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Volume 61
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1965
Number 235
Committee For Johnny Cash Starts
Petition Protesting Cancellation
Armstrong Says Viet Cong
Fighting For ‘Paradise’
ARMSTRONG NARRATES FILM
Kenneth S. Armstrong, Cleveland newspaper correspondent,
presented the first of the World Around Us lectures Wed
nesday night at the Memorial Student Center. Armstrong
narrated a color film on the fighting in Viet Nam.
Evangelist Graham Sees 1
Youth Energy Explosion!
By DANI PRESSWOOD
Battalion Staff Writer
Cleveland newspaper corres
pondent Kenneth S. Armstrong
said Wednesday night the Viet
Cong are fighting for what they
believe is an “instant paradise.”
Presenting the first of the
World Around Us lectures, Arm
strong narrated a color film
which provided an insight into
the problems involved in fighting
a war in this turmoiled country.
A major problem is telling the
enemy from the South Vietnam
ese, he noted. “If he has a gun
in his hand, aims it at you and
fires, he’s a communist. This
is the only way.”
Armstrong laid the blame for
the conflict on desire for econo
mic gains.
“The war was instigated, sus
tained and directed by North
Viet Nam, and encouraged by
Red China for economic riches,”
he said.
He feels the North Vietnamese
are fighting because the com
munists have brainwashed them
into believing they will obtain a
“heaven on earth.” They believe
they will have anything they
want eventually.
Armstrong said air power has
provided a turning point in the
Vietnamese struggle.
“A year ago Americans over
there thought we were fighting
a losing battle,” he said. “Now
they believe in time we will win.”
He noted a difference in the
attitudes of the Americans at
home and those doing the fight
ing.
“All the complainers and critics
are here in the United States.
There are very few critical Amer
icans in Viet Nam. They feel
we are doing the right thing.”
Vietnamese life as depicted in
Armstrong’s film ranged from
that of the country’s cultural capi
tal of Hue to the villages of the
hill people, where people are
“still living as they did 3,000
years ago.”
In a country where 80 percent
of the natives earn their living
off the land and the average in
come is $75 per year, the “war
is never far away.”
Armstrong illustrated the frus
tration of war with the 25-mile
spike-studded wall built by vill
agers 10 miles north of Qui Nhon.
“Shortly after its completion
the Vietnamese forces left the
town,” he said. “Today Viet Cong
are behind the wall instead of
outside it, and 4% million hours
of man labor were wasted.”
In Plei Mrong and other vill
ages of the high plateau special
forces are attempting to trans
pose the life of the people from
that of the Stone Age to the 20th
Century. People who hate all
other Vietnamese, these Monte-
nars are being won over gradually
by South Viet Nam.
“The Viet Cong are camping
in their back yard and are burn
ing their villages,” Armstrong
said. “The American medic has
done more than anyone else to
win them over.”
HOUSTON (A*) — Evangelist
Billy Graham said Wednesday
society is expecting the “greatest
explosion of sexual energy in
history.”
“Young people grow up faster,”
he said. “They demand a voice
and have a right to a voice.”
The evangelist, who opens a
10-day Crusade for Christ in the
Domed Stadium Friday night,
spoke to University of Houston
students.
He underwent surgery in Sep
tember and twice postponed the
Houston Crusade.
Graham drew laughter from
the students when he described
beatniks as lonely and added he
would like to “shake them, shave
them and wash them.”
He said the Bible and Christ
are the answers to the problems
of young people today.
“God created man for purpose,”
Graham said. “He is interested
in you. When man rebels against
God, it is sin.
“To a Christian suffering has
purpose, something he can ex
perience with peace. Religion to
most of us is a tradition. To the
early church it was a dynamic,
living experience. You cannot
think yourself to Christ. You
must trust him by faith.”
About 2,000 students heard the
talk in Cullen Auditorium. An
estimated quarter million more
heard it through special television
circuits to colleges and schools in
the Houston-Gulf Coast area.
Freshmen Election Filing
To Open Monday In MSC
By BOB PALMER
Battalion Staff Writer
Filing for freshmen elections opens Monday in the Stu
dent Programs Office of the Memorial Student Center, Har
ris Pappas, Election Commission chairman, announced Wed
nesday.
Freshmen have until 5 p. m. Nov. 30 to file for the 14
positions.
Offices contested in the Dec. 9 election are president,
vice president, secretary-treasurer, social chairman, five
election committee seats, four regular seats on the Student
Senate and one pre-vet-
one
erinary Senate seat
Freshmen seeking election
must have a minimum grade
point ratio at mid-semester
of 1.25 and must maintain a 1.0
GPR overall. Senate candidates
must have and keep a 1.5 GPR.
Pappas said voting will be held
for the first time in the basement
of the MSC. Another change,
will be that students must pres
ent their identification cards be
fore voting. ID’s will be punched
in the lower left hand corner to
ensure against foul play at the
polls.
On Dec. 1 a meeting will be held
for all delegates in the Ballroom
of the MSC to instruct them what
camaigning procedures will be
used during the election.
Last year’s election showed a
record turnout in a hot contest
that even featured a female run
ning for the social chairman.
Another incident of last year’s
election was the charges of elec
tion rules violation, namely hav
ing supporters vote more than
once. Pappas said that this
problem has been eliminated by
the increased security precau
tions.
1,000 Signatures
Gained By Group
By MIKE REYNOLDS
A petition containing more than 1,000 signatures was
Circulating Wednesday night by a group of students calling
themselves the Committee for Johnny Cash.
The petition read:
“We, the undersigned, wish to make known our position
in regard to the Town Hall appearance of Johnny Cash. We
feel that the administration’s action in cancelling Mr. Cash’s
performance was 1) an unfair prejudgment of Johnny
Cash; 2) an infringement on the authority of the Memorial
Student Center Council and
3) poorly timed.
“In view of these facts,
we strongly urge that Mr.
Cash’s contract be renewed.”
Cash was to appear at a Town
Hall performance after the bon
fire. His contract was broken
by university officials Friday fol
lowing what they termed un
favorable publicity stemming
from the arrest of the country
and western singer in El Paso.
The MSC Council had reviewed
the situation Nov. 9 and enter
tained a motion by Joe Buser,
assistant director of student pub
lications, that Cash’s contract be
broken. The motion failed to
gain a second.
The Committee for Johnny
Cash was also to have presented
a resolution “objecting to the
recent untimely and inappro
priate action taken against Mr.
Johnny Cash, and indirectly
against the Memorial Student
Center Council” at a noon meet
ing of the Graduate Student
Council today.
The full text of the resolution
appears as a letter to the editor
on page 2.
The committee expressed that
the resolution would probably be
presented to the Student Senate
at their meeting Thursday night.
The committee is made up of
James Weatherby, James F.
Crook, John Corns, Lynn R. La
Motte, Stephen S. Thurman and
James F. Baldauf. The commit
tee is an independent body with
out recognition from the uni
versity’s administration.
“We wish to present student
opinion to the administration. We
will give the petition to Earl
Rudder at the earliest possible
date,” Bauldauf said.
“Every student has the right
of petition and privilege of sug
gestion and constructive criti
cism. This does not sanction re
bellious protests against consti
tuted authority incompatible
with good order. A student may
be dismissed or assessed a lesser
punishment for participation in
any such movement. The Execu
tive Committee will exercise jur
isdiction in such matters. It may
assess punishment for guilt in
specific cases or it may require
the withdrawal of any student,
whenever in its judgement his
general influence is harmful to
the morale and successful func
tioning of the University.”
The Committee for Johnny
Cash, CJC, also discussed tenta
tive plans to have a petition
available for students’ signatures
today in the MSC coffee shop, the
rotunda of the Academic Build
ing and F-l-H of Hensel Apart
ments.
“We have been actively en
gaged in communicating with
Mr. Cash and his manager and
we would like to see the admin
istration change its mind,” Corns
said.
“We also have reports of some
definite interest in an independ
ently sponsored presentation of
Mr. Cash on the night he was
originally scheduled to appear.
Breakaway Road Signs
You are roaring along the ex
pressway at a 70-mile per hour
clip when a tire blows out. Your
car careens out of control and
hits a highway sign post.
Sudden death or severe in
juries have been general results
of such crashes in the past. The
future may hold a second chance
for drivers who collide with fixed
objects along roadways.
Research at the Texas Trans
portation Institute at Texas
A&M may provide acceptable so
lutions for highway safety in an
18-month study of breakaway
road signs.
The $367,000 project begins
Dec. 1. Finances are being pro
vided by federal aid highway
funds of 12 states.
Professor Charles J. Keese,
executive officer of the TTI, said
the first formal proposal for such
a study was made in 1960.
“The Texas Highway Depart
ment and Texas Transportation
Institute were concerned about
hazards caused by large signs
along freeways,” he said. “As
more freeways were activated
our fears regarding hazards
created by guidance signs were
verified by major accidents.”
“In the fall of 1963 TTI joined
the Texas Highway Department
in cooperation with the U. S. Bu
reau of Public Roads to study the
problem,” Keese added. “A prac
tical design for a breakaway sup
port was developed. The THD is
converting as many designs as
Give Drivers Second Chance
practical on an experimental bas
is.”
It was noted in the initial study
that further research was need
ed to find the “best” solution.
“Cooperating agencies agreed
that the project should be of na
tional scope,” Keese noted. After
six months of planning, repre
sentatives of the 12 states and
the Bureau of Public Roads will
meet at A&M in early December
to solidify the research schedule.
Keese said TTI will consider
vehicle crash research informa
tion developed in the aerospace
filed, the automobile industry and
by other agencies to help produce
an effective method for saving
lives on the nation’s highways.
“Some ideas which look im
practical now due to costs and
other factors might be made
practical in the future by Amer
ican industry,” Keese comment
ed.
Keese spoke of the feasibility
of using impact attenuation de
vices to absorb energy.
“Some fixed objects will have
to remain . . . ends of bridges
and massive supports for over
head signs spanning extremely
wide facilities, for instance,” he
explained. “A possible solution
includes redirection of the ve
hicle through use of guard rails.
Another idea is to catch and de
celerate the vehicle within the
limits of human endurance and
safety.”
TTI also will study ways to
reduce wind loads on massive
overhead signs so they can be
held in place by less solid sup
ports.
“Preliminary studies indicate
we can reduce wind loads 50 per
cent by using a design resembl
ing a Venetian blind,” Keese
pointed out. “This information
has to be verified and best de
signs determined.”
Coupled with the study, TTI
will evaluate the economics of
designing signs which will col
lapse under extremely high wind
velocities.
Keese said researchers will
construct signs to collapse under
light winds, then adapt the in
formation to higher winds.
“Among the information to be
determined is the costs of getting
these signs back into service,” he
went on. “In this way we can de
termine whether it would be
more economical to replace a sign
periodically or build a more mas
sive permanent structure.”
Another part of the study in
volves the feasibility of hinge-
type signs which would stand up
under heavy wind loads by flap
ping in the breeze.
Future vehicle crashes into
road signs may not be compar
able to running into a feather
bed, but TTI hopes to make the
analogy as true as circumstances
will allow.
A car hit a “slip-joint” sign
erected recently by the THD
near Beaumont. A crushed front
headlight and a dent in the
bumper summed up the damage
as the driver escaped injury.
Had the man smashed into the
sign 24 hours earlier when the
permanent standard was still in
place, he likely would have been
killed, researchers noted.