Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
September 28, 1978
Good clean fun?
It was supposedly an effort to stand up for their dorms and exercise some
“good bull. ”
However, last night’s raid on Dunn Hall somehow left me wondering.
The impetus for the raid was a letter to the editor in Monday’s Battalion by
some Dunn Hall residents, challenging all dorms on campus to join them “in
regaining the spirited image that this University has always been known for.”
The demonstration of good bull, according to observers, started with a
round of water fights ... but then came the manure.
Cars parked on the street were sprayed with bits of manure (of some
animal species); bikes parked in their own lots faced the same fate.The inside
of the dorm also had the stuff tracked inside.
Many “letters to the editor” have reflected on topics like “what’s a good ‘
AND “Aggies should say howdy.”
Now I’m wondering myself.
Is a good Ag someone who helps trash the campus with manure and rotten
fruit (also used)?
A water fight’s one thing, “manuring” the campus, dorm or no dorm
rivalry, is another.
Yep, the area seemed permeated with the distinct air of dung.
Is this good bull?
They’ll get to smell it anyway. — K. T.
Northern Democrats hear footsteps
By ARNOLD SAWISLAK
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Professional foot-
ball players say a pass receiver is nearing
the end of his career when he begins
“hearing footsteps” — flinching at the
sound of tacklers approaching as he is
about to catch the football.
If Democratic Party leaders in Min
nesota and Maryland do not hear footsteps
these days, they have been playing the
game too long without their helmets.
There is strong evidence that the prim
ary victories of Harry Hughes in Maryland
and of Robert Short in Minnesota, both
over candidates with the backing of the
regular Democratic organizations, were
more than isolated upsets.
Almost surely they were signs that the
Democratic Party factions which have con
trolled the governments of those two
states in recent years are losing their grip.
It does not necessarily follow that the Re
publicans will profit from these Democra
tic disruptions, but it certainly suggests
some marked changes in the distribution
of power are in process.
The two Democratic parties are vastly
different.
In Minnesota, the Democrat Farmer-
Labor Party, a fusion of a strong populist
third party and the traditional Democratic
Party, has been a strongly issue-oriented
force on the left of the national Democratic
coalition. It produced one of the most inf
luential American political figures of the
midcentury — Hubert Humphrey. For
the most part, it was as squeaky clean as it
was ideologically pure.
The Maryland Democratic Party com
bined tight ward and precinct organization
typical of the urban East with the good-
old-boy courthouse politics of the small
town South. It seemed less interested in
issues and ideology than in office holding
and power brokering. It produced men
like Daniel Brewster and Marvin Mandel.
It did not have a reputation for probity.
Both parties were successful, losing a
few but mostly holding the offices they
wanted. Many came to think of their
dominance as permanent.
Humphrey died and left no one behind
him with the respect and impact to lead
the Minnesota party. In 1977, DFL Gov.
Wendell Anderson alienated many of his
Commentary
own partisans by having himself appointed
to Walter Mondale’s Senate seat; this year
a nasty squabble broke out between Short
and Rep. Donald Fraser over nomination
to seek the Humphrey seat.
Mandel was accused and convicted of
corruption and there was no one in the
Maryland power structure with the repu
tation for integrity and ability to clean up
the Maryland party image. Blair Lee,
Mandel’s amiable lieutenant governor,
took over, but many of the disgraced gov
ernor’s people were heavily involved in
the Lee campaign for election in his own
right.
Short attacked Fraser as the symbol of
liberal profligacy. Hughes hit hard on
Maryland s reputation for sleazy politics.
As the September primaries approached,
both parties knew they were under attack,
but expected to prevail, if only because
they had for so long.
The organization men lost in both Mary
land and Wisconsin. Party officials were
quick to blame the defeats on the candi
dates’ shortcomings. That probably was at
least partially justified, but it neither case
does it answer all the questions. No mat
ter: if the parties don’t, the voters will.
Hill sizes up Carter s Texas policies
By ROLAND LINDSEY
UPI Capitol Reporter
AUSTIN, Texas — President Carter's
energy and £ ^olioies have
caused many tex^S^^urt against him
and Democratic go^Kor candidate John
Hill says he may be joining those with
drawing their support.
Hill, the state attorney general who is
opposing Republican Bill Clements in the
November election, Tuesday said the
president must change his positions be
cause they are detrimental to Texas. Dur
ing the campaign, Clements frequently
has criticized Hill for his support of Car
ter.
Politics
“I’ve been disappointed in the president
as far as his support of the energy bill is
concerned and as far as his support of cer
tain agricultural policies that have been
detrimental to this state,” Hill said.
“He has been wrong on issues that are
extremely important to Texas, and were
he not to change his position on some of
these issues I would find it extremely dif
ficult to support him.
“I’m trying to state here as I have stated
to him personally that I’m very much op-
Letters to the Editor
and suggested Carter change his positions
on energy and agricultural policies.
Hill was asked at the news conference if
he expected Carter to campaign in his be
half prior to the Nov. 7 election. There
have been reports Carter would be in
Texas to campaign for Democratic candi
dates.
“I have no plans to ask him to campaign
on my behalf, and I tend to discount that
report (that Carter will campaign on behalf
of Texas candidates), ” Hill replied.
“Congressman (Bob) Krueger may in
vite him or he may come on his own, but I
have no plans to invite him. I intend to
continue campaigning on my own two
feet.”
Hill had called the news conference to
announce Speaker Bill Clayton and Lt.
Gov. William P. Hobby supported his
proposal to treat school finance legislation
as an emergency item when the Legisla
ture convenes in January, and use the
school finance bill as the method of reim
bursing local school districts for about
$450 million in potential revenue losses if
voters adopt a socalled tax relief constitu
tional amendment.
He also discounted Clements’ conten
tions that the GOP nominee has overtaken
Hill with six weeks remaining in the cam
paign. Hill contended polls taken for his
campaign by Alex Lewis showed him with
52 percent of the vote, Clements with 30
percent, and 18 percent undecided.
No one wants trash, so pick it up
Editor:
With all its trees, grass, and well-
designed buildings, Texas A&M is truly
one of the most beautiful universities in
the country. This seems hard to believe
when everywhere I look I see trash scat
tered about the campus.
Trash is one of the ugliest eyesores I can
think of. There should be no excuse for so
much litter, especially when there are al
most as many trash cans as students! It is
certainly no hard task, for me anyway, to
pick up a piece of trash that someone else
has thoughtlessly left on the ground or on
a bench. I would hate to believe that this
“I-don’t-care” attitude, that is prevalent
among society today, should occur here at
Slouch
by Jim Earle
Texas A&M. Let us all help make the
aesthetic values of this university compar
able to its institutional and educational
values. „
-Craig Keyzer, 81
Team to cope
Editor:
It’s Tuesday night at 11:15. The College
Station police just left.
Why were they here? One of our sweet
neighbors complained to them about our
wild party.
All seven of us were out on the patio
talking, then wham out of the blue came
two police cars with the expressed intent
of restoring law and order to our
neighborhood. It seems that some of our
neighbors decided we made too much
noise. Being bed-ridden people they were
unable to walk outside to ask us to quiet
down, instead they just called the police.
So our dear neighbors, we sincerely
hope you learn to tolerate, cope and un
derstand normal Aggies or you will never
make it through four years at A&M.
The College Station police were very
polite and were only doing their duty. But
we feel that there was no reason for them
to have been called. It would have been
much easier for our neighbors to ask us
“will you please keep it down?”.
—Ted Arnold, ‘78
Pattie Merrill,‘81
Tom Brents, ‘78
Rae Ann Brown, ‘81
Roxanne Smith, ‘81
like to address this letter to the 32 percent
of Dunn Hall who signed “a challenge”
and the lesser number who travelled ac
ross campus last Tuesday night.
Was the water fight challenge issued as
a shout in front of the Commons directed
towards the north side of campus, or as a
whisper 50 yards away from Moore Hall?
In either case it was never heard by the
residents of Moore Hall, who were sitting
outside the safety of their dorm in the
quad, during the withering attack by
Dunn on Davis-Gary.
If you wish to have a real water fight,
notify us a couple of days in advance, so
that the residents of our dorm, who have
to work to put themselves through school,
can notify their employers of an expected
absence from work of about 15 minutes.
(For it should not take much longer to ex
tinguish the ideas of your paper chal
lenge).
During bonfire we would like to see a
few of the residents of Dunn Hall working
on the stack between midnight and six in
the morning with us. That’s when you
need spirit and togetherness as well as
being “red-ass.”
S.L. Ploch, ‘80
T.J. Cowan, ‘80
John Schiller, ‘81
Matt Bielamowicz, ‘79
Elliot Altman, ‘79
(This letter was accompanied by 125 other
signatures.)
Notify us
THE WHOLE CAMPUS? YOU GUYS ARE CHALLENGING THE
WHOLE CAMPUS TO A WATER FIGHT?”
Editor:
To the women of Dunn Hall,
We the residents of Moore Hall would
Correction
The Battalion incorrectly identified the
man pictured on page 3 of Wednesday’s
paper calling a square dance for the Al-
lemanders. He is Manning Smith, not
Glen Green. The Battalion regrets the
mistake.
Top of the News
campus
Corps march-in at Saturday
Texas A&M’s 1978-79 Corps of Cadets will appear in their
first formal march-in at 12:20 p.m. Saturday before the kick-off
of the Aggies and the Memphis State Tigers football game at
1:30 p.m. Col. Bob Kamensky of San Angelo will lead the 38
units and Parsons Mounted Cavalry past the reviewing stand
with music from the Texas Aggie Band.
Career Day to be Saturday
Texas A&M University’s annual high school and community
college student Career Day, scheduled from 9 a.m. until noon
Saturday, will feature exhibits and career ideas from colleges at
A&M. Displays will be in Zachry Engineering Center, the
Architecture Center, Oceanography and Meteorology Building
and Heldenfels Hall. Curtis Lard, assistant dean of agriculture,
said a special feature will be a guided tour of the College of
Veterinary Medicine.
STATE
Cop-killer found guilty
David Lee Powell, 27, who claimed insanity in his shooting of a
police officer with a Russian-made AK-47 machinegun, Wed
nesday was found guilty of capital murder by an Austin jury.
After three hours of deliberation, the jury decided Powell was
sane when he shot officer Ralph Ablanedo on May 18. The jury
will begin hearing arguments in the punishment phase of the
trial today.
Won t free Davis, says judge
The district judge who will preside over the murder-for-hire
trial of T. Ctdlen Davis said Wednesday in Houston he has “no
intention ” of granting an expected defense request to release
the oilman from the Harris County jail. Judge Wallace Moore
said he would let the state criminal appeals court rule on the
matter. Davis has been held without bond since he was ar
rested in August for allegedly trying to arrange the murder of
the judge presiding in his 4-year-old divorce case.
NATION
Reporter freed temporarily
New York Times reporter Myron Farber avoided returning
to jail in New Jersey Tuesday when he won an order from U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart temporarily allowing
him to remain free “until further order of this court.” Farber,
who has already spent 27 days in jail, faces an indefinite sen
tence for refusing to let a judge inspect his files on a murder
case. A Times spokesman said Farber was “gratified by the
decision and the paper, which has already paid $130,000 in
fines, was happy he "did not have to go into the slammer.” ;
Senate OKs gas deregulation bill
The Senate Wednesday approved the natural gas price dere
gulation compromise by a 57-42 vote. The action sends the plan
to the House for final congressional approval that could in 10
days. The Senate adopted the version — to lift federal price
controls from newly produced gas by 1985 — that a House-
Senate committee worked out in nearly a year’s effort. House
leaders planned to wait until all four remaining parts of the
president’s energy policy are through the Senate and vote on
them all at once.
‘Boots’ and ‘Coots’ cap well
Oilfield firefighers Asger “Boots” Hansen and Eugene
“Coots” Matthews plunged an expanding rubber plug down
the wellhead of a fiery oil shaft at a federal underground pet
roleum storage depot in Hackberry, La., Tuesday, stopping
the flow of oil and extinguishing a blaze that lasted six days and
burned off $1 million of imported Arab oil. Energy department
spokesman Gene Campbell said a new wellhead will be set
after the area, now filled with hot metal and earth conic off
WORLD
Heavy rains devastate Mexico
Torrential rains over the past five days have left at least six
people dead, 20,000 injured and thousands of homes destroyed
throughout Mexico, the Red Cross and other officials said
Tuesday. The rains have ruined large expanses of farmland in
the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Veracruz, San Luis
Potosi and Tamaulipas. The areas worst hit were Oaxaca and
Chihuahua.
WEATHER
We will have overcast skies today with a slight chance of
rain. The high will be in the mid-70s and the low will be in the
mid-60s. Winds will be midwesterly 10 miles per hour.
The Battalion
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are
subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The
editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does
not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be
signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone
number for verification.
Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The
Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College
Station, Texas 77843.
Represented nationally by National Educational Adver
tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los
Angeles.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from
September through May except during exam and holiday
periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday
through Thursday.
Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per
school year; $35.00 per frill year. Advertising rates frir-
nished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216,
Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843.
United Press International is entitled exclusively to the
use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it.
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved.
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Kim Tyson
Managing Editor Liz Newlin
Assistant Managing Editor . .Karen Rogers
Sports Editor David Boggan
City Editor Jamie Aitken
Campus Editor Andy Williams
News Editors Debbie Parsons
Editorial Director . .Lee Roy Leschper,]r.
Staff Writers Mark Patterson,
Scott Pendleton, Sean
Petty, Michelle Scudder,
Marilyn Faulkenberry
Cartoonist Doug Graham
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or of the writer of the
article and are not necessarily those of the
University administration or the Board of
Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-
supporting enterprise operated by students
as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
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