Evening star., 1960-12-23
Transit Pact Signed :
2 Officials Named
Towes, Almond
Act; D. c. to Pick
Third Member
BY GILBERT GINfBLE
Star Stan Writer

AAC O4OtIlCb NOuuIllSSlOI1cTS
are expected to complete the
naming Of the three-member
Washington Area Transit Com
mission next week following
formal signing yesterday of the
new transit regulatory compact.
Gov. TaweS of Maryland and
Gov. Almond of Virginia also
placed their signatures on the
compact during brief cere-
monies at the District Building.
At the same time Gov. Tawes
announced that Albert Sklar,
Baltimore attorney and a mem
ber Of the Maryland Public
Service Commission, will repre-
sent Maryland on the new COM
pact commission.
Gov. Almond announced that
he was drafting" as Virginia's
representative Judge H. Lester
Hooker of Richmond, who for
the last SO years has served on
the Virginia State Corporation
Commission.
The District Commissioners
will choose either George E. c.
Hayes, chairman of the Public
Utilities Commission, or Harold
A. KertZ, a P. U. c. member, to
represent the District.
The city heads met this
morning to choose the Dis
trict's representative, but an
apparent disagreement among
members of the board delayed
the final choice.
The new area-wide transit
regulatory commission will not
get underway until March %.
Its role will be the full regula-
ton of existing privately owned
transit facilities serving the
entire Metropolitan area.
Hailed By Mclaughlin
The compact commission
thus will Supplant the juris-
diction over transit matters
that formerly was held by the
utility commissions Of the
Maryland. Virginia and District
governments.
District Commissioner Rob.
ert E. Mclaughlin, addressing
the nearly 200 State and re-
gional leaders who attended
yesterdays ceremonies at the
District Building, hailed the
signing of the compact and
the establishment Of the Met
ropolitan regulatory body as "a
Landmark for the National
Capital region"
The compact won approval
by the Maryland and Virginia
Legislatures as well as the
Federal Government, which,
through Congress, authorized
the Districts participation.
The Commissioner, noting
that the compact agreement
was reached after five years Of
cooperative effort by leaders
throughout the region, Sug-
gested:
IF this spirit Of cooperation
continues, it well may be that
the by-product Of the compact
regional cooperation may
be an even more significant
contribution than the compact
ITSELF"
Cooperation Stressed
Gov. Tawes noted that the
establishment of a common
transit regulatory agency means
the three jurisdictions will be
able Ito replace the multiple
and rather piecemeal" regula-
tions that have developed in the
past. This duplication, Gov.
Tawes added, has been, at
best, somewhat awkward"
Virginia's Gov. Almond called
the compact a unique" in
strument and said the Old Do
minion sis delighted to join"
with the District and Mary
land. It's uniqueness, the Gov
ernor emphasized, is that two
States are joining in a compact
for full cooperation
with a political subdivision Of
the Federal Government-the
District.
Robert E. Merriam, deputy
assistant to President Eisen-
hover for interdepartmenta1
affairs, said the entire Nation
should study the new compact
as a means to
solve the complicated and
problems Of modern
,ransit needs in metropolitan
areas.