December 1956

DECEMBER 1956 Sherry Sinex-- Tech' s South Plains Maid of Cotton present and pa~t For the fifth time in the seven year history of the annual South Plains Maid of Cotton contest, the beauteous lass chosen as cotton queen of the area this year was a Texas Tech coed. She is Sherry Sinex, a blond-haired blue-eyed sophomore who won out in stiff competition with 32 other lovelies after two full days . of judging. The victory means not only a $1,000 cotton wardrobe for the South Plains Moids of CoHon- Sherry Sinex, 1956, and Revis Jor 5 foot, 7lf.l inch speech major, but dan, 1955. in addition an all-expense-paid trip to the National Maid of Cot Named first alternate was Kay ton Ball held in the Caprock Hotel ton Contest in Memphis, Tenn., Robinson of Plainview, a senior. on the eve of final competition. late this month. Second alternate is Diane Wilson A senior majoring in business There she will present a talk on education, Miss Jordan is a mem cotton as one of the automatic of Ballinger, a sophomore. Run ners up were Sharla Bickett, Ama ber of Delta Delta Delta, 1956 finalists in the national event as Homecoming Queen and a La Ven well as exhibit both the smile rillo sophomore, and Sharla Pep per Lubbock sophomore. tana beauty. Both she and the which caught the judges' atten new Maid are seriously consider tion and her 35-24-37 measure Last year's South Plains Maid ing careers as airline hostesses. ments. of Cotton, Revis Jordan, was In 1953, Anne Perkins (now . At Tech, the winner is a Zeta · chosen first alternate to the 1955 Mrs. Fred McMurry) won the Tau Alpha, hostess for Phi Kap national winner. She served as crown as a sophomore. A Kappa pa Alpha, active in speech depart official hostess during last month's Alpha Theta, she is now complet ment activities, and is a finalist local finals, which were held in ing her senior year. in elementary in the current La Ventana Beau the new Lubbock Auditorium, and education while her husband works ty Contest. A graduate of Wichi also introduced the contestants on his masters. ta Falls High School whose home and led them on a tour of the ball · De Rose Wittenburg, the 1951 is now in Longview, she has also room to open the newest addition done some modeling. to the contest - the Maid of Cot- (Contin~eg <m Page 14) DECEMBER, 1956 3 adult education helps towns answer some searching questions in an earnest attempt to preserve the ... by W-ENDELL W~LLIAMS Executive Associa te Adult Education Program The water problem got top priority when La mesa residents met in their com· munity center last month with Tech's Dr. N. Cosey Fine. Among those partici pating in the discussion were Lee Roy Colgan IL.), (back to camera) Bob Crawley, Aubrey Boswell, Mrs. Andrew Essary, Mrs. A. W . Partain, Mrs. Henry Stafford, G.. H. Peters who is executive director of the Adult Education Dis cussion · Group Division Fred V. Barbee, and Tom Wade. A symposium of Tech faculty members at the Seybold Conference in Mineral Wells earlier this fall provided background data from their various fields related to the ex ploration of regional prob lems confronting West Tex as. Participating were Rob ert Rouse (L. ), conference coordinator; Harry Walker, economics; Casey Fine, ag riculture; George Heather, business; J. William Davis, government; Fred Craw ford, sociology; and Ernest Wallace, history . " ... Our real trouble is that we're not planting the . ministers, homemakers, city offi~ials and Chamber right kinds of crops-crops that don't take so much of Commerce representatives in over 35 West Texas water., communities in recent and coming weeks. Search " ... Suppose 85 per cent of our economy is ba,sed ing questions are being asked - and answers on agriculture and we'r.e not going to have water sought - as citizens come to grips with some of enough to continue our particular form of agricul the major problems confronting our regions. Cer ture very long at its present level. ,. If that's so, we tainly they agree that West Texas with its rich ought. to be getting some industry *nto the r egion national and human and organizational resources to take up the slack., . is a region of promise, Their only question is, if we continue to farm as we have been· farming, to " .. Due to mechanization and economic competi depend on agriculture as we have in the past, to twn we're getting to have fewer and bigger farms. mine our water and minerals as we have been More farmers are living in town and driving out to mining them, and to deal with community prob their farms. I'm afraid we're losing the values of lems as we have been dealing with them - will farming as a way of life., that promise fade? " ... Why are people from farms and smaller towns moving to larger citie81 I think it's because of the The encouragement of these local roundtable conveniences, and the educational, cultural and discussions is one of the services provided by the s~cial opportunities. But are our cities getting too Adult Education Program of Texas Tech in coopera ~g? Th#!re are so many things competing for our tion with the West Texas Council on Adult Educa ttme and attention that it's getting harder to have tion. In September, 25 leaders of business, agricul ~ny real family life., ture, industry and community life of West Texas . You know, we have to spend more money on met for two days with a like number of representa str_eets, sanitation and police services down in that tives of the Tech administration and faculty to ex netghborhood 'across the tracks' than we do in any plore ways in which Texas Tech might render in ~ther area of the same size in town., creased service to the area. Many of the problems · · . The real problem out here isn't the lack of uncovered would require the best efforts of people money. People just don't listen to new ideas throughout the region and of all kinds of organiza You've got to show them, not tell them. There tions and institutions. Chambers of Commerce have ha~ been lots of changes in farming based on Ex been particularly active in sponsoring local round peNment Station research - but not enough., tables, as have schools and civic clubs. :' · · · One thing that hurts this r egion is articles A discuss~n guide was developed out of the tn I!'ORTUNE or LIFE or this one in U. B. NEWS preliminary thinking of the September conference Whteh keep talking about this area as a potential group. It was agreed that as many citizens of as dust bowl and the 'rw,gging headache of the water many communities as possible should be encourag PTOblem.' I think we've got a pretty good r egion out ed to examine regional problems affecting them. here-goo~ people, good communities, good soil. Eight rather general topics were suggested which al These artwles scare off industry and investment, lowed community groups to state the problems as and make it hard to sell our municipal bond is- they see them and to explore aspects of the prob sues . .. , . lems which they felt most important. Water- or Statements like these and many many more are bemg. made by bankers,' farmers' , P.ducators, .(Continued on Page 6) DECEMBER; 1956 :. Local roundtables are not just "talk-fests'' from which nothing tangible results. Reports from each parti9ipating community will be made at the Here Is What You Can Do West Texas Assembly on Regional Development to be held ~t Tech.Jan. 22-23. Following the reports, ef forts will be directe~ toward examining suggested READ all you can about more of these prob approaches to so~ut10n of the various problems. lems confronting our region. Perhap~ for t~e first time these problems will be stated m a regional perspective-not how they look to the people of Pampa or Lamesa or Abilene but SEEK OUT people who have information. how they look to West Texans. Suggested solutions will also be examined through the eyes of West LISTEN to those who have opinions-and try Texas, for it is certain that some of the problems to understand why they hold those opinions. are too broad to be successfully dealt with by indivi- dual communities. · DISCUSS these problems with friends and Reports from the earliest roundtable discus neighbors, in your homes and at meetings. Get sions uniformly recommend "research" and "ed ucation"-and perhaps these two types of activity your club to study one or more issues as part will be the most immediate outcomes of the local of its regular program. and regional meetings. The West Texas Assembly on Regional Development will be asked to state ve~ specifically what kind of research is needed, WRlTc to the Adult Education ' Program, Texas and _what kind of education. What facts do we need Tech, for copies of the discussion guide which to have at hand before we can begin to decide how will help in planning your discussion. to deal with the water problem? How can we di versify the economy of the region? What character istics of housing would improve life of West Tex ATTEND the West Texas Assembly on Regional ans? Development at Texas Tech, Jan. 22-23. Write the Adult Education Program for information. With specific knowledge of the kinds of facts needed to be gathered--or sought through research The strength of a democracy is its people.

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