The North Texas chapter of the American Subcontractors Association recently announced its 2003-04 board of directors.

Roger Cotton of Trane was named president of the board, while Jennifer Junker of John F. Clark Co. was named first vice president. Jack Strube of Tri Dal Ltd. is the secretary/treasurer and Blake Eckols of All Tex Pipe & Supply is the immediate past president.

Other members of the 2003-04 board are Bobby Allen of The Lofland Co.; Andy Bautz of George D. Alan Co.; Brad Baylis of City Wide Mechanical; Mike Chambers of Triangle Plastering Systems; Brian Chester of United Mechanical; John Hero of George/McKenna Electrical Contractors; Jim Hollis of Baker Drywall; Dee Kilgore of Siemens Building Technologies; Steven Lott of Southwest Assurance Group; Gene Morgan of Mdm Scaffolding; Dale Payne of Mills Electrical Contractors and Elmer Strieker of Striland Construction.

Two partners at Jones Day Dallas were recently honored by the State Bar of Texas with Chairman's Awards in recognition of their outstanding service to the bar and the profession.

Robert L. Meyers III received the 2003 Chair's Award from the State Bar of Texas Construction Law Section and Robert W. Turner received the 2003 Chair's Award from the state bar's Intellectual Property Law Section.

The awards were presented in conjunction with the State Bar of Texas' Annual Meeting, held in Houston.

Meyers is a member of Jones Day's Business Practice Group and concentrates on design, construction and related transactional practice areas. He has undergraduate and law degrees from Southern Methodist University and has been with Jones Day for more than 20 years.

Turner has practiced intellectual property law since 1965 with primary emphasis in patent litigation. He has been with Jones Day for 13 years and holds an undergraduate degree from Rice University and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

The Associated Builders and Contractors recently urged Congress to resist legislative intervention in the U.S. Department of Labor's attempt to revise outdated regulations comprising the Fair Labor Standards Act, which has not been revised since 1954.

The labor department has proposed a revision to Section 541 of the FLSA that defines white-collar employee overtime exemptions, and is currently reviewing public comment on these proposed changes.

"ABC believes that the department's proposal is a substantial step toward modernizing the definition of exempt and non-exempt employees," said Kirk Pickerel, ABC president and CEO. "Opponents claim that DOL's proposed changes will hurt blue-collar workers (and) this is simply not true."

Pickerel said that Section 541 applies strictly to white-collar professions, and that according to DOL estimates, approximately 1.3 million more employees will be guaranteed the right to overtime pay with the changes.

"ABC believes that any congressional attempt to intervene in this process is premature and counterproductive," Pickerel added. "Under the current regulations, it is difficult for employers to determine which employees are exempt from overtime restrictions and which employees are non-exempt. DOL's proposed changes would clarify this process and update language in this regulation that presently includes position descriptions that have been out of date for many years."

Two Texas projects earned special recognition as the American Society of Landscape Architects recently announced the recipients of its 2003 Professional Awards, the Community Service Award and the Landmark Award.

Winning the Design Excellence Award was Dallas-based SWA Group for the Westlake Corporate Campus, located at Circle T Ranch in Westlake.

Meanwhile, Ashfield, Mass.-based Dodson Associates Inc. won an analysis and planning merit awards for the master plan of Buffalo Bayou and Beyond in Houston.
The project is owned by Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the City of Houston, the Harris County Flood Control District and Harris County.

Of 436 entries submitted, the nine-member jury selected only 33 projects to receive awards.

The awards will be presented during the ASLA Annual Meeting, set for Oct. 30-Nov. 3 in New Orleans.

The American Society of Landscape Architects recently announced the election of Patrick A. Miller, Ph.D., FASLA, as its president-elect for 2004. He will become president of the organization at the ASLA Annual Meeting set for later this year.

Miller has worked in public, private, and academic practice in the United States and Canada and has served as head of the landscape architecture department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for the past 14 years.

He served six years on the ASLA Board of Trustees, two years as vice president for education, and has participated as a chair or member of several chapter and national ASLA committees.

The organization also announced the election of three vice presidents who will serve two-year terms: Karen C. Hanna, professor and head of landscape architecture and environmental planning at Utah State University, will serve as vice president of education; John H. Nicolaus, a partner at The HLA Group of Sacramento, Calif., was elected as vice president of communication; and Amy L. Schneckenburger, deputy chief of project management at Yosemite National Park, was re-elected as vice president of public affairs.