Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-12-15

yesterday that some members
Of the board and the executive
committee we're much upset
by issuance Of the so called
official" statement without any
formal presentation of it to
them. A letter of protest has
been filed with the corporation.
To issue a snap decision in
a basic matter affecting the
company's future without proper
consideration by the full board
was extremely unfortunate"
said a leading member of the
board.
The company'S contention that
the SEC conducted "Star cham
Der" sessions and neglected
legal rights of the company and
its witnesses will be difficult
to support, because the COM
pany previously chose to waive
its right to a public hearing,
he pointed out.
Public Hearing Waived
In waving a public hearing,
the company waived the right
to cross examine and present
evidence although it had the
privilege of asking for these
rights. All evidence at a public
hearing would have been availa-
bic to the public at once.
At the start of the stop-order
proceedings on November z,
1862, Atlantic Research entered
into an agreement with the
SEC that its questioned 1862
registration statement included
untrue statements and failed to
include material facts that were
required for proper disclosure
under the securities laws.
The company also agreed that
all sworn testimony and exhib-
its developed at the private
hearings could be incorporated
into the SECS stop-order pro-
ceedingS and stated that it
understood the SEC inveStiga-
ton would continue.
The company stated in the
agreement that it understood
the private investigation of
Atlantic might become a public
investigation and agreed that
the testimony, whole or in part,
as well as the exhibits, might
become a part of the public
record Of the proceedings.
On issuance of the final stop
order decision in the case on
friday, December 6, all testi-
mony and exhibits developed in
the private hearing became a
matter of public record, SEC
officials said yesterday. In
some 5000 pages of sworn teSti-
mony and exhibits, details of
company transactions previous
ly only summarized now are
open to public scrutiny.
Details Outlined
In the meantime, it was
learned the company has gained
an additional IA days (until
December 26) to decide what it
will do about the StOp-order
decision of the commission.
Some of the most interesting
details of SEC testimony came
from officials of Pine Ridge
Corp, Texas Capital Invest
ments, Inc, and Oscar P. Ry-
der, senior partner of Ryder &
Co., Alexandria brokerage firm,
through which many thousands
of ARC shares we're purchased
in the open market in what the
SEC has described as a stock
manipulation engineered by DR..
Arch Scurlock, then president
and chief executive officer of
ARC and now its board chair
man.
Purchases of ARC stock by
Pine Ridge Corp. were de-
scribed by its president, Thomas
Nicholson, as the original idea
of DR.. Scurlock, who put up the
funds. DR.. Scurlock has con-
tended he advised the purchases
as a good investment.
Mr.. Nicholson made the pur-
chases himself but discussed
the desirable number of shares
and suggested price ranges with
DR.. Scurlock in advance, teSti-
mony showed.
Mr.. Nicholson testified he
stopped purchasing ARC stock