Tom Phillips takes a fall during the third annual Little
Aggieland bicycle race held Saturday on the streets around
the main drill field. Phillips, a sophomore engineering
major, got back up and helped his teammates temporarily
regain second place in a field of 10, three-man teams. After
taking a second spill on the last lap of the race, Phillips was
taken to the A.P. Beutel Health Center, where he was
treated for cuts and bruises and held for observation. For
race results, see the story in today’s sports section.
Photo by Jon Hi
t approximateli
ed in G,
[lately followint
The Battalion
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Vol. 74 No. 108
12 Pages
Monday, March 2, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High .. .
67 High
...68
Low. . . .
.... 52 Low
...54
Chance of rain .. 20% Chance of rain .
. 80%
s Thursday nijti!
tonio Spurs to i
11-plagued game
t San Antonioii|[l
rs never traild
61 personal foil
isonandArmoiil
hrough the tU
by James
18-8 spurt to ti
!1 points on
ding.
dsongcombinn!
105-102 victoii
A&M, Eagle await A. G. list decision
By BERNIE FETTE
Battalion Staff
The Texas Attorney General’s Opinion Committee has just
)egun work on deciding whether or not the Texas A&M
University System’s Board of Regents will be required to
irovide a list of candidates for president of Texas A&M Uni-
ersity to The Eagle.
“Work has just started on that opinion,” Susan Garrison,
:hairman of the attorney general’s opinion committee said. “It
may be some time before a decision is reached.”
The Bryan newspaper has thus far been denied access to the
fTQin twenty persons being considered as successors to for-
tldlll me,- Texas A&M President Dr. Jarvis Miller.
The Board of Regents, through the University’s legal per-
:onnel, has refused to give up the list.
The question involved is whether or not the list is protected
by the Texas Open Records Act. Information covered by the
Kings run tlieii Ktis considered to be public information and can therefore be
bsence of poll! Published.
socket SunJf The Board oi Regents has requested an opinion trom Texas
en more days.
3-20 first quarts
ointsto helptls
r as Kansas Cilf
the game in
Kea
Attorney General Mark White on whether or not the names
must be released.
James Bond, System vice chancellor for legal affairs, said
the list in this case is covered by an exception to the act and is
therefore not protected.
“The former opinions of the attorney general being relied
upon to support the Eagle’s position did not address excep
tions which apply to our fact situation,” Bond said.
Bond said Section 11 of the act excludes inter-departmental
and intra-departmental memoranda which concern advice
and recommendations and that the list in question clearly
comes under this exception. The candidate list is a recom
mendation from the search committee to the regents.
Bond equated the closed records to executive sessions
closed under the Texas Open Meetings Law.
“The legislature intended for these two acts (open records
and open meetings) to be used in harmony,” Bond said.
“Subjects that are proper for deliberation in executive session
should have written material protected that bears on the
subject of their deliberation. ”
The Eagle, however, maintains previous attorney general
decisions support its position.
The position taken by the Eagle was explained in an edito
rial opinion published recently: .
“The regents said that many of those 20 may not hsfve
known they were being considered and to reveal their names
would have been embarrassing .... It certainly cannot be an
embarrassment to anyone to be considered for this highly
important position. If jt is, that person should have asked to
have his or her name withdrawn.”
The Eagle said it does not want to conduct lengthy inter
views or discussions but only to publish the names and basic
information about those persons being considered, such as
ages and current positions.
‘‘Clearly., the pppple,of ffiis.state,, those thousapds associ
ated with the university and with other institutions of higher
learning, and the citizens of the Brazos Valley will be affected
by that person,” the editorial said. “All of those and the former
thousands of A&M former students have an unquenchable
interest in knowing who those candidates are.
“There can be no harm in making the public aware of those
who are being considered for this highly important post,” it
said. “There could, on the other hand, be considerable harm
for the selection process to be held in total privacy.”
One of the recent attorney general decisions The Eagle is
relying upon is one handed down Oct. 29, which concerns
whether or not the identity of persons who have applied for a
position with a governmental agency constitutes public infor
mation.
The decision in part read:
“A member of the public has a strong interest in being
apprised of the names of persons being considered for imporr
tant public positions, so that, prior to selection, he may
attempt to influehce the choice, and, after selection, he may
evaluate the wisdom of the choice.
“We realize the importance of not deterring qualified per
sons from seeking public employment. Nonetheless, we be
lieve the weight of authority requires us to find this informa
tion available to the public.”
Foresters display
brains, brawn
enjoy
w their
•lighted
calorie >
in the
Center
Staff photo by Brian Tate
Jim Frisch, president of the Forestry Club, reaches for the top of the 20-
foot pole he climbed in 2.4 seconds at the Skidadoo competition.
By KAREN KALEY
Battalion Reporter
The damp weather didn’t dam
pen the spirit of competition and
togetherness at Texas A&M Uni
versity’s annual Skidadoo lumber
jack competition of the Forestry
Club on Saturday.
Skidadoo is a preliminary com
petition to the Associated South
ern Forestry Club’s Regional Con
clave.
Beer, charred hotdogs and
friends helped the foresters forget
the weather as they displayed
skills in both physical and technic
al events.
The physical events — archery,
speed chop, men’s and women’s
cross-cut, log rolling (land), log
birling (water), knife throw, axe
throw, pole climb, bow saw — re
quire flexibility, mobility and cal
culation more than brawn.
Jim Frisch, forestry club presi
dent, at 5’H” and 155 pounds, is
far from the brawny lumberjack in
the Paul Bunyan folk tales.
Frisch will represent Texas
A&M in six events at Conclave.
“There’s a lot of technique and
brains involved,” he said.
Though the foresters are com
peting to go to the regional Con
clave in Tennessee this month,
they also compete for something
just as important — a pair of red
suspenders.
The suspenders signify that a
forester is a first-place winner and
is on his way to Conclave in one of
the physical or technical events.
Though the physical events are
exciting, they are also dangerous.
John Morrissey, a forest scien
ce major working on his master’s,
chopped his foot rather than the
log practicing for the speed chop
on February 22.
The foot is stitched up and Mor
rissey competed in some events
Saturday; however, the speed
chop was not one of them.
Morrissey has not lost his spirit
for competition in that event.
“I was going to do it today, but I
can’t wear shoes yet,” he said.
Since the accident, steel toe
guards are used to protect the
chopper’s feet.
Although the competition is a
main ingredient in Skidadoo, it’s
not all that the foresters were
there for.
“I’m out here for the spirit of
competition and the beer drink
ing,” Jimmy Crawford, a junior
forest science major, said.
The competition is individual
effort, excluding the team events
— cross-cut sawing and log
rolling.
But each contestant had a 50-
member team cheering him on.
“One thing good about Skida
doo is that you compete amongst
friends,” Murray said.
The forestry graduate students
and faculty also join the fun of
competing.
They are not eligible to go to
Conclave but the competitive
spirit is instilled in them as well.
“We’re one of the few depart
ments where the grads and faculty
really get involved,” Price said.
The grads did win the five-
person greased pole climb. They
weren’t given much competition.
The non-point events — tobac
co spit, Jack and Jill cross-cut and
the greased pole climb — added a
bit of comic relief to an otherwise
physically and mentally exhaust
ing day of competition.
The foresters practice months
in advance for this competition.
“You have to get out there and
work your butt off,” Murray said.
“You have to build up to it,”
Price said. “But, it’s a lot of fun.”
Texas A&M’s Forestry Club
will send 17 competitors to the
Tennessee Conclave.
The winners of Saturday’s
events:
Stan Williams, dendrology
(tree identification); Mike (Gus)
Cunningham, pole felling; Dot
Miller, wood technology (wood
block identification); Dave Dig-
num, archery; Barry Watkins,
DBH estimation (judging the dia
meter of a tree); Jim Frisch, speed
chop, knife throw, pole climb,
bow saw and Jack and Jill cross
cut; Mike Boriack and Dan
McKenney, log roll; Mike
Boriack, chain throw; Jim Frisch
and Gary Beacher, men’s cross
cut; Nes Bilir and Glenda Erp,
women’s cross-cut; Nes Bilir, Jack
and Jill cross-cut; Willy Sounnen-
feld, log birling; Bobby Click,
photogrammetry (distinguishing
features in infra-red aerial photo
graphs); and Gary Beacher, tobac
co spit.
Judge rules Texas
can impose fruit ban
United Press International
Many Texas produce wholesalers say
they have been unable so far to gauge
the effects of a Dallas federal judge’s
quarantine on unfumigated California
fruits and vegetables.
U.S. District Judge Patrick E. Hig
ginbotham late Saturday ruled Texas
could stop the unfumigated produce to
protect its own crops. California grow
ers have said the decision could cost
them $100 million.
Most suppliers said they expected to
talk to their West Coast suppliers today
to get a clearer picture on the local re
percussions of the ban.
But Morris Rutchik, vice president of
Standard Fruit and Vegetable in Dallas,
believes the ban imposed Sunday to
combat a fruitfly infestation, will wreak
havoc on his supplies.
Rutchik, whose company is one of
Dallas’ largest produce distributors, has
filed a motion supporting the California
growers and packers fighting the
quarantine. He said some of the fruits
and vegetables under the ban are only
available from California and the
quarantine will make it impossible for
his company to honor its commitments.
Meanwhile, a California farm leader
called Sunday’s quarantine “a political
situation” and said he was not surprised
a Texas judge approved of the ban on
unfumigated West Coast produce.
“We feel we are the victims of a poli
tical situation in Texas,” said Clark
Biggs, of the 96,000-member California
Farm Bureau. “If they make their
embargoes stick, it could have a domino
effect in other states and other nations,
like Japan.”
“This is a decision you would expect
from a judge in Texas. That’s why states
are supposed to sue states in the Sup
reme Court.”
The nation’s high court was asked to
rule in the case but Friday declined to
enter the dispute. Instead, it has asked
for a U. S. Solicitor General’s opinion on
the dispute by March 4.
California argued against the ban,
saying its fruit fly infestation was limited
to two counties, Alameda and Santa
Clara, and the Texas action would force
all California fruit and vegetables to be
fumigated.
Texas contended the fruit fly had
been found in 12 California counties and
that any untreated fruit shipped into the
state could carry the fruit fly larvae.
Texas officials worried about a threat to
crops in the fertile Lower Rio Grand
Valley.
Higginbotham’s ruling allowed the
Texas Department of Agriculture’s
quarantine order to go into effect
Sunday.
California said if it was required to
treat all the fruit it shipped from the
state it would cost growers up to $535
million a year, but Texas said that its
quarantine would only affect the 2 per
cent of California’s commercial fruit and
vegetable output that is shipped to
Texas.
Deadline for parent
nominees today
Applications for nominating Aggie
Parents of the Year must be turned in to
the Student Government Office (216C
MSC) by 5 p.m. today.
Winners wall be chosen by the 18
student members of the Parents’ Day
Committee.
The parent(s) chosen will receive an
$80 portrait-etched and inscribed pla
que on Parents’ Day, April 26, said
Mike Bonin, the Parents’ Day Commit
tee Chairman.
Although only 30 applications were
submitted last year, Bonin said there
should be many more turned in this year
due to increased student enthusiasm.
Other awards to be presented on
Paeents’ Day will be the Thomas
Gathright scholastic excellence awards,
given to the student with the highest
grade point ratio in his classification in
his college; and several Corps outfit and
individual awards.
Activities include performances by
various Corps units and a military re
view.
e
1
!S
i,
ts
k
st
r-
le
m
ed
V.
up
he'
he
of
ee
)ut
ted
‘all
ap
es,
tor
1 or
r or
ban
t of
. It
mal
any
nk.
I in
the
Ison
mar
glas
ton,
iled
the
por-
cur-
gas
1 by
the