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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1978)
Viewpoint The Battalion Tuesday Texas A&M University March 7, 1978 Safety issue derailed too long We re learning. That is, the administrators at Texas A&M University are learning. Learning that this University is not immune to disaster. They’re also learning that what happens elsewhere can happen here, too. Proof? It’s a case of railroad tracks. The University System Board of Regents has asked the Southern Pacific and Missouri Pacific Railroads to consider moving the railroad tracks divid ing the University campus along Wellborn Road. The request suggests moving the tracks to “some less hazardous location,” to avoid conflicts with traffic along Wellborn Road and to reduce noise in what is rapidly becoming the center of the campus. But the real fear is that a train loaded with toxic chemicals will derail alongside the campus. Chancellor Jack Williams specifically voiced that fear when he recommended the request to the board of regents in January. And it could happen. Five Missouri Pacific freight cars, on the same track which passes by the campus, derailed north of the campus in Bryan, Jan. 19. Those cars were not carrying harmful chemicals and no one was injured. But another derailment in another Southern state killed eight people when tanker cars containing chlorine gas ruptured. Whether the board’s request will bear any immediate fruit is another matter. The Battalion in January 1975, carried a editorial request from local government officials and then-President Williams to move those same rail road tracks. The tracks haven’t moved any in the last three years. But at least the board is learning to keep asking, before we have our very own disaster. Last summer fires within a month of each other in Kentucky and Tennes see killed 158 and 42 people, respectively. But University officials took no action to evaluate fire hazards on campus—despite minor fires here—until a major fire damaged the basement storage area of the Memorial Student Center. After the fire, the University began a full-scale fire safety evaluation program which is still underway. So now we ve had our “warning” about the potentially disastrous conse quences of a derailment near the University campus. Have we learned enough from the past to take serious steps now toward moving the railroad tracks? Or do we have to wait for our own tragedy? L.R.L. Time for the Kyle Field concert By BOB ASHFIELD I ve sat for two years watching A&M live up to its name as the center of cultural backwash in the Southwest. Not only are certain campus organizations very con servative with their actions, but the school itself can’t seem to draw important names in contemporary entertainment. Stephen F. Austin upstaged the whole Southwest Conference by booking Emerson, Lake and Palmer while we bickered for rerun rights to “I Love Lucy". Seriously, the organization that gets us our campus entertainment is a very hardworking group that everyone knows as Town Hall. Alas, the results they come up with annually by somehow bringing minor acts here, appear as gargantuan ac complishments compared to the material they have to work with. First of all this includes a very picky, stubborn, and behind-the-times student body followed by the worst concert location imaginable... G. Rollie White Coliseum. Jolly Rollie only holds a meager 8,000 at its worst and it’s notorious for its abhorrent acoustic features. If any big acts were to play there the seat prices would be very high and not worth the while of the entertainer. Getting back to Stephen F. Austin’s ap parent miracle of obtaining EL&P last month (an operation that barely broke even for them in their own coliseum) it must be noted that Town Hall almost Commentary booked the group on the rebound when they were down here last fall. Thus, the problem of getting big name entertain ment, is not really one of being able to book the groups, but in just having a place to put them where they are affordable. Groups cost big bucks now and in the words of Town Hall’s James Randolph "money is the name of the game.” Ran dolph can quote prices for top acts as high as $60,GOO. Of course, this is your average Eagles or Fleetwood Mac Show, but even all-American boys like John Denver run the $50,()()() mark. Now lets go down a step. A Jackson Browne show costs $35,000 for starters. Then there is the production cost of $4,000 and then the back-up band.. .another five grand amounts to the $45,000 line. Put the show in Jolly Rollie with 8,000 seats and you got yourself at least a six-dollar ticket. And some good ole Ags still scoff at the conve nient three-dollar price. The situation calls for a need for more seats assuming that the continual growth of the rapidly changing campus will perpetuate such a need. So what do we do? We have an outdoor concert, that s what. Yes, that’s right...an actual true-to-life concert right under the stars some April evening. It could become a tradition as bold and grand as any and the alumni might even chip in. But wait, you say. Where do we hold this greatest tradition of them all? Right where traditions started...in Kyle Field. It would be the perfect place as finally the horseshoe would find a suitable function much like that of a Greek theater. Another great feature is that the capacity of all New Kyle Rock Forum can be fluctuated at any time by merely min ing the stage back and forth on the field, either diminshing or enlarging the “floor space. The sound would be a tremendous improvement over anything else the campus has to offer and the feeling of spring in the evening air would just be electrifying before show time. The Texas A&M University Intramural Director, Dennis Corrington, who has preliminary jurisdiction on Kyle Field, sees no problem with activities besides sports there. “Our main concern is protecting the condition of the field, Corrington said. This would surely have to be discussed and approved by the higher sports offi cials, but apparently the gist of the matter is that it wouldn t matter at all. So it may come to pass that along with Midnight Yell Practice and good ole Aggie football, that a new and more contempor ary tradition may fill the blessed concrete walls of Kyle Field...that of the Spring Outdoor Concert. And what if it rains? Well then, you have your basic Corps quackling en masse. Letters to the editor Liaison an integral part of local government Editor: I would like to congratulate Mr. Craw ley on his editorial (March 1) in which he tried to explain the process for a student to run and be elected to city council. Your efforts are admirable, Mr. Crawley, but I must comment on the paragraph where you discussed the Student Government Liaison to the city council. This program should not be “termed as a failure.” For the past two years the city council liaison of student government has sat on the council and related information be tween the two bodies. In ’76-’77 the liaison was Mary Ellen Martin who worked with Robert Harvey to build the City Relations Program and originated the position of liaison. The city council encouraged the student govern ment to appoint a liaison to represent stu dent opinion and provide student input into the decisions of the council. Mary Ellen was very dedicated and was not “often absent or uninformed on the is sues.” Earlier this year the student as signed to city council liaison had a veiy heavy academic schedule (20 hrs.) and consequently was forced to miss a few meetings. However, he realized he was unable to properly fill this position and re signed. I have been the liaison for the past three weeks and have been at all council meetings and am veiy interested in issues now facing the council. In Mr. Crawley’s editorial he said that the liaisons have not been effective in in fluencing student-related policy decisions of the council. Once again, untrue. Stu dent government, through the External Affairs Committee, has worked exten sively over the past two years on housing and capital improvement, ambulance serv ice, bike lanes-transportation, utility rate ordinances, and lighting for the Northgate area. The student opinion strongly influ enced the realization of many projects. Presently the city council is involved in zoning ordinances, building requirements for fire safety and putting new electrical poles in the Northgate area which will provide better service to the area and lighting. The present city councilmen do con sider the students’ opinions and concerns. The off-campus students (I am one) and the city councilmen share many problems and concerns. Students are residents of College Station and even though they are here for only four or five years their con cerns are continuing ones which the coun cil must deal with perpetually. If a student wants to run for city council and is able to be assured of his continued residence in College Station so that he can complete this term of office, I heartily encourage him to do so. However, to elect a student just because he is a student is not the way to improve city government. — Laura Brockman City Council Liaison Please return Editor: I am pleading to whomever took my blue backpack today, by mistake or pur posely, in the Commons cafeteria that he or she will please return it or at least the contents. The pack contained all of my physics, calculus, chemistry and engineer ing notes, all of them, and also my engi neering book. I need that material desper ately, my grades are bad enough as it is. Also, inside the pack were my girlfriend’s admittance and dorm application to A&M. She wanted me to bring them to the offices personnally so they would arrive sooner, but now they won’t arrive at all because you have them. I am a freshman at A&M and had felt that I could trust my fellow students. I had no idea that people would actually steal your books while you were eating lunch. I’m always reading a lot of B.S. about what is a “good or bad Ag’, I don t want to judge you on that basis. I thing that if you are a man, you will at least give me my letters and notes back. If not, will you, out of the kindness of your heart, at least drop the letters in a mailbox. I would greatly ap preciate it. My address is 477 Aston Hall, 845-8001. I will ask no questions. Please return my property. Thanks, maybe? — Mark Blanchard, ’81 Thanks, SCONA Editor: VVe wanted to take this opportunity to express our sincerest appreciation to SCONA and Texas A&M for allowing us to have been a part of SCONA 23. Our four days at College Station proved not only to be extrememly informative but to be un expectedly enjoyable. Your Aggie hospital ity is something we will always remember, and we wanted to express some special thanks to: Dr. Kurt Irgolic, Mr. Don McCrory, Bernadette Arnecke, Janice Fortune, Jill Neathery, John Adams, and the rest of the Round Table C group. Also Dr. Jon Bond, Mr. Rob Bamberyer, Lauren Begam, Geri Campbell, Nancy Steele, and the members of Round Table F. We certainly profited from being a part of SCONA 23 and sure hope that you in vite the University of Northern Colorado to participate in SCONA 24. Go Aggies!! — Bill Burnett G. Geoffrey Dolan Correction Ava King’s March 6 story on the Elephant Bowl incorrectly reported the amount raised as $12,000 instead of $1,200. Also, last year’s ticket sales amounted to $1,500, not $15,000 as re ported. The Battalion regrets the errors. Slouch Earle “NOW IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LEAVE EARLY FOR THE SPRING BREAK, YOU STAND HERE AND PRACTICE SAYING MY RIDE LEAVES EARLY,’ UNTIL YOU CAN KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE! GOT IT?” Top of the News Campus Bookstore profit funding meeting There will be an informal meeting for all eligible student organiza tions who wish to apply for bookstore profit funding. The meetingwill be Thursday in Room 301 of Rudder Tower. Budget requests must be submitted by March 31. Deadline for Parents of the Year Deadline for submitting recommendations for Parents of the Year is 5 p.m., March 20. Recommendations will be available in and should be submitted to the Student Government office. Room 216 in the Memorial Student Center. Applications for grants due soon The last day for receiving applications for Basic Educational Oppor tunity Grants for the 1977-78 academic year is March 15. The applica tions must arrive at the Basic Grant Office, P. (). Box B, Iowa City, Iowa 52240 by that date to be processed for this 1977-78 academic year. State Briscoe aide intercepts newsman Gov. Dolph Briscoe’s campaign consultant in Austin Monday ad mitted he overreacted to a Dallas reporter s questioning of his bass, but said he remembers only shoving a microphone, not taking a .swing at the television newsman. According to George Christian, Charles Duncan of WFAA-TY asked the governor intimidating questions about last week s violence between farmers and police in the Rio Grande Valley. He said the questions tended to blame Briscoe for the violence. “When the interview was over the governor turned to go, the interviewer followed him with a microphone, and 1 stepped in and said those were the most unfair questions I had ever heard of, something like that, Christian said. "Well, he put the microphone (o my face, and I pushed the microphone aside and tliat’s all there is to it Nation Flynt, attorney shot in Georgia Larry Flynt, publisher of the controversial magazine “Hustler, and a local attorney were shot and wounded Monday in Lawrence- ville, Ga., after Flynt had testified in his own defense at an ohscenitv trial. Flynt, 35, was reported in critical condition undergoing surgery at Button Gwinnett Hospital with a wound in his abdomen. The attorney. Gene Reeves, was less seriously injured with a bullet wound in the arm. Witnesses said the shots came from a passing ear just as Fly nt and Reeves left a cafeteria about a block south of the courthouse. Flynt had been on trial in state court for the past week on a single charge of violating obscenity laws. Navajos getting relief from mud Army and National Guard helicopters, aided by clearing weather, stepped up operations to haul food, fuel and other supplies to hun dreds of Navajo families stranded by deep mud on Arizona rural roads. Airlift officials estimate up to 12,000 Navajos were stranded because of the impassable roads. Rain during the past week in the Southwest had saturated the reservation, turning the unimproved roads into quagmire. Four-wheel drive v ehicles which had attempted to drive on the roads sunk to their axles. The airlift operation, dubbed "Operation Mudhole is expected to haul more than 42,OIK) pounds of food to stranded Navajo families and 160,000 tons of hay for cattle and sheep. World Goering may have taken poison A West German new spaper says an American may have given a poison capsule to Nazi leader Herman Goering, allowing him to es cape the humiliation of hanging for his war crimes. The chief of Adolf Hitler s Luftwaffe died two hours before he was to mount the gallows in a gy mnasium of the Nuremhurg jail w here he and other convicted Nazi war criminals were held. Goering, sentenced to death by hang ing by tlu- International W ar Criminal Tribunal in Nuremberg, com mitted suicide by biting a capsule containing hydrocy mimic acid. After Goering's death, prison guards found a letter in his cell for Col. Buron C. Andrus, American commandant of the Nuremhurg jail, the newspaper said. The newspaper raised doubt whether Goering's let ter told the real story. "Goering felt a deep dislike for the comman dant, said the Sunday edition of the West German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag. "He felt that the arrogant American prison com mandant was treating him disgracefully . There was no reason lor Goering to address a letter to that man. I t w as apparently designed as a cover-up for Goering to try and protect the man who gave him the poison. The newspaper said Goering s wife, Emmi, "was convinced, five day s before his suicide, that he had no poison in his possession. Mrs. Goering, according to the newspaper, said later she asked her husband, "Do you have a comb?" Goering simply shook his head. The word "comb" was the code Goering and his w ife used for poison. Weather liary we Re ick Sta ths, ietei emp aim hrisi pl De ars ith 2- lird Ms so fGriffi wh e i hat te ai itate Th With Kco: the 15 ne 'ear lote nth Ft ami th faint maxi Q c Mostly cloudy and windy with a chance of showers. High today low 70s, low tonight near 40. High tomorrow low 60s Winds from the north at 15-20 mph. Thirty percent chanceof rain today and tonight. Decreasing cloudiness and mild to morrow. The Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the artiele and are not neeessarily those of the I'niversity administration or the Board of Re gents. The Battalion is a non-profit. self-support/ng enterprise operated by students as a university and eom- munity newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. ■<•<1 MuDonaUI lltiiUliitK. Slalion. Tcu^ ^ I'nitrd Errss lutunuittonal is rittilltTl t \tlii>i'il» •" •pmclm tion ol all nows iliNpaU-hi’N HVtlilHi* •. ol roprocluotioii ol all otlior huiIUt IwifittW , id-C!lass posta^o paid at (atllojio Station.!\ ^ 1 lot HiKlit Sooot MEMBER LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to beinfi cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the rifiht to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be si fined, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor. The Battalion, Boom 216. Reed McDonald Buildinfi. Collcfic Station, Texas 77643. Heprosontcd nattonalK In National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through Max except during exam and holidax periods and the summer, w hen it is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mail suliscriptions are $16.75 per semester: $33.25 per school year: $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates fur nished on request. Address: The Battalion. Boom 216. Texas Press Association Southwest JmirmtliMit Congrws Editor jaiim Managing Editor \l;tr> AlkvW.n Sports Editor I'oiil News Editors Marie llriinrn-r. L.if»l Assistant Managing Editor LlriuuW (.it\ Editor kaniil Campus Editor kiw Reporters Li/ Nculiii. I>.i\klb Mark Patterson. Lee Hm L-sdiprJi W .-li li. Jim Cnittln lml« «i Paige Bcjislrx . Mi V Photographers Susan Wrlili. kiull Cartoonist l)mu:l- Student Tublieations Board: Boh C. liof'm. Joe Arredondo. Dr. Clary Halter. Dr. Clmrlrx Clinton A. Thillips. Behel Birr. Dinrlnr ol Di Tuhlii'nlions: Donald ('. Johnson.
