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.
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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.
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•. ol roprocluotioii ol all otlior huiIUt IwifittW ,
id-C!lass posta^o paid at (atllojio Station.!\ ^
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MEMBER
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News Editors Marie llriinrn-r. L.if»l
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(.it\ Editor kaniil
Campus Editor kiw
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Student Tublieations Board: Boh C. liof'm.
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