Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1979)
Viewpoint The Battalion Friday Texas A&M University , April 6, 1979 Battalion endorses campus candidates Just as The Battalion finds it important to express views on issues that are pertinent to its readers, it also finds it necessary to let the readers know how it views the candidates for student elections — which candi dates will serve the students’ needs and which will not. Those members of The Battalion staff with experience in covering the contested offices chose the candidates The Battalion endorses: Student Body President — Wayne Morrison Both Wayne Morrison and Ronnie Kapavik would make good leaders. Morrison has demonstrated his ability to organize, manage and lead an important Student Government committee — the Finance Committee. His committee had to examine organizations across campus while dividing up student service fees. Thus, he has a wide knowledge of the University. Ronnie Kapavik’s involvement in school activities would be an asset, but he lacks Student Government leadership experience. He’s also vague on specific student service areas. Wade Masterson, the third candidate, has good background with the Memorial Student Center committees, but limited experience in Student Government — a big handicap for someone who must direct that organi zation. Vice President for Student Services — Brad Smith The keys to this race are initiative and experience. Brad Smith has more new and specific programs in mind — in areas like parking, tickets, an informational magazine, a car co-op — new ideas that can stimulate student services. Both Smith and John Groce ran their committee programs well this year — Smith was in charge of the internal shuttle bus committee, Groce the blood drive. Smith has had two years experience to Groce’s one. Candidate John Stine, with no Senate experience, offers few changes for the student services committee, and is exceedingly vague on specific remedies to the problems he mentions. Smith, with his ideas and experience, can provide effective leadership for this important Student Government committee. Vice President for External Affairs — Jeb Hensarling Jeb Hensarling’s continued involvement in student government and student lobby groups makes him more than qualified for this position. Hensarling is heavily involved in national and state student organizations — he is president and founder of one national organization. In fact, Hen sarling’s only drawback is he should be as concerned with student issues in the Bryan-College Station community. His opponent, Andrew Cook, has no local Student Government experi ence and is not well informed about state and national student-related affairs. Cook’s international travel experience will not aid him in working with local, state, or national officials about student problems. Vice President for Academic Affairs — John C. Calhoun John Calhoun and Leroy Startz both offer plans for the position. They both have maintained low profiles in the Senate, and both offer virtually the same ideas on how the Academic Affairs committee should be run. But Calhoun is noted as being a level-headed, solid worker who knows how to talk firmly with administrators. He’s got two years of experience on the committee; Startz has one. Calhoun by a hair. RHA President — Barbara Thompson Barbara Thompson has been extensively involved in RHA through her work on the executive committee as RHA secretary. She is more familiar with the major issues facing RHA, and has closely observed RHA-related measures in Student Government. Jim Cooper is a fine dorm president. He’s conscientious, but his RHA ideas lack substance in comparison. Thompson’s ideas — her concern to see board plan options such as cross-dining between cafeterias available — are much more concrete and deserve serious consideration. Thompson has more to offer RHA. OSA President — Bruce Martin Both Bruce Martin and Debbie May are actively involved in meetings to merge OSA with the other off-campus group, Hassle-Free. Martin has already been a vice president for programs of OSA, and realizes first-hand the problems the new group will face. May doesn’t have the same leadership, despite her enthusiasm for the organization. Martin has more enthusiasm channeled into the right areas. Pollution naivete distorts economy By LeROY POPE UPI Business Writer NEW YORK — Naivete afflicts many environmentalists, particularly those in the federal government, if a recent survey is to be believed. The study, directed to the coal mining, electric utility, chemical and paper indus tries, was conducted by Research & Fore casts, Inc., of New York for Equitable Environmental Health, Inc., of Wood bury, L.I. There were 120 in-depth telephone interviews, some lasting 90 minutes, the company said. Those queried said the anti-pollution rules promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency and similar bodies are inflationary, unreasonable and inflexible and just won’t work for the most part. Many are utterly impossible to comply with, the respondents said. “We are not stonewalling the EPA; we’re doing our best to comply but we can’t afford to let some of these interpreta tions go unchallenged,” was a typical judgment by a coal mining company executive. “There’s got to be a place to put waste — you can’t just make it disappear,” said a chemical plant director. “If you take it out of the air, you’ve got to sink it in water or on land. If you take it out of the land, you’ve got to dispose of it in water or the air — that’s the Catch 22.” One manifestation of naivete on the part of government officials, the respondents said, is the haste with which they pursue the proliferation of new regulations and give industry little time to comply with them or study them. They demand the use of unproven, faulty pollution control technology that is costly and ineffective. By Dick West Thunder on WASHINGTON — When the history of modem warfare is written, it almost cer tainly will include a chapter on the amaz ing ability of U.S. military bases to with stand attack — by the Pentagon. The Defense Department, from all re ports, has enough firepower to wipe out enemy installations anywhere on earth. But when if tries to eliminate its own facilities, the department frequently encounters insurmountable resistance. Just last week, in an economy move, the Pentagon announced plans to close or downgrade 157 bases, for a projected sav ing of $264 million a year. Already, it appears, the offensive is in trouble. Military analysts are predicting that some of the installations on the hit list can hold out almost indefinitely. For reasons of national security, I am not in a position to reveal how these stron gholds have become so impregnable. As a theoretical exercise, however, let us examine the Alamo-like stand of the 168th Barrage Balloon Battalion located at Fort Molehill. Toward that end, an interview with Sen. Burnside Templehair, a leading authority on military appropriations, might be in structive. Q. Senator Templehair, you have been in the forefront of the congressional move to reduce government spending, cut taxes and balance the federal budget. You must have been delighted by the proposed mili tary base shutdowns. A. If you are talking about base closings that will help bring the federal deficit under control, ease the tremendous birr- “The rules are too sweeping because the EPA actually is a very immature agency,” was another comment. The inflationary impact of the regu lations results, on the other hand, from a paradoxical indecisiveness by the EPA. Companies face long delays and much red tape in getting the necessary permits when they attempt to comply with the rules. These delays are costly in them selves and the worse because environmental compliance diverts capital and operating funds from productive to non-productive outlays. Excessive zeal on the part of the environmental officials was given as another example of naivete. “They don’t seem to appreciate the law of diminishing returns,” commented a paper company executive. “You can clean up most of the pollution in a manufactur ing process rather reasonably, but you will spend three times as much trying to make it 100 percent clean.” He said that raises the question of how much the economy is being distorted by excessive environmentalist zeal that yields little or no real additional benefit. High additional staff costs, expensive consulting services and, as a final resort, costly legal battles are forced on com panies in their efforts to comply with naive and unreasonable environmental rules many of those queried said. The electric utility men said these costs are a prime factor in the many rate increases utilities have been forced to seek. A not infrequent comment was that, if things keep going as they are, many more American manufacturers simply will pull up stakes and move their operations to foreign lands where the rules are more reasonable. home front den of the poor, downtrodden taxpayer and reduce the bloated bureaucracy, I am indeed delighted by it. If, however, you are talking about clo sures that deprive honest, hardworking civilians of employment, that wreak havoc on the local economy of communities where the bases are located and that weaken America’s first line of defense, then I’m against it. Q. In which of those categories would you put Fort Molehill? A. As the home of this nation’s only bar rage balloon training center, Fort Molehill Humor is an indispensable part of our effort to re tain military equality with Russia. It must be kept open at all costs. Q. But aren’t barrage balloons, which were left over from World War I, now ob solete? A. In the thermonuclear age, it is vital that the United States retain a conven tional warfare capability. Q. Would the fact that Fort Molehill is in your home state have any influence on your judgment? A. Geography is nothing to do with it. As long as I am a member of the military appropriations subcommittee, I shall do everything in my power to see that funds are available to protect our cities from strafing attacks by the Red Baron. Letters to the Editor First Amendment— freedom to locate truth Editor: I’m responding to Chuck Sullivan’s let ter appearing Tuesday, April 3. Mr. Sulli van criticized the Civil Liberties Union statement in The Battalion of March 28 that encouraged individuals to use their First Amendment right of free expression. Mr. Sullivan arbitrarily picked several controversial topics at Texas A&M (“We don’t need a student body in which a Corps of Cadets is left out. We don’t need special rights for fags. We don’t need female yell leaders”) and inferred the CLU is backing changes in these areas. I saw no mention of these topics in the CLU state ment. In the statement, the CLU backed the right of free expression. The right of free expression is basic to our form of govern ment. Without free expression, we would be repressed. The assumption behind the First Amendment, as I know it, is that with a multitude of freely expressed ideas, the truth must surely surface. And in a democ racy, it is up to the people to locate that truth. This is our system. Without a multitude of expressions, would the truth always surface for us to pick? While I am not a member, I strongly support the Union’s stand on the First Amendment. The title of the CLU statement was “To Dispel a Myth.” Mr. Sullivan created a myth. Next time, he should read only what is written. —Tim Raven, ’80 Review not ‘attack* Editor: Everybody has their own taste in what kind of music they think is good and what kind of music they think is bad. Obviously, the UFO album “Strangers in the Night” is bad because Jim Closmann says so. That’s ridiculous. Mr. Closmann did not get the point of Duke Watson’s letter. Mr. Watson was not giving his opinion on the UFO album, he was giving his opinion on the way the k album was reviewed. After reading these album “reviews” for several weeks now, I couldn’t agree with Mr. Watson more. In Mr. Sylvia’s album reviews, he does not review the album but attacks the group of the album. Especially rock groups. Album reviews should concentrate on the album content, not the groups make up. Also, if guitar solos are “too hot to handle” for you Mr. Closmann, I suggest buying a Bee Gees album next time you shop for music. —Larry Chasen, ’81 Going an extra mile Editor: I would like to express my appreciation to Mr. Tom Baxter, who is the theatrical electrician of the Rudder Theatre Com plex. On March 24 I lost my wallet while in Rudder Auditorium. I noticed my loss at midnight on Saturday. I went back to the theater where the midnight movie was playing and explained my problem to Mr. Baxter. He helped me look for my wallet in the auditorium. Al though we did not find it at that time, I found out later that he had gone back to look after the midnight movie was over. On Monday morning I was notified that my wallet had been found. Thank you again Mr. Baxter for your help. —Gary McFadyen College Station Whooping rude Editor: I went to a movie in Rudder Theater recently, and am angry and disappointed with my fellow Aggies. I have never seen such a display of mass inconsideration, and never expected it from Ags. The dialogue of the show was vital for the plot to be understood, but it was inau dible over the din of the audience. People were constantly talking, whooping at parts of conversations, laughing at parts that were not funny, and rendered the entire show worthless. Whooping it up is great at a football or basketball game, but not in a theater. The MSC does a great job of bringing in some really good movies, and it’s a shame that they get ruined by the audience. —David Coleman, ’81 We* v»e. To ayoic) -fke. 3 mile IsU'd di'SqsTer PR. frdlovr. Kifl os. Top of the News ( CAMPUS APO launches pledge project Texas A&M University students in Alpha Phi Omega, the national service fraternity, will paint the interior of the gymnasium at the Lincoln Community Center Saturday as their pledge class project Active members and pledges of the Xi Delta chapter, about 45 in ai, will pitch in, said Damon Crenshaw, in charge of the project. The chapter, under President Cary Wilkins, conducts other service projects on campus and in the community. STATE Gramm opposes rationing plan U.S. Rep. Phil Gramm said Thursday that he will oppose enact ment of the Carter administration’s standby gasoline rationing plaj and charged that the proposal is “rife with inequities that will cost Texas consumers more than $2 billion a year.” The Sixth District congressman, who is a member of the Energy and Power subcommit tee which is currently holding hearings on the rationing plan, said the administration’s proposal will penalize consumers in southwestern states like Texas while creating windfalls for midwestern and north eastern states. Gramm also charge'd that the cost of the rationing coupons, added to the price of gasoline during a shortage, would drive the cost of gasoline well above the free-market price which would exist without rationing. Denial of airline bids sought A Civil Aeronautics Board administrative law judge Thursday rec ommended denial of both the Pan American World Airways and the Texas International Airline bids to control National Airlines. Admin istrative Law Judge William H. Dapper said both bids violate antit rust laws and would result in a wave of mergers in the airline industry which would not be in the public interest. Dapper also urged the CAB to require Texas International to divest itself of the 25 percentof National stock it has bought. The full CAB will make a final decision on both cases within a few months. The president will have the final say on the Pan Am requests. No bad concrete at nuke plant Allegations that testing records were falsified to cover up the usage of substandard concrete at the Comanche Peak nuclear plant south west of Fort Worth were unfounded, results of two separate investi gations showed. Dallas Power and Light and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted the inquiries. Ray Ward, a spokesman for DP&L, whose parent company — Texas Utilities Co. — is building the plant, said Wednesday the allegations published in a Fort Worth newspaper Wednesday had been made in March 1978 by employees of the Chicago-based R.W. Hunt Co., which had contracted to test concrete used at the Glenrose plant. NATION Truck strike cripples Chrysler Chrysler Corp. President Lee A. lacocca says a crippling tie-up of the nation’s truck lines “couldn’t have come at a worse time” for an auto industry which Thursday edged nearer a total shutdown. He said Wednesday all 41 of Chrysler’s assembly and parts manufacturing plants will be closed Monday, idling the firm’s entire workforce of 85,000 hourly employees because of parts shortages resulting from the nationwide trucking dispute. He said the dispute, touched off by a Teamsters strike Sunday, came just as Chrysler was preparing to launch a campaign to drive up sales and turn around a months-long decline that has kept the company in the red. ] Dry weather blacks out Florida Three Florida Power & Light Co. generating plants shut down without warning late Wednesday night, blacking out the Florida Gold Coast and spreading into other areas of the state early Thursday. The problem was not a lack of generating capacity, a company spokesman said, but dry weather plaguing the high-voltage transmission lines. Much of the Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas were plunged into darkness and the blackouts spread over Miami. St, Petersburg, Tampa and Orlando were also affected. Switching crews shifted the load to Florida Power generators and customers in the area had power restored within 30 minutes. WORLD Mexican oil up by $3 a barrel Mexico has raised the price for its crude oil by 21.3 percent, more than double the recent increase set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil com pany, announced Wednesday that the the price of a barrel of Mexican oil will jump from $14.10 to $17.10, making Mexican oil among the most expensive in the world. Because Mexico now exports only 600,000 barrels a day — about 80 percent of it to the United States — the announced price increase is not expected to have a great impact on world oil prices. Mexico is not an OPEC member. A Pemex spokesman said the price increase was “not an imposition, but an agreement’’ with the company’s clients. The Pemex announcement was made while a team of U.S. energy experts is in Mexico discussing the sale of surplus Mexican natural gas to the United States. WEATHER Fair to partly cloudy skies with a high of 77 and a low of 47. 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 Managing Editor LizN e ® Assistant Managing Editor .Andy Sports Editor . City Editor Scott Pen*^ Campus Editor Stevff News Editors Debbie Beth Calhoun Staff Writers Karen Rogers, ^ Patterson, Sean Petty, ^ Blake, Dillard Stone, RoyB^ Lyle Lovett, Keith Taylor Cartoonist DougCr^ Photo Editor Lee Roy LesclipW Photographer LynnPB Focus section editor Gary " VfJ 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-prof ■ supporting enterprise operated by as a university and community neuS ^Z ) Editorial policy is determined by the e