Former Howe student involved in British debate

BROWNWOOD – September 29, 2017 – Two members of Howard Payne University’s Student Speaker Bureau speech and debate team will publicly debate members of the British National Debate Team on Sunday, October 15, beginning at 7:30 p m The exhibition event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Richard and Wanda Jackson Conference Room of HPU’s Paul and Jane Meyer Faith and Life Leadership Center.

Dr Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor He can be reached at drkenbridges@gmail.com.

Price Daniel was one of the few men in Texas History to serve in all three branches of state government – as governor, state legislator, and state Supreme Court justice He was known for his sense of right and wrong, but his stands were sometimes controversial In a political career that spanned decades, Daniel became one of the most well-known figures in the state

Born Marion Price Daniel, Sr, in October 1910, he was the son of a rancher He was born just outside the small Southeast Texas community of Dayton and was the oldest of three children He was a conscientious, hard-working student As a teenager, he moved briefly to Fort Worth, where he graduated high school

After high school, he enrolled at Baylor University in Waco To help pay for college, he worked as a reporter for the former Waco News-Tribune for a time He graduated with a law degree in 1932 and returned to Liberty County to practice law.

He quickly became a respected attorney in the area and won fame in a series of high-profile local cases. He also briefly ran a local newspaper In 1938, he was elected to the State House of Representatives as a Democrat He served on the Judiciary Committee as well as the Oil, Gas, and Mining Committee and supported the oil and gas industry Proposals for a state sales tax emerged, and Daniel became part of a group known as the “Immortal 56” in his outspoken opposition to it Respected by his colleagues for his energy and integrity, he was elected Speaker of the House for the 1943 session

The session took place in the midst of World War II Though still the Speaker of the House, Daniel decided to serve his country in a new way and enlisted in the army at the end of the session in May 1943 He started as a private but was sent to train as an officer and became a lieutenant in the judge

In 1947, an African-American post office employee, Heman Sweatt, applied for admission to the University of Texas Law School Similarly to cases erupting across the South, though Sweatt was qualified for admission, segregation kept him from attending because of skin color

As attorney general, Daniel had to defend the laws of the state at the time and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court The Supreme Court ruled in 1950 that Sweatt deserved an equal education, and as a result was ordered enrolled in the law school

The Tidelands Controversy became another explosive issue

In the late 1940s, Texas was trying to enforce its mineral rights in the Gulf of Mexico Federal law claimed that the state had no jurisdiction in those areas and that any oil leases belonged to the federal government Being an oilrich state, the Texas public took a strong interest in the case Daniel argued that Texas had an 11-mile claim dating to its time as an independent republic This sparked a sharp controversy with President Harry S Truman and his belief that federal law superseded any claim Texas might have had The Supreme Court agreed

As a result of the court fight, in 1952, Daniel refused to back the Democratic presidential nominee, Gov Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, in favor of the Republican nominee, Texas native Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower. Daniel also announced his run for the U S Senate that year to replace the retiring Sen Tom Connally He ran as a “Texas Democrat” in defiance of the Truman administration’s stands on the Tidelands issue Daniel won easily, as did Eisenhower In 1953, Eisenhower signed a bill sponsored by Daniel to recognize the Texas claim on the 11-mile limit The result was that Texas was able to claim hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years

Price Daniel had risen rapidly in a short time Now a U S Senator, his prospects seemed limitless And in so many ways, his career was only beginning

HPU juniors Christopher Freel d of Bangs and Tyler Olin of Ho will debate against British team members Rebecca Howarth an Richard Hunter The topic for debate is “This house regrets s media ”

Tyler Olin, a social science jurisprudence and Guy D New Honors Academy major, is in second year on HPU’s speech debate team He had three yea experience of team policy deb high school, placing at the reg qualifiers meet his senior year college he has been named an octofinalist at a regional tournament in Texas, a semifin at the Texas Intercollegiate Forensics Association Fall

Championship and a finalist in junior varsity at the National Christian College Forensics Association national championship He also achieved a semifinalist finish in individual parliamentary debate at the Texas Intercollegiate Forensics Association Fall Championship

Olin is a former Howe Eagle Scout and recently received a large Hatton W Sumners scholarship and is now a Sumners scholar