I
I
Pago 2 THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1977
Opinion/Commentary/Letters
Maiming birds an injustice
Editor:
How much longer must this go on?
The dead and dying birds carpeting
our campus seem to me to be nearly
as much of an eyesore and health
hazard as are their droppings.
While I admit the presence in vast
numbers of the birds constitutes a
health hazard and a menace to
foliage, etc., I see no justification in
the rampant maiming of hundreds of
birds. If they must be killed, kill
them! I share this view with many I
have talked to.
As an avid bird-watcher and ani
mal and bird lover, I am reluctant to
think that any creature must suffer.
While I admit that grackles, cow-
birds, and starlings are not the most
attractive members of the bird
world, they nevertheless do not de
serve to suffer, unable to fly, or eat,
or walk, dying a slow death. I have
walked around campus and experi
enced the unpleasant and unsanitary
sight and smell of the droppings
under their nightly roosts. I know
large flocks are a problem to contend
with, and I condone attempts to kill
or frighten them off. However, if
such attempts do not result in death,
but in maiming, then I think another
alternative should be examined. It is
more of a nightmare for me to walk
among wounded birds than it is an
unpleasantness to walk in their
droppings.
It is man, in his attempts to per
petuate and dominate in his world,
who has made nature submit and be
conquered. Torturing should never
be a part of this design. I have
Readers’ forum
Guest viewpoints, in addi
tion to Letters to the Editor,
are welcome. All pieces sub
mitted to Readers’ forum
should be:
• Typed triple space
• Limited to 60 characters per
line
• Limited to 100 lines
Submit articles to Reed
McDonald 217, College Sta
tion, Texas, 77843. Author’s
name and phone number must
accompany all submissions.
AGGIE CLEANERS
111 N. MAIN — NORTHGATE
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
Don’t cry over spots,
spills & rips —
Bring your
clothes to
Aggie Cleaners for
“Custom Aggie Care
hunted and I realize that not all shots
can be well placed, that downed
birds often scramble away to suffer a
slow death. It is inevitable, but not
just, and somehow makes me feel a
bit tainted. There are others who
share my views. We sympathize
with the human race, yet we respect
the natural world we live in and all of
its creatures, be they raucous, ugly
grackles or the tiniest delicate hum
mingbirds. Nothing should suffer so
that we may reign.
And, yes, I am a little nuts. Nuts
about the thrilling natural environ
ment I live in, not so nuts about
many of the people I must share it
with — like the ones who maim
birds.
I saSv two of our “college students”
— not elementary students, mind
you — teasing a wounded starling
outside my office window today —
you know, slapping their coats at it,
stamping their feet, stuff like that.
Like pulling the wings off flies.
Man’s inhumanity to man is often not
nearly as great as is his inhumanity to
our world’s lesser creatures.
Kim Sandland
for big bounce
Quiet bank makes
Editor:
A situation concerning the bank
ing systems available to students has
come to my attention and greatly
distresses me. My roommate has
been carrying an account with Bank
of A&M for over a year now and was
recently forced to change the type
of account she was carrying.
Because of this she had to order
new checks, but was never in
formed of the cost of these nor sent
a statement for the past five months.
Because her account was reduced to
cover this check charge, her next
check bounced and she was notified
of this and the $5 service charge
charged to her. A check she had
written previous to the bounced one
came in after this and also bounced.
Her account was again debited by a
)5 service charge and the check re
turned without notice to her.
This check was then run back
through, bounced again with
another $5 service charge and again
no notice. She then deposited $25
and thinking she had this amount in
her account wrote a check to TAMU
bookstore which also bounced with
out notice.
Finally she wrote another check,
still unaware of the service charges
being charged to her account, which
also bounced twice and she was fi
nally sent a notice after the second
run.
Because of this inefficiency and
inconsideration for the needs of cus
tomers, she now owes Bank of A&M
$30 for service charges, $11 to vari
ous businesses around town and is
now unable to write a check on
campus.
I am sure that my roommate is
not the only student who has fallen
prey to this type of situation, and I
do think that a town that is two
thirds students should have more
consideration for their needs.
Stephanie Fuhrman
Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those oj the
editor or oj the writer of the article and are not neces
sarily those of the University administration or the
Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-
supporting enterprise operated by students as a uni
versity 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 guarantee to publish any
letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of
the writer and list a telephone number for verification.
Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor,
The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building,
College Station, Texas 77843.
Represented nationally by National Educational
Advertising Services, 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. Advertising rates furnished on
request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed
McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843.
United Press International is entitled exclusively to
the use for reproduction of all news dispatches cred
ited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter
herein reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College
Station, Texas.
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Jerry Needham
Managing Editor James Aitkeh
Assignments Editor Rusty Cawley
Features Editor Lisa Junod
News Editor Debby Krenek
Photography Director Kevin Venner
Sports Editor Paul Arnett
Copy Editor Steve Reis
Reporters . . Carolyn Blosser, Richard Chamberlain,
Debbie Killough, Tammy Long, George Maselli, Paul
McGrath, Carol Meyer, Lynn Rossi, Melinda Shank-
les, John Types, Mary Alice Woodhams
Asst. Photo Editors. Tracie Nordheim,
Mike Will)
APARTMENT PLACEMENT
204 Texas Avenue
(Western Motel Lobby)
11823-7506II
A FREE SERVICE
Rooms and bath close to campus. Apartments:
One, Two, or Three Bedrooms. Duplexes, Mobile
Homes.
LET US SHOW YOU A SELECTION
IN THE B-CS AREA
In evening, call
Karen 846-3420 or Cynthia 779-2047
Ford— perhaps everythi*
America wanted after all
WASHINGTON — In an odd,
inexplicable way, the truth has
begun to dawn on people in the final
days of Gerald R. Ford’s tenure that
he was the kind of President Ameri
cans wanted — and didn’t know
they had.
After a decade of presidential ex
cess, they wanted a man of modes
ty, good character, honesty and
openness. They wanted a President
who was humane but prudent,
peaceable but firm. Especially, they
wanted one uncorrupted by the
cynicism and lust for power which
they had come to associate with
Washington politicians.
Jimmy Carter’s campaign was the
successful projection of these
idealized qualities of the post-
Watergate President. It was also a
series of promises — to reform the
government, end bureaucratic
waste, provide an energy policy,
curb the nuclear arms race, cure
unemployment, etc.
How well President Carter mea
sures up to these character tests and
how many of his goals he achieves
remains to be seen.
But Gerald Ford — even while
acknowledging in his last State of
the Union address and in a series of
valedictory interviews his disap
pointments in the fields of eco
nomics, energy, and governmental
reform — gave people a quiet re
minder that he has been exactly the
kind of personality they prayed to
find in the presidency.
He did so in a variety of ways,
large and small, not least of which
was his demonstration of equanimity
in the face of his first — and any
politician’s greatest — defeat. Both
the Washington Post and the New
York Times headlined the fact that
Ford was “at peace” with himself and
his fate, as if that were remarkable
for a departing President.
And, of course, it is. Two of his
three most immediate predecessors
had left the White House as political
exiles; the third had been mur
dered.
Ford leaves on a tidal wave of
good will, of which the cheers in the
House chamber the other night
were vocal testimony. As he re
called in his farewell interview with
the Post, he had originally planned
to wind up his public service this
January by making the 94th Con
gress his last as the representative
from Grand Rapids.
As it works out, he is leaving only
17 days “behind schedule,” having
served 29 months as President and
with the country the better for his
service.
He leaves with the nation at
peace, the international scene as
tranquil as it is ever likely to be, and
the American people more united
and confident than at any time in a
decade.
Some of that is luck. Some of it is
the healing effect of time on the
scars of Vietnam and Watergate.
But Gerald Ford also leaves the
presidency itself healthier than he
found it, and that is because he
thought hard about what was
needed there — and did it.
Take, for example, the matter of
the President’s relationship to his
Cabinet. One central aspect of the
“imperial presidency” was the sub
ordination of Cabinet officers to the
arrogant whims of the White House
staff.
Jimmy Carter has talked a great
deal about his desire for strong, au
tonomous Cabinet officers, and in
Thanks Aggies — for again giving OI’
Army Lou your business.
If you still need some books or a calculator, come to Lou.
He's got a complete line of used books and calculators.
Loupot’s Bookstore ^Tp'o^omce
the final days before his
was still trying to determiiii]
kind of White House staff,
ments would encourage thal
tralization of decision-makim
Yet, as James E. Connor,—
staff and Cabinet secretary,])
out to a visitor the other day
no one has noted the ex
w hich Ford himself already
strated how to solve thatpni
Yet it is a fact that them
Cabinet has been spared i
ence from officious White
staff members either in thfl
partmental decision-makint
their access to the Presided
Ford cured this ill by quil
scious, shrewd strategies,!
quired, for example, that nt
munication from a Cabinet®
to the President could be 4
more than five days for
House “staffing.” If the st
ments weren’t ready in thal
the Cabinet member’s pape
into the President’s reading
its own, rather than
pigeonholed endlessly in the
House bureaucracy.
tra
cit<
wa
dir
soc
of
10%
- Oh
QUK
—
Ford himself set the eamf
devolution of decision-mah
the face of heavy pressure
all major issues to the White!
he insisted, for example, tl
secretary of transportation
decide the Concorde landing
question and that the attorne
eral handle the governmeit
sponse to Boston’s antibusit
lence.
In these, and other ways
mportant, he demonstral
iractice the virtues of which
poke.
Oddly, neither he nor hill
cates made much of this fadlj
recent campaign. But Gerali:
can leave office with some!)
dence that history will recoif
he was, in truth, the PresidtJ
country needed at this tin
knew that it wanted, ev(
another name.
(c) 1977, The Washington tA
DO YOU LIKE MEETING
FROM FAR AWAY AND HI
THEM? SCONA-Student Coni
On National Affairs Has A ft
You! Sign up to be a SCOI
or hostess thru Friday, Ja".
the SCONA Cubicle of the 5
Programs Office in the MSC
interview. Interviews will
Monday, Jan. 31 —
Feb. 2.
SENIORS & GRADUATf
STUDENTS
Your Yearbook Photos For The 19?
i Aggieland \N\\\ Be Taken Through
Feb. 11 Only — Feb. 11 Is The Fin*
Day.
JuniorYearbook Photos Will BeTakf
Beginning Feb. 14
. . . university studio
115 colleS*
846-80t