THE BATTALION Page 2 College Station, Texas Wednesday, April 5, 1972 CADET SLOUCH by Jim Earle U.S.-Soviet space mission possible SPACE CENTER, Houston ) — The director of the Manned Spacecraft Center said Tuesday that the chances are three out of four that there will be a joint U.S.-Soviet space mission, prob ably in 1975. Christopher Kraft said in an interview that technical discus sions are progressing smoothly with the Soviets on flying a joint docking mission. He estimated the Indian missionary to speak tonight A local program on the first successful contact with the prim itive Motilone Indians of Colum bia will be repeated tonight at A&M, this time featuring the Methodist missionary who worked with the South American natives. Bruce Olson will discuss the St. Augustine Methodist church’s missionary work, show slides and artifacts and answer questions about his 1961 trek into the South American wilds. The 8 p.m. public-free program will be in Room 102 of the Zachry Engineering Center, according to James P. Hicks, TAMU graduate student who made a survey trip in the area. Bulletin Board Thursday The Aggie Cinema will meet in the Art Room of the MSC at 7:30 p.m. A picnic and new movies will be discussed. “I’ve never expected to get much mail, but this botheito me! My letter home came back unclaimed and a “no for warding address” stamp on it J” The Cepheid Variable Science Fiction Club will meet at 7 p.m. in Room 305 of the Physics build ing. Convention planning and amendments will be considered. Voting change good The change in Texas’ residency law is a big one but a necessary one if a citizen’s rights are to be guaranteed. The most obvious defect in having only a one month residency requirement is that some people will be voting in local elections that have no idea of the issues involved. But this defect isn’t as big as it may seem. It is doubtful that many recently arrived persons would get out and vote in an election they know nothing about. Most people are | f reluctant to vote anyway and to expect droves of strangers to show up at the polls is illogical. Besides, it would not make that much of a difference with all the unintelligent voting going on right now. How many people actually vote for a particular person, but instead vote a straight ticket, or for the first name on the ballot, or for someone that has a nice sounding name? Quite a few, so many, in fact, that the newly enfranchised voter probably won’t even make a dent. By lowering the residency requirement, however, the government has enfranchised those who would have not been able to vote simply because they had not lived in one area long enough. Previously a person lost his right to vote because he had moved. That is over now. We hope that those in local authority both here and throughout the state and nation will soon be allowing everyone to vote. Pot laws Amidst all the talk about following a national commission’s recommendation that criminal penalties for private marijuana use be ended, one question has not been considered to the extent that it should be. That question is this, even if such penalties are removed, will the inequalities of enforcement of such laws that exist today be ended? This is one of the most important aspects of the question. This nation can endure without legalized marijuana, it has for some time, but how long can it exist without fair and equal treatment under the law being accorded each citizen? There is now a gross and criminal situation in our courts. It is the great variability that marijuana laws are enforced or not enforced. Depending on one’s social, economic or local situation so depends the , punishment meeted out. It doesn’t take much thinking to come up with examples. Remember Lee Otis Johnson, a Houston black, who made the mistake of harboring certain ideas and then being “caught” with one joint of pot on his person. Thirty years in jail Johnson got. But in certain courts in this country the judges refuse to return convictions. And we don’t have to say just what the chances of say a rich, young, white citizen has of getting convicted if “Daddy” has just the slightest bit of pull. If such were the case and the penalties involved were only those of a misdemeanor it would not be so terrible. Unforgiveable but still not so terrible. But what is now involved is a felony. This is a crime, that, if convicted, carries the same penalties as a murder or robbery conviction. No equivalent of a minor in possession this! This is what needs to be changed immediately. We can later debate the effect of marijuana on the human body and society. We cannot afford to delay any longer about such criminal law enforcement. 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HAYDEN whitsett Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising V ® ue J-* av j s Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San oportS Laltor John Curylo Francisco. Assistant Sports Editor Bill Henry odds of such a mission being ap proved at 75-25 in favor of doing it.” Kraft cautioned, however, “I don’t think we’re ready now to make a full commitment.” The official said it is already too late to make the flight by the earlier predicted date, June of 1974, but that there is time to build the equipment needed for a 1975 launch date. “If we are going to fly in 1975,” he said, “we’ll have to get agree ments from both countries within six months.” Agreement on technical details, he said, could come as early as this summer. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration has spent about $700,000 on a technical study about the flight. Kraft es timated all additional hardware would cost $100 to $200 million. He said the Russians have not yet produced such a study, but said they are devoting a similar amount of resources and time to the proposed mission. “They have some of their best people working on this job,” he said. The preliminary study, produced by North American Rockwell Corp., calls for a 14-day U.S. earth orbit mission with two days of joint Soviet-American space activities. Under the plan, the Russians would launch a Salyut spacecraft, which is an orbiting laboratory, and then a Soyuz spacecraft, which is the Russian version of a command and service module. The two Soviet craft would link up in space. Then an American command and service module wi launched. A day later it m rendezvous and dock with Soviet craft. Read Badalian Classifies STUDENT DISCOUNT Available At With This Ad or Student ID. 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