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Page 2 THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1977
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Opinion/Commentary/Letters
51 Bullish politics on the Brazos
•fTi JL
Senator William Moore’s (D-
Bryan) uproar about some guber
natorial appointments to the Texas
A&M University Board of Regents
was apparently a political move hav-
a column
by the editor
mg little to do with his opinion about
the legality of the selections.
Moore's motives, at first, seemed
to have maybe been genuine con
cern that subtle political ploys were
being foisted on the innocent
people of this state by the governor.
But more recent political de
velopments lead one to believe that
M oore knows where the power lies,
and that he was busy carrying out
his own political ploys all the while.
The following seemingly discon
nected points shed a little light on;
the matter when considered to
gether.
Point: The three-member State
Banking Board last September
voted to allow the First State Bank
of Hearne to move to Bryan.
Point: James L. Lindsey of Col
lege Station was one of the two
banking board members who voted
for the move. Lindsey, an appointee
of Gov. Preston Smith, has served
for the last four years even though
his term expired on Jan. 31, 1973.
Point: Moore’s financial and bank
ing friends in Bryan/College Station
were unhappy with the move of the
Hearne bank to Bryan.
Point: Governor Dolph Briscoe
appointed two Houston men to the
Texas A&M Board of Regents on
Jan. 11. One of them was Dr. John
Coleman, a black man.
Point: Moore, also on Jan. 11,
said Coleman would have trouble in
Senate confirmation hearings if a
report that he had heard was true.
Moore said he had heard that Col
eman was appointed as a political
favor to blacks who had supported
State Democratic Chairman Calvin
Guest of Bryan in his bid for reelec
tion to that post last September.
Guest was Briscoe’s choice for the
position.
Point: Moore’s showdown with
the governor continued when in
mid-January he teamed with
Senator Peyton McKnight (D-Tyler
and a former Texas A&M regent) in
contending that Briscoe ignored a
1913 state law requiring University
regents to be selected from different
areas of the state, and that the gov
ernor’s latest appointments left
three men on the Board from Hous
ton. McKnight asked for an attorney
general’s opinion on the legality of
the selections.
Point: On Jan. 26, Briscoe ap
pointed a man to serve out the re
maining six days of Lindsey’s term
and an additional two-year term of
his own on the State Banking Board.
Point: Lindsey has been elimi
nated (assuming the Senate con
firms the new man).
It will be interesting to see if op
position by Moore to either of the
Houston men’s appointments to the
A&M board will materialize during
Senate confirmation hearings or if
Moore’s motives in raising the ques
tions have already been fulfilled.
Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
editor or of the writer of the article and are not neces
sarily those of the University administration or the
Board oj 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.
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Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25
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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 Aitken
Assignments Editor Rusty Cawley
Features Editor Lisa Junod
News Editor Debby Krenek
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Photography Director Kevin Venner
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Copy Editor Steve Reis
Reporters George Maselli, Paul
McGrath, Lynn Rossi, John Tynes, Lee Roy Leschper
Jr., Mary Hesalroad, Jan Bailey
Asst. Photo Editors Tracie Nordheim,
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Capital punishment on
Pro
By JOLESLEY BURKE
and
MARK ELAM
“If I feel like murder, it doesn’t
necessarily matter who gets mur
dered.’’ Gary Gilmore
Recent controversy over the sub
ject of capital punishment is said to
have arisen directly as a result of the
case of Gary Gilmore. Some people
would have us believe that it is cruel
and unusual punishment to execute
a man who fired a bullet into the
head of a 24-year-old father as he
was forced to kneel with his back
turned. Or when the same man only
days later forced a 25-year-old motel
clerk to lie face down on the floor
and then shot hin in the head. It
seems as though too many people
are losing sense of what cruelty ac
tually is.
These same people would also
have us believe that the criminal is
not actually responsible for his ac
tions and that “harsh” punishment
only serves to increase the problem.
Instead of punishing a criminal with
a penalty equivalent to his crime,
we are told that he should be
treated with compassion so as to re
habilitate him. We are told that the
true cause of criminal actions is not
a result of his moral depravity or
criminal nature, but rather, in most
cases, a result of an impoverished
environment. Therefore if poverty
is the true cause of the criminal’s
actions, it would follow that to re
duce crime one would only have to
end poverty.
Unfortunately, the facts do not
bear this theory out. One of the
least crime-prone periods in Ameri
can history was during the Great
Depression. In 1933, crimes against
the person stood at 150 per 100,000.
As prosperity shot upward after the
war, crime rose by 70 per cent.
During the 1960’s, government wel
fare spending increased from 50 bil
lion to 171 billion and the median
family income rose from $5600 to
$9900. According to the theory of
fered, crime should have been
greatly reduced, yet the actual re
sults are just the opposite. In the
1960’s and 1970’s, the number of
major crimes almost tripled. In
short, crime rate in America de
creased in times of poverty and rose
dramatically during periods of es
calating prosperity.
During recent years we have seen
a tremendous expansion of defen
dants’, or murders’, rights. But as
one prosecuting attorney stated.
crime; neither lesser nor greater.
Only when a criminal receives
punishment greater than his crime
can it truly be considered cruel and
unusual.
Many people base their argument
that capital punishment is wrong
upon the pretext of the sixth com
mandment — which, in the King
James version reads, “Though shall
not kill.” They construe this to mean
that nobody has a right to kill at all.
But even with this interpretation
they immediately have to turn
around and make certain allowances
such as in the case of war, self de
fense, etc. This is a misinterpreta
tion of a command that literally
reads, “Thou shall do no murder.”
(Matthew 19:18). Anyone who bases
their argument against capital
punishment on the Bible will find
numerous verses in the Old and New
Testaments that “demand” the death
penalty for murder. “Whoso shed-
deth man’s blood, by man shall his
blood be shed.” Genesis 9-6.
Despite any argument to the op
posite, evidence shows that the de
crease in the number of executions
has been directly proportional to
the increase in both the number of
murders and crimes in the last four
decades. In the 1930’s, more than
1,600 prisoners were executed in
America. Almost 1,300 were exe
cuted in the 1940’s and only 717 in
the 1950’s. At this time the cam
paign against capital punishment
began to reach its peak and by 1968
the number fell to 15. Since 1968
there has been one execution.
The facts show that there was a
downward trend in the number of
murders during the period between
the 1930’s and 1950’s when execu
tions were being carried out with
some regularity. For example, from
1935 to 1940 the number of
homicides fell from 10,587 to 8,329
and continued to declime to 7,418
in 1955. As the 1960’s came and the
death penalty was phased out, mur
ders began to rise quickly. In 1968,
the last year someone was executed
there were 12,000 murders — by
1971, 16,183 murders and by 1972,
18,500. Thus, since capital punish
ment was abolished, we have seen
the number of homicides more than
double.
The answer to this tremendous
increase in murder is not the crea
tion of new laws or “reforms,” but
rather the actual administration of
justice. Since 1960 there have been
150,000 new laws created in the
United States and crime has dou
bled. The reinstatement of the
death penalty is a necessity if the
Con
‘Who is there to speak for that poor inpoyent American is to be
victim lying six feet under.” When a safeguarded. We must reaffirm the
first degree murderer in New York
state can get off with as little as an
eighteen-month sentence as
punishment for taking the life of
another, there is obviously a defi
ciency in our administration of
“true” justice.
The fact that two-thirds of all
crimes committed in our country
today are by repeat offenders tells
us that both our methods of
punishment and our enforcement of
law-and-order leave much to be de
sired. A person who commits a
crime, whether it is be murder or a
lesser crime, should be punished
with a penalty equivalent to his
basic moral truth that no man will
be permitted to violate what is in
violable; that being an innocent
human life. In the words of Ernest
Van de Haag, “If we believe in the
sanctity of life we can keep it sacred
by making it clear to anyone who
deprives someone else of life that
his own life will be forsaken.”
Jolesley Burke is a sophomore for
estry major and is president of Texas
Aip-M Young Americans for Free
dom. Mark Elam is a sophomore
political science major and is vice-
president of Texas A<b-M Young
Americans for Freedom.
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and
By PHILLIP ROBINSON
PAUL MUELLER
In recent months, capital
punishment has become the object
of increasing national concern —
and controversy. The debate has
been intensified by the execution of
Gary Gilmore in Utah a few weeks
ago.
We are opposed to the present
system of capital punishment in the
United States, not only for moral
reasons, which will not be dealt
with here, but on legal and ethical
grounds as well.
Possibly the strongest objection
to capital punishment today is a
Constitutional one. The Eighth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitu
tion prohibits the infliction of “cruel
and unusual punishments” on crim
inals. This clause, like much of the
Constitution, is subject to interpre
tation of its precise meaning; how
ever, since death is the most ir
reversible sanction that society can
use against an offender, it seems
clear that the state-ordained taking
of life is both cruel and unusual.
As yet, no conclusive evidence
has been produced to suggest that
the death penalty deters crime of
any kind. On the other hand, it has
not been shown to be ineffective.
The lack of definitive support for
either side of the controversy stems
from the lack of sufficient informa
tion concerning the dissuasive effect
of this penalty. A measure as drastic
as execution should not be em
ployed in the absence of reliable
facts.
Murder, whether committed by
one citizen against another or by the
state against a citizen, is still mur
der. As a consequence, all persons
involved in the process of capital
punishment must also become par
ties to murder, a fact that many
Unit
people will be unwilling to«
The death penalty shoii!
abolished, at least in its pi
form, because of the glaringi
sistency with which it is al KANSAS
tered. Before the recent exet nericans
in Utah, more than nine
passed since the last execuBi
this country, despite the fad
criminals were, and still are,| jod press
sion, cai
acks and
recent
sentenced to death. There
definite policy stating who!
he sentenced to death, anil
once sentenced, should acta! un, cond
executed. Without such a pi msas Me
these questions are decided!))
maneuvering and judicial
rather than by an equally-enl
law.
Rather than continuing wij
day’s unfair use of capital pi
ment, we suggest a differed
proach — that of rehabiliti! istonein
Americas prison system is
grace — rather than servingto
punish offenders and makefile!
sponsible citizens, it most of
the opposite effect, serving
ther their criminal educatim
make them even more bitt
rebellious toward society
way must be found to breal
cycle and turn the prisons
places where offenders can be
into useful citizens.
Author’s note: This editoriJ
-h blood]
If unfoiw
nt of Coi
ed the e)
Doctors
â– own Cen
and c
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The exhi
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design, contains no quotes fri
Bible. Being the large andcoi
work that it is, the Biblecanbt
has been) used to support pi
cally any position imaginable
eluding such practices as
slavery, and witch-burning,! Idustrial
also that no statistics were
these too can be improperly
ulated when dealing with anil
this nature.
Phillip Robinson is a jum
ogy major from Port Arthur.
Mueller is a junior hioloi
from Houston and a feature
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be Dr
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Id past pi
for The Battalion
Slouch
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flj.s pub
by Jim Earl|l' Feb '
consu
art-Willc
own just
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d was t
ucation
stinguisl
Brown’s
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Yell leaders criticized
Loans fo
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inn of tl
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The loa
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The ap
wed by
Editor:
I am writing for a number of
Aggie Exes who attended the
A&M-TCU basketball game in Fort
Worth. We were shocked at the lack
of leadership displayed by our yell
leaders. They led us in only one yell
throughout the entire game.
Even when our team was down,
and the momentum was shifting to
the TCU team, they still refused to
have a yell. I then noticed some
former students approach the head
yell leader and consult with him
about the situation. The yell leaders
finally conceded, and we had our
one and only yell. And as we did the
yell, I noticed a few of our players
turned and looked in our direction.
They wanted us to support them but
wondered, as we did, why more
yells weren’t carried out.
A brief discussion with two of the
yell leaders after the game shocked
us again. They said yells were not
carried out during games on the
road because of the lack of students
present. What kind of rationaliza
tion is this? Former students look
forward to doing yells and,
it or not, we haven’t forgottti |] ^
words.
Of tho:
g*
One, in particular, was t
example of a yell leader. Hels
against the wall with his hands
pockets during the majority
game. We directed this to his
tion after the game and his|
must have been hurt, as I
taliated with a few choice
letter’ words. Is this anyway!
to former students who send
contributions to their school
year?
During the last ten years I'
tended the A&M-TCU game!)
Worth and this was the first fe
few yells were given. There
large turnout of Aggies, as tis :
the spirit was in the stands, b«
evident in our yell leaders
future yell leaders will real)
Exes still know how to “hu
id.
The sh
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—C. H.
—Clay H,
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