Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Friday
September 1, 1978
Too much sun
President Carter’s recent vacation had seemed like a good idea, giving
both the president and the country a rest. But somebody must have left Mr.
Carter out in the sun too long.
The president may offer to station American troops on the West Bank of
the Jordan River to beef up Middle East peace negotiations. Press Secretary
Jody Powell said Wednesday. That offer would be meant as encouragement
for the Sadat-Begin peace summit Carter has scheduled for Camp David
Sept. 5.
Such an offer must have been conceived in a sun-addled mind.
The day of American marines ready to break up any fight anywhere in the
world is over. American troops sitting on the West Bank would be perfect
targets for terrorists trying to escalate that conflict.
Consider this scenario. American troops are killed by terrorists. More
troops move in to reinforce those troops and “protect American lives.” More
fighting. Presidential warnings. Fighting. A call for troops to fight another
undeclared war.
Sound familiar?
Please, somebody get Mr. Carter into the shade before he makes any rash
offers. L.R.L.
Washington,D.C.
£1
D.C.” power deserves no separate equality
We ve had black power, brown power, woman power and gay power. Now
a new minority” is demanding more representation.
Its the D.C. power movement, born and nurtured by residents of
Washington D.C. who believe they’re not getting an equal voice in national
government.
But this movement’s members has convinced both the House and Senate
to approve a Constitutional amendment that would give the District of Col
umbia s 710,000-plus residents the right to elect two senators and a con
gressman. That proposal will become the 27th Amendment to the Constitu
tion if it is ratified by 38 of the states.
It’s an amendment that richly deserves to be rejected.
The city now has one delegate to the House of Representatives who can
vote on committee decisions, but can not vote on the House floor. Propo
nents of the amendment say this isn’t enough, arguing that they receive no
direct voice on national legislation, yet are larger than some states.
The city does have a larger population than 10 other states, primarily
because it’s 67 square miles hold a population many times denser than that of
any state.
But Washington’s population — or at least its voting population — con
tains a very high percentage of federal employees. The national representa
tives proposed for the city would be serving more as labor representatives for
a select group of bureaucrats than as defenders of the interests of all the city’s
residents.
And if Washington’s three-quarters of a million people deserve individual
representation, why shouldn’t the nation’s 11 larger cities receive the same
treatment. Houston, Dallas and San Antonio all out-rank the national city in
population.
Washington D.C. wasn’t founded to be the equal of any state. It was
specifically established as a “national city” — seperate from all states.
It needs to stay that way — without its own senators and congressman.
L.R.L.
China’s Great Wall opening to U.S.
By HELEN THOMAS
UPI White House Reporter
WASHINGTON — The Chinese are
breaking out of their self-imposed wall and
prospects are growing that President Car
ter may be able to fulfill a foreign policy
goal next year and establish diplomatic re
lations with mainland China.
White House officials have been saying
privately that Carter has a two-pronged
plan for handling the China question. He
hopes to work out an arrangement
whereby the United States will recognize
China, but at the same time continue
trade with Taiwan and military supply of
the Nationalist government. The strategy
is the same as Japan has managed to estab
lish in its relations with China.
Tliere are many signs that a diplomatic
breakthrough is in the making. China has
signed a new treaty with Japan and Com
munist Party Chairman Hua Kuo-feng is
traveling all over eastern Europe cement
ing new friendships with other communist
nations. The Chinese leader is also visiting
Iran on the borders of the Soviet Union.
To say that Soviets view Hua Kuo-feng’s
state visits in their European sphere of in
fluence is provocative is to say the least.
The new Chinese outreach has demon
strated the complete schism in. the Com-
Washington Window
munist world between the two superpow
ers. It also indicates that China needs al
lies as border enmity with the Soviet
Union continues.
One of the most amazing of the new ges
tures on the part of China was a decision to
have its delegates sit down at the same
international conference with repre-
sentaitives from Taiwan.
Diplomatic observers said the appear
ance of physicists from both China and
Taiwan at a scientific meeting in Tokyo
signaled a major policy change.
In the past, China has reftised to have
its own representatives sit down with del
egates from Taiwan and it only joined the
United Nations when Taiwan was ousted.
The Tokyo meeting is considered the
most, prominent demonstraton of a new
flexibility in Chinese diplomacy.
Mudh ds Carter 1 may have wanted to
recognize China from the outset of his ad
ministration, Taiwan supporters in the
United States would have put up howls.
First, Carter took on another controversial
foreign policy goal by winning ratification
of the Panama Canal treaties by a one-vote
margin. In many respects the treaties did
not add to his popularity or support for his
administration, although he firmly be
lieves in their necessity and their validity.
National Security Affairs adviser Zbig
niew Brzezinski visted China several
months ago and apparently laid the ground
work for an improved relationship.
Since then, there have been several
high-level delegatons, including top level
government officials traveling to China in
a steady stream.
The Soviets also see this riew step-up in
U.S.-Chinese exchanges as part of a
diabolical plot by Brzezinski and a buildup
against Russia.
The same politicians who charged he
was giving away the Panama Canal would
be the first to condemn any breaks in the
long-time relationship with Taiwan.
But U.S. officials believe the need for
diplomatic recognition of China as inevita
ble. And if Carter mangages the almost
impossible — to get a peace agreement in
the Middle East at the Camp David sum
mit between Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin and Egyptian Prime
Minister Anwar Sadat, he teases that he
may just try for another summit between
Soviet Leader Leonid Brehznev and Hua
kuo-feng.
Fingerprints replacing signatures
By LeROY POPE
UPI Business Writer
NEW YORK — Chances are you’ll be
fingerprinted one of these days whether or
not you ever commit a crime.
The use of fingerprints to combat check
forging and to confirm identification on
many other kinds of documents is bound
to grow rapidly, says Oscar Pieper, presi
dent of Identicator Corp. of San Bruno,
Calif.
pressing a finger to one and then the
other. But the colors leave a mark only on
paper.
Touchsignature is not a system of sub
mitting finger prints to be filed. If you are
asked to put a thumbprint on a personal
check and the check is good you get the
print back on your cancelled check. But if
is reaped by professional forgers and
passers, Touchsignature could prove a
powerful deterrent,” he said.
Touchsignature is not intended for
routine identification. The banks that use
it do require it for opening new accounts
and for what are called “officer referral
items,” any check or other money docu
ment on which the teller cannot verify
identification satisfactorily by ordinary
Pieper’s company makes a little finger
printing device that looks like a doorknob
and is being used by a score of the com
pany’s biggest banks and many other busi
nesses to deter forger and impersonators.
Business
Called Touchsignature, it has been on
the market two years and several other
companies are making similar devices.
Unlike the standard fingerprint system,
it doesn’t use messy printer’s ink or leave
any residue on your hands. Two inkless
colors, yellow and orange, are blended by
something’s wrong, the print can be com
pared with police records.
Its big advantage is as a deterrent. No
forger or check passer would dare leave a
fingerprint on a bad check and once he
learns that a particular bank or store uses
Touchsignature he will shun that place,
Pieper said.
“Since most of the estimated $4 billion a
year bad check loss of American business
Drivers licenses are the most common
means of identification and the American
Bankers Association claims 97 percent of
all losses in the opening of new accounts
with bad checks and many other bad check
losses are accomplished by means of
forged driving licenses.
Pieper said Touchsignature and compet
ing devices are being used as deterrents to
fraudulent identification on credit cards,
cash and credit refund vouchers, employ
ment applications, merchandise pickup
orders, narcotic drug prescriptions, safety
deposit box entry, gun registrations, cus
toms declarations, hospital admissions,
auto rental agreements, air passenger
identification and a number of uses when
circumstances of doubt arise.
Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., of
New York, and various other users in the
midwest and far west have asked some
thousands of shoppers and bank depositors
if they objected to inkless fingerprint iden
tification and found fewer than 25 percent
have any objections.
Pieper said there is one tremendous
public misconception about fingerprint
identification. People think it is entirely a
modern science.
It is true that it has come into wide
spread use in Europe and the United
States in only the past 75 years. But Pieper
said convincing evidence now has been
found that the Chinese had a fairly good
knowledge of fingerprint identification as
long ago as 200 B.C. and even the ancient
Babylonians appear to have had a
rudimentary knowledge of the science.
Letter to the editor
Academy not oldest
Editors:
I compliment the staff and their talents
in compiling the Back-To-School issue of
“The Battalion” (Monday Aug. 28). As a
freshman and a newcomer to Bryan-
College Station, I appreciated the infor
mation on campus problems and activities,
local entertainment spots along with the
general history of the area. .
However, the story on Allen Academy
contains a fallacy which stands to be cor
rected. The article states that Allen
Academy is “in its 92nd year as the oldest
college preparatory school in Texas.” I am
afraid the authors heard this progaganda
straight from the school P.R. man’s
mouth, because a small amount of investi
gation would have quickly dispelled the
validity of this claim.
I graduated from Ursuline Academy, a
female college preparatory in San Antonio,
Texas. Established in 1851, it is now enter
ing its 127th year, an obvious 35 years
older than the Allen Academy. Though I
am not doubting the prestige of Allen as
possibly being the oldest male college
prep in Texas, I definitely feel a correction
is necessary.
— Nancy Ann Butler, ’82
Readers’
Forum
Guest viewpoints, in addi
tion to Letters to the Editor,
are welcome. All pieces sub
mitted to Readers forum
should be:
• Typed triple space
• Limited to 60 characters per
line
• Limited to 100 lines
T HEAR THAT THEY’RE HAVING TO GUARD THE COMPUTER UNTIL
REGISTRATION IS OVER AND THE PREVAILING HOSTILE ATTITUDE
TOWARD IT IS UNDER CONTROL!’’
Top of the News
State
Powell refuses to block hearings
Dallas School Superintendent Nolan Estes knew “it was a long
shot that Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell would block further
de:
hearings on desegregation of Dallas schools. The school district said
the existing system was a “unique and innovative remedy for
eliminating constitutuional flaws in the system. The problem involves
some one-race schools in the Dallas area. U.S. District Judge W.M.
Taylor drew up the desegregation plan put into effect in 1976. The
5th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Taylor to look at the one-race
schools permitted in his plan. The 5th Circuit also said Taylor erred
in not providing for busing of students who chose a majority-to-
minority transfer option.
Midair collision injures two
A midair collision of two U.S. Navy training jets sent two pilots to a
hospital in Victoria Wednesday afternoon. The pilots were in stable
condition and were to be transferred to the Naval hospital in Corpus
Christi yesterday. The planes were involved in three-plane training
maneuvers when the collision occured. A special crash unit from
Chase air station is scheduled to investigate the accident.
A 'G1
Oak Cliff residents ‘gassed out’
More than 1,000 apartment residents in suburban Oak Cliff were
allowed to return home after gas from an overturned truck was
cleaned up. Gasoline spilled from the gas truck which overturned as
the driver attempted to turn around on a slope. Emergency teams
from the city of Dallas and 64 firefighters flushed the estimated 3,000
gallons of spilled gas down the storm sewers, dammed the creeks and
vacuumed it out.
RAN
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Nation
Helicopter crashes in Gulf 4 deal
A helicopter ferrying workers to an offshore drilling platform
crashed in the Gulf of Mexico killing all four persons aboard Wednes
day. The crash was the second in less than a month for Petroleum
Helicopters, Inc. The company shuttles hundreds of workers to
offshore platforms daily.
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Bank extortion suspect arrested
An Oklahoma man was arrested by FBI agents for his involvement
in Texas bank extortions. Immigration officials arrested John Wayne
Young at O’Hare Airport and turned him over to FBI officials who
sought his extradition to Texas. A Dallas federal grand jury returned
an indictment July 25 charging Young with conspiracy to extort
money from the Commonwealth National Bank and White Hock Na
tional Bank in Dallas. Young is charged with abducting Nelda
Pittman, wife of the president of the Commonwealth Bank, to extort
money from the bank. Young could face a maximum sentence of 40
years if convicted on both counts.
World
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Two killed in riot shooting
Riot police fired on brick-throwing demonstrators in Mahad, Iran
yesterday killing two persons and seriously wounding another. The
disorder broke out after nearly 40,000 persons marched peacefully
through the city in mourning for the victims of a previous clash 40
days earlier. Demonstrators provoked police into using tear gas
which in turn was answered with brick-throwing. Police opened fire
shortly after. Shops and public installations around the area were
damaged and troops moved into the area after police failed to quell
the riot.
Newscaster’s home bombed again
Jan
34
A bomb destroyed the apartment of a French television newscaster
early Thursday injuring people but leaving the newsman unhurt. The
“Franco-Arab Refusal Section claimed responsibility for the explo
sion. “Yves Mourousi is paying for his Jewish ties and for the obsti
nacy of the fascist Jean Dutour,” said the telephone caller. The Re
fusal Section said a third attack was being planned which “will draw
much more attention.”
East-West in flap over hijacking
The hijacking of a Polish airliner to West Berlin and subsequent
pleas for political asylum by 10 East German passengers have created
an East-West diplomatic flap. The Soviet Union demanded the
hijacker be extradited to East Berlin. The State Department said the
hijacker would almost certainly be prosecuted in West Berlin. The
East German Foreign Ministry claimed that the passengers were
pressured into asking for asylum. Although the Washington has urged
that all hijackers be returned to their homelands to face justice, the
hijackers will probably be prosecuted in West Berlin due to the
agreement of the Hague Convention which states that hijackers he
brought to justice there.
Weather
THf
SEfi
Considerable cloudness today with chance of showers and
thundershowers. High today near 90s and low in the low 70s.
Eastly and southly wind at 5 to 10 mph. Probability of rain 40%
today and 30% tomorrow.
!01
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Editor KimT)!*
Managing Editor Karen
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Editorial policy is determined by the edit/
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