Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University ,
Wednesday
April 4, 1979
Reader s Forum
Class gift no waste
By PAUL A. GULIG
I appreciate Mr. Pendleton’s concern for the decision of the Class ’80 to give a
statue of E. King Gill to the university. However, I do not believe that his
statements deserve to be placed in a column labeled “Reflections,” for they surely
do not reflect any serious, objective thought.
In the first place, the gift is more than a statue being thrown into a field like so
many other ones haphazardly placed in the university. The gift is being planned
with the administration in conjuction with a beautification and relandscpaing of
the area between Kyle Field and Joe Routt Street.
The statue will blend into the surrounding scenery to add aesthetic value and
spirit to the atmosphere. I agree that many gifts do not seem to have been planned
very well — that is why the class of’80 has taken many pains to ensure that its gift
will not cause future problems.
I agree with Mr. Pendleton that Gill probably would have laughed at the idea of
having a statue made to honor him. After all, how was he to know that his action on
Jan. 1, 1922 would spark a tradition and spirit at Texas A&M that would give this
scliool national, it not international, tame. Just this year other schools copied our
Twelfth Man tradition. I believe that a man who has contributed as much to the
making of this school as Gill deserves to be honored.
If Mr. Pendleton still cannot see past his limited views to allow gifts to be given
that are only “useful” perhaps he should consider this. There is a feeling among
some university officials and former students that this campus is lacking in both
display and support of the arts. I believe that a good statue, if properly planned
and constructed, can greatly add to the artistic and cultural atmosphere of the
campus. If Mr. Pendleton is narrow-minded enough to believe that art and culture
are useless, then I feel sorry for him.
If Mr. Pendleton insists on usefulness, about one-fourth of the cost of the
project will be used to place two sidewalks over existing pathways worn through
the grass.
I prefer not to answer Mr. Pendleton’s charges that the class is giving the statue
only to show the University “what good Ags the class members are. ” If he truly
believes what he said (it surely made a good sensational accusation) then I can only
look down upon him for the darkness and mistrust he finds in his heart.
Paul A. Gulig is a junior at Texas Ab-M and gift committee chairman
for the Class of 80.
Consider your choices Jewish nation real issue
Signs, leaflets and more signs. It looks like a minature billboard convention.
Classic spring election time at A&M.
This week students are bombarded with slogans, speeches and told every possi
ble reason why they should vote for someone most have never met.
The elections are one big bore to some Texas A&M students. And because they
probably don’t personally know all the candidates, it takes a little effort to find out
something about them.
But campus elections deserve a second look ,— they may affect you more than
you believe.
The students who are elected may vote next year to change where you get to
park your car, sit at football games or if there’ll be an intra-campus shuttle to your
west campus classes.
They go to meetings with the Texas A&M president, are asked to speak on
student opinion, and meet with visiting politicians.
Each spring, they decide how your $35 or so in student service fees should be
distributed.
Yell leaders’ actions on the field can embarrass Texas A&M and bring it shame.
Or bring it pride.
The same holds true for the other campus races.
Students owe it to themselves to take a look at who these candidates really are
— whether they represent the leaders this student body needs.
If you want to complain later, prepare to vote now. K. T .
By ROBERT S. WHITE
Fetters to the Editor
Parking ills? Don’t drive
Editor:
This is in reference to the letter about
the parking sticker dilemma. There is a
simple solution to this problem as well as
the problems of the shuttle bus system,
traffic, and the towing away of unau
thorized parked cars. The solution — close
the campus.
This will be a shock to those persons
who love to drive on campus just to stop
every 25 yards and those at the university
who try to make everywhere on campus
convenient to everyone. Also this proposal
will probably infuriate the University
police department because of the loss in
revenue from selling parking stickers. I
just wonder how many parking stickers are
bought each semester that are not used or-
very rarely used?
Only those who could show justification
as to the necessity of their parking on
campus would be issued a parking permit.
If someone could show this justification,
they would be issued a permit to enter at a
certain gate and exit at the same gate.
Since only those who had a permit to get
on campus could get on campus. Everyone
else would have to walk, ride a bicycle, or
ride the shuttle bus.
The revenue from the sale of shuttle bus
passes could finance a more dependable
and efficient shuttle bus system on cam
pus. Those who ride bicycles or walk could
do so without the fear of being run over.
Also since only those persons with permits
could even get on campus, there would be
no need to tow away any cars. (Since de
mand for wreckers will decrease there will
be no justification for their price in
creases).
Of course, those who are not on a shut
tle bus route could drive to campus but
would park in the now undesirable parking
lots (those lots located acrss Wellborn
Road and on the outskirts of the campus).
Dependable, efficient shuttle buses would
pick them up and take them to campus.
This is a problem that is more serious
than just being inconvenienced to get to
class or to work. It is a national problem.
Before the 1970s this country could afford
to drive right up to their offices or classes,
but now we can’t.
Someone must start conservation. I
would hope that the administrators, fac
ulty, staff and students of this institution of
higher education would recognize the
problem and have enough sense to do
something about it.
—Mary B. Stroud, 81
Staff of Veterinary Public Health
talion, March 28) or if he merely chooses
to disregard or distort the facts in order to
sway public opinion. The problems in the
Middle East are not simple and claiming
that the fault lies entirely with Israel is
absurd.
Wasn’t it the Arabs who rejected the
U.S. proposal for a Palestinian homeland
in 1947 and started the war?
Wasn’t it the Arabs who attacked Israel
in 1947 and created not only the Palesti
nian refugee problem but ignored the
problem of 800,000 Jewish refugees from
the Arab countries?
Wasn’t it the Arabs who had control of
the disputed West Bank and all its people
for nearly 20 years (1947-67) and did not
give their brothers any autonomy?
Doesn’t Mr. Qawasmi realize that Pres
ident Sadat has at last offered an alterna
tive to fruitless propaganda battles and de
structive wars? The time has come to re
solve differences, make peace, and get on
with the job of making life better for
everyone in the Middle East.
Can anyone look at himself in the mirror
and truly say that it is right to back Arafat
and “cut off the hands” of those who wish
to put an end to the senseless bloodshed?
It is time for all responsible people in
the area to have the courage to sit together
and work towards peace.
—Yehuda Dror
The “Readers Forum” article, “Palestinians’ Rights” by Qussama H. Qawasmi,
supposedly provided a basis for the Arabs to not accept the Camp David peace
agreement. But I find it necessary to throw more light on the documented facts
about the conflict referred to and point out the one-sided half-truths which some
people have tried to pass off as the complete truth.
Mr. Qawasmi would have the reader believe that the central issue in the
Middle East crisis to be the issue of Palestinian national rights. He refers to the
expulsion of “an indigenous Arab population” by the Jewish immigrants through
the use of “Israeli terrorism, sporadic invasions, and forcible piecemeal annexa
tions.”
The real issue confronting the various factions, is the refusal of the Arab world
to accept the creation of a small Jewish state in their midst, by the descendants of
an indigenous Jewish population, exiled from Palestine nearly 2,000 years ago by
the Romans.
Arabs were not expelled from Israel but rather left of their’own volitioft, with
the encouragement of the Arab High Committee for Palestine. Emil Ghoury,
secretary of that organization noted in 1948, “The fact that ther are these refugees
is the direct consequence of the action of the Arab states in opposing partition and
the Jewish state. The Arab states agreed upon this policy unanimously and they
must share in the solution of the problem.”
The Arabs left their homes to make way for invading Arab armies whose coun
tries’ territory formed no part of Palestine in 1948. If Qawasmi still begrudges the
space for the Israeli nation, what does he propose to do with the 750,000 Jews
absorbed by Israel after their expulsion from Arab countries? Compare this figure
to the 420,000 Arabs who actually left Palestine voluntarily in 1948.
As for the charge of Israeli “terrorism,” I will let the massacre of Olympic
athletes, the bombing of open market places, and the death of Israeli school
children clue the reader in as to who the real terrorists are.
Now for the questions of so-called Palestinian national rights. (1) There has
never been an Arab state called Palestine nor has there ever been an Arab nation
ruled from a ctiy in Palestine. (2) The West Bank and the Gaza Strip were under
Arab control from 1948 to 1967, more than enough time to establish a Palestinian
state. (3) With the exception of the recent peace neogitaitons between Egypt and
Israel, which resulted in the signing of a peace accord last week, no Arab has
entered into any form of peaceful negotiations with the Israelis.
Violence has always been the Arabs’ tool. The Palestine Liberation Organiza
tion is nothing more than an Arab terrorist organization bent on spreading their
death and destruction worldwide — re recent statements by Yasser Arafat of
spreading his “war” to the U.S.
The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, contrary to what Qawasmi writes, does call
for further peaceful negotiations to reach a compromise solution to the Palestinian
confict. In the study of history it would seem, however, that the Palestinians do
not believe in compromise.
It would be impossible in this space to discuss all the aspects of the Palestinian
issue confronting Israel and the Arab nations. For those readers who wish to verify
my facts, I suggest the following sources: “Who Stands Accused” by Chaim Her
zog, “Battleground by Samuel Katz, and “Whose Land?” by James Parkes.
Robert S. White is a senior history major and president of the Texas A&M
Hillel Club.
Fetters to 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:
V Not exceed 300 words or 1800 char
acters in length.
V Be neatly typed whenever possible.
Hand-written letters are acceptable.
>f 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 lettei
is never guaranteed. The editorial staff
reserves the right to edit letters to remove
grammatical errors and to avoid litigation.
Address letters to the editor to:
Arabs not blameless
Editor:
I don’t know if Mr. Qawasmi really be
lieves the propaganda he has regurgitated
in his comments on the Middle East (Bat-
A&-M CorvsoUdateci ScWool Iioar<A
VV
Letters to the Editot-
The Battalion
Room 216
Reed McDonald Building
College Station, Texas 77843
Clarification
In the “For The Voters” tabloid section
of Tuesday’s Battalion, two headlines in
correctly reported that Ann Jones was
running for Position 2, and Herman D.
Brown for Position 1 in the Consolidated
School Board races. The headlines were
switched — Ann Jones is running for Posi
tion 1 (against Mary Fellenz), and Herman
Brown for Position 2 (against Oran Jones
and James McNamara). This was correctly
reported in the accompanying questions
and answers for the candidates.
The Battalion regrets the errors.
And to clarify a story in the March 30
Battalion — Texas A&M seniors can go by
the Association of Former Students’ office
in the Memorial Student Center April
11-13 to pick up tickets for one of the two
induction banquets. They can specify then
which day they would like to attend.
Seniors shouldn’t go by the Former Stu
dents’ office before those sign-up days.
Top of the News!
CAMPUS
Austin, German photos win
e
Student photographers from West Germany and Austin won top
prizes in Texas A&M University’s Salon 79 photo contest. Seventeen
Sam Houston State University students won 31 of 66 place ribbons.
Texas A&M claimed 15 ribbons. East Texas State and three West
German students, 9 each. Lynn Dobson, University of Texas at Aus
tin, and Beate Buesching, 18-year-old high school student of
Frankfurt, won best-of-show honors in color and black-and-white
photography, respectively. They will receive plaques and $50 cash
prize. Winning prints went on exhibit Monday in the Memorial Stu
dent Center gallery. They will be shown through April 22.
STATE
Wired trash can kills 4-year-old
A Kerrville man who wired electric wires to his garbage cans to
keep dogs from scattering his trash has been charged with the elec
trocution of a 4-year-old neighborhood boy. The child, Travis Lloyd
Ray, was electrocuted Sunday when he touched a bicycle leaning
against the garbage cans belonging to Vernon Houston Smith, 35.
Smith, a service station operator, was charged with murder and re
leased on a $10,000 bond.
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Bill allows cancer info collection
The Texas House Tuesday passed a bill to establish a statewide
cancer registry system which would allow the Texas Department of
Health to collect statistical information on the occurrence of the dis
ease in the state. “Cancer is the second leading cause of death incur
state and a cancer registry system is a vital necessity, ” said the bills
sponsor, Rep. Betty Denton, D-Waco. Denton said researchers for
the system will collect data on cancer diagnosis, survival rates and
methods of treatment, and provide the information to physicians and
hospitals. She said the bill includes safeguards to protect the confi
dentiality of patient identities.
Texas a cold, wet state Tuesday
A spring storm dumped snow over the Texas Panhandle early
Tuesday and returned rain to an already drenched state. The rainfall
was light for the most part, but with the state’s rivers and tributaries
— particularly those in southeast sections of Texas — already near
flood stage, the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings
for numerous southeast Texas counties. Drizzle and fog were re
ported over much of the state and rainstorms were forming over the
southeast. Wind was generally easterly at 5 to 10 miles an hour except
15 to 20 in portions of the Panhandle, said the weather service, which
reported temperatures ranging from near freezing in the northwest
ern Panhandle to near 50 at Dallas-Fort Worth, the upper 50s at
Houston and near 70 in the lower Rio Grande Valley.
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NATION
Aunt Jemima’ dies of heart attacl
A memorial service will be held in Morristown, N.J., Saturdayfoi
Ethel Ernestine Harper, known to millions of Americans as Aunt
Jemima, who died late last week of a heart attack. Harper, who wasin
her late 70s, was driving along South Street when she was stricken,
Her voice was familiar to millions of Americans for a series of com
mercials in which she played Aunt Jemima for the Quaker Oats Co.
She is survived by a nephew and a sister-in-law, both in Birmingham,
Ala. The memorial service is scheduled for 9:30 a. m. Saturday in
Morristown.
2 blackouts in 2 days for Boston
Underground cable fires Tuesday forced Boston Edison to cut
power to 30,000 residents of the city’s Back Bay, one hour after
electricity was restored to the area that has suffered two major black
outs in as many days. Lights flickered for an hour in the downtown
neighborhood but just after 10 a.m., the utility cut power to the
expensive turn-of-the-century brownstones and high-rises that domi
nate the area. Priscilla Korella, a spokeswoman for Boston Edison,
said power would not be restored to the affected area until early
today. The blackout area, covering 12 city blocks and including the
city’s largest hotels, has been hit with two massive power outages
since Sunday.
WORLD
Truce signed, Iranian battle ends
Turkoman tribesmen yielded to the new Islamic government s mil
itary might and agreed to end a bloody eight-day battle for autonomy
but sources said the shaky truce might still collapse. Turkoman repre
sentatives in the northeastern city of Gonbad-e Qaboos signed a
four-point truce agreement Monday with the army, which had
threatened to bring in tanks, armored cars and troop reinforcements
to subdue them. Tehran Radio said under the truce terms, the
tribesmen — who besieged residential buildings, factories and police
posts — would release their hostages and hand over control of the city
to the army. In return, Turkoman prisoners would be released and
their wounded treated at city hospitals.
WEATHER
There is a cold front moving through College Station causing
overcast skies with decreasing cloudiness this afternoon
High today low 70’s and a low in the mid 40’s. Winds are
northerly at 10-15 mph.
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Editor Kim^
Managing Editor LizNf"
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Sports Editor
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News Editors Debbie Pa^l
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per
hii
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