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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1979)
The Battalion Texas A&M University Wednesday March 7, 1979 Don’t reprimand upholding ethics A student cheats on exams and is caught by a professor, who turns him in to the head of the department for disciplinary action. Dissatisfied with the “punishment,” the prof tries higher channels. Acceptable procedure — in the Texas A&M University Rules and Reg ulations. But, in this case, it wasn’t just a professor but a military officer who teaches classes at Texas A&M. He disapproved of how the cheating inci dent was handled, and pushed for further discipline. Now that professor is facing censure because he went beyond military officials to inform University officials about what happened. Capt. Joseph O. McNabb has been told he’ll receive a written repri mand in his permanent record. McNabb saw something that, as a professor and former Texas A&M student, he thought deserved further disciplinary action. Now he’s being punished with a permanent mark against him for “overstepping his bounds.” The cheating affair was poorly handled. It appears that the whole inci dent was not really the result of a massive cover-up — instead the prob lem was stopped at lower levels, complicated by poor decisions and kept from higher authorities. Such a reprimand is no small matter in the military. It effectively ruins a person’s military career — his chances for promotion, assignments and special programs. A person who’s solely an academician wouldn’t receive such punish ment. Pushing a point, as McNabb did, might offend some Adminis trators, but no letter of reprimand would be put in a personnel file. Capt. McNabb deserves commendation, not reprimand. His concern for the reputation of this university and its standards are admirable. University officials should support McNabb and not allow his actions to be punished by the Air Force. He is a good example of ethics in action. K.T. The rhetoric of losers? By IRA R. ALLEN United Press International WASHINGTON — In the museum of campaign rhetoric, there’s a whole new wing devoted to Jerry Brown — the in ventor of platitudes that circle left, then right on tantalizing political winds. A couple of stalwart Washington liberals with presidential ambitions — Sens. Adlai Stevenson, D-Ill., and Lowell Weicker, R-Conn. — seem to be grasping the con trails of Brown’s instant cliches, harping and carping at President Carter’s leader ship ability. They are worth noting because they are three entirely different personalities with different backgrounds and different ap proaches to politics. Yet all three sound Politics Biting the hullet with hoth sides of the mouth By DICK WEST WASHINGTON — A book store man ager once told me she frequently had cus tomers ask for “a small Bible with large print.” Those specifications, with soipe modification, pretty well 5um up congres sional reaction to President Carter’s stand-by plans for dealing with the threatened oil shortage. Judging from statements I have seen. Congress favors gasoline restrictions that don’t curtail the use of automobiles. Since I couldn’t begin to quote them all, let us consider the president’s proposals through the eyes of Congressman Consen sus. (That’s Herman Consensus, not the Clyde Consensus you probably were thinking of.) First, the Consensus view of gasoline ra tioning. “If you’re talking about a rationing sys tem that conserves vital fuel, helps hold down the price, makes America less de pendent on imports and reduces our foreign trade deficit while strengthening the dollar abroad, I’m in favor of it. “But if you’re talking about a rationing program that imposes hardships on com muters, adds to the government pa perwork burden, interferes with our tra ditional freedom of movement and forces poor, elderly widows to walk 10 blocks for their weekly groceries, I’m against it.” I said, “I’m glad to see you’re on top of the problem. Congressman. How do you feel about the prospective closing of gasoline stations on weekends?” Consensus raised a hand to his heart. “If you are talking about weekend clos ings that keep family members closer to home, cause people to rediscover the joys of neighborhood get togethers, reduce the traffic death toll by taking cars off the highways and contribute to the fight] against air pollution, I’m in favor of them. ” j “That’s good to hear, sir,” I said. Consensus clinched a fist. “But if you’re talking about weekend closings that deprive good citizens of much, needed recreation, bankrupt amusement parks, create unemployment at resorts and prevent city dwellers from escaping the urban environment to renew their spirits with refreshing drives to the country, I’m against them.” I said, “I can see you have thought the problem through.” I didn’t get a chance to ask Consensus about mandatory temperature levels for public buildings. He was, he explained, late for an appointment with a Bible salesman. frustrated by what they see in Carter. And all three are talking about it in terms that sound alien to the tradition of pithy American political sloganeering. You don’t hear them talking in two-word slogans like the “New Deal,” “New Fron tier,” “lost prestige” or “the missile gap.” Brown talks about “rejuvenating the productive capacity of America.” Weicker, says “the rhetoric in 1979 is nothing any one will be elected on in 1980,” but talks insistently about the need for “new leader ship.” Stevenson is talking of “new realities” and the need for America to be come “a nation of builders and producers.” Weicker’s call for “new investments, a tax structure that encourages business and lets it make profits so as to employ more people” is understandable from a Republi can, even one in the party’s liberal wing. But Brown’s and Stevenson’s c&mments on the subject, almost identical, are sur prising — almost shocking — for their seeming betrayal of the liberal tradition (and fathers) that fostered them. Brown wants to create “a climate of in vestment necessary to maintain America’s technological lead” and sees a constitu tionally mandated balanced budget as a way of doing it. Stevenson worries that “we’re losing our competitive position in the world” and need to “increase supply” to strengthen the economy. Republicans never heard it so good. In their public pronouncements of late, all three keep talking about leadership, implying Carter’s lack of it and their ability to provide it. Nothing about how to solve inflation, unemployment, thp Mideast im passe, SALT, Sino-Soviet jitters. Just leadership, which most Americans really don’t worry about from day to day. Stevenson calls Carter’s leadership “embarrassingly weak.” Brown says the presidency, like other institutions, suffers from “a great lack of public confidence.” Weicker, ever blunt, says we should not only stop throwing money at our problems “we should start throwing leadership and talent at them.” That triple-barreled barrage is aimed at a man who promised to give us a govern ment as good and decent and honest and compassionate as the American people. Brown, Stevenson and Weicker, and others who express the same viewpoint, seem to be saying Carter is either deficient in goodness, decency, honesty and com passion, or that the American people are. From a linguistic viewpoint, the three may deserve condemnation for fuzziness beyond the call of politicians. Take Brown’s promise, for example, to study the problems and “come up with appro priate initiatives.” From another viewpoint, forget what they really mean and tune out the words. You will hear a sound common among los ing politicians and small children. Whining. Readers’ Forum Guest viewpoints, in addition to Letters to the Editor, are welcome. All pieces submitted to Readers’ forum should be: • Typed triple space • Limited to 60 characters per line • Limited to 100 lines Writing the editor The Battalion welcomes letters to the editor on any subject. However, to be acceptable for publication these letters must meet certain criteria. They should: Not exceed 300 words or 1800 char acters in length. V Be neatly typed whenever possible. Hand-written letters are acceptable. V Include the author’s name, address and telephone number for verification. Letters to the editor are printed as a ser vice to our readers. Publication of a letter is never guaranteed. The editorial stall reserves the right to edit letters to remove grammatical errors and to avoid litigation. Address letters to the editor to: Letters to the Editor The Battalion Room 216 Reed McDonald Building College Station, Texas 77843 Letters to the Editor Car towing is no way to attract customers Editor: Your recent article concerning the tow ing away of vehicles, and quotes fi-qm Sparkey Hardee (“Hit ’em hard at first”) is very upsetting to us here at Mr. Gatti’s. Yes, us at Mr. Gatti’s. The undersigned makes a living with a large percentage of TAMU student trade. All of us who work here owe jobs (which are putting us through Texas A&M) to the fact that we have a student community. It is inconceivable to me that any busi ness would tow away a customer’s car — or any student’s car — for that matter, and charge him $45 to get it back. It is even harder to understand a busi ness turning its “problem” over to any un scrupulous person(s) who have no feel for the community relations we enjoy here in Bryan-College Station with Texas A&M University. I don’t know if lawsuits are the answer, but I certainly do know that increasing the tow rate to $75 is not. From all of us here at Mr. Gatti’s — gig ’em Aggies! —Ron Smestuen, owner Mr. Gatti’s of Bryan and College Staton It just takes one Editor: The letter by Greg Jacobs on Feb. 26 was amazing. Who would have dreamed that one person could be so proud of his ignorance. I almost let it pass without com ment, but I couldn’t stand the thought that these ludicrous arguments may have convinced even a few non-science majors in addition to your editorial staff respon sible for the cartoon beneath the letter. Silliness, sir, has no place in nuclear phy sics. ^ _ . One of Mr. Jacobs’ unbased arguments concerned discharge of contaminated water from a nuclear rector. A very real problem in designing reactors is neutron activation, whereby neutrons emitted from the primary coolant induce radioac tivity in the discharged coolant, without actual physical contact. Mr. Jacobs often refers to the dangers from fission by-products as being like radi ation from a bottle on a laboratory shelf. The major danger with radioactive wastes is their escape from containment and inva sion of air, water, and food. How can one set up shields around Strontium-90 within bone tissue or Iodine-131 within a thyroid gland? Plutonium-239, an extremely lethal product with a half-life of24,000 years, re quires 480,000 years before its radiation become innocuous. I strongly suggest that Mr. Jacobs refrain from swallowing even a spoonful of waste after 500 years, let alone a half pound. Mr. Jacobs also appears to believe that radiation below a certain intensity is com pletely harmless. Envision, if you will, a room covered from wall to wall with machine guns, each of which are firing bul lets in randomly varying directions. And let’s say their half-life is one hour — after each hour one half of the firing guns stop. Now, suppose there is a $20 bill on the floor. At what time do you want to enter the room, find the bill, and try to leave before being struck. Theoretically, a radioactive mass never loses it ability to cause cellular damage. It only takes on collision with the right chromosome to produce incurable cancer. One bullet. — Steve Peppers graduate student Show will go on Editor: To the students of TAMU: The Basement Coffeehouse Committee would like to correct some misinformation printed in our advertisement in The Bat talion on Monday and Tuesday. It said that the musical group Morning was to perform two shows, one Monday and one Tuesday. The Monday show was canceled and re scheduled for Wednesday, March 7 (to night) at 9 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door. The Basement Coffeehouse Committee is responsible for the error,' not the Bat- talion or any of its staff members. We hope we have not caused anyone any inconven ience. — Ava King MSC Basement Committee Top of the News! CAMPUS Budget bid deadline March 30 Recognized student organizations wishing to request funds I bookstore profits must do so by 4 p.m. March 30. Budget request! forms should be returned to the Student Finance Center. For morel information, contact the Office of Student Activities, 221 MSC, i 1133. STATE Fuel adjustments cut bill pushed The Texas Association of Community Organizations for Reform 1 Now gave support Tuesday for a bill prohibiting utility companies I from automatically charging consumers under the fuel adjustment! clause. The bill would require gas and electric companies to re-j negotiate their rate contracts to recover higher fuel costs. Underl current law, utility companies can recover their higher costs for fuel] by adding on a fuel adjustment charge to consumers’ bills. El Paso rabies epidemic feared Public health officials said Tuesday they are bracing for a possible p a rabies epidemic in El Paso, similar to a 1973-75 outbreak that in- TA volved 380 animal cases in the region. Stray and occasionally rabid thi* dogs are crossing the Rio Grande near the point where Texas, Mexico and Mexico merge, officials say. Texas fake $ suspects charged Three Texas men arrested in an alleged $2 million counterfeit money and check case broken by the Secret Service last month have been bound over to a federal grand jury in Providence, R.I. They were arrested Feb. 23 in what officials called “the biggest funny money bust in the history of New England. ” The men were arrested in a Warwick parking lot raid that turned up $1 million in bogus bills and $250,000 in phony travellers checks. Agents said they later seized another $1.1 million in counterfeit money and checks. “E :rafe 6 foa Cranberry named ETSU regent Th Dr. James H. Cranberry of Lubbock, the 1974 Republican guber- natorial candidate, has been appointed to the Board of Regents of East Texas State University by Gov. Bill Clements. Cranberry was nominated to succeed Cam F. Dowell Jr. of Dallas for a term extend- ing to Feb. 15, 1985. NATION Exxon to start gas rationing Exxon USA Tuesday announced allocations of gasoline to its | dealers, blaming the cutback on reduced supplies of crude oil result ing from the Iranian situation. Exxon USA said Tuesday that effective last Thursday the company began allocating gasoline volumes to its I dealers, resellers and other wholesale customers at 100 percent of] March bases. Exxon joined Texaco, Shell, Mobil, Amoco, Cities Sen- ice, Atlantic Richfield, Sun Oil and Continental in reducing gasoline | supplies. Striking cops fined $600,000 A New Orleans Civil District Court judge fined the Teamsters-™ affiliated Police Association of Louisiana $600,000 Tuesday for con tempt of court in connection with a 15-day strike that canceled Mari! Gras. Judge Richard Garvey fined the union one day after freeing| seven of its leaders and all 1,100 strikers from individual contempt) citations. Hi Raging rig fire snuffed in Gulf The raging fire on a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico 45 miles i the Louisiana coast was snuffed out Tuesday and searchers located! bodies of several missing crewmen. Three bodies were found in the! Gulf Monday within hours of the fire’s start and as of Tuesday, five| bodies were reported still missing. A coast guard spokesman said: stream of natural gas continued to spew from the Penrod 30 rig aftei| the blaze was put out by a surge of water. He said the gas caused no| water pollution and dissipated in the air. "1! What alimony ruling could meanl A Supreme Court decision on alimony probably will not affect wo men’s ability to obtain alimony, but it could hasten the trend in stati law toward equal treatment of men and women in child support anl custody cases. The court Monday overturned an Alabama law that said a husband could be required to pay alimony, but exempted i wife from the same obligation. A Women’s Legal Defense Funl spokesman said that because most men earn more than most women when cases are judged on their merits, women will continue to alimony. Eleven states other than Alabama have similar alimony la«| but most of the others have neutral sex statutes on alimony. WEATHER We will have fair skies and warm temperatures today with a high of 76, low tonight 47. Winds will be South Southwest at 5-10 mph diminishing to less than 10 tonight. No rain in the forecast. The Battalion: Ci ' 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 1 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. ^ Seco.nd-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843; r 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 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Ki( Managing Editor Lii Assistant Managing Editor . Andy ? Sports Editor Davidl City Editor Scott Fn Campus Editor Si* News Editors Debbiet Beth Calhoun Staff Writers . Karen Roge* Patterson, Sean Pett; Blake, Dillard StoK Bragg, Lyle Lovett 1 Taylor Cartoonist DougC Photo Editor Lee Roy Lesif Photographer Lyw Focus section editor Gaif / Regents. The Battalion is a non-prl supporting enterprise operated by' j as a university and community nd i Editorial policy is determined by tk ‘-