THE BATTALION
Page 2 College Station, Texas Friday, November 19. 1971
CADET SLOUCH
by Jim Earle
Listen up
Bonfire is defended, Sbisa gets comment
iltm Biemofit
SLOUCH
1953' I© 71
Editor:
This letter is in response to the
many letters to do away with
Bonfire. Perhaps I should first
state that I am a “non-reg” as
this seems so important to the
long hairs and hippies who set
up housekeeping around the
trees.
Every year the cutting area is
set up in an area where the trees
need to be cleared and would be
regardless of the Bonfire.
The Bonfire has been a part of
A&M for many years and ex
presses our desire to beat the
Hell out of t.u. and our undying
love of Texas A&M. It is cer
tainly clear that these people
who demand change and student
rights may go to school here but
are certainly Aggies.
Changes are necessary and
progress is a must for A&M but
we can’t allow a regression into
an atrophied t.u. complete with
freaks and “peaceful??” rioters.
The Aggies want the Bonfire
to stay and we’ll do what is nec
essary to keep it.
Kenneth Curtis ’72
★ ★ ★
Editor:
I am writing in response to
Jerome Hansmann’s letter in the
Tuesday Battalion. If Mr. Hans-
mann were truly interested in the
Bonfire and the controversy
about it, he would know the cut
ting area will soon be covered by
a lake. I refer to a first page
story in the same edition of the
Battalion which says:
“The cutting area this year is
located 15 miles from the cam
pus on Sandy Point Road, the
proposed site of the new Bryan
Lake.”
I ask Mr. Hansmann this: How
would you like to be boating
around the new lake and have
your fishing line snagged by a
tree that could have gone on the
bonfire? The only thing that a
tree could do on the bottom of
the lake is rot.
Brian Ehni ’74
★ ★ ★
Editor:
I, like many others, am losing
a considerable amount of money
each semester due to the univer
sity’s policy of requiring students
to pay for meals which they may
or may not eat.
I am not really complaining
about the situation, but rather
am asking for a choice. I propose
that the university make avail
able meal tickets or cards so the
student is given the option of
selecting his meal schedule.
For example, give the student
a choice of buying, say, five
breakfast tickets (or ten lunch,
or thirty supper, etc.). These tick
ets could be made non-transfer-
able simply by having the pur
chaser endorse each and present
the ticket along with the l.D.
card each time the ticket is used.
The tickets could be used at any
time during the semester that
they are purchased, and the stu
dent would be paying for only
what he actually used. I realize
that this method would have many
imperfections, but at least it pro
vides a choice.
Steven Oualline ’74
★ ★ ★
Editor:
Today at lunch I sat across
from a young man who took one
bite out of his vegetables, his
cherry pie, his lemon pudding,
left one and one-half glasses of
tang, and left forty percent of
his meat and potatoes. I watched
another person go back and get
[Texas
foot
seconds on meat and potatoes m|L w-
leave his two desserts untouched in A
Ever since I have been at TeXm. in
A&M University I have bXine
bothered by this senseless wasXe char
of food. I don’t expect everyorXrns ar
to clean their plates but the leaXd in
one can do is think how muchyoilThe Te
can eat before taking two des L sen 6
serts, four glasses of milk, ajthe old
three slices of bread. The faXrsus a
that one pays for his meals doXool.
not give him the right to wasXte be
thirty percent of each meal In11947,
eats. If one cannot see the morsllexas ha
aspect of this ludicrous request,!.,
then think of it this way: Sfallhe la
has a budget and the cost of the Las w
food which is wasted shrinks this ittision.
budget. If the shrinkage was re.Ln, 47-
duced to maybe one-half of what I
it is now, Sbisa would have more I
money to spend on tender roar ^
beef and quality steaks.
Vance Driscoll
Steve Hayes
[jr MIC
The cost of federal predator control
[Eattalio
Darrel
[:' Texas
Lgies
Ire SW
off!’
‘After 18 years and 2,500 cartoons, I deserve today
Black awareness
This issue and the last three issues of The Battalion have carried
articles dealing with blacks on campus.
We have seen that A&M still remains an almost totally white
university. Despite recruitment by the Black Awareness Committee and
the university’s open and fairly equal policy, we still have less than a
one per cent black student population. This is in a state with 12.7 per
cent black population.
We have seen that while we are a university for the State of
Texas, we have attending this university six times as many foreign
students as blacks.
We have also seen a strange difference between the administra
tion’s views of blacks and views of the blacks themselves. We have seen
that Dean Hannigan says the policy is wide open toward blacks while
the Black Awareness Committee’s newspaper—Liberator—says that
Dean Hannigan was a reason the blacks had such a hard time getting an
on-campus organization. We have seen that the Corps has a “color
blind” policy while a black junior in the Corps considers it “99 per cent
white-oriented.”
To put it mildly, there seem to be some inconsistencies present.
There seems to be, at the very least, a communications
breakdown between the blacks and the administration.
It is a stated goal of the Black Awareness Committee to create an
awareness of blacks among the administration and this we are
convinced they are trying to do. There is only one place left to point
the finger.
We do not mean to say that the administration is intentionally
disregarding the blacks. Such a policy would be folly for any college
today. We do say that the administration needs to study the
inconsistencies—there is a problem, and it must be resolved.
Since 1940 the cost of the pre
dator control program has increas
ed by more than 800 per cent,
while at the same time the num
ber of animals taken in in control
programs has decreased. In Colo
rado, for example, the kill num
ber dropped 20 percent from 1967
to 1970, while the budget rose
$30,000.
In addition to this, the eco
nomic losses attributed to preda
tors have frequently been less
than the cost of the programs to
prevent these depredations. In
Montana the loss reports by wool
growers is annually between 4000
to 5000 sheep, which is equal to
about $120,000 annually, but the
yearly cost of the predator control
program is over $300,000. In Utah,
the total cost of livestock and
poultry loss in 1970 was put at
$74,830, but predator control costs
were $187,937. California and Ne
vada are two other states showing
excessively large cost deficits of
this nature.
The funding of control has ap
parently extended beyond existing
need in many instances. Perhaps
cost-benefit analyses by impartial
agencies should be made in each
state to search for statistical
trends in depredations, and to
limit unnecessary disruption of
the environment.
The technological development
of predator control has produced
sophisticated methods for facili
tating the destruction of millions
of wild animals. With the devel
opment of extremely lethal toxi
cants and with new means of dis-
See here
Two skin flicks-and Hoffman
By D. P. FONTANA
Umm, Umph, Umm! There’s
quite a dilemma in reporting the
flicks which will be -showing in
B-CS this weekend. So, I’ll just
call ’em like I see ’em, and the
devil can take the hindmost —
which is what you see plenty of
at the Palace theatre this week
end. There one can see two really
big-budget, dreadful flicks which
will probably be great audience
pleasers for the soft-core porno-
for-lunch bunch. Beyond the Val
ley of the Dolls and The Seven
Minutes — both Russ Meyer
flicks — will probably appeal to
anyone who reads Playboy and
believes it. The former film,
now several years old, has not
mellowed with aging.
The only thing grosser than
this footage was Meyer’s new re
lease The Seven Minutes. It’s
just too bad that while Mr. Mey
er was casting for faces, breasts
and other anatomical considera-'
tions, he couldn’t have tried to
throw in a little T-A-L-E-N-T.
(or maybe a decent scriptwriter)
What you have is a rather bor
ing montage of soft-porno.
There is also an unbelievable
amount of presumptuous sermon
izing on “freedom of speech,”
sexual reality, and other topics
which would be dear and near to
the heart of any ex-porno pro
ducer turned respectable (only
through the size of budgets he
now commands).
So, essentially you have a
scantily clad skin-flick with pret
tier bodies and faces than one is
usually want to see and elabor
ate sets which make California
look as though every room in the
state had been done by an in
terior decorator who usually spe
cializes in royal cathouses. (Cal
ifornia looks good, but not like
this!)
Film G.P.R. = 1.0. The Seven
Minutes, in which you will recog
nize about half the cast of the
first film, is just more breasts
and revolves around an alleged
rape instigated by a college stu
dent reading a book supposedly
published in the 1930’s. Any stu
dent who has made it through
junior high and doesn’t find this
movie ludicrous probably de
serves to watch it a second time.
Anyway, the Film G.P.R. = 0.9.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
is the story of a poor little, all
girl band which goes to Califor
nia where one of the chicks just
happens to inherit (?) about half
a million dollars. This movie also
has some scenes of the most
“plastic” super-*parties of all
time. If vagueness is the one
thing you can’t stand, this is the
show for you; and it deserves a
Playing at the Campus is an
altogether different type of
movie. Who Is Harry Kellerman
and Why Is He Saying Those
Terrible Things About Me? is
really a pretty fine film, but one
which I have very little doubt
will not appeal to the average
bonfire builder. Dustin Hoffman
controls a rather good, semi
stream of consciousness portray
al of a phenomenonally successful
pop song writer who — at the
very peak — runs out of what
ever it takes to keep the sky
from falling. If you take your
movies seriously, you’ll like this
film. Film G.P.R. = 2.8.
Cbe Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of
the student uniters 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.
The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is
published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday,
liday periods, September through
Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, Septem
May, and once a week during summer school.
editor must be typed, double-spaced,
300 words in length. They must be
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the
and no more than 300 words in length. They must
signed, although the uniter’s name will be withheld by
arrangement with the editor. Address correspondence to
l isten Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building,
College Station, Texas 77S13.
MEMBER
The Associated Press, Texas Press Association
The Associated Collegiate Press
Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester; $6 per school
year; $6.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5%
sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address:
The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station,
Texas 77843.
Members of the Student Publications Board ar^: Jim
Lindsey, chairman ; H. F. Filers, College of Liberal Arts ;
F. S. White, College of Engineering; Dr. Asa B. Childers, Jr.,
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for
" s dispatchs credited to it
paper and local news of spon
Rights of republication of all other
reproduction
otherwise credited in the
of all news dispatchs credited
local news of spontaneous
origin published herein. Kighti
matter herein are also reserved.
t. S. White, College of Engineering; Dr. Asa B. Childers, Jr.,
College of Veterinary Medicine ; Dr. W. E. Tedrick, College
of Agriculture j and Layne Kruse, student.
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas.
Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising
vices, Inc., New York City,
Francisco
Services, Inc., New York
Chicago, Los Angeles and San
EDITOR HAYDEN WHITSETT
Managing Editor Doug Dilley
News Editor Sue Davis
Sports Editor John Curylo
Assistant Sports Editor Bill Henry
tribution, the airplane, snowmo
bile, and trail bike have brought
all remote wilderness areas with
in the reach of federal control.
Unless indiscriminate poisoning
is restrained, these programs will
decimate all species of wild ani
mals that cannot quickly retreat
from or adapt to man’s onslaught.
The Division of Wildlife Serv
ices has responded to criticism by
stating that only the most selec
tive, effective and humane toxi
cants are used. However, if the
federal program employs methods
that have little effect on the envi
ronment, it seems unusual that
the DWS is one of the few agen
cies that has not filed an envi
ronmental impact statement in
compliance with Section 102 of
the National Policy Art of 1969.
The major methods used by the
DWS to control predators are
shooting, denning, trapping and
poisoning. Shooting is a selective
method of removing troublesome
individuals without persecuting
gassing of animals and their
young in dens), and poisoning
are the non-selective methods of
control which unnecessarily per
secute entire species, predators
and non-predators.
The four poisons primarily used
are strychnine, thallium, cyanide,
and sodium monofluoroacetate
(1080).
Over six million tablets of
strychnine have been sown over
the last 10 years. Strychnine is
completely non-selective and will
kill almost any animal that eats
the bait, or the poisoned carcass
of an earlier victim. A scented
wick acts as a trigger that re
leases the poison by spring-pro
pelled force into the animal’s
mouth, when the wick is bitten
or pulled upon.
Compound 1080 in water solu
tion is injected into an animal
carcass as a bait for wild canines.
It too can cause secondary poi-
in control programs in 1967, and
it is banned from interstate ship
ping, the eagle kills in Wyoming
in May, 1971, were caused by
thallium illegally purchased in
Colorado.
[Bowl t :
There are several alternatives
to the present program. In Kansas
and Missouri, where no federal
predator control programs are
allowed, farmers are instructed
individually in controlling preda
tors without non-selective poisons.
Damage in Kansas was reduced
by $16,000, and at one-nineteenth
the cost of the federal program
in adjoining Oklahoma. In Mis
souri losses were reduced by more
than 80 per cent, and it was done
without poisons. These programs
are effective because they are
aimed at individual predators
causing damage. Unfortunately
efficiency and economy have sel
dom been synonymous with gov
ernment-political programs.
soning. It is highly toxic to all
an entire species, but few stages animals, including birds,
have given ‘game’ status to pre- Although thallium is so danger-
dators. Trapping, denning (the ous that its use was discontinued
In summation, grazing of domes
tic sheep on our federally owned
public land is the principal reason
for the widespread effort to kill
coyotes, and killing coyotes is the Lild ri
principal reason for the continued|ihe Ag
existence of the Federal Preda
tory Mammal Control Program. [Day foo
The idea of a public trusteeship I For tl
for our wild lands and animalaliwld U
rests upon three related princi-Idefensiv
pies: 1) Certain resources are ofMd
such importance to the people of |md opt
the United States as a whole that ping th
it would be unwise to place them jiovicto
under private ownership. 2) Then This
entail so much of the bounty of podeh
nature that they should be avail-ply see
able, freely, to all people regard-P? esc
less of financial status. 3) Itisjpew
the primary function of the gov-Prback
ernment to promote the general P?out
welfare of the public rather than pr se
to redistribute public goods from PS&inst
broad public uses to restricted Jlbnnie
private benefit. By American tra- J^st 1
dition, supported with legal pre- jlhanksi
cedent, our wildlife is public pos-1 Wigg
session. PP ress
It is questionable, indeed, Ag
whether the poisoning of public
domain and the subsequent de
struction of remifte habitats are
justified by vested interest such < ^
as the wool growers. | teday
pel
'WHEN YOU
CALL ON US FOR
MEMBER
ii
846-3773
VISIT OUR NEW OFFICE . . . MSC,
JEW (
fSHED
menti
, ' V: n
plow as
»two,
ratj. A
Fen
Pr ap
1> a fe
pS3102, c
wrtm:
BCVEItUY BRAUY IMIYUtSinf TRAVEL. nv,, jm.
Iwo b
■« to
ft' 1
1TTEN
nm fur
itcy. i
* fishin
<£&yrM£
\V
Ov
ttpxf. 1?
' HBMn
^ atmoi
^ or a
«22-i
GOi
UT
PEANUTS
By Charles M. Sch^^
BY THE TIME 10E 6R0U) UP,
THE METRIC 5Y5TEM WILL
PROBABLY BE OFFICIAL..
ONE INCH 15 2.5Y CENT1METER5.,
ONE FOOT 15 0.3048 METERS ANP
ONE MILE 15 1.60? KIL0METER5 .
i'll NEVER MEA51/RE ANYTHING
A6AIN AS L0N6 A5 I LlVt
Whs
'Vlv