Page 2 College Station, Texas Thursday, March 6, 1969 THE B/\TTALI^DN
| Defendants To Be Helped |
\By Change In Bail System |
The House Criminal Jurisprud
ence Committee in Austin is
studying a bill which would al
low a person accused of a crime
to make bail by posting 10 per
cent of bond. The bill, intro
duced by Rep. Ray Lemmon of
Houston, calls for the money to
be held in escrow by the county
and returned if the defendant is
declared innocent.
As things now stand, all but
the most affluent people are
forced to use the services of a
bail bondsman to escape jail
pending trial. The bail bonds
man’s fee is 10 per cent of bond
— 10 per cent which the ac
cused will never see again, re
gardless of final disposition in
his case.
“Persons charged now are ef
fectively fined whether guilty or
innocent,” Lemmon said.
LEMMON’S BILL has merit.
Although often abused, our sys
tem of jurisprudence still main
tains a defendant’s innocence un
til guilt is proven in court. Per
sons accused of crime should not
be forced to pay a “fine” just to
gain pre-trial freedom.
One change is needed in the
bill, however. The bail money
should be returned to the de
fendant after appearance at
court, regardless of whether the
verdict is innocent or guilty. The
escrow should not become an
added income for the county.
UNFORTUNATELY, with de
mands for crime control at least
partially tied to the bond issue,
this bill is not likely to receive
widespread approval. In testi
mony against the bill, Houston
attorney Joe Edwin Naron, rep
resenting the Texas Association
of Professional Sureties, Inc.,
told the committee that 93 per
cent of people accused of crime
in Harris County are eventually
proved guilty.
“Eventually” is right. With
the heavy case loads now facing
our courts, many persons are
forced to spend long periods in
jail prior to trial date. Mean
while, nobody mentions that
other seven per cent.
A MAJOR point against the
bill was raised in opposition tes
timony by Houston attorney and
bail bondsman Ray Stevens. That
is the fear that repeat offenders
would have an easy route for
escape. Of course, this view
seems to take the line that if a
person was guilty of some crime
before, he is bound to be guilty
of the present one.
Stevens told the committee
that the bill would put 200 Texas
bail bondsmen out of business.
“We’d hate to be wiped out be
cause some do-gooder says the
guilty should be cared for.”
What Stevens is overlooking is
that “do-gooders” are saying
nothing about the “guilty.” They
are only making some effort at
allowing persons not yet proved
guilty to get out of jail without
financial punishment.
If the bail bondsman is put out
of business, that’s too bad. But
if a major consideration is to be
whether some men should make
a profit from criminal accusa
tions, the answer is no.
CADET SLOUCH by Jim Earle
“I guess they got tired of having their machines kicked!”
Arts and the Image
Because Texas A&M doesn’t have an extensive curric
ulum in the field of the arts, and because College Station is
not exactly one of Texas’s cultural centers, most students at
A&M really don’t have a chance to absorb firsthand
knowledge of what’s happening in the contemporary scene of
art, music, drama and literature.
Although this area of study and participation is stressed
at other colleges and universities, inside the classroom and
out, it is not emphasized at A&M. Because of this lack,
Aggies receive a somewhat limited arts education.
Operating on the idea that the people of this area should
realize that there are other forms of communication besides
the voice, the Contemporary Arts Committee exists to serve
Texas A&M.
“We want to diminish the false image of the Aggie
whose only interests are beer and football,” explained Tom
Ellis, CAC chairman.
The Committee works to bring creators and creations to
A&M in such fields as writing, dancing, painting and film.
Anyone interested in working toward this end should contact
Tom Ellis, Box 5191, College Station or fill out an application
at the Student Programs Office in the MSC.
This way you can help not only your school but
yourself. After all, there is more to art than Cadet Slouch and
movies at the Campus.
(Guest Editorial by Fran Haugen)
THE BATTALION
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of
the student writers only. The Battalion is a non-tax-
supported, non-profit, self-supporting educational enter
prise edited and operated by students as a university and
community newspaper.
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the editor should be typed, double-spaced,
and must be no more than 300 words in length. They
must be signed, although the writer’s name will be with
held by arrangement with the editor. Address corre
spondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217,
Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843.
Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim
Lindsey, chairman ; Dr. David Bowers, College of Liberal
Arts ; F. S. White, College of Engineering; Dr. Donald R.
Clark, College of Veterinary Medicine; and Hal Taylor, Col
lege of Agriculture.
The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M is
published in College Station, Texas daily except Saturday,
Sunday, and Monday, and holiday periods, September through
May, and once a week during summer school.
Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising
Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San
Francisco.
MEMBER
The Associated Press, Texas Press Association
Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester; $6 per school
year; $6.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 4%
sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address:
The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station,
Texas 77843.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for
republication of all new dispatches credited to it or not
otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous
origin published herein. Rights of republication of all other
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Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas.
EDITOR JOHN W. FULLER
Managing Editor Dave Mayes
Sports Editor John Platzer
News Editor Bob Palmer
Staff Columnists John McCarroll, Mike Plake,
Monty Stanley, Jan Moulden
Staff Writers Tom Curl, Janie Wallace, Tony
Huddleston, David Middlebrooke
Assistant Sports Editor Richard Campbell
Photographer W. R. Wright
SOPHS & JUNIORS
ATTENTION
Pictures for The Aggieland are being made for
Jrs. & Soph’s K-N this week, March 3-7. Your
cooperation is necessary for picture to appear
in the yearbook.
Bulletin Board
TONIGHT
Association of Students from
Mexico will meet at 6:45 p.m. in
room 123 of the Academic Build
ing. Pan American Week will
be discussed.
The A&M Parachute Club will
meet at 7:30 p.m. in room 112 of
the Plant Sciences Building.
Dallas Hometown Club will
meet at 7:30 p.m. in rooms 3-B
and 3-C of the MSC. Members will
elect club sweetheart and plan
Easter party.
Chemistry Wives Club will meet
at 8 p.m. in Bryan Building and
Loan. Merle Norman Cosmetic
Studio will present a demonstra
tion on the use and application of
facial cosmetics.
Architectural Wives Society
will meet at 7:30 p.m. in Bryan
Building and Loan. Professor
Richard Vrooman of the Archi
tecture Department will show
slides and speak on Pakistan.
Refreshments will be served.
Rio Grande Valley Hometown
Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. in
room 202 of Francis Hall. Club
Sweetheart and Cotton Pageant
Duchess will be elected. Bring 3x5
picture of entrant.
Texas A&M Sports Car Club
will meet at 7:30 p.m. in room
107 of the Military Science Build
ing.
MONDAY
The Aggie Wives Council will
hold its regular monthly business
meeting in the Texas Room,
north entrance to Bryan Build
ing and Loan, at 7:30 p.m.
At The Movies
by Mike Plat
“The Night
They Raided Minsky’s”
was the dawn of the death of
burlesque.
Or so one is led to believe, if
one can believe that generation
which is old enough to remember
or forget it.
This film lucidly explains
things burlesque, before burles
que was modified to accommo
date the strip.
It tells the ugly, it tells the
sweet. Not so much because of
its script, which was only fair,
or because of its acting, which
was comparable. It shows bur
lesque with its dirty, harsh-lit
stage, and the ruby, fatty lips of
those who danced on it. It gives
grainy glimpses, by means of
caricatured news reels and stills,
^>f patrons who ate tomatoes
bought from the crowded corner
market just before show time.
THIS IS one case of the whole
being better than any particular
of its parts. Britt Ekland, play
ing the daughter of a single-
minded Amish father, is a beau
tiful girl. But she was also a
beautiful girl in “The Bobo” with
husband Peter Sellers. Probably,
in her next role she will play,
among other things, a beautiful
girl.
Or Jason Robards Jr., who
plays the chrome-plated, super
charged straight of the straight-
man-and-comic team for Mr.
Minsky. He looks like he just
changed suits from “Any Wed
nesday,” another filmy flick in
which he preyed on sweet young
things. In this film he is the
kind-hearted villain who leads in
nocent Miss Ekland away from
her straight and narrow father.
AWAY FROM the particular
parts, watching this film is like
taking a trip through the streets
of New York via the 1920’s. You
hear the loud flushing of imper
fect toilets. You see the speak
easy and the easy life it fol
lowed. You feel the sting and
the warmth from crowding mil
lions of people with low and low
er incomes into smaller spaces.
Reels you see of the boys home
from the war, of babies being
taught Americanism at the age
of a few months — are impres
sive.
It’s like reading Carl Sand
burg’s poem of “the greatest
city, the greatest nation—” noth
ing like it ever was.
For the most part, the plot is
a gigantic put-on. Miss Eli
is a 1920-ish Candy whose:
aim is to see electric lightk
and life with shaven faces,!;
of which she missed as an Ac
miss.
HARRY ANDREWS plays',
father, superbly astonishet
the abounding sins in New I:
wanting^ to withdraw his fc
ter from the scene.
His attempts to take hist
ter back result in turning lei
from clumsily executed 1
dances to a bang-up strip tec
Probably as much fun as
old newsreels and the acta
the stage are the special
Good editing and sponta
appearing reaction from the;
ience provides hilarious
tainment.
William Friedkin, dint;:
well-spent his time in NewTti
where the entire film was e
For “The Night They Rai:
Minsky’s,” he and his tear.:
serve applause for maki|
funny, warm, human experk
BUSIER AGENCY
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F.H.A.—Veterans and Conventional Loam
ARM & HOME SAVINGS ASSOCIATION
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STAMPS
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TOP \ mots-f* i
VALUE
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caEAmv to Hire shoatzmi
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09 A)
PICNICS
REDEEM AT BROOKSHIRE BROS.
50 FREE
TOP VALUE STAMPS
With Purchase of 2-Oz. Bottle
McCormick’s Vanilla Extract
Coupon Expires March 8, 1969.
REDEEM AT BROOKSHIRE BROS, f
50 FREE
TOP VALUE STAMPS
With Purchase of 7-Oz. Can
;; Johnson’s Favor
„ ’ Coupon Expires March 8, 1969.
REDEEM AT BROOKSHIRE BROS.
50 FREE
TOP VALUE STAMPS
With Purchase of 3 Pkgs.
Betty Crocker Layer Cake Mix 3 for $U)0
Coupon Expires March 8, 1969.
MaLISUa/i/ES,MA'AM?
/WELL, VE5, I
I SUPPOSE WE COULD DIVIDE
INSTEAD OF SUBTRACT
MOGOEVER, AT THE RISK
OF 0FFENPIN6 YOU...
MISS OTHMAR NEVER
DID IT THAT WAY!
This i
many,
recent
Fans?.
T0K
onstral
Wedne:
nese cc
careful
ther w
Moscow
Manch
The
away I
said le
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crowds
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