Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Closing off you
Aggie Cinema is closing itself off.
Yes, closing itself off, so that only about one-third the regular number of Texas
A&M moviegoers can see midnight films at the University.
But can you blame the committee and the theatre staff for switching some of its
midnight shows from Rudder Auditorium to the Theatre?
Rudder Auditorium, with its expensive furnishings, was virtually attacked at one of
its movies — carpet ripped, two chairs broken, seats burned by cigarettes, theatre
entrance light stolen, and beer cans and liquor bottles found after the performance,
according to the cinema committee.
The switch to the Theatre reduces the number of tickets from 2,300 to 700. The
ticket lines will get even longer than they have been; no fun for anyone.
A few students could have calmed down the few drunks in the crowd, but instead
the committee feels forced to hire a cop.
Gina Casas, chairman of Aggie Cinema, now asks students to protect their student
center.
Students should have enough sense to do that anyway.
Maybe in the future, a little of this sense will prevent closing off other activities^
Monday
October 2, 1978
Ar 5
/Muv' A —
r-'y
Let's iqnore Wm]
Heir go
away-
&
V
'S
Wi
—K.T.
Los Politicos, after el vote
By ROLAND LINDSEY
UPI Capitol Reporter
AUSTIN, Texas — Republicans Bill Cle
ments and Sen. John Tower are making
strong pitches for support of Mexican-
American voters in the Nov. 7 election,
but a leading Mexican-American spokes
man says the GOP is fighting an uphill bat
tle.
Ruben Bonilla, director of the League of
United Latin American Citizens
(LULAC), was particularly miffed at some
of Clements’ comments concerning Mexi
can aliens, and said he would do all in his
power to prevent Clements from receiving
more than 5 percent of the Mexican-
American vote in South Texas.
Bonilla also said he hopes Clements will
become more active in campaigning
among Mexican-Americans. “The more
visible lie is, the more votes he loses,’’
Bonilla contended.
Letters to the Editor
The LULAC also noted the number of
Mexican-Americans registered to vote has
increased 21 percent since 1976, while the
turnout among other minorities is declin
ing- , ...
A Clements news release concerning his
public opinion poll will not help his stand
ing among Mexican-Americans.
That release identified Mario Compean
as an independent candidate for governor.
Compean is the nominee, and a cofoun
der, of La Raza Unida.
Robert Spellings, one time top assistant
to former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, has joined
the staff of Comptroller Bob Bullock as an
administrative assistant.
He joins another former Barnes as
sociate — former Rep. Ralph Wayne of
Plainview — in the comptroller’s depart
ment.
Robert Heard, editor of the Texas
AFL-CIO Labor News, in a column retold
a familiar story on Sen. John Tower,
R-Texas, saying that Tower, wearing cow
boy Ixiots and hat, once was unrecognized
by an elevator operator in his office build
ing.
When Tower reminded the elevator
operator he had passed Tower’s floor,
Heard’s column said, the operator replied,
“Just hold it cowboy, we’ve got a United
States senator on board this elevator.
Ken Towery, Tower’s top press aide.
Politics
said he has dim hopes for a retraction on
the labor newspaper, but distributed a
statement saying the story is false, and is
one that has been told on virtually every
Texas senator in years.
Towery said the story was printed in the
Washington Post during Tower’s first term
in office, and was later retracted by that
paper.
Since the nature of the “Report of the
Editor” in this instance was obviously
meant to lx- a gut job on the senator, we
have no reason to expect anything amount
ing to a retraction from the AFL-CIO
Labor News, and will not ask for one.
Towery said in a printed statement dis
tributed to the news media. "But I wanted
you to know the facts of the matter.
Not all the fighting between stall of
political candidates these tlays involves
general election opponents, however.
"Bentsen’s Bullets, the staff of Sen
Lloyd Bentsen Jr., D-Texas. squared off
against "Krueger’s Killers. " their counter-
parts from the office of Rep. Boh Krueger,
D-Texas, in a softball game.
Staff members didn't tell the score, put
ting more emphasis on describing the post
game refreshments.
‘Shear Class’ supports the Aggies
Editor:
In regard to a letter published in the
Battalion, (Sept.26).
It was acknowledged that “Shear Class, ”
being a humanly operated business, made
the mistake of having their picture made
in an honorable place, with honorable in
tentions, to promote their business and
express their support of the Aggies. The
problem being, people stood on the grass,
unaware of the Aggie tradition at the time.
After having their picture made they were
notified of their mistake and rendered
apologies in admiration for such traditions.
(Incidentally, the ad had already been
published.)
It appears such businesses should be
noted for their support of A&M rather
than further embarrassing them by making
an issue of the error - ridiculing them for
not observing Aggie tradition. Maybe
thought should be given to the good inten
tions involved, after all, humans do make
mistakes.
-Carol Timm
Un-coverage
Editor:
Time and time again we hear of the pro
fessionalism of the staff at the Battalion.
The fact that this praise comes from the
staff itself couldn’t have anything to do
with it could it? At the risk of sounding
trite, I’d like to subit to you an old cliche,
“Me thinks you protesteth too much.”
In a campaign for publicity, Fowler Hall
has asked for coverage of some of its
functions from the Batt. Twice we have
had the opportunity (??) to be publicized
— or exploited. The first of these incidents
was our Jock Raid, it was Fowler’s Jock
Raid, not Fowler, Keathley, and Hughes.
We raided the entire North Area Campus
and the Corps dorms — not just the two
dorms your staff randomly chose. Unwill
ing to complain about something so trivial
to the interests of the University popula
tion, we shrugged it off.
Noon Bash” is a farce and a slur to the
reputation of Fowler Hall and the Corps.
In the first place, Steve Manley, P.R. offi
cer. Corps staff was very kind to allow-
Fowler to participate in the afternoon’s ad-
tivities, thereby furthering our reputation
as an active dorm, while raising funds for
future activities and having a great time.
To express appreciation to Corps staff
for including us in their bash, we jokingly
offered them a free kiss. The Batt s transla
tion: “... Fowler made $50.25 from kisses
despite ‘freebies’ given to Corps staffers
and others.” That statement was uncalled
for unless prefaced by the circumstances
surrounding it. Congratulations on the
quote, “The cadets acted like gentlemen
...” — you got something right!
The addendum , “No mashers — no
wandering hands ...” is a new one on me.
Never would I mention the word
“masher” (which, by the way, I consider
extremely derogatory) in connection with
the Corps of Cadets. More than one per
son has commented the subtitle suggests I
was expecting “mashers.”
Certainly not! I simple stated that I was
pleased with the gentlemanlike conduct of
the men despite the effects of the beer and
revelry permeating the afternoon.
I apologize to the vast majority of stu
dents who might regard these misquota
tions as another trivial gripe. I would
suggest, however, that you learn from our
experiences. In the future, all interactions
between Fowler and The Battalion will be
more closely monitored by our staff and
council to avoid further false impressions.
Our dorm council has put in too much
time and effort into building dorm spirit
and goodwill to have shadows cast on our
reputation by unprofessional journalism.
No publicity is better than bad publicity.
—Wendy Clark, ’80
Fowler Hall President
No joke, no fun
Editor:
with more emotion involved than simple
dorm rivalry. A water fight was scheduled
to be held between Northside male resi
dents and Sou£hside residents (Dunn and
Aston). The skirmish took place between
Dunn Hall and the Corps’ Quad. After the
North emptied their first buckets of water,
they refilled them with fresh swine ma
nure and deposited the waste on unsus
pecting victims from the South. It could
be smelled at the MSC. Mud and fruit
were also thrown to add to the North’s de
light. The free-for-all ended in a sort of
Mexican stand-off with Lubbock Street
separating the opposing sides.
Then a couple of “good Ags” tried in
vain to unite the group in singing the
Aggie War Hymn. The Northside resi
dents refused to join in the song or a “Beat
the Hell outta Memphis St.” yell. Instead
they chose to have their own yell.
Using my God-given talent of hindsight,
it appears to me that the Northside
entered the water fight with a total lack of
respect for their fellow Ags who live only
one-half mile away. From a military
standpoint the North won. A majority of
the South was covered in manure. We
were humiliated, disgusted, some injured
(one guy lost two front teeth from a flying
object), but most of all it hurt us to be
treated with no more dignity than that
given a snake.
I, along with most of the Southside resi
dents, simply ask the residents of the
Northside to come to the realization that
we are not stuck-up snobs or any richer”
than anyone else. We would like to be ac
cepted as friends and fellow Ags.
I believe that inter-dorm competition
and rivalry is good only if mutual human
respect exists between them. I still smell
like shit after a thirty-minute shower.
-Jamie Jordan, ’80
Forum reaction
Editor:
Heprding Wednesday's (Sept. 27)
Readers Forum.” I Med to understand
Kosie Hassoun s expression of regret re
garding a supposed lack of sympathy for
the displaced Palestinian people. The
issue is not a lack of understanding for
those who have been “evicted” as a nation
but rather the reaction of this nation’s
lunatic fringe” toward being kicked into
the garage.’ Anyone with any sense of
nationalism and love of his home could be
expected to rebel against such a situation
To claim that the senseless bloodletting
perpetrated by the PLO against Israeli
civilians and assorted foreign nationals is
in any way understandable or justifiable
i7 e Xf r ’i is k° rderin g on the barbaric it
self. If the P.L.O. were genuinely in
terested in liberating” their homeland in-
stead of murder for grins,” they would
probably be giving more thought to a more
etui method of achieving their goals.
—Sam R. Leverett, ’77
peacef
Help, Ags
Editor:
I would like to solicit your help and that
of the student body at A&M. This sum
mer, I lost my high school senior ring
pTachtree 6 ^^^ 11 ^’ ^ring is from
eacntree High School in Atlanta, Geor
gia. It has KLH inscribed inside and the
stone is a white saphire with a starhurst in
it.
If anyone finds it,’ could they turn it into
the required ilE. office or the lost &
found at the MSC Hotel desk. Thanks. I
appreciate your help.
— Karen Hargrave, '81
Senior honors
Editor:
for the past three years I have waited in
eager expectation of becoming a senior and
receiving senior privileges. My first disap
pointment was when I found out that I had
to park in not junior-senior parking but
upperclassman (non-freshman) parking.
Even so, that is not what inspired me to
write this letter. Mv ' ’ “
the one thing I have , wlvrcll u
to more than anything else, boot line.
For more years than 1 can ever re
member it has heen a senior privilege to
form a line at the end of half-time for the
Fighting Texas Aggie football players to run
through at the begining of the second half.
Saturday was my first boot line and 1 was
disappointed to see more than half of the
people in the line wearing high school
senior rings (don’t tell me they are A&M
seniors), and to top it all off in front of me I
saw five local junior high school students.
Don t get me wrong, this letter is not as
much to complain as to thank.
The thanks is to all the non-seniors for
not participating in the rest of this year’s
boot lines.
—Mark Hancock, ’79
Correction
In the Friday (Sept. 22) Battalion it was
incorrectly reported that cement was sto-
Bangfodesh!’ 0 Sch,, °' ° f A ~"’‘*-ure “
Cement was pilfered from other sites
but not from the School of Architecture ’
Also, in the Thursday (Sept. 28) Battal-
!ff!heT978A ,nC<J1 R eC c y reported the date
1 e I n A P e Bonfi re. The bonfire will
be on Thursday, Nov. 30.
Writing the editor
The Battalion welcomes letters to
the editor on any subject. However
letfors^m?^ 16 f ° r P^^ation these
TheT^hoidd: Certain cr *tcria.
ehamcters'in length 0 W ° rdS " 1800
po^f , ' eat <y ^Ped whenever
aSep*Lble Hand Writ,en letters -e
V Include the author’s name ad-
diess and telephone number for
verf,cation. Names will be with
held on request. th
Letters to the editor are printed -is
of S a er ietTer t0 ^ readerS ’ Plication
a letter is never guaranteed TV>«
e itonal staff reserves the right to
rors amlT tG grammatical er-
iors and to avoid litigation.
Address letters to the editor to
Letters to the Editor
l he Battalion
Room 216
Reed McDonald Building
^ Co/Zege Station, Texas 77843
IS<
Top of the News
campus
A&M raises $3,712 for fund
University fund-raising efforts on behalf of the College Stati i ^
ited Fund and the Bryan Brazos < t nited \\.,\ | iave ■
contributions of $3,712 .is ot last Monday according to L-a
cha an < buck CaryciU I niversitv cuinlovees have tin-
designating that theii gittb support either lundoi both t m J
li the person contributing docs not spent) which drive is tn rt- u 0 M
tbe contribution, the gilt will (redivided between the twodriveiTL "l
campus god km this years drive is $42,000, an increase of
mat el) 5 percent over last v eais actual collecti fgetcon ^
tion date for the university-wide effort is Oct. 31.
IRS offers to help taxpayers
Tile Internal Revenue St
Tuesdays and Wednesdays
with tax questions starting
Texas Ave. IRS Director's
hours are from 9 a.m. to 3;
that tax help also is available
day through Friday from 8
car
Fr[
e announced they "ill beojaeCX
"I I'hhf . • \l ml |\ to help p^,' 7() |
today The office is located at 1300$.
Representative Frank Nason said oH*,
15 p.rn Nason reminded area tanaya
■ by dialing toll-free 1-800-492-1830 M*
a m. to 4:30 p in.
Groups plan diplomatic exams
Applications for competitive written tests for Foreign Service01
fleers and Foreign Service Information Officers must be turnedintt
the examination center by Oct. 20 Information and applicationixai
may lx- obtained from Dr. J.M. Nance of the department of Histtr
in room 426 of the Academic Building Nance serves as campus«j
viser on State Department matters. The tests will Ik* given Dec. i
The FSO test will incluck* sections on administration, eonsuhr.
economic-commercial and |>olitical fields, in addition to tests on En
glish expression and functional background The test for information^
officers will also include the English expression and functiooil<
background test and will have a functional Pick! test in mfurmatn.i
culture. <
j
e
Student senate positions open
Texas A&M University’s student senate has five offices openwhid
will lx* filled in the fall elections. Spots to lx* filled include tk
graduate schools of Liberal Arts and Engineering, a graduate camps
(Kisition. an at-large place from Mcxxly College, and a place Kras
Walton. Mclnnis. Schumacher and liotard dormitories. Those»
terested should pick up applications at room 216 of the Memoht
Student Center before Wednesday .
STATE
Passing car shoots at state prison
Three* or more shots were fired at a guard tower of the CleflMS
Unit early Sunday by a passing vehicle, the lexas Department^
Corrections reported. No one was injured. Sixikesman Ron Tiykr
said at least two of the shots hit the main radio tower, mannedb
Officer Santos Carrion, with one going through a window and WH
cell hbh k occupied 1 >' two inmates flie unit is .i maximum
prison
Tay
said
EC1
607,
CIA
club
8; 30
NATION
Rio Grande expected to food lA s v
Rampaging flood waters fitom the Rio Grande and Rio ( ondios tltttgen, v
killed .it 1« .ist two persons and swept away live others in Ojinsja
Mexico, li.i\<- substantially subsided in Presidio rhefloodciwL
expected •«* move down th< Rio Grande toward the mouth >
vei and Lake kmistad, causing mayo lowland t* ‘
throughout tin river valley foi th<- n in.imdci ot the week, t e‘ ^ ^
Honal Weatbei Service said \uthorit ies w am residents along -tin nail
Grande to keep abreast of tl<»>d status rejiorts ami he P re P®Jfr mov
cvaculute \ spokeswoman t"i the International Boundary and ‘ ,p e w .
Commission m Presidio said they were not anticipating any »
problems from the* rivers, which were* swollen by several days
in the normally dry Sierra Grande mountains.
WORLD
Finnish hijacker frees hostages
The armed hijacker of a Finnair jetliner Sunday ended a neaU
3,000-mile journey in his hometown of Oulu, Finland, where e
last of 49 hostages. The* hijacker, identified as building t !‘ ,n j
Aamo Lamminparras, seized the Finnair jet with 50 P®°Pj e a ,. .-j
Saturday on a domestic flight from Oulu to Helsinki. At
last stop before Oulu, Lamminparras's spoils consisted ,
ransom payments and four Ixittles of whiskey. He released all 05
but three crew members in Helsinki, Lamminparras sail >< ^ ,
give himself up texlay after police agreed to his demands to x
his wife, a car and a driver at the Oulu airport.
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WEATHER i
We will have fair skies today with mild tern P era |. u t r f e | 0 win ®
will be southerly with the high in the mid 80 s a n( b
the mid to upper 60’s. " Jm
—%
The Battalion £>
member •
LETTERS POLICY Tc Jlrcs, Association <
Lettets t<> the rJitnr ghould not exceed 300 word* and am „ fHwest lournalism ^ on ^ ri V
subject to Ifritig cut to tiuit length ttr less if longer The ' >
editorial staff reaervet the ridht !o eiUt auch lettem and dots Editor Liz'
nof t’uarantee to publish nny letter Each letter must /«- . .Kditor A.
sinned, thou thr mhlress of the writet unil li\f a Ichplium ‘ ' ,, .rinc? Editor .A 1 ' 1 M
number for verification. Assistant Managing Davi( j sv:
Address correspondence to letters to the Editor. The Sports Editor Tginjelg
Battalion. Rtmm 216, Bred McDontild liuildinp. Colleue Cilv Editor i . .
Station. Texas 77H43. ' ’ is Editor Alldy Jlv
Represented nalionully by Nutional Kducational Advrr- ^ I. ] - * , . . . Dcbbfe !
tisiii* Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and I-ns News Editors Jk
Angeles. LeSC |i|< ■
The Battalion is publishes! Momlas tlmnii’li Kml.is imni Editorial Director Lee c
September through May except during exam and holiday . p.jfferSOflt ft
periods and the* summer, when it is published on Tuesday Sniff Writers Mark 1 ‘
through Thursday. PU Scott Pendleton,
Mail subscriptions are *16.75 per semester; $33.25 per Pottv Michelle Scll‘ u 1 S
school year; $35.00 per hill year. Advertising rates fnr- w -i’ Fo,,Ikellberry J
ms bed on request. Address: The Battalion. Room 216, Marilyn r. pong
Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843 Cartoonist J
nited Press Internatkmal is entitled exclusively to the 8
usi or reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. T
ts of reproduction of all other matter herein reierved. . J
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are Regents. The Battalion ^
those of the editor or of the writer of the supporting enterprise of
article and are not necessarily those of the as a university and cow " ,
University administration or the Board of Editorial policy is determn
-
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