Page 2
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
November 23,
1977
Turning
another
page
in A&M history
Very few times in this University’s history has a
single decision made long-term changes in the
programs and education Texas A&M offers. One
such decision may have been made yesterday.
The University System board of regents made
that decision by approving, by a rare split vote, a
plan for the Texas Engineering Extension Service
to take over operation of the South Central Texas
Regional Training Center in San Antonio. That
center, now operated by San Antonio College,
provides primarily skills and vocational training
for disadvantaged and unemployed people.
The Engineering Extension Service provides
supplementary training programs in a number of
skill areas, such as fire, law enforcement and
water-waste fields, now. But never before has the
service, or any part of the University system,
provided basic vocational training such as the
training center provides. That change was one
some of the regents didn’t want to make.
“Is this really a function of Texas A&M?” Re
gent Joe Reynolds of Houston asked in a commit
tee meeting Monday. Reynolds, Al Davies of Dal
las and John Blocker of Houston voted against
taking over the center.
“I realize the people need help, but I wonder if
we should get into it,” Reynolds said. Blocker
agreed. “I think we may be taking on a social
burden that can overwhelm us,” he said. Both
they and Davies questioned whether the center
would lower Texas A&M’s image as an institution
of quality education.
There were other worries. Although officially
San Antonio College administrators had said they
“just couldn’t handle it anymore,” part of their
problems seemed to be heavy political pressure
from groups in San Antonio.
But in the heated discussion the board’s other
regular members supported the center.
The center would be a good way for A&M to
establish a foothold in San Antonio, something
the system lacks now, H.C. Bell of Austin said.
Several regents pointed out the center would
help unemployed people gain salable skills.
“I’m for anything that will get people off the
welfare rolls,” Richard Goodson of Dallas said. “If
it doesn’t work after two years, we can step
away.” The system’s commitment to the center is
for two years, beginning Jan. 1, 1978.
“This (unemployment) is one of the real prob
lems of society and we have the ability to help
solve it,” University President Jarvis Miller said
in defending the center.
And he’s right. When Texas A&M was estab
lished as a land grant college it was charged with
educating the citizens of Texas in the agricultural
and mechanical arts. The University has built a
reputation of doing a superlative job in fulfilling
that responsibility over the last hundred years.
But it’s no time to start thinking the University is
too good to still do that job, to help Texans make
better lives for themselves while making Texas a
better state.
Texas A&M didn’t become the great institution
it is by keeping its distance from tough problems,
by saying “it’s not our job or by acting “holier
than thou.’' We applaud the regents for remem
bering that.
L.R.L.
It starts with Thanks
What happened to holidays?
Have we worn them out or misplaced them, or are we just too busy to
notice? We go through the motions well enough, but the meaning doesn’t
seem to be there.
Take tomorrow. Thanksgiving.
THANKS—GIVING. How many of us aren’t going to rush somewhere, to
gobble down some turkey, to prepare us for rushing somewhere else for
football games, before rushing back to make up for work that we missed
during the rushes?
But where ever you may be tomorrow, GIVING THANKS, think about it
a moment. We’re living in a world for the most part at peace with itself. No
major wars, no eminent disasters, no scathing scandals. No Vietnam. The
economy isn’t in great shape, but’s far better off than in many years not too
far past. There’s even some real glimmerings of hope in this world.
Isn’t that something to be thankful for?
L.R.L.
Readers! Forum
Guest viewpoints, in addi
tion to Letters to the Editor,
are welcome. All .pieces sub
mitted to Readers’ forum
should be: v ’
• Typed triple space
• Limited to 60 characters per
line
• Limited to 100 lines
Letters to the editor
Don’t doom
adopted pets to slow
death
Editor:
The holidays are approaching, and many
students who have “adopted” pets for the
semester will now be looking for another
home for them. This is often difficult since
there is now an overpopulation of un
wanted and stray animals. There is pres
ently no animal shelter in the Bryan-
College Station area, so many students re
sort to abandonment, leaving the animal to
slowly die of starvation, disease, or expo
sure, or to die under the wheels of vehi
cles.
The main goal of the Humane Society of
Brazos County is to establish an animal
shelter in this area for such animals, but
until this is accomplished, we are provid
ing for homeless animals turned over to us
transportation to the Houston Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Anyone needing to release an unwanted
animal to us to be taken to Houston may
contact Humane Society members at
846-9248 (Anne Barrow) or 846-2825
(Kathy Nemec). Please call us if you need
us. Do not be responsible for unnecessary
suffering.
—Kathy Nemec
Smokers take care
Editor:
American smokers were asked by the
American Cancer Society to give up smok
ing Nov. 17. The main reason for this
campaign was to promote good health hab
its. Also, recent statistics show that smok
ing is increasing among teens.
According to a recent article in The
Eagle, lung cancer kills 244 Americans a
day. And 80 percent of the lung cancer is
caused by cigarette smoking.
Not only is smoking an unhealthy habit,
but it is dirty and very offensive to many
people. Smoking is a personal decision,
but when a smoker is in a public place, he
should consider the non-smoker. There
isn’t anything more irritating to a non-
smoker than having smoke blown into his
face. Sometimes one can return from a
party or sports event feeling and smelling
as though he himself were a smoker.
What about standing in a smoke-filled
elevator? Some people don’t seem to
realize that smoking in an elevator is
against the law and a violation carries stiff
penalties. The smoker could wait until he
gets off—after all, how long is an elevator
ride?
My final plea to smokers is that they
show some courtesy to non-smokers while
eating in public dining halls. Some people
are sickened by the smell of smoke. And
having to watch someone put ashes in his
plate is too much!
Of course not every smoker is this in
considerate or this sloppy, but all smokers
should remember that many people are al
lergic to tobacco—even someone else’s.
Also, research shows that exhaled tobacco
smoke is in some cases more dangerous
than the smoke inhaled by the smoker.
B.M.B., ’80
One more time
Editor:
I would like to respond to Karen Bos
well’s article in the Nov. 17 issue of the
Battalion entitled “Helmet Law Needed.”
I am deeply concerned when young
Americans such as Karen are maturing
under the philosophy that laws which re
strict personal freedoms are the means to
cure the ills of our society. Lord knows,
we have more ridiculous laws now than we
can live with. A law like the helmet law is
simply another step towards socialism in
which “big brother” is saying, “I know
how to take care of you better than you can
take care of yourself.”
Karen, you must understand that it is
my privilege to bust my head if I want to,
so long as I do not interfer with the rights
of others while doing so.
Shucks, Karen, let’s pass a law prevent
ing hang-gliding, a proven dangerous
sport. And rodeo, let’s outlaw that too;
several riders are killed and seriously in
jured each year. Oh yes, let’s pgss a law
requiring 15 hours of instruction and a
permit to own a ladder. After all, it is the
leading cause of home accidents. Don’t
forget auto racing and boxing and skiing,
midnight yell practice, walking...living.
—Corkey Sandel
International Student Advisor
Texas A&M University
The right to sleep
Editor:
You could kill a man and say that you
did it to make him free and happy. Such
would be fulfilling the sections of the Con
stitution guaranteeing individual freedoms
and the pursuit of happiness. This would
of course be taking the whole subject of
constitutional guarantees completely out
of perspective, and in feet you would be
committing a totally ludicrous act. Fur
ther, you would be infringing upon that
person’s individual rights.
All of this is of course perfectly obvious
to all of us. What I want to talk about how
ever are these same subjects of perspec
tive, individual rights, and each individu
al’s responsibility to respect individual
rights.
In the past few days, we have had
groups of individuals stomp through Utay
Hall at various times of night. They kick on
doors, yell, and have on occasion come
through with running chain saws to cause
further racket.
Now I do not want to be heard as an
enemy of bonfire. The annual anticipation
of the T.U. game gives this school a rally
ing point which is unparalleled. Moreover
the spirit and unselfish donation of time
and effort given by those who construct
the stacks is really inspiring. But like ev
erything else there must be perspective,
even to the subject of bonfire.
To get worked up while putting to
gether the stacks and anticipating the up
coming T.U. game is natural and healthy.
But care must be taken not to let this spirit
take control of our actions and make us
forget our responsibilitifes to others.
I myself was awaked twice or three
times on four consecutive nights last week
(two nights were school nights). The result
was a drastic reduction in the amount of
sleep I got, and I dare say a like reduction
in my classroom effectiveness.
Above all let us remember where we
are. No matter how important bonfire
spirit may be, it cannot be allowed to over
shadow our main reason for being here.
That is getting an education, in case some
have forgotten.
—Scott Lane
T)ay duck lonely
Editor:
I can sympathize with the poor dating
situation on campus, but what about the
off-campus students? Unfortunately, two-
thirds of the student body is forced to live
in houses or apartments. The dating situa
tion here is desperate.
How many guys know the feeling of
their heart sinking as some sweet young
thing jumps off the shuttle bus as he is
about to ask her name. Apartments are
bad, (most people know only a few of their
neighbors) but houses are worse. My
neighbors include an 80-year-old farmer, a
married couple or two, and a large dober-
man. A panty raid here would result in a
severe dog-bite or a night in jail for dis
turbing the peace.
At least on-campus students have mix
ers and Sbisa. Social clubs are open to off-
campus students, but somehow I find it
hard to ask out the girl next to me while
the Pre-Vet Society is showing pictures of
mutilated horses. We are all Aggies! Let’s
have some mixers to include the Day
Ducks.
—Mark Homer, ’80
Top of the News
State
Tax breaks false for farmers
A new state law giving tax breaks to farmers and ranchers is nothing
more than an empty promise because taxation guidelines cannot be
revised by passage of a state law, the chairman of the House Educa
tion Committee said Tuesday in Austin. Sen. Oscar Mauzy,
D-Dallas, and Parmer County Attorney Johnny Actkinson asked At
torney General John Hill for an opinion on the constitutionality of the
measure approved by the 65th legislature. The bill would allow some
farm, ranch and open-space ranch land to be assessed on the basis of
its agricultural productivity rather than its market value for property
taxation.
Women to seek more funds
Leaders of the National Women’s Conference in Houston will seek
federal funding for another meeting to promote feminist goals, de
spite protests of dissident delegates who walked out of Monday’s
closing session. President Carter’s top women appointees said they
will meet next week to prepare a special report on the meeting for the
president. Carter also will receive 25 recommendations approved by
nearly 2,000 delegates from across the nation. No date was specified,
but conference leader Bella Abzug said the next meeting might come
as soon as 1980.
Hughes estate trial delayed
Texas Attorney John Hill says a lawyer for the administrators of the
Howard Hughes estate is attempting to deny the state its inheritance
claim on the vast holdings of the late recluse. The trial was delayed
for two weeks to determine Hughes’ legal residence on a request
from Frank Davis, the attorney representing administrators of the
Hughes estate. Davis said Hughes had not lived in Texas for more
than 40 years and was a Nevada resident. Hill accused Davis of a
last-minute attempt to delay the trial for which both sides have been
preparing for the last nine months.
Longview cop killed by suspects
Two suspects in some early morning convenience store robberies
Tuesday shot and-killed a 28-year-old Longview policeman who stop
ped them for questioning, then exchanged gunfire with officers who
trapped them at nearby Gilmer, Texas. Police said a woman iden
tified as Marilyn Gail Means of Longview was struck by a shotgun
blast during the short gunbattle outside Gilmer. Her companion,
identified as Emmet Holloway Jr., 23, surrendered unharmed. The
couple was charged with capital murder in the death of policeman
Marshall Jefferson Sowders.
Nation
Phillips Petroleum fined by judge
A federal judge in Tulsa, Okla. Tuesday fined the Phillips Petroleum
Co. $30,000 for conspiring to makke illegal politicial campaign con
tributions and for filing fraudulent income tax returns over a four-year
period. Chief U.S. District Judge Allen E. Barrow fined Phillips a
maximum $10,000 for raising funds in overseas accounts and using
the money for illegal campaign contributions. He also fined Phillips
the maximum $5,000 each on the four tax counts.
Coal policy might drown cities
A physicist warned Tuesday that a national energy policy relying
entirely on coal would generate enough waste heat to begin melting
the polar icecaps and result in coastal flooding that would rout 70
million Americans. New Orleans would be under water in 60 years,
Miami would submerge in 90 years and Washington would be inun
dated in 140 years. Dr. Peter Fong of Emory University in Atlanta
predicted in a paper delivered to the American Physical Society in
Bal Harbour, Fla.
World
Reaction to Sadat trip varied
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat said Tuesday his trip to Israel
resulted in “respect for our will, for the will of the Arabs,” and “there
is no longer any room for complexes. ” Sadat returned Monday to a
triumphant welcome in Cairo from his dramatic and unprecedented
trip to Israel, a trip which infuriated hard-line Arab states, drew an
embarrassed silence from the oil-producers and expressions of sup
port from fellow moderates in Sudan, Morocco, Oman—and on
Tuesday—Jordan.
Rescuers working after cyclone
Rescue teams worked Tuesday to reach more than 100,000 people
left homeless by the worst storm to hit India in more than 100
years—a cyclone that killed more than 6,000 people and washed away
scores of villages. While the southern state of Andhra Pradesh was
still reeling from the cyclone and the tidal wave that smashed the
southern coast over the weekend, another cyclone—India’s third in
the past week—threatened the coast of Bombay.
Boys ok after forced landing
Two young men from Austin, Texas, were expected to be turned
over to American authorities Tuesday after an airplane they were
flying ran out of gasoline and made an emergency landing outside
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Mexican authorities identified the Texans as
Craig Staggs, 14, and Jimmy Lackey, age unknown, and said the
airplane was believed stolen in Austin. Officials said the two boys
were flying in a Cessna airplane belonging to Lt. Col. Earl C. Haw
thorne of Austin, when they made the emergency landing Monday. The
boys were not hurt and the airplane was not damaged, the officials
reported.
Weather
Mostly cloudy and mild today and tomorrow with variable
winds 5-10 mph. High both days mid-70s. Low tonight upper
50s. Extended outlook for Friday through Sunday calls for
mild temperatures with little or no rain.
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The Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily
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munity newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the
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