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
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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.
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number for verification.
Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The
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