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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1976)
Page 2 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1976 Republican Party skilled in geriatric at Gas rate structure passed by extremely council unfair The natural gas rate structure pas sed by the College Station City Council while in the process of grant ing Lone Star Gas Co. a rate increase last week is extremely unfair to the users of small amounts of gas. Under the rate structure. College Station citizens, individually the users of the smallest amount of natural gas in the city, are helping pay for each cubic foot of natural gas over 25,000 cubic feet that the large-scale users consume. This comes about because under the last two steps in the six-step rate structure, consumers actually pay less for natural gas than Lone Star Gas Co. pays for it. Even though Lone Star Gas re ports that only one/tenth of one per cent of its Bryan-College Station cus tomers fall into this category, the principle behind the rate structure is wrong. With today’s energy shortages and wastefulness, the rate structure should incorporate every means av ailable to encourage conservation. Making gas cheaper as the amount used increases is no way to attain this goal. It seems that College Station fol lowed Bryan’s lead in adopting such a rate structure in order to avoid making Lone Star Gas have to main tain separate billing systems for cus tomers in each city. The College Station and Bryan city councils should work together and try to institute a rate structure with less disparity between the rates for large- and small-scale users. Large-scale users may be entitled to a discount gas rate because the billing and distribution costs for each consumer in that range probably are the same as for the small-scale user. But going to the point of actually subsidizing the large-scale user out of the pockets of the average resident is an injustice. The city council should adopt a more equitable rate structure at the earliest possible time, at least to the point where the large-scale users are paying for the gas what it actually costs. J. N. KANSAS CITY — To capture the atmosphere in this Republican con vention you have to imagine what it would be like if an intense but de corous feud developed among the patients at a really nice surbuban home for the aged. Emotions might run high, but there’s only so much damage that can be done with wheelchairs and crutches. It’s the same way here. We’d like to take you for a ride Hey, Mr. suave and sophisticated . . try this on for size. It’s the Raleigh Sports. Think bikes are for kids? Think again! This one's spe cially made for the guy who's a mover. Three speeds, safety- quick brakes, genuine leather saddle, touring bag . . . every thing you need to travel in style. See your Raleigh dealer, he's got a set of wheels waiting for you. Come on along! CENTRAL CYCLE & SUPPLY Sales • Service • Accessories 3505 E. 29th St. — 822-2228 — Closed Monday Take East University to 29th St. (Tarrow Street) Not much blood will be shed in the presidential nomination battle between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. But that’s because the GOP has not much blood to give. Repor ters watching this struggle in the enervating heat of a Midwest sum mer have the feeling that the Repub licans don’t need a nominee as much as they need a transfusion. Instead of being in Kemper Arena, this con vention should be held in an oxygen tent. During the preliminaries, some of the members of the Republican Na tional Committee spoke nostalgi cally of their roles in the great Eisenhower-Taft battle of 1952 or the Rockefeller-Goldwater war of 1964. They have the pathos of all wounded veterans. Even those who were too young for those campaigns somehow look as if they might have been there. Whatever it may lack in political skills, the Republican Party has no peer when it comes to the geriatric arts. It can age everyone. John Sears, the 35-year-old Reagan campaign director, looks: middle-aged. Dean Burch, the 48- year-old Ford strategist, looks a de cade older. Those like Rockefeller aide George Hinman and former party chairman Ray Bliss who have actually attained the status of elder statesmen — well, they look like Re publicans. The decades of the 1960’s and 1970’s have been a lot harder on the Republicans than the statistics of GOP decline convey. It’s one thing to read the survey data saying that only one American voter in five labels himself or herself a Republi can, and that the percentage of Re publicans below age 30 is dipping dangerously close to the single di gits. But it’s something else to mingle for a week with the leaders of this diminished flock and recall the ex periences now etched into their faces. Back in 1964, Dean Burch was a bright young lawyer, a pal of Richard Kleindienst and a protege of Barry Goldwater. Goldwater named him Republican National Chairman and he was the first man ousted after the disaster of that election year. He recuperated in Arizona, came back in the 1968 Nixon campaign, served honorably as chairman of the Federal Communications Commis sion and then was recruited onto the White House staff just in time to or ganize the former President’s last- ditch battle against impeachment. When one reporter commented that the ashen-faced Burch looked like he had seen a ghost, another said, “He’s seen several.’ He isn’t the only one. Young as he is, John Sears went through the rise and fall of Richard Nixon — joining Nixon in 1966, shepherding Spiro Agnew through the 1968 campaign, and then being purged from the White House staff by John Mitchell before the voters purged Nixon, The first meeting of the season for the new executive board of the Fed eration of Texas A&M Mothers Clubs is scheduled here Aug. 28. Federation officers will be hosts for a coffee at 8:30 a. m. in the Memo rial Student Center. The board meeting is set for 9:30 a.m., with Mrs. Don G. Kasper of Shiner, fed eration president, in charge. Presidents of mothers clubs, members of Aggie Moms, district chairmen and members of the feder ation’s executive board will be among those taking part. University representations will update federation officials regarding campus activities. Federation pro jects and those of individual clubs will be discussed at the meeting. Now Better Than Ever. You Will Be Pleased With at These Carefully Prepared and Taste Tempting Foods. C n « * - 7 Each Daily Special Only $1.49 Plus Tax. VCafetena J “Open Daily” Dining: 11 AM to 1:30 PM — 4:30 PM to 7 PM . MONDAY EVENING SPECIAL Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy Whipped Potatoes Your Choice of One Vegetable Roll or Corn Bread and Butter Coffee or Tea TUESDAY EVENING SPECIAL Mexican Fiesta Dinner Two Cheese and Onion Enchiladas w/chili Mexican Rice Patio Style Pinto Beans Tostadas Coffee or Tea One Corn Bread and Butter WEDNESDAY EVENING SPECIAL Chicken Fried Beef Steak w/cream Gravy Whipped Potatoes and Choice of one other Vegetable Roll or Corn Bread and Butter Coffee or Tea THURSDAY EVENING SPECIAL Italian Candle Light Spaghetti Dinner 1(1^11 SERVED WITH SPICED MEAT BALLS AND SAUCE Parmesan Cheese - Tossed Green Salad Choice of Salad Dressing - Hot Garlic Bread Tea or Coffee FRIDAY EVENING SPECIAL BREADED FISH FILET w/TARTAR SAUCE Cole Slaw Hush Puppies Choice of one vegetable Roll or Corn Bread & Butter Tea or Coffee SATURDAY NOON and EVENING SPECIAL “Yankee Pot Roast Texas Style” Tossed Salad Choice of one vegetable Roll or Corn Bread & Butter Tea or Coffee SUNDAY SPECIAL NOON and EVENING ROAST TURKEY DINNER Served with Cranberry Sauce Cornbread Dressing Roll or Corn Bread - Butter - Coffee or Tea Giblet Gravy And your choice of any One vegetable 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 Regents. The Battal ion is a non-profit, self supporting enterprise operated by stu dents as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. 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 guaran tee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and lust a telephone number for verifica tion. Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Servic es, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales tax. Advertis ing rates furnished on request. Address? The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Rights of reproduction of all matter herein are reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. Editor Jerry Needham’' Managing Editor Richard Chamberlain Sports Editor Paul McGrath 1 Campus Editor Lisa Junod! Photographers Steve Goble, Kevin Venner 1 Production LeAnn Roby, Susan Brown Agnew and Mitchell. Sears looks it. That John Dean is covering the convention for Rolling Stone magazine is a gratuitous reminder of the main reason this meeting is being conducted in such a funerary atmosphere. But even without the living re minder of Watergate on the scene, the Republicans would have a bad case of historical twitches. From the chaos of the Cow Palace in 1964, through the false hopes of the two Miami Beach conventions to the trauma of the Agnew and Nixon res ignations — too much has happened that is too awful to be remembered. And not enough time has elapsed for anyone to forget. The Democrats had their own rough passage from 1966 to 1976, but their last real calamity was four years back, and the healing process had worked well by the time they reached Madison Square Garden. There, they experienced the exhil aration that Winston Churchill said could be savored only by those who have faced enemy fire — and sur vived. The Republicans expect no such emotion here. But that is not to suggest that their survival is at stake. The organizational shell of an Ameri can political party is as tough to crack as a turtle’s. Come what may in 1976, there will be a meeting in 1977 of the Republican National Committee — and a lot of the same old faces will be back, looking just a bit older. But there is a huge gap between survival and success. And the serious question about the Republicans in Kansas City is whether they can muster the will to compete for power with the eager and relatively unscar red Democrats rallying behind Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. To make the investment of energy and will that it will take to win in November, a party must be willing to risk defeat For the reward of vic tory. The Republicans here have not forgotten how awful was lliet defeat and how empty theirlas tories. It will he remarkable! can put those memories b them and focus on the future ! the hardest thing for old pee; do. And these Republican spiritual septuagenarians (c) 1976, The Washington Po : Mothers’ Club execs to meet % a * TECHNICOLOR Charles Bronson ENDS THURSDAY! InCokx A ftiramounlPWun 1 WV t ~T M SAM ELUOTT ANNE ARCHER PARKER STEVENS0NH STEPHEN YOUNG and KATHLEEN QUINLAN as ENDS THURSDAY! sWendtq FRIDAY MMStonS SAT. ALSO!! (LIVE IN C0NCERT- ,, LITZ M For this SPECIAL, FINAL PERFORMANCE of the Band.All Seats $2[ Starts FRIDAY! iv, 1201 HIGHWAY 30, BRIABWOOD APTS. (FORMERLY “THE PENTHOUSE CLUB”) STARTS FRIDAY AT 3:00, 5:10,7 :20 & 9:30 er & Walt GoTo Tle.vtr\*ork Qnc/ . .. JAMES CAAN • ELLIOTT GOULD • MICHAEL CAINE DIANE KEATON • CHARLES DURNING JACK GILFORD • LESLEY ANN WARREN^^ PG CLComedy ^^cr'trcsya^an^<A / STARTS FRIDAY!!-Cinema I- "THE EXORCIST" Showing Daily at 2:30,4:45,7:00 & 9:15 cxm y n iTi i in iimxri i The Offb Cer closi for ; HA Do Attention Off Campus Students Do You Need Telephone Service?? Applications Will Be Taken At The “GTE FALL SIGN-UP CENTER” (Located N.E. Comer Culpepper Plaza, Texas Ave. & Hwy. 30) NOW — SEPT. 3, 1976 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. MONDAY — SATURDAY “Let our Sales Representatives Show You The Latest Styles Phasionable Phones” “Come Early & Beat the Rush” I sale CAN shut jQ3