1961
I know you'll find this hard to believe, but our next reunion will be our 30th!
Seriously, I'm writing this in mid-April in Charlotte, and I know you won't get to read it until late July, and I know you'll find pictures of our reunion elsewhere in this issue. Because of production considerations, the class reunion report won't appear until the September issue.
Meantime, let's talk about what's happening with some of our classmates.
Mike Murphy sends along a major article on Sam Bell from Florida Magazine. The headline: "The man who makes the rules." The subhead: "Sam Bell's colleagues say he can be the best ally or the worst enemy anyone could have in the Florida Legislature."
I wish I could share the whole article with you, but it runs over six magazine pages. Here are excerpts:
"It was the fall of 1980, and Ralph Haben was about to become speaker of the Florida House. In his office were two of his closest political allies, the men who had helped engineer not only his selection as speaker, but also that of his predecessor, J. Hyatt Brown.
"One of the men, Lee Moffitt, was Haben's closest friend in the world . . . Moffitt had already been selected by the House's Democrats to become speaker when Haben's two-year term was completed. The other man in the office was Sam Bell.
"A crafty lawyer from Ormond Beach, Bell had just finished a two-year stint as the House's majority leader, or, as he was often described, as Hyatt Brown's chief arm-twister. . . . Both Moffitt and Bell were pushing hard to be named chairman of the powerful Rules Committee, the body that determines whether and when a bill will be heard on the House floor. . . .
"Bell wasted few words. Six years ago, he told Haben, there were four people who secretly began plotting to seize control of the House from conservative, rural legislators who represented the last vestiges of Florida's old pork-chop gang. Their hard work culminated in the selection of Brown, a progressive legislator, as speaker.
"'In the beginning,' Bell told Haben, 'there were four of us. There was Hyatt Brown, Ralph Haben, Lee Moffitt, and Sam Bell. All the rest of you got to be speaker. I didn't.'
"Bell got the rules job. It was just one of the many powerful positions he's held since his election to the House in 1974.
"He now is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which means he is one of a tiny group of people who write the state budget. . . .
"Last year, to the surprise of virtually no one, Bell announced that he would like to be speaker. In two days, he had all the votes he needed. He will assume the job in the fall of 1990 and serve as speaker in the 1991 and 1992 legislative sessions "
The magazine says that Bell is the E.F. Hutton of Florida government, quoting a friend as saying, "When Sam would go into a meeting and say something, everybody would shut up."
"Bell, 46, is used to such attention. While his perpetual grin and innocent expression give him the appearance more of an affable back slapper than a vindictive arm-twister, few legislators or lobbyists choose to be on his bad side."
The article even quotes Thaddeus Seymour on Sam's activities as student body president our senior year. And it talks about the fact that Sam might run for statewide office.
Judge Read Ambler is the subject of another long article, in The Los AngelesDaily Journal, on his work on the Santa Clara County Superior Court. For a little more than a year, the article reports, Read has been presiding at felony jury trials after two years as presiding judge at Santa Clara County's juvenile court.
"Ambler describes himself as a novice when it comes to handling jurors. And he finds that dealing with adult felons is far different than working with juveniles.
" 'I tend to be more formal here than I was there (in juvenile court); the role is sort of dictated to you by the way the cases are set up. What I can do is provide an example that they (adult defendants) can get a fair trial, that they'll be treated fairly . .
Though some public defenders think Ambler leans toward the prosecutors, one said, "He makes every effort to be prepared. He hears motions, does his research. . .
"He's very thorough, conscientious, and fair," says a deputy district attorney who has appeared before Ambler in juvenile and adult family courts. "He listens very well and is always open for something new."
News Notes: Mike Hecht named chairman and chief executive officer of the Broadway-Southern California Division of Carter Hawley Hales Stores, Inc., after serving as president; New York City Transportation Commissioner Ross Sandler named temporary head as well of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which is responsible for licensing the city's 11,787 taxis and insuring safe conditions; Donald S. Baker, vice president, network services, for Ohio Bell since 1980, elected senior vice president, finance and administration, and chief financial officer for Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) in Livingston, N.J.
The 13th annual DSISSSBW (Dartmouth-Sugarbush Invitational Slalom, Snowshoe, andScotch Bachelor Weekend) took place at Alex von Summer '6o's Warren, Vt., home lastwinter. Left to right are Spencer Morgan '60, Roli Kolman '6O, John Walters '62, TomBrock '60, Al Stowe '60, Arnold Sigler '6O, von Summer, Peter St. Phillip (Princeton'60), Donn Chickering '59, Roger Zissu '60, Bill Lum '60, and Eric Anderson '60.
Hanover attorney Mike Slive '62 does most of his. work with colleges, "assisting schoolsaccused of not playing by the rules," according to an article in The Valley News in March.His clients have included Dartmouth football coach Joe Yukica, Cincinnati Bengals linebackerReggie Williams '76, and the University of Illinois athletic department, to name but a few.
Bertram B. Rowley Jr. '6l was one of two alumni named Class Newsletter Edi- tor of the Year. Following many years in publishing, in 1982 he began The Rowley Creative Group. His decade of "artful di- rect-response blandishments" in his newsletter has helped lead his class toward its million-dollar 25th reunion Alumni Fund goal.
3300 Windsor Drive Charlotte, NC 28209
