Viewpoint
The Battalion Tuesday
Texas A&M University April 10, 1979
Revolt backstabs states
Slouch by Jim Earle
“Now get this! He’s getting his notes in order, reviewing his previous tests, and
then he’s going to systematically study for his final examinations so he won’t have
a last minute crunch. Do you think he has completely cracked up?“
A solar ‘terror lurks
By DAVID NISSMAN
MARS — We are all witnessing the
“horrors” of a nuclear reactor mishap and
are saying there must be a better solution
to the energy dilemma. Many say turn to
solar energy.
Now stop for a moment and think about
the horrors of solar energy. It has been
Humor
said that a couple of square miles of land
covered with solar panels would supply
the energy of a 1000 MW reactor. But
imagine the plight of a domestic airline
flight over this area. The glare off the glass
panels would be blinding and should the
pilot be looking down God only knows
what might happen!
Take for instance the plan to put a
multi-acred solar collector satellite in orbit
Editor:
Besides the excess of signs, flyers and
campaign promises, election time brings
around the usual petty squabbles between
candidates. That was something I was hop
ing not to be involved in but a letter to the
editor by another candidate, John Groce,
has forced me to write some type of re
sponse.
John was disappointed that The Battal
ion endorsed me for vice president of stu
dent services and felt The Battalion had
overlooked some of his qualifications. His
letter Monday was a rebuttal to that
endorsement for not giving him credit for
ideas he claimed were his.
I know John is a hard worker and has
been involved in researching some good
ideas for the student services committee
next year. Yet no one can claim ownership
to ideas that came from our whole commit
tee. Those ideas come from a lot of hard
work by last year’s committee members,
this year’s members, other senators as well
as John and me.
Neither John nor I can pull out an idea
or project and say “it’s mine,” even though
both of us have been extensively research
ing it. Some ideas I’ve done more research
on, some John’s done more research on
and various committee members have
worked very hard on most others. It’s not
important where they came from.
The feet is the student services commit
tee has a lot of good ideas for what future
projects will be and what they involve.
What is important is to have a good leader
next year to finally organize the committee
to see some action on these ideas and not
just another year of research.
Hopefully whichever one of the candi
dates is chosen for the vice president of
student services will realize it’s not impor
tant who can take credit for the ideas, but
it is important to have a combined com
mittee effort to see the idea turned into
ac'-ion.
I think this little argument on who did
what is ridiculous and I’m sorry the stu
dent body of Texas A&M has to listen to it.
—Brad Smith, ’81
Editor’s note: John Groce’s letter,
which appeared in Monday’s April 9 Bat
talion, was printed to give him a chance to
answer The Battalion’s endorsements
printed Friday. The Battalion apologizes
for not allowing Brad Smith to run his
answer to John Groce’s letter the same
day.
The Battalion still supports its endorse
ment of Brad Smith for vice president of
student services in student government.
‘Aggie credit 9 due
Editor:
I believe that many students will agree
with me in saying that the present system
and beam the energy down by microwave.
The dangers of this are two-fold. Should
the satellite’s orbit go awry it would first
be beaming microwaves indiscriminately
making TV dinners out of tens, hundreds,
even thousands of us.
Along with the failure of many mechani
cal pacemaker units being the direct cause
of the deaths of untold many. And then as
the orbit decays and this gargantuous ob
ject comes hurtling out of the sky to crash
on a major metropolis, possibly causing
the annihilation of the greater urban cen
ters of the world — New York, Dallas, Los
Angeles, London, Moscow or worst of all
Luckenbach!
The dangers are as real and imminent as
those the proponents of a nuclear ban fear
so greatly.
Are you willing to subject your children
to this? I say “no. ” Advocate the abolition
of solar energy. (Live in the dark).
David Nissman is a sophomore at Texas
A&M.
of getting football tickets is unfair to stu
dents who have attended Texas A&M
throughout their college career. Why, for
example, should a student who enters
A&M as a junior (by transferring hours
from another university) receive any bet
ter seats at a football game than an incom
ing freshman?
One might argue that the transfer stu
dent has already suffered the disadvan
tages of being an underclassman. I doubt,
however, that very many transfer students
have previously experienced the competi
tion for good football tickets that exists at
A&M.
Why should a graduate student who got
his B.S at Cougar High be sitting on the 50
yard line when he doesn’t even know the
yells, while the junior who has earned all
of his credit hours at A&M is still in the
horseshoe right behind the goal post?
The system of getting ticket booklets
should be arranged so as to weight A&M
credit hours much higher than transferred
credit hours. It seems that the present sys
tem was originally intended to categorize
Aggies according to their academic
classification. Wouldn’t a more fair system
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — One of the most
painful lessons of our time is that “re
forms” have unintended consequences.
The liberals have littered the landscape
with programs famous for the perversity of
their effects. To cite but two examples: In
the 1960s, “urban renewal” left great scars
on the heart of cities; and in the 1970s,
campaign finance “reforms” spurred a
flood of special-interest contributions.
Not to be outdone, the conservatives, in
this time of growing influence, are proving
that they can be every bit as short-sighted
in the causes they espouse. As a case in
point, consider the mounting evidence
that the great conservative “tax revolt”
may very well spur a new centralization of
government power.
Proposition 13 in California has been
hailed as the herald of a conservative
charge against free-spending bureaucrats.
But the main effect of the rollback in local
property taxes has been to send local offi
cials scrambling to Sacramento, seeking
state funds to finance vital local services.
The upshot: A setback for home rule and
local responsibility, and an increase in the
authority of the state government.
A similar result may come from the cur
rent conservative drive for a balanced fed
eral budget. Just as Proposition 13 shifted
spending decisions, and therefore gov
ernmental power, from the localities to
Sacrmento, the balanced-budget drive is
fueling a shift of power from the states to
Washignton, D.C. It is doing by posing an
imminent threat to one of the few federal
programs of recent years, designed to in
crease, rather tban hamper, local
decision-making.
That program is general revenue
sharing, which currently sends about $4.6
billion a year of no-strings aid to localities
and $2.3 billion of unencumbered money
to the states.
The state portion of revenue-sharing is a
prime target for his year’s budget-cutting
drive, both Democrats and Republicans
on the House Budget Committee have
recommended its elimination from the fis
cal 1980 budget. And insiders on the Se
nate Budget Committee think it likely to
be trimmed, if not eliminated, there.
The argument is that with all states
being able to balance their budgets this
year and many showing a surplus, it makes
no sense for the deficit-ridden federal gov
ernment to pump money into their coffers.
That argument is coming not only from
liberals who have opposed revenue
sharing ever since Richard Nixon pushed
it into law in 1972, but from many
budget-balancing conservatives.
Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), the rank-
offer equal privileges to students serving
equal academic time as Aggies?
—Carl Strain, ’80
Seniors, go vote
Editor:
I want to let TAMU seniors know that
they are allowed to vote.
Monday, unfortunately many of us (my
self included) were told that we were not
allowed to vote (in campus elections). In
past years seniors have been allowed to
vote. Also, nowhere in the Election Regu
lations does it state that seniors are not
allowed to vote.
Monday afternoon after numerous com
plaints, the Election Commission decided
to start letting seniors vote. I was fortu
nately informed of this, but am aware that
many seniors may not know about the
change in policy.
Therefore, seniors, go out and vote. You
have one day left to make one of your last
contributions to the student body while
still a student. The right to vote 'is a very
basic one and one that should be utilized.
—Laura Brockman, 79
ing Republican on the House Budget
Committee, says: “I’ve supported
revenue-sharing in the past, but we re at
the point where we don’t really have any
revenues to share. ” Sen. Henry Bellmon
(R-Okla)., the ranking Republican on the
Senate Budget Committee, another long
time supporter, says: “My position now is
that revenue-sharing is a good idea that
didn’t work. The state legislatures are tel
ling us to balance the budget, and we have
to take that mandate seriously.”
Both Regula and Bellmon said they
would prefer to make the cuts in the
cateogrical-aid programs. These programs
comprise the vast bulk of the $80 billion of
aid Washington sends to state and local
governments. But the programs — replete
with guidelines and directives and legisla
tive mandates manufactured in Washing
ton — are, predictably, not the ones the
Washington legislators or bureaucrats
want to eliminate.
As Senate Budget Committee Chairman
Edmund S. Muskie (D-Maine), another
long-time supporter of general revenue
sharing, concedes, “it will be a very tempt
ing target,” because the simplicity of this
program makes it easier to save money fas
ter than in those programs where dollars
take a long time passing through the bu
reaucratic maze.
What is forgotten — or minimized — in
the current debate is that general
revenue-sharing had a philosophical as
well as a fiscal rationale. The idea behind it
was to reverse the flow of money and
power to Washington by diverting a small
portion of the proceeds of the federal in
come tax to the states and cities, for them
to spend as they saw fit, rather than as
Washington officals ordered.
Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.)., one of
the few balanced-budget advoctaes who is
still a proponent of revenue-sharing, ar
gues that the threat to that program is
“just part of the huffing and bluffing the
spenders do to make the bad dream (of a
balanced budget) go away.”
Lugar may be right philosophically, but
political trends are likely to prove him
wrong. State governors believe they can
muster the political clout to keep
revenue-sharing alive through 1980. But
even they are not optimistic about what
will happen then. Sooner or later, the
balanced-budget “reform” will almost cer
tainly doom revenue-sharing and acceler
ate the centralization of spending power in
Washington.
Ironic, yes. But that’s the way it is with
“reforms.”
(c) 1970, The Washington Post
Company
credit
Good record critic
Editor:
In reference to Duke Watson’s letter
(March 28), I would like to speak out in
defense of Victor Sylvia. I have read many
record reviews in many different publica
tions over the past few years, but Mr. Syl
via is the only critic I have read who con
sistently has his head screwed on right.
Not only are his reviews intelligent, but
they are often amusing, and I look forward
to reading them each Thursday.
Perhaps Mr. Watson’s resentment lies
in the idea that he feels if Mr. Sylvia says
the people who play the music are “slugs”
and “quasi-humanoid characters,” that he
is also implying that the same holds true
for those who listen to that music.
Besides, Mr. Watson shouldn’t be grip
ing about a lack of objectivity in the re
views because it is obvious from his biased
letter that he is a UFO fan.
—Mike Wardlow, 81
Editor’s note: This letter was accom
panied by four other signatures.
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Letters to the Editor
Individuals shouldn’t claim SG
Top of the News
CAMPUS
Zachry to address group tonight
The Texas A&M University Business Student Council’s Spring
Seminar will be 7-9 tonight in Rudder Theater. The keynote speaker
will be H.B. “Pat” Zachry, addressing the topic “Ingredients of Suc
cess.” Also appearing will be Dr. William V. Muse, incoming dean in
business administration. Muse will discuss developments in educa
tion in the College of Business, changes in the business environment,
and the effect of those changes on today ’s student. There will be a
question and answer period in the theater immediately following the
talks.
Man dies of heart attack at AbM
Henry L. Alsmeyer Sr., 84, of 600 Woodson Drive, Bryan, died
Monday morning of an apparent heart attack in Heaton Hall at Texas
A&M University. The former Rio Grande Valley vocational agricul
ture teacher became Cameron County agent in 1925 and retired in
1952. In 1952 he went overseas as agricultural advisor in the Point
Four Program. After moving back to Bryan he was named Bryan-
College Station’s Outstanding Senior Citizen in 1972. The 1923 A&M
graduate was the father of two sons and one daughter. One son,
Henry L. Alsmeyer Jr., is a former associate director of Sterling C,
Evens Library.
NATION
GOP hopefuls begin campaigns
The Republican campaign for New Hampshire’s crucial first-in-
the-nation presidential primary officialy began this weekend as six
announced or potential presidential candidates jostled for national
attention and supporters. About 500 party faithful paid $100perplate
fund raiser in Concord to see and hear announced candidates Rep
Philip Crane of Illinois, former Texas Gov. John Connally and former
Gov. Harold Stassen of Minnesota. They were joined by Sen. Robert
Dole of Kansas, Rep. John Anderson of Illinois and former U.S,
envoy and CIA director George Bush.
One strike ends, two continue
A four-hour Pan American World Airways strike ended in a settle
ment, and negotiators have scheduled new talks in the Teamsters
strike-lockout which entered its tenth day today. But a third strike
shutting down United Airlines, the nation’s largest commercial air
carrier, is deadlocked and the line’s officials have stopped taking
reservations through June 7. The Teamsters and the trucking indus
try have agreed to resume negotiations Monday. The talks brokeoi
Friday after both sides refused to compromise on the money issues
that prompted the strike — and the retaliatory lockout by the com
panies — last week.
Official testifies in Silkwood suit
A smashed thumb was considered a more serious injury than expo
sure to radiation at the Kerr-McGee nuclear plant where Karen
Silkwood worked, a company official testified Monday in the federal
court trial in Oklahoma City of an $11.5 million lawsuit. Wayne Nor
wood, former head of health and safety at the plant, testified the
company was praised several times by the Oklahoma Safety Council
and the National Safety Council for not having any employees oil
work because of on-the-job accidents. The testimony opened the
sixth week of the trial of a lawsuit filed by Silkwood’s family against
Kerr-McGee, owner of the nuclear fuel processing plant near Cres
cent. The lawsuit alleges Kerr-McGee negligence caused Silkwood to
become contaminated with cancer-causing plutonium, the substance
processed at the plant until it closed in 1975.
Guard patrols Camden, Ark.
National Guard troops, armed to prevent looting, Monday patroled
a mile-wide path of destruction left by weekend tornadoes that de
stroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in Camden, Ark. A tor
nado hit Camden late Sunday, injuring 27 persons and destroying 75
homes. An elementary school and a shopping center were extensively
damaged. A few hours later a second tornado struck Hamburgn about
70 miles to the southeast, injuring 10 persons and destroying 130
homes. Another 500 homes in the town of 3,200 population were
damaged. Gov. Bill Clinton declared Camden, population 16,009, a
disaster area Sunday night.
WORLD
Earthquake shakes Yugoslavia
A strong earthquake jolted a wide area of Montenegro State in
southern Yugoslavia early Monday, sending panicky residents in their
nightclothes fleeivheir homes, police said. There was no serious dam
age or injuries, according to initial police reports. The quake was also
strongly felt in Igalo, a seaside resort near central Herceg Novi,
where President Josip Broz Tito is now staying. No details of possible
damage to Tito’s residence were available, police said. The quake
measured 5.0 on the open-ended Richter scale and hit the areaat9:ll
p.m. EST Sunday, a spokesman at the Belgrade Meterological Sta
tion said.
WEATHER
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain. High today ini
mid 70’s and a low of 58. Winds will be N.E. at 10-15 m|
30% chance of rain today.
The Battalion
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