Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1978)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Wednesday February 22, 1978 Some work for fun Moonlighting is on the increase. That’s the verdict of a Labor Department survey that reports the number of Americans holding two jobs increased by 600,000 in 1977, bringing the number of moonlighters to 5 percent of all workers. That’s a record number 4.6 million moonlighters. The survey pointed out, among other things, that about half of the women moonlighters hold two part-time jobs, while most men who moonlight hold down one full-time job. Not surprisingly, a third of moonlighters surveyed said they need the extra income the second job provides. But another 20 percent said they took the second job because they like the work the second job provides. It’s encouraging to see, in a world where most of us have to work all the time, there are still people who like to work. L.R.L. Money does not a winner make By JIM CRAWLEY Don McNiel s campaign literature fea tures the phrase “A Fresh New Face foi Congress. Above this slogan and his name is a picture of a smiling McNiel. Will McNiel, if he wins in May and November, be a “fresh face for Congress?’ So far it’s too early to make a definite deci sion, but there are some keys to the solu tion of the question. The main thrust of the McNiel candi dacy has been to show the populace that the candidate is the only one of the six candidates who has “real-world experi ence. In other words, McNiel is putting the emphasis of his campaign on his ex perience as a businessman-rancher- farmer. So far, McNiel, the first candidate to announce his run for the nomination, has kept a low-key profile. This is especially true in the southern portion of the district. Within the last month, McNiel has made plans to visit Bryan-College Station but snow in the northern half of the district has made it impractical for him to drive down for the day. His support, speaking in geographical terms, is consolidated in the northern counties of the district and even that dec laration is fuzzy. Alvarado is McNiel s base of operations. His campaign office is his ranchhouse, which has been unstaffed by the usual campaign workers and volun teers that gather around any candidate like Politics groupies around a rock star. His ability to get voters is also question able. McNiel is just what one of his press releases stated, a political novice. The trio of Edwards, Godbey and Gramm aren t political novices, each has been a candi date or coordinated a political campaign. Each knows the details and rules of the American game of politics. McNiel doesn t know all the rules. But, he has that political cure-all — the panacea of the campaign — money. Everyone has to agree that money can make or break a candidate. If a candidate has a lot of money in his treasury he won t have to spend a lot of time wining and dining the major cam paign supporters and fundraisers who con tribute much, but only vote once. The monied candidate can then go out and climb the soapboxes and get the average man’s vote. The monied politician, especially a novice, might misconstrue his wealth. More than one candidate has spent large sums on media blitzes, flashy stationery and shiny bumper stickers; only to wake up the morning after the election a loser. They failed to realize that a candidate has to go out and meet the citizenry of the district. In this half of the district, McNiel s campaign is sparse; in fact, almost non existent. No signs, no press releases con cerning this portion of the district and none of the omnipresent lists of political supporters and fundraisers. McNiel must think that this end of the district is unimportant. This assumption could have grave consequences for him. If he plans to win the Sixth primary , without a reasonable showing in the southern half, he will have to carry the northern counties of Dallas and Tarrant. Unfortunately , this is a forlorn hope for any candidate in this race. With five of the six candidates resid ing in the northern half of the district, the prospects of a single* candidate coming away with a clear majority in the north is slim. In an unusual turn of events within the* last week of filing for the Sixth Congres sional Democratic primary , a sixth candi date filed to get his name on the ballot. Will Power, a Dallas mortgage broker, paid the* $1,500 fee to the* state Demo cratic party headquarters. In his press release at the* time of filing. Powers connected himself with retiring Congressman Teague with the statement that he was Teague s first appointment to a service academy back in the forties. One of the political science professors at Texas A&M related the story of a person that filed for a political office that he could/j t possibly have won. The candi date, a lawyer, made a few perfunctory announcements and didn t actually cam paign. When election night came around, the lawyer lost, as was expected. When asked why he ran against an opponent that he eouldn t beat, he replied that it wasn’t the office he was running for, but the pub licity. People would see his name in the paper and on the ballot, and they might remember his name when they needed an attorney. Although this may not be the* case with Powers, his candidacy is worth watching. Radio: a new political watchdog [IHWWH WCMtA-fTW**- OKAY SHEIK, HERE. COMES THE HARP PART ..' By STEVE GERSTEL WASHINGTON — On Nov. 2. 1920, station KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast the returns of the presidential election be tween Warren Harding and James M. Gox. It was the first non-experimental radio news report. Washington Window More than 57 years later, the U.S. Se nate discovered that this technological marvel the radio — actually exists. Not only that, the Senate decided it works. After more than half a century ponder ing the gadget, the Senate has now emu lated KDKA and is permitting the broad cast of the debate on the Panama Canal treaties. That it should take so long for the Se nate to break with the past is not surpris ing. The Senate is very' much taken with tradition and trappings. The chamber may be the only place where quill pens, snuff boxes, inkwells and spittoons are still available and where those big, old leather couches favored hy men’s clubs are considered modern furni ture. It was only a few years ago that mi crophones and a sound system were in stalled so that senators could hear each other talk. The broadcast of the Panama debate is a two-way arrangement: It is an in-house production that pipes the sound into senators’ offices and other places and it also is made available to commercial and non-commercial outlets. National Public Radio, with Linda Wertheimer as anchor, is broadcasting the debate gavel-to-gavel. The networks are taking bits and pieces to put into their programs, although it is possible they might go “live for some of the major votes. There is no question that many senators on both sides of the fence on this sharply divisive issue are acutely aware that the proceedings are broadcast, and that, in it self, has already changed the Senate. Normally, the opening statements by senators on both sides of an issue are staid and dull speeches and' out of courtesy', not subject to interruption. In the Panama Canal debate, however, almost no statement of fact goes without challenge, providing sharp back-and- forths instead of lengthy monologues. With much depending on public reaction. neither side can afford to have the other dominate. Senate Democratic Leader Robert Byrd, who was instrumental in providing radio as well as killing telev ision coverage, held the floor for an hour and a half and managed to get through only nine pages of his 47 page speech because he was con tinuously interrupted. In fact, Byrd got so wound up and gave such a fine perfomance that he would have been a sure-fire “Emmy if he had only allowed television on the premises. Another indication of the awareness that the debate is being broadcast was the pains Sen. Birch Bayh, D-lnd., chairman of the Intelligence Committee, took to ex plain why the Senate would have to meet in secret session on some matters. Fellow senators know that the secret session would deal with highly sensitive intelligence information, but Bayh went out of his way to make sure no one in the listening audience would feel that the Se nate was conducting a cover-up. The resolution allowing the broadcast is very limited. It does not extend beyond the Panama Canal debate. But on the basis of the current experi ment, it appears certain that broadcast of Senate sessions will be allowed in the fu ture. And not too far down the road, the "technical problems ’ will be resolved, and the Senate may acknowledge that televi sion exists and allow the all-seeing eye into the chamber. Top of the News Campus Library friends plan book sale Friends of the Texas A&M University Library are planningt April 3 book sale at the south entrance of the Sterling C. Ev& Library. Those wishing to donate books, posters, maps, recordsaj other materials may place them in boxes in campus dorms andfe library. After March 20, additional deposit points will be areasny. markets and. both McDonalds. At the latter, a coupon for a free drill will be given for every two books donated. State Insurance rate hike requested The insurance industry w'ill ask the* State Insurance Board in Atisfe today to increase by $105.8 million the rates Texans pay annual)la property insurance. Former board chairman Joe Christie, who ft- signed from the board in September to begin campaigning for tin |Vhil Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate, said the board stafi J en t proposal for a 13.1 percent increase in homeowner insurance is out L„ rageous. The industry is seeking a 14.1 percent increaseiiH® homeowner insurance rates. h Lubbock youth making recovery Six weeks after the accident in Lubbock which rendered . LAU Compton a "living vegetable, the 16-year-olds family decidedk | ict pull the plug on their son s life support systems. 11 is parents, Bunt j 1 and Auric* Compton, said they wanted to "leave it up to Kyle a. | ri11 God. Kv le, who doctors once gav e no future other than alife-lm 1 IC l 1 Hied d, r coma, is now speaking, eating solid foods and relearning to use si vervvare. Although doctors are unsure* how far his recovery will go, neurologist said the teenager is "definitely making progress and I P e 1 expect him to continue to improve. Kyle was critically Sept.4 in a live-car accident in which seven other persons'hcm® 111 jured. and his friend and passenger, Dirk Weslev Murphy, 16,iu killed. Texas Ranger killed in Argyle A 27-year-old narcotics suspect in Argyle, Texas, was cW I Tuesday with capital murder in the shooting death of a Texas Rae ™ the first member of the legendary law enforcement agency to bos in the past 60 years. Ranger Bobby Paul Doherty, 41, who joined i( agency a year and a half ago, was shot once in the head Monday as lie attempted to enter a back door of a house during a drug Doherty was taken to a Fort Worth hospital, hut died early Tuesdi) Gregory Arthur Ott was arrested at his home in Argyle late Mora and charged with the slaying of Doherty. No bond was set in the lord Se Nation Hughes' residence contested The Supreme Court Tuesday scheduled arguments to determine whether California may contest directly in the high court the legal residence of millionaire Howard Hughes at the time of his death in 1976. California wants the court to decide whether Texas was Hughes legal domicile. Both states want to collect millions in estate taxes, but it turns out the estate is not large enough for each todoso under its own law after the federal tax has been paid. Meanwhile a probate court jury in Houston held on Feb. 15 that Hughes wasa Texan. Saccharin warning a must As of last Tuesday, all food products containing saccharin must Lo carry a label warning people the artificial sweetener may cameB| cancer. Congress voted to delay a proposed ban on saccharin for 18 months because of the outcry from industry and consumers to holdol until more studies are conducted. The Food and Drug Administra tion first raised concerns about saccharin last March after animal tests showed it could cause bladder cancer. World Letters to the editor Slouch by Jim Earle Egypt blamed for airport battle A lasting impression Editor: Silver Taps is that final tribute paid to an Aggie, who at the time of his death, was enrolled in undergraduate or graduate classes at Texas A&M. My feelings toward this tradition is so overwhelming that it is hard for me to ex press them. The turn out for last night s Silver Taps really impressed me. Although I’m sure it wasn’t a record-breaking crowd, it surely was for how cold it was. I feel that this tradition is one of the most important ones, because it gets all Aggies together to express their feelings about these certain people who have passed on. What really amazes me is that many people don’t even know who the person is, all we need to know is that he’s an Aggie. This is one tradition that sets Texas A&M apart from any other university, no other schools express their deepest feelings about their fellow classmates as we do. I hope this tradition never ceases, be cause I’d like to think back after I graduate and remember these special times that we gathered together to commemorate our fellow Aggies. — Galen Chandler, 80 Nuclear okay Editor: The politicians like Morris Udall with their abundance of misinformation are causing our real problems with the energy crisis. He just does not know what in the world is really going on. I don’t see how SCON A could have picked Udall as a speaker on energy when he is so ignorant about nuclear energy costs. He actually said that nuclear power is uneconomical and more expensive than coal (Battalion, 2-17-78). In 1975, the av erage national power cost for coal was 1.75 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 1.23 cents per kilowatt-hour for nuclear power. Oil costs 3.36 cents per kilowatt-hour, “Nuclear 43.6 percent Below Fossill Generating Costs 3.36 in First Half,' INFO, Atomic Industrial Forum, Sept. 1975) and we burn oil in the on-campus powerplant when natural gas is in short supply. Did you wonder why your building use fee keeps going up? Now you know, and people like Morris Udall and his friend President Carter only aggravate our energy problems. — Robert Patlovany, ’77 Right on Editor: Right on, Chris Lewis. — Mark Die, ’79 Editor's note: This letter refers to a let ter in the Feb. 20 Battalion in which senior Chris Lewis thanked writers to The Battalion for the entertainment he derives from this section. fi4£CJ5 PF/yZJ-TS “IT’S NOT REALLY A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: IT’S A LETTER OF REBUTTAL ADDRESSED TO THE SECOND GUY WHO SENT A LETTER OF REBUTTAL TO THE FIRST WHO REBUTTED!” Cyprus blamed Egypt Tuesday for a bloody airport battle between Cypriot and Egyptian troops and rejected Cairo demands that itgive up two Palestinian-born gunmen charged with assassination of a top Egyptian editor. But Cyprus President Spyros Kyprianou toldanews conference he was willing to meet with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in an effort to improve relations between the two countries that seemed on the verge of a formal rupture. Weather Fair and cool today, tonight and Thursday. High today upper 50s, low tonight mid-30s. High tomorrow mid-60s. Winds from the southwest at 10 mph. Continued fair with seasona ble temperatures later in the week. Highs near 70, lows in the upper 40s - low 50s. 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 Vnirersity administration or the Board of Re gents. The Battalion is a non-profit. self-support tug enterprise operated by students as a university and com munity neiuspapcr. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editin' 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 docs not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must he signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Boom 210, Beed McDonald Building, ('allege Station, Texas 77843. Represented nationally In National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday Iroin September through May except during exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published on Monday s. Wednesday s and Friday s Mail subscriptions are $lb.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year $35.00 per lull year. Advertising rates fur nished on request. Address: The Battalion. Boom 210 Heed McDonald Building. College Station. Tcuv v United Press International is entitled rxdnjihr^ use lor reproduction of all news dispatches mvli!'^ Bights of reproduction of all other matin lurnnn^ Second-Class postage paid at ('ollege StatiouB 1 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Uongrrs Editor Managing Editor. Sports Editor News Editors Assistant Managing Editor City Editor Campus Editor Beporters Mark Pattersoi Welch. Photographers Cartoonist Jamw Man Alice W* 1 .. \'J Marie Ilonirm. (an^ k.iniil 1 1.1/ Nowlin. D.l'il Lee Hoy I Scott IVihinv \nil» Paige Sirs. DnttfCJ « Beasley .MW A is.m \\ chh. knilW Student Enblications Board. Hob C. lioprx. 0*i Joe Arredondo E)r Robert llarrey. Dr. Thillips; Hebei Hie Dimald C Johnson ('.ary Halter. Hr. folni " ^ ( barb s MrCamlless: Vi ( h Director »*/ Shulail I'nlbf 1