J.S3b31Nl 3HJ.
r«
y'&^trs
aiqeueAe sueoi
-—- —- - - —- - - ——■ ■
‘Judge’ has mastered fine art of storytelling
Phoio by Lynn Blanco
“You might say that I’m a judge of good bourbon and feminine pulcritude (beauty). But that’s
the extent of the judge business,” says Arthur Stewart who teaches here.
‘‘I said, ‘Son, I can’t change your
By RHONDA WATTERS
Battalion Staff
Arthur Stewart, a lawyer who
teaches in the Management De
partment here, is probably the only
professor at Texas A&M University
that has more stories to tell to his
students than his students have to
tell him.
And after teaching about 25,000
students in 34 years, that’s a lot of
stories.
Known as the “Judge,” Stewart
is really not a judge. It’s a nickname
his students gave him years ago
that has carried over to the present.
“All my students call me Judge,”
Stewart said. “But I am not a judge,
I have never been a judge, nor do I
have any aspirations to be a judge.
“You might say that I’m a judge of
good bourbon and feminine pulcri
tude (beauty). But that’s the extent
of the judge business.”
Stewart said it’s not hard to ac
quire the nickname judge.
“Everybody and his dog that has
a law degree at one time or another
is called a judge. My definition of the
way it’s kicked around is any notary
public five miles from home is given
the title judge.”
Stewart got his pre-legal educa
tion at Texas A&M, then went to
Baylor for his law degree. After
practicing law for four years, he
went into the military.
When he was discharged from
the service, he was asked to take
over teaching some courses at
Texas A&M for the remainder of a
semester, and “I liked it so well I’ve
been here ever since.
“I had never taught anything in
my life except two years of Sunday
school at the First Baptist Church,”
Stewart said, with a laugh. “This
was certainly a new wrinkle to me.”
Stewart teaches two business
law courses and one veterinary
jurisprudence course, usually aver
aging a total of 400 students a
semester. He has received one Dis
tinguished Teaching Award and
two Outstanding Professor Awards
in his teaching career.
When Stewart entered Texas
A&M as a freshman in 1933, he was
a member of the Corps of Cadets.
His life as a cadet is a favorite
source for some of his stories.
“I was actually the worst military
student this institution had ever en
countered,” Stewart said. “I cut
such a terrible dido in that uniform
that when it came time for War De
partment inspection day, my lieute
nant said, ‘Stewart, we’ve taken
your pitiful case up with higher au
thority and we have decided to give
you a holiday. Just don’t show up on
the campus. Here’s a dollar, go to a
movie. The likes of you might get us
a black eye.’”
Stewart said that upon entering
the Corps, his choice of military unit
was the field artillery, where he had
to learn to ride a horse.
“I looked like a round bale of cot
ton,” he said. “If you think I’m obese
now, you should have seen me
then. They put me on one of those
steeds and I couldn’t even stay on
it!
“And when they took the saddle
off, blindfolded us and told us to go
over a series of hurdles with our
hands stretched out, well, I just told
the lieutenant, ‘My mama didn’t
raise no damn fool.’
“There wasn’t any way of my
staying on that quadruped,” he
said.
When he went in the military,
Stewart said, they asked him what
branch of the military he wanted in,
and he told them “anything you got,
brother, but the field artillery.” But,
“the field artillery it was.”
When Stewart was fresh out of
law school, he and a friend, John
Barron, formed a partnership to
practice law.
"When we went into the practice
of law, times were really hard,” he
said, reminiscing. “We did not have
money or credit to buy any law
books. We practiced law from the
hip. All we had was one lawbook,
Black’s Law Dictionary.
“But so the walls wouldn’t look so
barren, my parents gave me a set of
encyclopedias and we carted those
things up to our law office and put
them up under the guise of being
lawbooks.
“They didn’t have one word ab
out law, but if someone wanted to
know the capital of Zanzibar, we’d
be happy to look it up for them!”
Stewart said things were so bad
that the first month, he and his part
ner’s gross income was $2.50.
Being a teacher for 34 years,
Stewart has heard just about every
excuse invented from his students
for missing class, being unprepared
and skipping tests. But he has
some favorites.
“One of the most pitiful excuses I
had along that line was from a foot
ball player several years ago,” he
said. “I called the roll and he was
absent for the final exam.”
Stewart said he called the stu
dent’s coach and about 40 minutes
later, the student came to class.
“He said, ‘Judge, I’ll tell you, I
was studying for your exam over
there in the library and I went to
sleep, and they locked me up in the
library.’
“Well,” Stewart said, smiling, “he
reeked of distilled spirits, and the
funny thing is the library stays open
all night during finals!”
Stewart likes to tell another story
about a student that got an F at
mid-term and asked him to change
the grade so the student’s parents
wouldn’t get upset. But since the
grades had already been turned in,
the grade couldn’t be changed.
grade, but I’ll tell you what I will do. If
you leave the name and address of
your parents, I will write them and
tell them that you made the highest
F in the class!”
Stewart’s students call him a
storyteller. But Stewart says “that’s
a euphemism for something else!"
typing, and more
Business Correspondence, Form Letters, Research Papers,
Dissertations, Manuscripts, Theses, Transcripts and Mag
netic Card Storage.
We guarantee confidentiality and accuracy.
Scientific, legal and medical terminology are our,
specialities.
the office
693 5262
707 south texas avenue
suite 221d
college station,texas 77840
focus
THE BATTALION
Focus is published every Thursday
as an entertainment section of The
Battalion.
Policy: Focus will accept any stories,
drawings or photographs that are
submitted for publication, although
the decision to publish lies solely with
the editor. Pieces submitted, printed
or not, will be returned upon request.
Deadline is 5 p.m. the Thursday be
fore publication.
Contributing to this issue were:
Lee Roy Leschper Jr., Doug Gra
ham, Sam Stroder, Rhonda Watters,
Lynn Blanco, Geoff Hackett, Kris
Wiese and
Editor: Beth Calhoun
On the Cover: Even though the
weather is getting cooler, students
are still lured to the Texas A&M
Creamery for ice-cream and shakes.
For a closer look at the Creamery and
where the dairy products come from,
please turn to page 4. Photo by Sam
Stroder.
i
spjooau
1
Perfect hunting weather
and other ancient myths
By LEE ROY LESCHPER JR.
Battalion staff
The Texas deer season each year includes two
days of perfect hunting weather day — the day before
and the day after I make my first hunt.
This year was no exception. The first weekend,
when I’d been out of the state, was cold and cloudy.
But by Monday the temperature was back in the 60s,
just in time for my first excursion.
But that first deer hunt of the year is special, whether
the weather’s perfect or lousy. That magic wore a little
thinner after the short pre-dawn walk through the pas
ture to my stand sent sweat running down my back.
A younger brother had killed a fat young 3-point
buck out of that stand the first morning of the season,
so I settled down with high hopes despite what
seemed destined to be a mosquito-bitten morning.
Dawn took its time arriving.
First daylight revealed a hillside dotting with patch
es of brushes. Toward the bottom of the hill thick brush
hid a swampy area divided by a tiny creek.
The stand was about a third of the way up the hill
from the swamp.
In years past deer had traveled across the open hill,
but, since my brother’s buck had walked out of thick
brush near the swamp, I concentrated my attention
there.
After an hour of concentrating, my attention was
wondering why we were there. A rebellious attention is
a very dangerous thing on a deer stand.
Then a sleek doe poked her head above the waist-
high grass about a hundred yards down toward the
swamp. Just before dawn I’d heard a deer snorting in
that direction, but I’d long since given up on seeing
anything there.
Never showing much more than her ears and slick
black nose above the grass, she glided toward the
swamp. Another small doe followed her, while a third
stepped out of the brush at the edge of the swamp to
meet them. All three seemed uneasy, as though ex
pecting either danger or more deer.
Here comes the buck, I thought. That’s what I was
still thinking 20 minutes later, long after all three does
had faded into the swamp.
The 8 a.m. sun had already started heating the
morning air. Wait another 15 minutes, I advised my
self.
That’s when a little spike buck popped his head out
of the brush near where the does had appeared. Be
fore I could draw a bead on the yearling buck, a 9-point
buck twice his size busted out of the thicket right
behind him. Both broke into a trot through the small
opening between them and the swamp.
By the time I find the bigger buck in the 4x scope, he
was halfway to cover. As he crossed an open patch in
the grass the 6mm Remington bucked against my
shoulder. The buck jumped in the humpbacked way all
lung-shot deer seem to and bounded toward cover.
He stopped after 20 feet, partially screened by
brush, but facing me. Just as I squeezed off another
shot, he dropped.
Had Austin County, where I was hunting, not had a
one-buck limit, I’d have filled my 2-deer license right
then. That small (that’s spelled t-e-n-d-e-r) spike buck
let me walk almost on top of him before he headed for
cover, still wondering why his bigger companion
wasn’t following.
All this proves one simple law about hunting, and
fishing for that matter: the best time to go is still
whenever you can go. Forget about the temperature,
the stage o( the moon and whatever else, and just get
out there after ’em.
A nice buck killed the first morning is one of
hunting's sweeter pleasures.
i—Texas Reports—)
Chef should treat venison
like lean beef—with care
LUBBOCK—Many Texas hunters have already bagged their deer
this hunting season, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
suggests they cook the venison like lean beef.
Loin and rib cuts are best broiled or oven-roasted. Pot roasting or
braising with moist heat is best for cooking venison from older deer
and for the less tender cuts from younger animals.
Proper care following the successful hunt will determine how
much work the cook will have to do in removing fat—the major cause
of the gamey flavor in all wild game including deer. Also, the fat
quickly turns rancid, so it is wise to remove it from the carcass.
Venison should not be overcooked. Deer meat has short fibers
and toughs quickly when overcooked or cooked at high tempera
tures. Set oven temperature at 300 degrees for roasting. Serve the
venison medium to well-done rather than rare or over-done. Venison
being prepared for freezing should have all fat removed and proper
wrapping mataerial should be used to prevent freezer burn.
Biologists say little harm found
in Texas from Mexican oil spill
AUSTIN—According to data collected by the Parks and Wildlife
Department, the environmental impact of oil from the Mexican well in
Campeche Bay has for the most part been minimal on Texas fish and
wildlife resources.
Based on information now available, there is no evidence of
noticeable damage to Texas fish or wildlife, other than possibly
redfish larvae, as a result of the oil spill.
The department will continue to monitor the impact of the oil spill
on larval redfish to determine the extent additional stocking is neces
sary to offset losses.
Biologists on the department’s vessel “Western Gulf” checked
shrimp samples from oil sheen waters at the height of contamination
and found that the shrimp had not been harmed.
Shrimp and oyster production are down this year as a result of
flooding and other environmental factors, not because of the oilspill.
Although the shrimp harvest was down, the dollar value was up
because of increased prices.
Extensive oil control efforts kept oil from entering most bays and
estuaries, saving valuable nursery grounds from possible damage.
The oil also had little or no effect on shore and wading birds, and
had absolutely no impact on the endangered whooping cranes or
migratory waterfowl.
‘$100 bass’ stocked in lake
Calaveras limits tougher
AUSTIN—The Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department has begun a
five-year research study on heavily-
fished Calaveras Lake near San
Antonio to determine the effects of
a 14-inch minimum length limit for
largemouth bass.
Project leader John Mitchell of
Kerrville said the program has the
support of the Texas Association of
Bass Clubs (TABC), which is pro
viding reward money for the return
of tagged fish.
Mitchell said department crews
will tag 500 bass each year for four
years. Tag returns will yield valu
able information about percentage
of the bass population harvested
and mortality rates.
The 14-inch limits probably will
be imposed on the lake in the spring
of 1981, Mitchell said.
Mitchell stressed that the overall
aim of the project is to protect a
quality fishery from overhan/est
and thus benefit all fishermen.
“Some may feel a length limit is
an attempt or produce only a ’trophy
bass’ fishery, but that’s not the
case,” Mitchell said. “We feel that
there’s a chance that incrasing the
mimimum from 10 inches to 14 will
increase the lake’s production of
medium-sized fish and even total
average poundage caught by each
fisherman.”
The 500 bass in this year’s slag
ging effort already have been col
lected by electroshocking, tagged
and released, Mitchell said. The
tags are green discs one hald inch
in diameter placed just below the
dorsal fin on the fish, which are
approximateluy 10 inches long. The
tags are imprinted with the address
of the department’s research facility
at Ingram, and fishermen who mail
the tags in will be eligible for re
wards, depending on the tag's code
numbers.
Among each 500 tagged bass,
90 will carry a $5 reward; six will be
worth $10; two will be worth $20;
one will be worth $50 and the grand
prize-winning tag will be worth
$100.
Anglers submitting tags should
be sure to enclose their return
address. Information on winning
tag numbers will be sent to TABC
for issuance of reward checks.
When the increased length limit
goes into effect at Calaveras it will
be the third Texas lake having a
higher-than-normal length limit.
Since it opened to fishing in Sep
tember, the Fayette County Power
Project Lake in Fayette County has
had a 16-inch minimum length limit
and a three bass per day creel limit
to offset the effects of intense
fishing pressure. Lake Nacog
doches in Nacodoches County has
the same limits.
“The TABC is keenly interested
in conserving bass fishing resource
across the state,” Mitchell said,
“and we hope their support will help
us determine if length limits might
enhance the bass fishery in
Calaveras and other heavily-fished
lakes.”.
DIXIE
CHICKEN
SALOON
307 University Drive
College Station
• Beer on Crushed Ice
• Progressive Country Music
• Hangdown Sausage
• Cheddar Cheese on the Wheel
• Authentic Turn of the Century
Texana