Battalion
Thursday, June 5, 1980
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
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Ex-students to be his ‘secret weapon’
ormer genetics prof contests Caperton
by BARBARA LYNCH
Battalion Reporter
he office isn’t pretentious; there is a
k, a file cabinet, three chairs for guests
shelves full of elephant statuettes and
)hant plates.
t’s appropriate for the office of the Re-
ilican candidate for the State Senate
a the Fifth District.
'he candidate, Dr. Robert A. McNeil, is
itired professor at Texas A&M. He’s a
;ht-eyed, grey-bearded gentleman of
See related story, page 3.
I L
bom in Moody and still attends church
e though his home is in College Sta-
I
cNiel has been interested in politics
he was about 14 years old, when he
nded a political convention with his
er. This is the first time he has run for a
ilic office, however. Until last August,
had been busy pursuing his other in-
st, genetics.
or the past 22 years, McNeil has taught
ictics 301 at Texas A&M. His class roll
ks contain the names of 11,768 stu-
ts.
enetics 301 was the only course he
taught. When asked by a student before his
retirement how he maintained his enthu
siasm for the course, McNiel’s answer was,
“I do not teach subject matter. I teach stu
dents. There is a difference. I care about
students, and every time I walk into a clas
sroom I’ve got a new group of people, a
different challenge.”
McNiel maintained tight control in his
classroom. He had a strict dress code which
he required his students to follow. No san
dals could be worn, no tank tops, no shorts.
He expected regular class attendance and
promptness and he always knew who
violated his rules.
There was another side to McNiel the
professor, though — a caring side. “My
students, all 11,000 of them, would tell
you that I never stood in front of them and
that I was trying as hard as anybody could
to teach my course material. They knew
that I cared whether they got genetics or
not.”
He recalls one incident when a student
understood genetics but couldn’t seem to
make above a C on any test.
As McNeil was handing back the last quiz
before the final, he told the student: “You
have asked the right questions all of the
term. You know more genetics than you
have shown on your tests, so I’ll tell you
what I’ll do. If you’ll make an 84 on the final
examination, I’ll give you a B.”
McNeil said he knew the student was on
probation for poor grades and would be
asked to leave school if he didn’t earn
enough grade points.
The student only made 80 on the final
and didn’t earn his B, but McNeil called his
dean and asked the dean to give the student
another chance. The dean did, simply be
cause of his call, McNeil said.
“The day he graduated,” McNeil con
tinued, “he brought his whole family and he
looked me up and said, ‘Mama, daddy, I
just want you to meet Dr. McNeil. If it
hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t have gradu
ated today.”’
It’s experiences like that, McNeil said,
that make teaching worthwhile.
McNeil himself is a graduate of Texas
A&M. He enrolled as a “fish” at age 16 in
1931.
He obtained his B.S. in agriculture in
1935 and taught vocational agriculture at an
Alvin high school. For two years McNeil
also worked as an education consultant to
the Primary Training College in Mymens-
ingh, Pakistan. For a while, McNeil said his
was the only American family in Mymens-
ingh.
During his tenure a A&M, McNeil won
every award for teaching that was open to
him, including the Distinguished Teaching
Award and the Outstanding Professor
Award.
When asked why he decided to end his
teaching career, McNiel answered: “I have
more patience than anybody can imagine,
but there gets to be a point when you’ve
used up all of your patience and it’s time to
retire when you don’t have patience with
students.”
McNiel’s life is far from over, now that he
is retired. He’s deeply involved in his can
didacy for the State Senate. He is opposed
by Kent Caperton, winner of the Democra
tic primary. McNiel said he has a “secret
weapon” that Caperton does not possess:
his former students.
“They’d do anything for me,” he said
with confidence. “If I could just let them
know I’m running, they’d get behind me
and I could win the election hands down.”
McNiel said the free enterprise system is
slipping, and he “can contribute to getting
things back on track. ” He also wants to give
the voters a choice between a Republican
and a Democrat in the November election.
McNiel doesn’t represent any special in
terest in his campaign. “Nobody has got
any thumbscrews on me,” he said. He’s
running at the urging of persons who would
like to see a Republican represent the Fifth
District.
McNiel thinks he has a good chance to
win in November. When asked about his
plans after the election, he chuckled and
said, “Well, I’ll just move to Austin.”
Drluc
1,000now registered for summer
yUSCHI MICHEL-HOWELL
The second day of registration brought
jtnumber of students for the first summer
n to just over 11,000, Donald C. Carter,
date registrar, said Wednesday,
ilany students whose schedules had
in fouled up by the computer — 3,500
an unofficial estimate — came to G.
lie White Coliseum Wednesday to pick
(their revised schedules.
A wrong head card had been placed in
it of the computer cards that register
dents for their classes,” Willis Ritchey,
stant registrar, said.
lie card is normally used in the spring
[fall semesters and tells the computer to
tribute the students equally among sec
ts, Ritchey said.
Ills time it assigned wrong sections that
letimes overlapped with another class.
te in ttie
ers. Fea-
channel,
phic con-
•equency
lh Treble
with the
available
Carter said.
English, political science and history,
the classes with several sections were har
dest hit, Ritchey said.
The card was removed from the compu
ter program Tuesday and students were
told to go to the main floor of the coliseum
to have their schedules corrected, Carter
said.
“If there are any classes scheduled at the
same time, the student should go and have
the schedule changed immediately,” Car
ter said.
For Jan Roge the foul-up meant standing
in one more line.
“It changed my physical education
class,” Roge said, “but it didn’t bother me
too much.”
“This has happened to me every semes
ter,” Sonia Jerez, a senior engineering ma
jor, said. The computer had closed a mar
keting course that was not closed by the
department, she said.
“It was not anybody’s fault, ” Cathy Par
rish, an accounting junior said. “This hap
pens a lot and I don’t want to complain.”
To get the schedule adjusted takes one
day, Carter said.
A memorandum sent by the registrar’s
office to University departments in May
said late registration will be in G. Rollie
White Coliseum beginning at Tuesday,
June 3, and continuing through 5 p.m.,
Friday, June 6.
The memo outlined the drop-add proce
dure for the summer session.
Drop-add began Tuesday. Students
wishing to drop a course should go to the
departmental office in which the course is
offered and that office will provide the stu
dent with a drop-add request card indicat
ing the course to be dropped. The student
should then take the request card to the
Drop-add Center in the coliseum.
The procedure is the same to add a
course, except the department in which the
course is being taught must indicate the
section in which the student will be placed.
The student then takes the drop-add re
quest card the coliseum.
If a student wishes to change sections in a
course, a drop-add request card must be
completed by the department which offers
the course, dropping the course and adding
it back with the different section number.
Friday will be the last chance to drop a
course without record.
Thursday, June 19 is the deadline for
dropping a course without penalty (Q-drop
deadline).
'otts, judge agree to stay of execution
United Press International
IEIDSVILLE, Ga. — Jack Howard
ts wanted to die today but his brother,
ther, a former girlfriend and fellow
ith row inmates convinced him he had
! ething to live for.
Her more than six months of steadfastly
sing to appeal his death sentence for
napping and murder, Potts suddenly
aged his mind little more than 13 hours
ore his scheduled execution today in the
ctric chair.
A federal judge in Atlanta Wednesday
night granted the convicted killer an indefi
nite stay of execution pending appeal.
It was a dramatic reversal for a man who
complained the pain of gunshot wounds of
the mouth he suffered when he was cap
tured made life unbearable.
But attorney Millard Farmer said pleas
from his family and an “emotional letter”
from fellow death row inmates persuaded
Potts to drop his death wish.
“This wasn’t any game of a last-minute
appeal,” said Farmer, head of the anti
death penalty Team Defense Project.”
U.S. District Judge William C. O’Kelley
agreed Wednesday night Potts’ attorneys
raised “numerous questions of constitu
tionality” and stayed what would have been
Georgia’s first execution in 16 years.
It was an incredible ending to execution-
eve maneuvering that began and ended in a
federal court in Atlanta and included hours
of pleading with Potts in his death row cell
just 20 paces from the electric chair.
The appeal application, worded by Team
Defense lawyers and accepted by Potts,
said he “discovered he could use the media
attention focused on him to publicize the
inhumane and unconstitutional conditions
under which all inmates at the Georgia
State Prison at Reidsville suffer.”
Potts’ earlier appeals were rejected in
state courts all the way to the Georgia Sup
reme Court.
Dr. Norbert A. McNeil, retired Texas A&M University professor of
genetics and Republican candidate for the Texas Fifth Senatorial District
seat, discusses his campaign. Staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Carter, Kennedy
plan to meet today
to respond, Carter said with good humor,
“He’s been very busy, as I have. He re
turned the call in an adequate and timely
fashion.”
Carter said the conversation was “not
strained.”
Kennedy’s headquarters would say only
that the two leaders had agreed it would be
“useful to open lines of communication.”
The two will meet at the executive man
sion at 4:30 p.m. CDT, after Carter returns
from a speech opening the White House
conference on Families in Baltimore.
Powell said the two “want to chat about
the future of the country and the future of
the Democratic Party in the hopes their
conversation will contribute to a brighter
day for both.”
He said Kennedy’s telephone call lasted
“about four or five minutes and the presi
dent congratulated him on a tough and
effective campaign.”
“They agreed to get together for a chat...
just the two gentlemen,” Powell said.
Earlier in the day, Powell had tried to
downplay the confrontational aspects of
Kennedy’s failure to return the president’s
calls.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter
said Wednesday he and Sen. Edward Ken
nedy will meet today at the White House to
“see what we can do to work together in the
future to meet the Republican challenge in
the fall.”
The surprise announcement of the im
pending meeting came first from White
House press secretary Jody Powell, who
said Kennedy had returned the president’s
telephone calls Wednesday and the two
agreed to meet and discuss “the future of
the Democratic Party.”
At an impromptu news conference in the
Oval Office a few minutes later, Carter was
asked if Kennedy seemed “conciliatory ” in
the telephone conversation. Carter
laughed and said, “I wouldn’t say that.”
“We ll see what we can do together,”
Carter said. He said Kennedy also “thought
it would be a good idea to get together. ”
The president had telephoned Kennedy
twice Tuesday night, but both times was
told the senator was resting and had asked
not to be disturbed. Kennedy did return
the calls at 2:30 p.m EDT Wednesday.
Asked why it had taken Kennedy so long
4-H’ers round-up at A&M
by CATHY SAATHOFF
Battalion Staff
High school 4-H club members from
across the state invaded the Texas A&M
University campus Tuesday and Wednes
day for the 1980 Texas 4-H Roundup.
The roundup is state competition for the
students, who competed in 37 contests cov
ering everything from livestock judging to
family life and public speaking.
“To be eligible to come here the boys and
girls have to compete and win at the county
level and then at the district level,” Mary
Mahoney, associate editor for print media
in agricultural communications, said
Tuesday.
Mahoney said the roundup provides a
growth experience for the students by pro
viding competition and letting them meet
professionals in their fields.
“Competition is always very keen here,”
Mahoney said, “because the teams that
come here are always the cream of the crop.
By the time they get here they’re very
professional.”
Mahoney said the competition helps 4-H
students to focus on what they want to do in
life.
Stanton Gardner and Andy Miller, soph
omores at Bryan Adams High School in
Dallas, received honorable mention in the
home environment competition with a be
ginner’s guide to successful aquariums.
Both said their first impression of the
Texas A&M campus was “It’s big.”
Gardner said he may come to school here
one day.
The first place winner in their division
was a display on custom drapery making, a
display which they beat at the local level,
they said.
They plan to come back next year, Miller
said, to try again, possibly in a different
category. Both agreed that daily practice is
a must in the competition to perfect the
presentation.
Mahoney said students were not the only
ones honored at the round up. 28 outstand
ing adult leaders were recognized for their
work with the students.
About 400 adult coaches made the trip to
supervise the 1,600 participants, who were
housed in unused dormitories around
campus.
Prizes for winners ranged from ribbons
and certificates to gold watches for the soil
judging team.
Some of the judging teams will go on to
national competition, Mahoney said.
He’s not pretty, but he can cook
One of the four best high school cooks in
the state is a man.
David Smith, a 1980 graduate of Little
field High School in Littlefield, told his
mother all year that he was going to win the
state 4-H foods competition.
He did it Tuesday at the 1980 Texas 4-H
Roundup at Texas A&M University, with a
broccoli salad.
Smith said he wasn’t sure why he got into
the cooking competition, which he has
been in since he was nine years old.
“I just enjoy eating,” he said.
In this year’s state competition, Smith
was one of three males competing in the
side dishes category.
Smith said his invasion of what is tradi
tionally a woman’s domain is accepted by
others.
“It isn’t any different except that the peo
ple you’re competing against are a lot pret
tier,” Smith said.
“My friends used to tease me, but now
they respect my cooking ability.”
The cooking ability is something that
runs in the family; Smith’s younger sister,
Amy, won second place in the snacks and
beverages category at the competition.
Another younger sister also competes, but
Smith said the girls are the ones who come
to him for help in the kitchen.
Smith’s mother Jeri said at first she tried
to discourage her son.
“I tried over the years to get him to quit, ”
she said.
He also has competed in the methods
demonstration division of 4-H with displays
on nuclear energy, and in the records book
division, she said.
Different 4-H leaders and his mother
taught him to cook, Smith said. He gets his
recipes from friends and relatives, he said,
and tries them out on his family before
competition. His mother said he also likes
to invent his own “weird” recipes.
Smith is the second male to win the state
cooking competition, and received a $500
scholarship from Morrison Milling com
pany for his culinary achievements, as well
as the Houston Stock Show and Rodeo
Scholarship.
Smith plans to attend Texas Tech Uni
versity, and major in agricultural en
gineering.