Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
July 26, 1978
Anybody seen my Dalmation?
Editor’s note: This editorial first appeared in
the Battalion July 17, 1977.
He walks through the old screen door and lets
it slam behind him. The hot afternoon air seems
to follow him inside.
Hello wife, hello house, hello-with-a-hug baby
girl. Why do sweat and dirt and grease smell so
much worse all mixed together on a tired human
being at 6 o’clock?
Catch the news before supper, she says. So he
heads for the ragged easy chair before the equally
battered TV.
Just settling into the chair, he hears it, and
lurches back to his feet. Heading out the way he
came in, he half sees his wife’s frustrated scowl
and says “I’ll call if it’ll take long” as he pushes
through the door. This time a high, whining siren
comes back in with the heat — a fire whistle fal
ling from its highest pitch until it seems to have
stopped, then blaring out again.
She watches the little red license tag on his
pickup as he goes out the caliche driveway. “Vol
unteer Fire Department.”
He may be back in 10 minutes or 10 hours or
may be spending the night under an oxygen tent,
overcome by smoke.
Why does a hot, tired man just home from
work jump into his pickup to go fight someone
else s fire? Or for that matter, why would a man
make a living out of fighting, and waiting to fight,
fires?
Maybe because some day that siren might be
for his house, his wife and baby. Or because that
alarm may be for someone else’s house or wife or
baby.
Firemen are like flashlights. As long as we
don’t need them, we don’t think about them. But
let our house be burning or let the lights go out
and they damn well better be there doing their
job.
We so seldom thank firemen. But this is a good
time, with almost 2,000 of them on the Texas
A&M campus attending the Engineering Exten
sion Service’s Fire Training School.
So, gentlemen and ladies, we say simply
“Thanks. ”
L.R.L.
Everybody’s doing it
By LAURENCE McQUILLAN
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Peter Bourne’s ab
rupt departure from the Carter White
House, and the circumstances surround
ing it, have left a cloud of suspicion and
speculation about drug use by people high
in the government hierarchy.
The affair set investigative reporters to
delving into the thin gray borderline bet
ween public and private conduct.
They have turned up evidence that in
th ese circles, recreational use is made not
only of alcohol, which is legal, but
marijuana and cocaine, which are not.
Washington
Bourne, the 38-year-old psychiatrist
who helped inspire Jimmy Carter’s aspira
tion to the presidency and shared his
triumph, was gone within 36 hours after
the Washington Post reported he used a
fictitious name in prescribing the
sedative-hypnotic Quaalude for an aide.
But that incident, initially, resulted only
in Bonnie’s taking a leave of absence. The
telling blow to his position as the presi
dent’s confidant and adviser on drug abuse
problems came when columnist Jack An
derson reported Bourne had smoked,
regularly during off-duty hours and that
they were directly and indirectly aware of
the use of cocaine by a few of their col
leagues.”
“All of the government aides said they
had never used marijuana in the White
House,” the Times said, “and all insisted
that their “recreational use of the illegal
drug had never impaired their ability to
function in their jobs.”
In a separate story based on a survey of
experts in the field, the Times reported:
“The use of marijuana and other illicit
substances, particularly cocaine, is so
widespread among well-educated young
professional people with high-pressure
jobs that it is increasingly difficult to find
any who have not at least tried them. ”
As for Bourne, he still is under investi
gation by police in Prince William County,
Va., an outlying suburb of the nation ’s cap
ital where the Quaalude affair began un
folding when 26-year-old Toby Long was
arrested for trying to fill the prescription
Bourne issued for a fictitious “Sarah
Brown.
Bourne acknowledged using the false
name to conceal the identity of aide Ellen
Metsky, for whom the prescription was in
tended and for whom Ms. Long was trying
to fill it. He insisted this was legitimate
protection of doctor-client confidentiality
and was not “legally or morally wrong. ”
In one of those twists of circumstance
marijuana and sniffed cocaine at
Washington party. • rein ini sectl* ol a iiigh't-uatchm'an s detec-
,The Washington ;, tiojJ^of tfTe^Wattirgate,TjurgISr.y" the
Washington Star reported confirmation of
that incident, although both quoted
Bourne as denying he used cocaine.
Bourne was cpioted in interviews as say
ing he knew of people on the White House
staff who had tried the euphoria-producing
white powder, commonly called “coke”
and referred to as “the rich man’s drug”
because of its high cost.
White House press secretary Jody Pow
ell told reporters he “had no knowledge”
of such activity, saying: “I really have no
way of knowing that sort of thing. ”
Nevertheless, ’ The New York Times
reported in Saturday editions, “seven
junior members of the staff’said in private
interviews that they do smoke marijuana
Quaalude matter might never have come
to light had Kathleen Watt, an inspector
for the Virginia State Pharmacy Board, not
been in the drugstore where Ms. Long
took the prescription.
She became suspicious and called
police.
Again, as with Bert Lance, one of Car
ter’s inner circle has proven a deep embar
rassment. But this time, in contrast to the
drawn-out backing and filling before
Lance resigned as budget director, the ex
cision was quick and clean.
A top White House aide, reflecting on
the Bourne matter, said: “It’s probably
best that he left. We could have all been
dragged down again.”
Working both sides
Translation please
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — One of the biggest
cultural treats of the summer is being pro
vided by the first U. S. tour of the Perform
ing Arts Company of the People’s Repub
lic of China.
The troupe already has appeared in
Washington and New York and finishes up
in Milwaukee and Los Angeles.
American audiences seem greatly to
enjoy the music, dancing and costumes,
but some westerners have trouble follow
ing the story lines of the operas and bal
lets, which tend to be somewhat prop-
agandistic.
The trick, I discovered, is to ignore the
Chinese political themes they are trying to
portray and relate what is happening on,
the stage to something you are familiar
with.
the opera “The Red Guards on Hunghu
Lake.
“In this aria, ” according to the program,
“a guerrilla heroine in the Hunghu Lake
area of Hupei Province tells about the
miseries of the local people in the old days
and expresses her determination to devote
herself to the cause of people’s liberation.”
One spectacular dance, for example, is
called “Militiawomen of the Grassland.”
As described in the program notes, “A de
tachment of militiawomen carry out
cavalry exercises on the grassland in Chi
na's Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region
while patrolling the frontier.” Yes.
I suppose it would be possible to read
something of that sort into the dance. But
I found it more meaningful to think of the
dance as “A team of liberated women play
tennis matches on the grass courts at
Wimbledon to celebrate Billie Jean King’s
victory over male chauvinist Bobby
Ri ggs”
It was much the same with an aria from
I suppose lyrics like that hold Chinese
audiences in thrall. But in the English
summary, the aria sounds a bit tedious. I
could appreciate the soloist’s vocal gifts
more deeply by imagining her as singing
something less like this:
“A cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins
tells about the miseries of Florida football
fans after a playoff loss to Oakland and ex
presses her determination to root the team
info the Super Bowl next year.”
In another dance, or so the program av
ers, “A group of Tibetan girls help a sol
dier from the People’s Liberation Army
wash clothes and the latter helps them
fetch water. The dance compares the rela
tionship between the army and the civi
lians as that between fish and water.”
That wasn’t the way I saw it at all.
In my mind, “A group of Baylor Univer
sity coeds volunteer to serve as hostesses
for a tea dance at the Waco USO. But this
is the day the U.S. Army is staging a $2
million firepower demonstration for Presi
dent Carter at Fort Hood, and only one
soldier shows up for the dance. The dance
compares the relationship between the
army and the civilians to that between
Andy Young and political prisoners in the
United States.”
By LeROY POPE
UPI Business Writer
NEW YORK — The border regions of
Mexico near San Diego, El Paso and
Nogales are becoming increasingly impor
tant to American manufacturers.
The possibility that Taiwan ultimately
will be absorbed into Communist China,
and political frictions between Washington
and South Korea and the Philippines raise
questions about American firms manufac
turing in those regions in order to hold
down labor costs.
The steadily-rising cost of transporting
goods from such far-off points to the U.S.
market also is giving the American man
ufacturer pause. This applies to Hong
Kong and other areas where there are no
political concerns.
Business
95 in Tijuana alone. Jack E. Kay, who
heads the border industries committee of
the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce,
estimates 50,000 jobs in plants in the Un
ited States depend on the twin-plant con
cept.
The American firms could not compete
with Japanese and other Asian firms
otherwise, Kay said.
Richard Davis, executive director of San
Diego’s Economic Development Corp.,
said reduction of freight costs as compared
with Far East levels is only one advantage
of assembling in the Mexican border
towns.
“The time savings are great,” Davis
said,” and the Mexican plants are close
enough so American executives can visit
them freely.
Not all the Mexican border firms finish
ing or assembling goods for American
companies are American-owned; many are
Mexican firms working under contract.
The advantages of the system are the same
in either case.
Fast-growing San Diego, with a met
ropolitan area population that has spurted
to 1.4 million because it has proved a
mecca for sun worshippers, is tremend
ously interested in expanding the “twin
plant concept of factories on either side of
the Mexican border.
Howard Boysen, president of IMEC
Corp. of San Diego, says the twin-plant
idea helps both the United States and
Mexico and enables a near-the-border city
with a high jobless rate such as San Diego
to attract labor-intensive industries by
sharing the benefits with the Mexicans in
nearby Tijuana.
Under the twin-plant concept, Boysen
explained, the American manufacturer ex
ports components to the Mexican plant for
labor-intensive assembly then brings them
back across the border. Boysen said more
than 300 companies are engaged in twin-
plant operation along the Mexican border.
Kay estimates that almost 90 cents of
every dollar paid in wages to the Mexicans
recrosses the border to buy American
goods, transportation or financial services.
The twin-plant concept appears to be
valuable only in products with a labor cost
factor of 50 percent or more, and with an
import duty of less than 25 percent.
Mexican law makes considerable con
cessions for plant ownership and import
duties on machinery and supplies for the
border zone plants compared with plants
in the interior of the country. But foreign
firms cannot own land in the border areas.
American law limits levying of the im
port duty to the “value added” to the raw
components shipped to Mexico for assem
bly or finishing and brought back.
FEEM
By Doug Graham
Letter to the editor
They’re back
Editor:
Oh boy, the fireboys are back in town.
I’d forgotten how much fun it is to have
these rude whistlers and yellers, not to
mention leering starers! Makes it a plea
sure to ride your bike around campus.
These people should try to remember
that to us they are representing all
firefighters, and they’re certainly not mak
ing a very good impression. It’s one thing I
won’t miss next summer.
Lynn Pitts, ‘79
Top of the News
State
Lightning strikes twice
Lightning from thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast Tuesday struck
a Port Arthur high school teacher mowing his lawn and also touched
off a fire at a fuel storage tank near the Houston Ship Channel. Burk
McGreevy, 45, a history teacher at Port Neches-Grove High School,
was struck by lightning as he mowed his lawn and was taken to a
hospital where he was reported in stable condition. Lightning also hit
a fuel storage tank at a Crown Central Petroleum Co.
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Suit filed over jail conditions
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The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class-action federal
suit in San Antonio complaining about conditions at the Bexar Count) ^ _
Jail. Attorney Gerald Goldstein filed the suit Monday charging over- Igr
crowding, inadequate sanitation, poor kitchen facilities, poor ventila- Boir
tion and lighting and inadequate staff. “In general, the conditionsof
the Bexar County Jail are extremely inadequate, deplorable, de
humanizing, dirty, dilapidated and dangerous, ’ Goldstein said.
Gramm opposes hidden tax
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Democratic congressional candidate Phil Gramm Tuesday in Dal
las urged enactment of a constitutional amendment barring
peacetime federal deficit spending which he described as a “hidden v-er
tax. In a speech prepared for the Executive Women of Dallas, jver
Gramm said federal spending in excess of revenues fuels inflation, |fop
which in turn robs workers of buying power. “Inflation is our crudest Hike
tax," Gramm said. “It is devastating to the poor and the aged, those Icho:
who can least afford the strangling effects of the shrinking dollar. I
Police testify against jailers
Six Houston police officers Monday testified it was common prac
tice for city jailers to carry prohibited weapons such as pipes or brass
knuckles to protect themselves. The testimony came as lawyers for
former officer Roscoe Edwards opened their defense against mis
demeanor charges he possessed brass knuckles. The charges arose
from a March 18 fight with a police detective.
Nation
Quota abolishment suggested
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A top administration official in Washington Tuesday said the gov
ernment’s steel trigger price system and quotas on beef import
should Ire abolished. Barry Bosworth, chairman of the Council a
Wage imd Price Stability, told a House Agriculture subcommittee
that beef producers favor restrictions on imports just the sameasU.S
steel producers want trigger prices to help protect them from forap
imports.
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European flights stopped
National Airlines has quii*tly dropped non-stop European flights
from New Orleans International Aiiport instituted with great fanlare
just four weeks ago, but a spokesman said they may resume next yea;
Problems developed with the flight because of a delay in opening (he I
airport’s main runway, a national spokesman said. “Since we re$\l
couldn't prorribte the flight heavily until close to departure, wedidij
get a lot of advance bookings,” he said. "We’re not getting enout*
new bookings to make a go ofit.~
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No gas turns everything cold
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Construction crews severed an eight-inch gas transmission lim
forcing more than 4,OCX) customers and hundreds of tourists to ealH
cold sandwiches and take cold showers, said a spokesman for thtK /
People s Natural Gas Co. Tuesday in Durango, Colo. No injurifiB
were reported. He said 40 additional company servicemen were I
brought in from Kansas and Texas to assist in restoring gas to custom
ers.
B enr
Party cake laced with pot
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Officials in the Colorado Division of Employment said Tues<)a) leet
they would take no action against a worker suspected of spiking aiBe-
office party cake with marijuana, saying they couldn’t find enougl H
evidence. Ed Clark, Denver manager for the Division of EmplovBing,
ment, said two persons who ate some of the cake became so sick thevBns u
missed several days of work and another was taken to a hospittM 500
emergency room. Sists.
An adc
Venus 2 launch set led st
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A spacecraft is set to be launched from Cape Canaveral Aug. 7 tor
fire four instrumented probes into the thick, hot atmosphere of tk|
planet Venus. The craft is the second to be sent to Venus this year I
Pioneer Venus 1 was launched May 20 and is now 15.6 million milesl
from Earth, due to swing into orbit around the cloud-shrouded planelj
Dec. 4. Space agency officials said Monday the new craft, Pioneerj
Venus 2, is due to arrive five days later after ejecting the four probes, f
World
Sadat rejects Begin s message
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President Anwar Sadat in Cairo, Egypt rejected a message from
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin that reportedly called fora
summit between them and summoned the National Security Council ^
into emergency session on Wednesday. Sadat’s rejection of the Israeli
message, contents of which were undisclosed, coincided with Begins
first public offer to discuss Arab sovereignty of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip following a five-year transitional period.
Weather
Partly cloudy skies with continued hot temperatures today
and Thursday. Fair and warm tonight. High today upper!
low tonight mid-70s. High tomorrow mid-90s. Winds from
south at 10-15 mph diminishing tonight. 20% chance of
today and 20% tomorrow.
The Battalion
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