
ing the tabulation process, said the voter
turnout was higher than he had antici
pated.
“I was more disappointed that the judi
cial article failed than I was that the local
government proposition was defeated,
Vance said Tuesday night. “I think it will be
interesting to see how Brazos County com
pares with the rest of the state when all of
the returns are in.
Joe R. Barron, presiding election judge.
said last night for the first time that he was
opposed to the revision.
“I was against the proposed new con
stitution because it mixed the good with the
bad, Barron said. He said that he was not
surprised that the amendments were voted
down, but that they might pass in some of
the more “liberal cities.
The voter turnout was as good as ex
pected but it wasn’t as good as it should
have been, he said.
There were 778 ballots cast out of 1,923
registered voters in precinct 12 at Sul Ross
Elementary School in Bryan, which had
the largest number of voters of any precinct
in that city.
With 40 per cent of the registered voters
voting, the separation of power and finance
provisions drew the widest margins of de
feat.
At precinct 12, 227 people voted for, and
549 voted against the separation of powers
provision. The finance provision failed with
233 for and 535 against.
Precinct nine in College Station re
flected the highest voter turnout, about 40
per cent, with 696 votes cast out of 1,731
registered voters.
Precinct 20 voters, at the Texas A&M
University Center voted in favor of all eight
propositions, showing 615 ballots cast out
of 2,213 registered voters. The judiciary
and the voting-election provisions won by
the widest margins of more than 3 to 2.
All eight propositions were favored in
precinct 20 by a margin of 3 to 2.
There were 160 absentee votes in the
county which turned down all eight propos
itions. The finance and the local govern
ment provisions lost by the widest margins
of about 3 to 2.
(See p. 3 for how C.S. precincts voted.)
Cbe Battalion
Vol. 69 No. 38
Copyright < 1973, The Battahon
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1975
Jfexans uphold past
State keeps old charter
P.M.
to
circle
Associated Press
[Armies of Texans defended their
ntury-old constitution Tuesday, beating
ck with cannonades of votes costly and
atedefforts to revise the aged document.
Unquestionably, voters smashed the
oposed constitutional revision with
wdsides ranging from 5-1 opposition in
ftal areas to 2-1 in metropolitan districts.
Bit was a balloon launched in part by Lt.
Bv. Bill Hobby, who conceded early in
Bening vote counting that the issue was
Bing down in flames.
B The voters of Texas have rejected five
lars of effort directed toward constitu
te nal revision by as decisive a margin as
lyone could imagine,’ Hobby said. “It
Is a good fight but we lost."
■ With 1,111,712 of the expected 1.2 mill-
11 statewide votes counted, the measure
down by a 3-1 margin. Although rural
|;a voters voted against the constitution
p Dposal in greater numbers, tbe opposi-
ti n was evident in metropolitan and rural
;as alike from the Gulf Coast to the
Irthem blackland prairies, from the de
ft west to forested eastern sections of the
e.
hese were the latest returns today from
il ? Texas Election Bureau with 244 of 254
I unties reporting, 231 complete:
HProp. 1 legislative-executive — for
jj8,064, against 823,648.
Prop. 2 judiciary — for 314,962, against
|2,464.
Prop. 3 voting — for 308,348, against
,500.
Prop. 4 education — for 304,705, against
3,291.
Prop. 5 finance — for 279,789, against
826,737.
Prop. 6 local government — for 293,059,
against 811,313.
Prop. 7 general — for 292,518, against
813,505.
Prop. 8 amending provisions — for
306,988, against 797,489.
With 102,000 votes counted, Dallas
County defeated the revision measure 2-1.
It was running 3-1 behind in Harris Coun
ty-
Jefferson County defeated all eight
propositions by a 2-1 vote. Lubbock turned
thumbs down at a rate of 4-1.
State Sen. Peyton McKnight, D-Tyler,
was one of the more vocal opponents of
constitutional revision. McKnight spoke
often and spoke loudly. On learning of its
defeat, he said, “If there is any lesson we
should have learned from this election it is
that the people have a right to impose re
straints upon their government and they
still want to do so.
The issue of a new state constitution in
many ways boiled down to simple conser
vative and liberal politics. Conservatives
fearful of more governmental authority and
more state spending tended to shy away
from the idea of revising the constitution.
Liberals who expect and demand more
governmental activity tended to favor revi
sion. But there were clear cut ironies: Fr
ances “Sissy” Farenthold, one of the state’s
best known liberal apostles, opposed the
constitutional change. Yet, law and order
defender Atty. Gen. John Hill favored it.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of
the revision was the proposal to recreate
state agencies every 10 years, giving the
90
80
5
■ampus
|A NEW REFRIGERATOR contract
a student campus planning advisory
%imittee are two of the major topics at
I night s Student Senate meeting. The
Meeting will begin at 7:30 p. m. in room 224
| the Harrington Center.
KEN ROBINSOr?, Student legal ad-
or, will speak Thursday at 7:30 in Room
II in Rudder. He will speak on the rights
[icl responsibilities of the tenant and
rtment leases.
•
ROBERT S. STRAUSS, democratic
itional committee chairman, will speak
ursday at 8 p.m. in the Rudder Theater,
ission will be 25 cents for students and
I for non-students. Strauss will speak on
| s partv strategies for the 1976 election.
•
JASON & THE ARGONAUTS, pre-
nted by Cepheid Variable, will be shown
luirsday at 8 p.m. in Room 701 in Rudder
[JIM STAFFORD AND DAVE LOG-
|NS will perform Friday at 8 p.m. in
ihite Coliseum. Tickets may be obtained
1 the Rudder Box Office.
•
| THE ARTS & CRAFTS FAIR will be
Id Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday at
|i.m.-12p.m. in the Rudder Center Mall.
•
AGGIE BLOOD DRIVE SIGN-UP is
[ednesday and Thursday in the MSC,
3isa Dining Hall, and Military Quad.
•
THE DEDICATION of Mosher and
Iton Halls will be held Saturday at 9 a.m.
le Century Singers will perform.
•
A LIL ABNER DANCE will be held at
|e Pavillion Hall at 8 p.m. Saturday. Ad-
lission will be $2 per couple.
THE STUDENT SENATE has posi
tions open for 1 senator from the Davis-
Gary-Moses-Moore area and 3 for off-
campus graduate students. Anyone wish
ing to apply should go by Room 216 M SC or
call 845-3051.
National
governor and the legislature more control
over some 200 state agencies. McKnight
argued forcefully that each agency would
be in a position of lobbying to keep his
agency in existence rather than devoting
energy to performing the agency’s primary
tasks.
The present constitution was approved
in 1876 and represented the will of a people
climbing from the abyss of reconstruction
following the Civil War. Texans, victimized
and frustrated under carpetbagger rule,
took the first opportunity to create a gov
ernment with as little authority over their
lives as possible.
Gov. Dolph Briscoe said in Dallas last
week that 25 years ago — as a much
younger man — he had favored revision of
the constitution but came later to the con
clusion that Texas had grown and pros
pered under the constitution through the
1950s and 1960s.
The proposals called for annual, rather
than biennial, sessions of the legislature.
Former Texas Supreme Court Justice
Robert W. Calvert said it makes no sense to
budget two years in advance for a $6
billion -a-year govern men t.
But on the lips of many Texans was the
old quotation: “No man s life, liberty or
property are safe while the legislature is in
session.
Hundreds of thousands of Texans re
peated it at the voting booths Tuesday.
yy -
*-z i- * -1
Radio plane
Allan Swanson (R) hands Rodney Tanamachi a syringe
full of fuel for the remote control airplane which Rodney
huilt himself. The plane took 30 hours to build and can
be controlled from the ground as long as it can be seen in
the sky; it coasts to the ground when the fuel is consumed.
Photo by Glen Johnson
Fromme fires counsel, runs defense
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lynette
Fromme, denied permission to change her
plea from innocent to no contest, will argue
her own case against the charge that she
tried to kill President Ford.
Miss Fromme fired her court-appointed
co-counsel Tuesday on the first day of her
trial after he, the prosecutor and U. S. Dis
trict Court Judge Thomas MacBride re
fused to accept the plea switch.
MacBride told the 27-year-old Manson
devotee that she would have to question
witnesses herself and make her own open
ing and closing argument with a “stand-by
attorney to advise her.
“I think she’s foolish to try to represent
herself,” MacBride told Miss Fromme’s
co-counsel, John Virga. “But if she wants to
do this it is certainly within her rights.
Miss Fromme is accused of attempting to
assassinate Ford as he walked to the state
Capitol Sept. 5. Officers say they took a
loaded .45-caliber pistol away from her
after she pointed it at the President from
about two feet away.
She is the first person to be charged and
tried under a 1965 federal law against at
tempted murder of a president. The law
was passed after the 1963 assassination of
President John F. Kennedy. If convicted,
she could be sentenced to life in prison.
MacBride ruled at a pretrial hearing that
Miss Fromme could act as her own attor
ney, but he named Virga as her co-counsel.
Virga had handled most of the case since
then.
Shortly after jury selection began Tues
day morning. Miss Fromme rose from the
defense table and approached MacBride’s
bench.
“Your honor, these people cannot judge
me, she said of the potential jurors. “They
can only judge themselves.
“My family judges me,’ she said, refer
ring to her association with the Charles
Manson clan.
After a pause, she told a stunned cour
troom, “I find it necessary to change my
plea to nolo contendre.
A no contest plea is the equivalent of
accepting a conviction and its penalties
without formally admitting guilt.
She did not elaborate on why she wanted
to make the change, but her roommate and
sister Manson follower, Sandra Good, told
reporters:
“To go through the trial is just a farce.
Society threw away the right to a fair trial
when Manson and four followers were con
victed of murdering actress Sharon Tate
and six other persons.
Miss Good said that Miss Fromme
wanted to use her trial to give the Manson
clan a chance to defend itself against the
Tate slayings and wanted Manson to repre
sent her.
It was not known if Miss Fromme had
asked MacBride to allow Manson to take
part in the trial.
MacBride and U. S. Atty. Dwayne Keyes
both refused to accept the plea change.
Keyes said he and the judge would have
had to agree to the no contest plea before it
would have been allowed.
Virga said he had not been told by Miss
Fromme that she planned to request a plea
change, but he said he, too, opposed it.
“It’s not applicable, Virga said of a no
contest plea. “It’s designed for a civil case
where you are trying to avoid civil liabili-
ty-
NEW YORK MAYOR ABRAHAM
BEAME accused President Ford today of
offering a cop-out, not a cure for New York
City’s fiscal ills. He said Ford, in criticizing
New York, ignored the city’s budget
cutting record. He listed payroll deduc
tions, halts in city construction and closings
of municipal facilities. He promised further
money-saving measures, including a
change in the free university system’s
financing and more hospital closings.
•
NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER decided
to withdraw as President Ford’s possible
1976 running mate because he has become
increasingly frustrated as his advice on
programs is ignored and his disagreement
on policy has grown. Republican sources
say.
Meanwhile, Senator Barry Goldwater,
R-Ariz., says Rockefeller’s withdrawal
should lead Ronald Reagan to reassess his
plans to challenge Ford.
Some past and present intelligence offi
cials expressed disappointment with Ford s
choice of George Bush to succeed William
E. Colby as head of the CIA.
•
THE SPANISH ARMY increased bor
der patrols in the Spanish Sahara today as
Moroccan officials vowed to go ahead with
the march of 350,000 unarmed civilians
into the country following the failure of
negotiations in Madrid.
Most of the troops stationed in the ter
ritorial capital have been sent north toward
the Moroccan border to repel the Moroc
can marchers gathered in Tarfaya, 18 miles
north of the border.
Judge’s ruling pending
on Patty’s mental state
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Patricia Hearst,
described by her attorney as mentally
^’crippled and by a prosecutor as “fully
competent,” awaits a judge s ruling on her
mental competence to stand trial.
U. S. District Court Judge Oliver J. Car
ter calls it “a most difficult and most com
plex question to decide,” but he promises
to make the decision by Friday.
In the interim, Carter said he will re
examine “in great detail three voluminous
reports by the psychiatric panel which
examined Miss Hearst. He called the
documents “complex and extremely ver
bose.
One report concludes that Miss Hearst
was “literally a prisoner of war for 20
months” and is suffering from a “traumatic
neurosis, her attorney said.
But U.S. Atty. James Browning Jr. in
sisted that none of the reports showed her
to be incompetent to stand trial im
mediately on federal charges of taking part
in a bank robbery while she was a fugitive
with the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Miss Hearst has not yet entered a plea on
the charges.
Miss Hearst, in court for the first time in
six weeks for her competence hearing
Tuesday, was pale but alert. She wore a
plain brown pants suit and her hair hung
limply to her shoulders. Blank-faced at her
previous court sessions, she was more ani
mated Tuesday, whispering and chatting
with her attorneys.
Miss Hearst’s parents, Randolph and
Catherine Hearst, sat in the front row of the
courtroom with daughters Vicki and Ann.
But Patricia, seated at the counsel table,
showed no reaction to their presence.
“She is making progress, visible prog
ress,” attorney F. Lee Bailey said later.
Bailey, in his first court appearance for
the newspaper heiress, read the “prisoner
of war” description from the report by Dr.
L. J. West, a specialist in brainwashing
after-effects.
The psychiatric reports themselves re
main secret but were open to court discus
sion.
Bailey disclosed that West recom
mended three to four months of psychiatric
treatment for the 21-year-old defendant.
Another panel member. Dr. Seymour Pol
lack of the University of Southern Califor
nia, recommended 30 to 90 days of treat
ment, Bailey said.
Recommendations by the third panel
member, Dr. Donald Lunde of Stanford
University, were not disclosed. Clinical
psychologist Margaret Thaler Singer also
filed a lengthy report on clinical tests con
ducted on Miss Hearst.
Bailey urged the judge to commit Miss
Hearst to a mental hospital for at least 30
days and then reevaluate her condition be
fore setting a trial date.
Bailey has predicted that Miss Hearst’s
trial on the bank robbery charges will not
begin until 1976. She faces another even
tual trial in Los Angeles on state charges of
kidnaping, assault and robbery.
Guarneri Quartet
The Guarneri Quartet performed night to a sparse audience,
in the Rudder Theatre Tuesday Photo by Winnie