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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 1977)
Page 2 Viewpoint The Battalion Wednesday Texas A&M University August 17, 1977 Trial by press David Berkowitz pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges he is the “Son of Sam” killer who gunned down 20-year-old Stacy Moskowitz last week in New York. But probably half the people in America have already convicted and con demned him, assured of his guilt by the shoddy journalism national news papers and television are practicing in covering the case. Mass murders are always sensational cases, especially when stretched over a year, as this one has been. But when supposedly objective press becomes caught up in the fervor of the policeman that’s “got his man”, our svstem of justice greatly suffers. When NBC Nightly News devotes 22 of the 30 minutes in one evening’s newscast to the case, including profiles and examinations of Berkowitz’s personality, only the most skeptical of viewers would not believe he’s guilty. When newspapers throughout the country stop calling Berkowitz “the sus pect” and start calling him the “Son of Sam”, that old rule of “innocent until proven guilty” goes right out the window. If Berkowitz is the “Son of Sam” killer, he deserves the worst punishment our system of justice can deliver. But he also deserves the same fair trial our Constitution guarantees every American. The members of the press, as defenders of freedom, need to remember that. L.R.L. Meteor lighting way in Madisonville Top of the R News Local Animal control center established The nation’s first Animal Control Information Center will begin operation at Texas A&M University in January. The center wilHe funded by a $15,000 grant from the Coordinating Board of the Texas College and University System with additional funding from the Texas Engineering Experiment Station. For a small user’s fee, the center will provide information about various aspects of animal control. It is being established in cooperation with the Texas A&M College o( Veterinary Medicine, the Engineering Extension Service and (lie Sterling C. Evans Library. Sui-’s jrlR. pgi: tellies iv tT [ring hve j niver ief o He ngei te” B if Ru mger "We bold Seminar on aging set The last of four workshops for elderly Texans and those who serve them convenes at Texas A&M University Aug. 20 to discuss the retirement years. The seminar, conducted by Texas A&M psycholo gists, is concerned with teaching older persons to improve the quality of life after retirement. State Briscoe wants deregulation Gov. Dolph Briscoe, chairman of the Southern Governors Confer ence, plans to push for adoption of a resolution to deregulate natural gas prices at the organization’s meeting Aug. 27-31. Briscoe said recent declines in the price of natural gas in Texas prove the system of supply and demand will work if government regulations do not interfere. is m; G. 1 Abo i eir fa l e Sti itiona |is w ucldei ide a sitio prin a i f'Ear oca Crime in small towns is becoming more and more a problem in Texas. But one nearby com munity is taking steps to fight its own crime wave, thanks in great part to the prodding of the town’s weekly newspaper. Madisonville, 38 miles northeast of Bryan, has suffered from increasing vandalism and burglaries in recent months. City officials have said ineffi cient city police and population growth too rapid for the town’s own good contributed to the crime wave. The Madisonville city council decided last week to appoint a new city police chief in an at tempt to bolster the city police force’s effective ness. The Madison County sheriffs department has also increased efforts to control vandalism, and the young people that they say cause most of it, within Madisonville. Small town newspapers often take neutral pos itions on community problems such as Madison- ville’s crime wave. But the Madisonville Meteor has been in the forefront pushing for solutions to the problem. Meteor Publisher Sam Logan has editorialized repeatedly for constructive solutions to at least the youth vandalism problem, suggesting that the town’s young people don’t have enough to keep them out of trouble. But this last week, with the city council’s decision to appoint a new police chief, Logan decided it was time for the paper to take stronger action as well. Logan changed a long-standing policy that the paper would report the names of only individuals charged with felonies. In the future the paper will report the names of individuals charged with misdemeanors as well as felonies, on the theory that people about to get into mischief may have second thoughts if they know getting caught means letting the whole town know. In a small town that can be very strong persuasion. That change in policy may not solve Madison- ville’s problems. But it’s a step in the right direc tion, both for the Meteor and small town news papers in general. We applaud Mr. Logan for his courage and determination to improve the town he serves. L.R.L. Canal treaty true test for Carter, GOP " THAT'5 MY FINAL OFFER—TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. " By DAVID S. BRODER WASHINGTON — Alexander Hamil ton, writing in the Federalist Papers, called the treaty provision of the Constitu tion “one of the best digested and most unexceptionable parts” of the entire document. And yet, a century later, Secretary of State John Hay wrote bitterly against the requirement that treaties be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate before taking ef fect. “A treaty of peace,” he wrote, “in any normal state of things, ought to be ratified with unanimity in 24 hours. They wasted six weeks in wrangling over this one (with Spain), and ratified it with one vote to spare. We have five of six matters now demanding settlement. I can settle them all honorably and advantageously to our own side; and I am assured by leading men in the Senate that not one of these treaties, if negotiated, will pass the Se nate. I should have a majority in every case, but a malcontent third would cer tainly dish every one of them. To such monstrous shape has the original mistake of the Constitution grown in the evolution of our politics.” Those opposing views, both cited in Kenneth N. Waltz’s book, “foreign Policy and Democratic Politics, ” have fresh cur rency as the nation prepares for the Senate struggle over the newly negotiated treaty settling the future of the Panama Canal. It is a struggle which will not only re vive one of the great and continuing ques tions about our form of government — the capacity of a representative Republic to frame sensible, long-term foreign policies — but will also test the leadership of Pres ident Carter and the opposition Republi can party. In the long history of the United States, fewer than a dozen treaties have been voted down by the Senate. Yet there is no assurance that this treaty, which arranges for the gradual transfer of control of the canal to Panama by the end of the century while safeguarding American security interests there, will get the required two- thirds majority in the Senate. Administration officials say there are now fewer than 60 assured votes (of the 67 needed for ratification). And conservative groups claim that at least 39 senators (five more than the minimum number needed to upset ratification) have at one time or another opposed substantial concessions by the United States. At this early stage of the proceedings — with the legal language not yet drafted — three aspects of the coming struggle are particularly interesting. For the President, ratification is an acid test of his ability to function in the interna tional arena. Should he fail to win Senate approval for the Panama treaty, his ability to negotiate successfully with the Soviets on arms control, and with other countries on economic and trade issues, would be severely endangered. It is almost literally a fight that Carter cannot afford to lose. But it is also a significant test for the Republican party leadership. Sen. How ard H. Baker, Jr. (R-Tenn.) and his GOP colleagues have done well on the domestic issues, in collaboration with the conserva tive Democrats. They scared Carter off the tax rebate and beat him on campaign reforms and labor law changes. But they take on a much heavier responsibility if they choose to pit the conservative coali tion against the President for ultimate con trol of foreign policy — particularly on the Panamanian question. It was the view of past Republican ad ministrations — no less than this Demo cratic administration — that future good relations in this hemisphere require the United States to acknowledge the end of the imperialist era which our unilateral control of the Panama Canal symbolizes. Such a treaty might well have been con cluded by Gerald Ford, were it not for the political threat he faced from Ronald Rea gan last year. Ford and Reagan are likely to split on the new treaty, with the former President backing his successor’s action and Reagan continuing to play the nationalistic pride that opposes any concessions. It will be up to Baker and the other Senate Republican leaders to avert an open schism — if they can — within their party on this issue. Finally, the Panama treaty ratification will test the thesis — grown so fashionable among American liberals in the period of Vietnam and CIA revelations — that the Congress is a better, wiser, more farsight ed custodian of the nation’s foreign policy than the Chief Executive. Most of our his tory, from the “warhawks” of the 1820s to the isolationists of the 1930s, says that the sis is a dubious proposition at best. But the Panama treaty will let us judge anew whether Hamilton or Hay was right. © 1977, The Washington Post Company Tetters to the editor Congressman defends palm oil citrus bill Editor: A recent David Broder column (Battal ion July 27, 1977) was critical of an amendment I offered to a recent foreign aid bill authorizing funds for international lending institutions. The amendment prohibited the use of American foreign aid dollars going to the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other international lending in stitutions to underwrite loans for the production of palm oil, citrus, or sugar. Apparently drawing from criticism of fered by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, Mr. Broder was concerned that the amendment was included in the same section of the bill as the human- rights language. Quite simply, my amendment and the human-rights language were both restric tions on how the money could be spent. So, for the sake of organizational logic, both provisions were included in the same section of the bill as were all other restric tions and limitations on the use of those funds. Also, of concern to me were the insinua tions that my amendment was “protec tionist” or, as was charged, that it “slam med shut the door to competition ”. Quite to the contrary, the amendment was de signed to give fair competition a chance. The reason this action was necessary is beacuse foreign countries are taking these loans, underwritten mostly with American money, and using them to gain an unfair competitive advantage over American production. While I welcome these countries to the free market of international competition, I oppose the unfair advantage many of these nations enjoy over American produces be cause of the incredibly low interest rates charged by these international lending in stitutions. For instance, the World Bank charges three-quarters of a percent on 50-year loans, the Inter-American Development Bank asks only 1-3 percent for loans of 16-40 years, and the Asian Development Bank has 2.5-3 percent interest on 24-30 year loans. Loans of such generosity are unheard of for American producers. The importance of this unfair foreign advantage is underscored by the fact that the United States has been setting record trade deficits almost every month this year. The villain behind our deteriorating balance of trade is our continued depen dence on foreign oil; the major weapon we have to offset this trade imbalance are our agricultural exports. For the sake of example, soybeans and soy-products account for 20 percent of all American agricultural exports, but now many of our former markets are being closed to us because of the advantage these low interest loans are giving palm oil, a competitor to soy-oil. In the next ten years over 500,000 acres of American soybeans are expected to be displaced by foreign palm oil. Based on current production figures and prices, that would be equivalent in price to 4.8 million barrels of foreign oil. Another problem, potentially more se rious, involves the unhealthy aspects of palm oil. Most consumers do not know that the term “vegetable oil” widely used for cooking and other purposes contains palm oil. They also don’t know that palm oil has an extremely high saturated fat content — 45 percent. That compares to 15 percent for soybean oil, 18 percent for peanut oil and 38 percent for animal fat. Considering that medical experts have repeatedly warned us to avoid excessive amounts of saturated fats in our diets, I trust Mr. Broder will not object to legislation I have co-sponsored which will require products which contain palm oil to be so labeled. When Congress began contributing to these international lending institutions it was with the intention of helping under developed nations build the agricultural production necessary to meet the nutri- Editor: My sincere thanks to everyone — Chancellor Jack K. Williams Faculty, staff, students Office of Continuing Education Information Center University Center staff Student Corps of Cadets guides University News Service Campus Security Food Services Assoc, of Former Students College Station Cemetery tional needs of their own populations. Now many of these nations have pro gressed to the point that they are now entering into world agricultural trade. I congratulate them on that progress, but I also say that is the point at which the American taxpayer should no longer be asked to underwrite the cost of their prod uction. So, Senator Moynihan not withstand ing, I intend to continue the fight to end this wasteful and counterproductive ex penditure of American money. If the World Bank wants to help a country be come self-sufficient agriculturally, I am all in favor of it. I do not even object to these lending institutions helping developing nations build export markets for their products. But I do not think we should be expected to subsidize our own demise. W. Henson Moore Member of Congress Military personnel from Fort Hood and Ellington Air Force Base News media — who helped to make the visit of the Ranger Battalions Association of World War II to Texas A&M so memorable. Because of you, they say that the day spent at Texas A&M was the highlight of their stay in Texas for their bi-annual reunion. I appreciate the cooperation of so many people. I have always been proud of Texas A&M, but never more so than now. — Mrs. Earl Rudder Mrs. Rudder says thanks Welfare commisioner retires xas Weftare est s] IcM C Texas Welfare Commissioner Raymond W. Vowell, 62, has an nounced his decision to retire the post he has held since July “The department is moving into a new era, one which can be expected to bring about radical changes in programs serving people. I believe the Board of Public Welfare should have the opportunity to select! commissioner with more potential tenure than I can offer, toguidetk department through the many changes ahead,” Vowell said. Coors boycotted over ERA The Texas Women’s I^olitical Caucus has voted unanimously to boycott Coors beer because Coors was supporting the anti-ERAlobb' group, Heritage Foundation, and had contributed $300,000 toil Coors spokesman Bob Russo, said the women were in error regardk Coors’ stand on the Equal Rights Amendment, but refused toelab rate. Texa Club id sa out p ar at The i quc 1 60 j rt. Rt 6:30 pe m. Reser loning 5 p.r The lartere lylor, Bi lailed i Nation Canal treaty criticized — Ka Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards nas urged state legislatures to pass resolutions opposing the Carter Administration’s plans to give up control of the Panama Canal. He said Panama is unstable and leaning toward communism, and that any turnover would threaten interna tional commerce and security. There is nothing to stop a future Panamanian regime from demanding yet another treaty 10 years from now that would cost the United States millions of dollars more, Ed wards said. gets pie in the eye odes was struck in the face with a crear Governor Ohio Gov. James A. Rhodes was struck in tlie tace with a cream pie and seven demonstrators were arrested yesterday at the Ohio State Fair. The piotestors were objecting to the construction of a gym nasium complex at Kent State University. Rhodes was not injured in the incident. Amcric Cation, 8 Imtitul Ion, 7:30 Commando weapons seized Agents from three federal agencies raided a Miami home and river marina Monday, seizing three boats, a cannon and other weapons aid apparently thwarting a commando raid on Cuba. Assistant U.S. Attor ney R.J. Sanford said the confiscated items were to be used ina» “imminent hit-and-run harassment raid somewhere on the Cuban coast. ” A member of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association was arrested and charged with violating federal firearms export control laws. Ameri< ition, 8 Ameri< [Cation, 8 Family m„ 301 Alumni 502 Rudd TAMU P m„ 501 Studenl (ration, 8 Muslim 510 Rudd World » Jews protest Nazis escape Hundreds of Jews converged on Rome yesterday to protest the escape of Italy’s most notorious Nazi war criminal. SS Col. Herbert Kappler, 70, serving a life prison term for the World War II massacre of 335 Italians, vanished Monday from the Rome military hospital where he was being treated for terminal stomach cancer. Kappler, weighing 106 pounds, was apparently stuffed into a large suitcase by his wife and lugged out of the hospital. Palestinian bomb injures Israelis A bomb exploded on a bus near the Israeli farm town of Afula yesterday, injuring eight passengers, police said. Palestinian guerrilla forces claimed responsibility for the blast. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine had vowed earlier to step up its attacks on civilian targets inside Israel in reaction to a government decision seen as a step toward annexing occupied Arab land. The 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 Re gents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and com munity newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. to 5% sales tax, Advertising rates furnished Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McD* ing, College Station, Texas 77843. 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