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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1979)
( Viewpoint The Battaljon Monday Texas A&M University . March 5, 1979 Senate scuffles over possible A&I regent Slouch 4 1 >*-^1 # “AND RAREST OF ALL IS MY QUART OF ORIGINAL, UNOPENED GASOLINE, 29.9c PER GALLON VINTAGE!” the universal recognition factor By DICK WEST WASHINGTON — The great national debate over who lost Iran is now in hill cry, especially among presidential candidates who are notoriously attentive to details of that sort. But despite the vast number of presidential candidates, it is doubtful the debate over who lost Iran will match the intensity of the post-World War II debate over who lost China. Losing a country like China is not the kind of thing that is easily explained away. It is nothing like losing a set of keys, or losing a pack of Cub Scouts. When a country like China is lost, it causes psychological paroxysms bordering on trauma. In this case the shock was such that it was almost 30 years before the United States was again able to recognize China. “It’s that great big country over there just south of Mongolia, the one with the wall,” the British and French would say, ever eager to be helpful. Whereupon the United States would squint its eyes and peer as hard as it could in an easterly direction. But we could never recognize anything fitting that descrip tion. “You must be talking about that island over there just north of the Philippines,” the United States would say. “That looks like China to us.” Part of the identity crisis was a language problem. There was an old Chinese saying that “As Chiang goes, so goes China. ” When Chiang moved to Taiwan, the saying was translated to read: “Where Chiang goes, so goes China.” Losing Iran is not expected to be that disorienting. It is true that the United States once subscribed to an old Arabic saying that “As ‘ the shah goes, so goes Iran.” However, the United States is unlikely to recognize Morocco as Iran. For one thing, Morocco is a part of Africa, which is a different continent from Asia, which was the home continent of the Iran we used to know and love. Moreover, when Chiang Kaishek took up residence in Taiwan, he took a large part of the Chinese army with him. The presence of all those troops was one reason the United States kept recognizing Taiwan as China. But when the shah fled to Morocco, he left behind not only the army but also the oil. About all the shah took with him was the passbook to his Swiss bank accounts. In the absence of a large body of Iranian troops, or a large deposit of Iranian oil, Morocco stands little chance of being recognized as Iran. Indeed, some debaters argue that Iran wasn’t lost at all, but merely slipped between the cracks in Soviet-American detente. Thus it remains recognizable, even if out of reach. Letters to the Editor Don’t fumble the Editor: I have just finished reading your head line article (Battalion, March 1) on the pos sibility of doing away with Q-drops, and I am outraged that anyone would consider abolishing the Q-drop option. The present Q-drop system is perfect; you can select a heavy load of classes and if “mid-terms suggest that the load is too heavy, you can still Q-drop without hurting your grade point average. It is virtually impossible to predict how you will do in the first 18 days of classes, because those first 18 days are not repre sentative of the total semester, and I, for one, hope that the Q-drops are not abolished. I have never had to use the Q-drop option (and hope I never have to) but it’s nice to know that it’s there to fall back on. I just hope it will still be there to fall back on when I’m a senior. —Billy Henry, ’80 Unhospitable tow Editor: During a recent business trip to the Col lege Station area, my car lost all power on a street adjacent to the Texas A&M campus. I managed to roll the car to the nearest curb and on foot sought out the nearest service station. Since the incident took place on a Sun day evening, I was informed by the station attendant that I would have to wait until Monday morning for towing and repair service. I concurred and authorized the service station to accomplish the towing and the repair work on my car. On the following morning, I rented a car to accomplish my business. After passing by the spot where I had left my car the night before, I noticed that my car was missing. I stopped by the service station and to my astonishment learned that sta tion had not picked up the car by that time and than shortly after the breakdown the College Station police department had summoned a Bryan wrectking company to tow it away. To make matters worse, later that day the Bryan wrecking company presented me with a bill for $35 (they asked for cash only) for towing charges. In my opinion, the bill was totally unfair and exorbitant. Unlike cities in other parts of the coun try, most cities in the south take pride in the hospitality they afford their visitors. My College Station experience was one I’ll long remember and was not indicative of true southern hospitality. If the twoing policy of the College Station “Policy De partment” is permitted to continue, I would suggest that all future visitors to Col lege Station do everything possible to avoid passing through its city limits. —Robert S. Filarowicz 6337 Inca Road Fort Worth, Texas 76116 Fire fuss not valid Editor: This is in response to a statement made by Bill Pruitt in the March 2 issue of The Battalion concerning the fire in the old Board of Directors Quarters. Pruitt was ir ritated because he thought the fire could have been contained more quickly than it was. He said, “They took at least five to seven minutes to get the water on after they were hooked up.” Any time there is an emergency of this type, seconds seem like minutes and min utes like hours. Perhaps Mr. Pruitt and others who were critical of our tactics don’t By ANN ARNOLD UPI Capitol Reporter AUSTIN — Former Gov. Dolph Bris coe’s last minute nomination of a little- known Arlington man to a minor spot on the South Texas University System board has stirred the hottest Senate controversy of the 1979 Legislature and rekindled some animosity about the pbwer senators wield over appointments to state boards. The Senate deferred action on Briscoe’s nomination of Joe Bishop of Arlington until Thursday when Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi, is expected to be back in the Capitol. The debate is expected to be so heated several senators suggested it might be bet ter to act before Truan’s return in order to avoid any recurrence of the heart attack that sidelined the Corpus Christi senator Jan. 24. Truan, however, had indicated he wanted to be present to fight approval of the appointment he contends was made by Briscoe “to spite me.” And Sen. Carl Parker, D-Port Arthur, who indignantly castigated Bishop’s critics at Senate Nominations Committee hear ings, also asked to have the vote delayed so he can be present to defend the former lobbyist and Democratic fund raiser. Appointees normally are officially spon sored and at least nominally defended by the senator in whose district they reside, but Bishop’s senator, Sen. Betty Andujar, R-Fort Worth, says she is having trouble deciding how to vote herself. “I feel this is like a bunch of garbage put on my doorstep and I don’t like it a bit,” Mrs. Andujar said. “I feel very uncomfort able and harassed about it.” Mrs. Andujar said Briscoe could have found far better candidates to serve on the board that oversees operations of Texas A&I University at Kingsville, Corpus Christi State University and Laredo State University. “I think undoubtedly it was a political payoff. Bishop is as a big fund raiser for Democrats,” she said. “They certainly could have gotten a better candidate if they had tried. This man’s not a quality man.” The controversy is complicated, how ever, by continuing resentment in some circles against Truan for rejecting Briscoe’s earlier attempt to name Corpus Christi at torney J. Michael Mahaffey to the post. Truan urged Briscoe t6 name a Mexican- American to the open seat. : r» “I heard that there were two that he busted because they were Anglos,” Mrs. Andujar said. “I don’t want to be used in the hands of some other senator to blud geon somebody. There’s a great deal of politics in this. I don’t want to be used to settle somebody else’s political problems. ” The Senate traditionally rejects the ap pointment — usually in a unanimous vote — of any nominee submitted by the gover nor that does not meet the approval of the senator in whose district the nominee re sides. Q-drops understand the operations that need to be done at a fire of that size and type. We began by attacking the blaze from the in side, where it would be the most effective. Mr. Pruitt was not along side us searching for the most advantageous way in, dragging 500 feet of hose and setting up ladders. Nor was he performing search and re scue amid black smoke, extreme heat, ex plosive flammables and debris falling from ceilings and walls while water was being applied to the fire. While our first-in firefighters were accomplishing all of this, other larger lines by the second and third crews were being laid, charged and put into use — a well-executed fire operation. The chiefs, lieutenants, dispatcher, and fellow firefighters of College Station are highly dedicated and trained. I’m very proud to work with them, whether at the station or at the scene of a fire or medical emergency. I have seen these men risk their lives for the lives of citizens, fellow firefighters, and property. Under the conditions, I could not indi vidually thank all the students, Texas A&M maintenance people, REACT, and others who assisted us in various ways. But I’d like to thank them now. It makes me proud to work with and to serve good citizens like these. —William H. Riley, firefighter College Station, Tx. 77840 “There’s no question in my mind if Car los hadn’t rejected two previous appointees for his own purposes this would not have occured,” Mrs. Andujar said. When Briscoe called her in his final hours in office to see if she would object to Bishop’s appointment, she said she cleared the nomination although she did not know the Dallas-based securities dealer who re cently moved to Arlington. Announcement of the appointment spurred a deluge of calls and letters to Mrs. Andujar from Kingsville faculty members protesting the selection of the man who served as executive director of the Texas A&I alumni association in 1968-73 and as vice chancellor of the university system in 1973-75. “I’ve been drawn into this against my will,” Mrs. Andujar said. Critics accused Bishop of mishandling alumni funds and running up large debts at the association and continuing to draw par tial pay from the association for three months after he went on the state payroll as vice chancellor. Two former presidents of the association, however, appeared at Nominations Com mittee hearings to defend Bishop and say he acted under their directions. “They apparently let the man do just almost anything that he wanted to do,” Mrs. Andujar said. “(But) I wouldn’t say there aren’t people already serving who haven’t done the same thing.” Mrs. Andujar, the only woman in the 31-member Senate, said she was surprised her male colleagues were so little con cerned at questions raised about Bishop’s morals and an incident involving a co-ed while he was vice chancellor of the South Texas University System. “I thought they would be shocked, but their attitude was veiy nonchalant,” said Mrs. Andujar, who distributed to senators a petition from 77 Texas A&I faculty mem bers opposing Bishop and copies of a letter from a former professor accusing Bishop of improper personal conduct. “This didn’t boil down to a question of was he the best man for this post. The discussion was, was he felonious or wasn t he. Not really proving that he had done anything criminal they seemed ready to accept him,” she said. Clayton says primary wish is early — only By ROLAND LINDSEY UPI Capitol Reporter AUSTIN — Speaker Bill Clayton is hint ing that if he cannot push through legisla tion establishing an early presidential pri mary date for Texas in 1980, he may opt for a bill blocking any presidential primaries at all. Clayton and Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby have backed a bill setting the presidential pri mary in March, but opposition to that plan is growing. “I’d like to see Texas with its 26 electoral votes be a trend state,” Clayton says. “I think we re an important state and I would like to see us be first in showing who might be the leading candidates.” Republicans have indicated they plan to conduct a presidential primary next year even if the Legislature fails to agree on new legislation. That expression is apparently what prompted Clayton to suggest his second alternative: a ban on all primaries. “This would just ensure that we didn’t have part of the people saying they have a primary and the others don’t,” he said. “Everybody would just be in the same boat again.” When the House State Affairs Commit tee last week considered legislation giving the governor authority to appoint a budget overseer for each state agency, some mem bers expressed concern that the budget supervision would also carry with it the power to affect policy decisions. “This state operates under the golden rule,” said Rep. Emmett Whitehead, D-Rusk. “He who controls the gold makes the rules.” Rep. Clay Smothers, D-Dallas, was irate last week because a reporter who overheard his conversation with another lawmaker quoted him as say ing he hated United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and referring to Young as a “son of a b .” Rep. Craig Washington, D-Houston, suggested the House General Investigating Committee look into the issue of whether conversations between legislators were public statements, and Rep. W. S. Heatly, D-Paducah, who was presiding at the time, told Washington to discuss the matter with investigating committee chairman Rep. Dick Slack, D-Pecos. “Will my conversation with him be sub ject to being printed in the newspaper?” Washington asked. “Possibly, if you say it loud enough,” Heatly responded. Sen. A.R. Schwartz, D-Galveston, sur prised some of his Senate colleagues last week by beginning a filibuster against a bill he opposed. Filibusters ordinarily are effective only in the closing days of the legislative session, and some senators questioned why Schwartz, one of the Legislature’s more talkative members, would attempt to talk a bill to death with three months left in the session. “Schwartz just does it because he loves it,” Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby said. Top of the News r LOCAL 1« Sorority gives $500 to hospital St. Joseph Hospital Auxiliary is $500 closer to purchasing needed supplies and equipment, thanks to a recent gift from the Xi Kappa chapter of Chi Omega at Texas A&M University. The gift was from profits from the first annual Songfest, a singing competition organized and sponsored hy Chi Omega for other sorority and fraternity mem bers last November. Participants in the first competition induded Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi, Delta Zeta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Mu and Zeta Tau Alpha sororities, and Delta Tau Delta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities. Plans for part of the gift include purchase of books for the pediatrics ward to make the hospital stays of young patients more endurable. “Every child and parents and children at the hospital will be indebted to these college students for their generosity and kindness,” said Mrs. Clarence C. Andrews, president of the auxiliary. Tf tube Eng* addr socie Ei Ethi crow “I a fu man Tl drer E men oftk is w righ Presnal named to national groups are E sear State Rep. Bill Presnal of Bryan has been asked to serve on com tiliz. mittees of two national legislative organizations by Speaker of the Hgg House Bill Clayton. Presnal will have responsibilities on the Science zatit and Technology Legislative Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Fiscal Affairs and Government coni Operations Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference of tl (SLC). The NCSL panel will undertake studies of state legislatures Mai ability to deal with scientific and technological issues. It provides in d guidance to the scientific and technological activities of the Confer- in g ence. These projects include MISTIC, the State Science, Engineer-HB ing and Technology Program, and the Science and Technology News- non letter. The SLC committee is composed of legislators from the 16 Hu southern states in the conference. The committee identifies and ing studies issues and problems facing the states. Presnal is serving his con sixth term in the House. He is chairman of the Committee on Ap- that propriations. wht T NATION le a\ Jury selection begins in influencKj trial M South Korean rice dealer Tongsun Park, the key government «itB|| ness in the bribery and income tax evasion trial of former Rep. Passman, D-La., is expected to be on hand today for the beginningol^H jury selection. Park was the free-spending businessman whoal ome legedly paid Passman $98,000 in bribes for his help in steerin' 0 ?? .additional shipments of U.S. rice to South Korea in the early 197(k^H Park testified last year he doled out $800,000 to several current anc^ 0 ' former congressmen, including Passman, as a private citizen andnoi^H as a representative of the South Korean government. Attorneys agree on a 12-member jury before the trial begins this week iT 31 Monroe, La. Passman, 78, was indicted by a federal grand jury k l i|l ua year of conspiring to accept $213,000 from Park in exchange Cor clout in sending additional shipments of rice to South Korea. a le s WORLD mt I yncl Amin loses, then regains vital tou'fr Uganda Saturday admitted opponents of President Idi Amin li ^ seized the key border town of Torero, but said loyal troops in ..j tured the town and massacred the invaders. Diplomatic sourcess Amin’s troops captured and executed on the spot at least six Uganda:H| exiles who took part in the attack. Three guerrillas who eseapedsai^B the scene was a bloodbath. Despite that victory for Amin, the embal-Hj tied dictator faced another threat from the south, where TanzanisH^ troops have captured the Ugandan cities of Masaka and Mbararaaik | were reported to be marching north toward the capital, Kampala without resistance. Three guerrillas escaped across the border fa Tororo into Kenya after Ugandan forces recaptured the town Frida) night with warplanes, tanks and armored personnel carriers. The] told authorities most of their 50-man attack force was wiped out. The; said their force of Ugandan exiles had attacked from Tanzania, cros sing Lake Victoria in boats. They seized control of Tororo with the help of mutinous troops belonging to Uganda’s Air and Seaborne Regiment based there. The successful counterattack by Ugandae troops, who were believed to have been rushed from the town a Jinja, near the capital of Kampala, provided Amin with some critical breathing space to cope with advancing Tanzanian forces movingoi the capital from the south. Tororo is vital to Amin’s survival in office because virtually all traffic from the Kenyan port of Mombasa musl pass through there to reach Kampala. Venezuela to increase oil prices The price of Venezuelan crude oil will be raised by 52 cents a barrel beginning April 1 in accordance with the recently adopted pricing formula of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coun tries. An additional $1.20 a barrel premium will take effect on the same day due to the present market situation as a result of the Iranian oil shutdown, Energy and Mines Minister Valentine Hernandez said Saturday in Caracas, Venezuela. Under the pricing formula adopted at OPEC’s ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi last December, the cartel’s base price for 1979 will be boosted by 14.5 percent. OPEC: current standard price is $13.40 a barrel. Venezuela, South Americas largest oil exporter, is a major source of U.S. foreign oil supplies Approximately one million barrels a day of Venezuelan crude refined products are shipped to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard market for home and industrial use. Another 250,000 barrels a day goes to Canada. 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 full year. Advertising rates furnished 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 Managing Editor . . . . Lizfl[ Assistant Managing Editor .Andy " Sports Editor David City Editor Scott Pe» Campus Editor . . Ste* News Editors Debbie Beth Calhoun Staff Writers Karen Rogers Patterson, Sean Petty, Blake, Dillard Stone Bragg, Lyle Lovett, Taylor Cartoonist DougO Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschf Photographer Lynni Focus section editor Gan " 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-pt supporting enterprise operated by ft as a university and community nt’itf Editorial policy is determined by thf