2
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1973
World's Hard Luck Newsmakers Find Honorable Mention.
By RICK BROWN
Monday a Soviet court ruled
that Yuri Shikhavonich, a dissi
dent and friend of physicist
Andrei Sakharov, was mentally
insane. When his laywer asked if
the psychiatrists who judged him
crazy had ever met Shikhanovich,
the court told the impetuous up
start that had nothing to do with
it.
In other news from Europe, the
Paris fire department reported
that in 1972 it was called out five
times to help people who had
their feet stuck in toilets. (Your
guess is as good as mine.)
And while I’m on unusual but
interesting tidbits I might men
tion that Jack Saunders of Spo
kane, Wash, lost a court suit
against Arden Farms, a dairy
products company. He sued for
damages just because he found a
tooth, a human one, in a gallon
of ice cream, (picky picky picky).
The judge said, in what may be
the understatement of the year,
that Saunders suffered no dam
ages although the tooth “could
be considered unappetizing.”
Speaking of things being out
of place, Lt. Governor Bill Hobby
was in Germany this yast week.
He led a Texas trade delegation
hoping to lure German companies
to Texas. The trip was especially
timely since Volkswagen recently
announced plans to establish a
factory in the U.S.
The absence of a corporate in
come tax, relatively cheap labor
and a general climate strongly in
favor of industrial expansion all
make the job a little easier for
our state officials who have been
quite successful in enticing for
eign investors to Texas. Witness
the Mitsubishi airplane manufac
turing plant in San Angelo and
a planned $15 million cotton
spinning mill on the South Plains
by a Japanese firm. That cotton
mill, by the way, resulted from
the efforts of the recent Japanese
trade delegation led by Gov.
Briscoe. Our state executives
seem to be honestly trying to
earn their pay.
Some legislators, notably Tom
Massey, D.-San Angelo, suggested
last week that the legislature not
bother itself with drafting a new
constitution next spring. They
recommend simply ratifying the
document submitted by the Con
stitutional Revision Committee
and presenting it to the voters.
Fortunately, not many people
agreed with them.
The rewriting of a constitution
is too important to merely rubber
stamp approval on the work of
an appointed commission. The
The people who will have to live
under the new laws should have
as much opportunity as possible
to express their views directly
or through their representatives,
the kind of opportunity the up
coming convention will provide.
Bait Commentary
Athletic Facts
Questions and misunderstandings have been arising the past two
days about the feasibility of putting together a women’s division of
intercollegiate athletics at TAMU. Many people within the University
can’t understand what membership in the Southwest Conference means
for all involved. The money question almost always is the center of
conversation on the topic.
Rightly so! To find funds for a program about which SWC
officials know will involve more participants than they can readily see is
not an easy task. Indeed, even if the SWC were to allow women into its
house, it would probably be a matter of several years before adequate
funds would be available to support one or more good teams.
Sports news director Spec Gammon suggests that women form
their own conference, of sorts. However, one already exists and has for
10 years in Texas. The A&M Women’s Sports Association has been a
member for three years. This illustrates a lack of knowledge of what
people just down the hall from each other have been doing and not
doing. It also shows the poor publicity the Texas Committee on
Intercollegiate Athletics for Women has been getting for the past few
years and why there will probably always be a shortage of funds for
schools that are members of this group alone. TAMU, a member
organization, has likewise not gotten much publicity from the national
counterpart of this group, the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
for Women. Publicity, of course, must be interpreted in monetary
terms, too.
To illustrate, one should merely look at the situation we have
currently. The WSA managed to scrounge up $200 from the Texas
A&M Book Store in the MSC to support 10 different activities for this
coming year. The A&M Athletic Department, however, had a budget of
$1.8 million for the 1972-73 school year. At the University of Texas in
Austin, women’s intercollegiate varsity teams are funded through
intramurals on a budget of about $6,000. UT’s Athletic Department
operates on a $1.8 million for men’s intercollegiates. The situations,
obviously, are intolerable.
Representatives of the WSA have been pondering who they will
play if they were allowed under the SWC umbrella. As the current rules
allow all teams in the SWC, they may play whoever they want whenever
they want, although teams coordinate schedules when playing among
themselves. Anyone the WSA plays now could still play them,
regardless of SWC membership.
We have talked to numerous Athletic Department officials who
have said they would be more than willing to help with the organization
of a women’s program of intercollegiate athletics. They admit, although
the women would have to play the major role in finding additional
funds. This might be slow at first, but with careful coordination,
money-making teams could compete to eventually develop more
teams. If there were enough teams warranting one, a female associate
athletic director could be hired to coordinate intercollegiate athletics.
Our intramural department could develop additional programs in
its area for women, also. It’s obvious to all that intramurals could never
fully fund intercollegiate athletics for women without severely
hampering its program for men—and the object is not to tear down
what we have, but to build up.
Texas A&M stands to be a leader in the SWC in these areas. We
urge Dr. Charles Samson and the Athletic Council to take a positive
view of this proposal to allow women’s intercollegiate athletics. An
image of fairness and equality will overshadow many schools and be
beneficial for all Texans. }
Zindler Again
Houston TV’s favorite problem investigator, Marvin Zindler, did
it again Tuesday for that house of ill-repute in La Grange, otherwise
known as the chicken ranch (to Marvin, it’s a house of prostitution).
Zindler interviewed State Attorney General John Hill recently on the
matter and in Channel 13’s Tuesday evening news presentation, he
presented his findings.
Hill admitted that he had heard rumors and complaints about the
chicken ranch’s recent unofficial reopening, apparently through the use
of a back road leading to the rear portion of the house. Zindler seems
to have been about the last one in the state to hear about its reopening
and the first one to be upset at it.
Prostitution, morals aside, is considered by state law to be illegal
and therefore, if the rule is going to be on the books, it should be
enforced.
Perhaps, though, Zindler should give up on his present direction
and lobby the legislature for legalization of the “corruption in
Babylon-on-the-Brazos.” Otherwise, it seems there are more important
problems in Houston for Zindler and Channel 13 to deal with.
■SEEMS THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ENOUGH POWER TO BROADCAST THE LATEST
CRISIS MESSAGE!'
Granted, the committee
to citizen groups around
as they formulated the new con.
stitution draft, but not everyom
was able to attend the meeting
The convention is essential i
assuring the voters ample oppor
tunity to have their views airei
And one other item from tli
capital. Former State Rep. R,
“Dick” Cory, D.-Victoria, chai
a 1968 interim committee investi
gating the Texas vending machiin
industry. He recently was
to Austin to review once
the committee findings. In &
sence Cory said what most
already knew, that the vendiny
machine industry may be «•
rupt and that the Texas Amuse
ment Machine Commission wliicl
supposedly regulates the industrj
instead serves to protect the con
panics (sound familiar?). Accord
ing to Cory, “. . . an unregulated
business would be better that
what we have now.” If someone
would just discover that
Texas Insurance Commission
the Texas Water Quality B
are inept it would really n
my day.
Listen Up—
Tree Chopping Demands Reimbursement
Cbe Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of
the editor or of the writer of the article and are not
necessarily those of the University administration or
the Board of Directors. The Battalion is a non-profit,
self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a
University and Community newspaper.
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words
and are subject to being cut to that length or less if
longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit
such letters and does not guarantee to publish any
letter. Each letter must be signed and show the address
of the writer.
Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion,
Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas
77843.
Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim
Lindsey, chairman; Dr. Tom Adair, Dr. R. A. Albanese, Dr.
H. E. Hierth, W. C. Harrison, Randy Ross, T. Chet Edwards,
and Jan Faber.
Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising
Services. Inc, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is
published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday,
Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, September through
May, and once a week during summer school.
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 6%
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
reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it or not
otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous
origin published herein. Right of reproduction of all other
matter herein are also reserved.
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas.
EDITOR MIKE RICE
Assistant to the Editor Rod Speer
Managing Editor Greg Moses
News Editor T. C. Gallucci
Sports Editor Kevin Coffey
Ass’t. Sports Editor Ted Boriskie
Editor:
Should we recommend gold
medals for the eight young men
who reportedly chopped down the
Rice University victory tree for
their act of heroism or should
we get to the grit of the matter.
First, according to sources clos
er to the scene, the chopping was
done last Wednesday morning
thanks to directions given by the
camp owner’s ten-year-old daugh
ter before getting on her morn
ing school bus.
Second, in all articles previous
ly written in the Batt, there is no
mention of Camp Menison. This
implies the tree was the property
of Rice. In actuality, the camp is
private property and the Rice
football team pays only for its
use on Friday nights before home
games.
These eight students did no dis
service to Rice (as shown last
Saturday in Ft. Worth), but only
on an act of foolish vandalism to
the camp. Having a personal re
lationship with the Manison’s,
their camp and all their trees, I
know they are not pleased with
this ignorant achievement.
My personal feeling is that if
the eight students were hacked
off by the band’s performance,
they should have gotten their
firewood from the band director’s
front yard.
In all fairness I believe Tom
Manison should be fully reimburs
ed for his loss or at least an hon
est apology from these rash Ags.
Barry Kluth ’76
Your letter clearly shows how
really foolish people can be and
how blown up rivalries can affect
the rights of others. It’s too bad
not all people share your views.—
Ed.
★ ★ ★
Editor:
The bonfire is one of A&M’s
most effective means of commu
nicating its institutionalized atti
tudes and values. With it we an
nually express our profound fail
ure to grasp the nature of our
fit in the environment. Because
we lack an understanding of the
complex interrelationships within
the living environment, we have
no appreciation for life in its mul
tiplicity of forms. Reverence for
life is not among our collective
values.
Unhappily, the ethos of our
University is guided more by the
mediocre contemporary standards
of bigger is better than by rea
soned, constructive thought. A
longstanding and useful practice
of community housekeeping was
perverted into a ‘tradition’ of ob
scene wastefulness under a value
system in which anything with
out immediate and direct economic
benefit is perceived as being with
out usefulness or value. The par
allels between this kind of think
ing, with its resultant influence
on our behaviour, and that which
has produced our present crises
of governmental credibility and
energy shortages are difficult to
avoid.
In a period of unprecedented
challenge to reason and leader
ship we seem to be spending
enormous amount of time i
energy demonstrating ourselves
to be very ordinary.
Michael D. Murphy '61
★ ★ ★
Editor:
I would like to know if the
Aggie mascot, Reveille, is male.
Also, how many different mascots
have the Aggies had since the
original mascot died.
H. R. Dula
Houston
The current mascot is most del-
iintely a female and is the thin!
dog the Aggies have had for a
mascot.—Ed.
★ ★ ★
Editor:
What’s the difference between
an Aggie who kills himself and an
Aggie who dies in a car accident!
Give up?
Answer: 98 per cent.
Jimmy F. Scott
GET
READS
Loupot's
Sale starts today!
books & britches
WED., - THURS., - FRL, - SAT. — NOV. 28 - DEC. I
Across from the Post Office
Records at Big Discounts!
Save up to $3.00!
Major label LP’s! Top artists!
Many, many selections in this special purchase. Classics included!
Hundreds of records! Come early for best selection!
The Perfect Gift for Christmas!
j