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
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Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room
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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
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