II
The Battalion
Viewpoint
Texas A&M University^
Wednesday
• May 23, 1979
Conserve now
Yes Virginia, there is an energy shortage.
Americans across the country still refuse to believe it though it is evi
denced by rising gasoline prices and longer lines at service stations.
Californians were the first to experience the crunch, bringing back
memories of the long gasoline lines during the 1973 Arab oil embargo.
“Unfair!” screamed California residents who demanded to know why
the shortage was affecting their state so severely.
The reason is simple. California demand for gasoline rose 7-and-a-half
percent in the first four months this year over last year as compared to a
less than two percent increase for the rest of the nation. This represents
more than a five percent growth in California consumption as compared to
the rest of the country.
Yet they still demand more.
Should more gasoline be allocated to California, it would have to be at
the expense t>f the other states since there is a three percent shortage
nationwide.
Unfair, you say? You bet it is.
Representatives from several major oil companies, including Texaco
and Exxon, appeared before a Senate subcommittee Monday to discuss
the present energy situation. They explained why their companies cannot
meet an abnormally high demand for gasoline this summer.
Refineries, they said, are expected to operate at the same level this
summer as last summer. Their priority is to stockpile heating oil for next
winter. They cannot be expected to stockpile the necessary amounts of
winter heating oil and keep up with the increasing demand for gasoline.
Californians must curtail their driving and limit their gas purchases to
bring their demand in equilibrium with the rest of the country. The me
generation” must come to an end if America is to squeak through this
shortage with only a minimum of sacrifice. If they do not give the
minimum voluntarily, more severe measures will be forced upon all of us.
K.L.R.
Army: drugs up
the West German government recently
has taken a more concerned view of the
problem than it did even a year ago.
All army drug abuse officers begin brief
ings by saying that “the army’s biggest
problem remains alcohol.” Gen. George
S. Blanchard, commanding general of the
U.S. Army, Europe, has instituted a pro
gram to treat alcoholics, including senior
officers and noncoms, and promises al
coholics will be promoted if they go
through treatment and stay dry after
wards, although he has yet to sell his con
cept to the rest of the army.
Drug abuse rates greater attention be
cause, unlike alcohol, drugs are illegal.
The army in Europe increased its drug
suppression staffs in November, enabling
a stepup in the number of drug busts. One
of the largest occurred early this year in
the 3rd Division when Operation Snow
White resulted in 92 soldier arrests and
the seizure of $1.29 million worth of
drugs. Of the soldiers, 22 received bad
conduct discharges and 29 administrative
discharges.
A senior sergeant involved in the anti-
drug campaign since it began in 1973 re
ports:
—He cannot recall an officer being
caught using hard drugs.
—He sees no correlation between drug
use and race.
—While most of the soldierusers of he
roin turned up in the mid-70s were addicts
who required detoxification, soldiers now
being caught for heroin use generally are
not addicts and do not require detoxifica
tion.
“Apparently now, they’ll use whatever
is available at the moment,” the sergeant
said. “They’ll use any kind of dope or pills,
even go from an upper to a downer and
vice versa, and mix it all with liquor. In
fact, most of those now dying are being
killed by a combination of alcohol and
pills.”
Volunteer work decreased
By WELLINGTON LONG
United Press International
STUTTGART, West Germany — U.S.
military officers, trying to get a handle on
the army’s growing drug problem, de
scribe the typical soldier-user as an aver
age young American.
Medical officers who have treated
thousands draw this profile of the average
American military drug user:
A white, unmarried, male high school
graduate, in the service for between one
and three years, working in the job for
which he was trained and now either a pri
vate, private first class or corporal.
The number of such American soldiers
using both soft and hard drugs already is
high. But army officers and senior
sergeants assigned to bring the situation
under control report a rising trend in hard
drugs use during the past year.
The statistics may be, and probably are,
inadequate.
For instance, surprise urinalysis of
company size units among the 88,000 sol
diers in the VII Corps headquartered in
Stuttgart showed 3 percent take hard
drugs.
Opinion surveys among the same sol
diers indicate that as many as 7 or 8 per
cent may use hard drugs at least once a
month while up to 40 percent may use soft
drugs.
“Most soldiers now using drugs in
Europe either used or experimented with
soft drugs in the United States before join
ing the army,” says a veteran drug abuse
officer.
He attributes the recent rise in use to
“increased availability of heroin in
Europe.”
The U.S. and West German govern
ments are improving their cooperation in
an attemmpt to suppress and interrupt the
supply of hard drugs, most of which ap
parently now comes to Western Europe
from Turkey. American officers believe
U&D2G. &]a\&>GoTRiaAG-
Killer Bees not alone in Senate walkouts
By BO
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By ROLAND LINDSEY
UPI Capitol Reporter
AUSTIN — Senate dean William T.
Moore has been prevented from conduct
ing Senate business since Friday because
of a walkout by 12 liberal senators. In
younger years, however, Moore was in
another group that left the chamber.
Moore can attest to the fact the five-day
hideout by the dozen Texas senators
known as “killer bees” is not the first time
legislators have intentionally ducked out of
House or Senate sessions to stop business,
but this time the lawmakers have set a
record for eluding authorities.
The 12 have been missing since they
failed to answer a Senate roll call Friday
morning. A statewide search by the De
partment of Public Safety and Texas Ran
gers has failed to locate any of them, al-
Junk mail
lists go
on and on
though the DPS mistakenly seized the
brother of one of the “killer bees” senators
— Gene Jones, D-Houston — and flew
him to Austin in a state-owned helicopter.
Although legislative records of the early
part of the century are vague, librarians at
the Capitol say they have found nothing to
rival the current absences.
One of the legislative disappearing acts
that is documented occurred in 1951 when
10 senators walked out on a session con
sidering establishing the State Board of
Control.
They were gone less than an hour, how
ever, before sergeants-at-arms located and
returned two of the senators, allowing the
bill to be passed.
One of these who walked out was
Moore, now the Senate dean and one of
the 19 senators left to find non-legislative
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Some time back, I
wrote a piece about a citizen who received
276 pieces of unsolicited direct mail in six
months — and forwarded it all to his con
gressman.
I now have at hand a letter from Foster
Parents Plan, one of the 134 private or
ganizations that posted the mail. It is con
cerned that some people might have got
ten the impression that it sells its mailing
lists.
“Foster Parents Plan has never nor will
it ever divulge the names of its donors for
any purpose whatsoever,” the letter says.
In passing along this disclaimer, I might
note that in some instances the names on
an organization’s mailing list and the
names of its donors are not necessarily the
same.
The postman frequently brings me fund
- appeals from charitable or civic-minded
organizations to which I have never made
a contribution.
How my name got on their mailing lists
I cannot say with certainty. But coinciden-
ways of filling their time because of the
absence of the 12 liberals.
Moore said Monday he had no specific
recollection of the incident>J)ut added: “In
1951, at the age I was then, it’s very likely
I had more important things to do.”
He said a “call” also was issued during
the 1967 session, and he was among those
who had left.
“In ’67 they came over to the Cam
bridge Tower and got me out of bed.
There wasn’t anybody hiding then, I just
didn’t want to stay up all night and listen
to a filibuster.”
Jim Sanders, director of the Legislative
Reference Library, said: “There are stories
going around that about 1911 to 1920,
there were 11 senators who went to either
Mexico or Bandera, depending on who is
tally, I began hearing from them a few
years ago not long after I ordered two pairs
of slacks from a mail order clothing outlet
in New Jersey.
It may be axiomatic in the direct mail
business that a person who buys his pants
through a magazine coupon is a good bet
to respond favorably to postal fund-raising
solicitations. I don’t know about that.
Nor am I in any way implying that the
pants people may have sold my name to
the fund-raising outfits.
The process by which names seem to
spread from one mailing list to another has
always been for me one of life’s deeper
mysteries, comparable to the Bermuda
Triangle and the way socks disappear in
the washing machine.
Since most direct mail nowadays is
computerized, I have a theory that the
name exchanging takes place inside data
processing equipment.
It probably is nothing uncommon for
several direct mails to rent time on the
same computer. In which case, several
mailing lists might be stored on the same
magnetic memory disc.
telling the story, for two or this
Hhe Tenth
either kill a governors ‘*pp°ufa a. "aX
liquor lull again deiHMldingO« A £ M
ling the story.” ^ a ' 0 |
Sanders said the story of the a® 1 " 6 „ ^ rt
century hiding by senators Parks :
peatedly, although the personsfl
readily admit they heard it seooail
hand. -m
“We can’t find anything on;*:
journals,” he said.
Sanders said legislative recotcBL^
numerous occasions in theearhpiffi
century in which one house ofthlk
ture would not have a quorum p?# /y%
Thursday or Fr day, and wouldaipt* #
the weekend.
But the records did not tn(iiljj s year’s
police officers were sent searchi; luates could <
missing lawmakers, he said. EL]^ Q f jj,
kers, a Text
„ iiHdst predi
Remember from your scienctM. ccnt j^ a j )(
how molecules in a magneticthat
from one substance to another? 7 American
^ly theory that when computedjj ecreaS(
ing lists are in close proximity,tl® c j ine was
hop back and forth in much the! )n g college g
io, J; , , , , un( ler 30 ye:
Several people have pointed«« k workers
that the Direct Mail Marketing^
tion maintains a service I
non maintains a service tnrougn«*|
may have one’s name removed WH o |^|
ing lists. I would never do amlKg V J.
that. •
In this fast-changing world, dSKlB.
provide a sense of continuity tWgT ,
comforting. ^^ ^ nr:
Each day when the mail is deiwr ^ st '
the congressional press galleriesWr, 5 e y ea
envelopes addressed to report®^ 1 U1K a '
changed jobs, retired or passeda*]^ ,
15 years ago. iXd Z ,i
It pleases me to think thatlo ced Real Est
am gone I, too, will go on reeei mown by the
gressional press releases. [inning Thur
For some of us, junk mailbii§jirn establi
shot at earthly immortality. Estate Re
y, is designei
fessionals the
advanced
Proposals suggest mandatory national service from youths
By HENRY DAVID ROSSO
United Press Internationa]
WASHINGTON — Millions of Ameri
cans every day are doing something for no
thing — volunteer work for some cause
they believe in. But there are some omin
ous signs that volunteerism in the United
States is on the wane.
This has a number of people worried
because a number of activities that Ameri
cans take for granted — Red Cross disaster
aid, for one — could not continue without
a ready supply of volunteers.
Because the problem of volunteer work
for civilian causes happens to dovetail with
shortfalls in recruiting for the all-volunteer
armed forces the United States has sought
to maintain since the end of the Vietnam
War, it is getting attention in Washington.
Two proposals have surfaced this year
which would nudge the nation’s youth to
dedicate themselves to a year or two of
service in either civilian or military capac-
ity. ^
The proposals have received praise from
people who would not be affected. The
criticism has come from those who would.
Rep. Paul McCloskey, R-Calif, intro
duced legislation to replace the Selective
Service System with a National Service
System.
The bill would require every American,
male and female, to register at age 17. At
age 18, each would have three choices:
volunteer work in a civilian activity for one
year; active service in the military for two
years; or active military duty for six
months followed by five-and-a-half years
reserve obligation.
The young person who turned down
these options would be subject to military
draft until age 24.
A study conducted by the Potomac In
stitute proposed similar programs by
which America’s youth would be engaged
in some sort of voluntary service for a year.
The Committee for the Study of Na
tional Service last February announced a
plan whereby at least 1 million young
people would be employed on a volunteer
basis either in a civilian or military capac
ity.
The committee, co-chaired by Harris
Woffard, former president of Bryn Mawr
College, and Jacqueline Grennan Wexler,
president of Hunter College, said such
existing programs as the Peace Corps
would become part of national service.
McCloskey’s proposal would give
youths who chose two years of military
service, four years of educational and
training benefits. If the idea caught on, he
says “there might be no need to have a
draft.”
“Congress doesn’t have the power to
force people to do anything except serve in
the military,” McCloskey said. “But the
bill makes it possible to avoid military
service. ”
McCloskey’s office was the scene of a
noisy demonstration in April by yoimg
people protesting his legislation. McClos
key, one of the first Republicans to pub
licly oppose the Vietnam war, heard
echoes of the chants of a decade earlier —
“Hell, no, we won’t go.”
The call to service is not new.
Almost two decades ago President John
F. Kennedy began the Peace Corps and in
1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson pro
posed that the nation “search for new
ways” through which “every young
American will have the opportunity — and
feel the obligation —- to give at least a few
years of his or her life to the service of
others in the nation and in the world.”
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara
suggested in 1966 that young Americans
serve for two years in either a military or
civilian capacity. Those not entering the
military, he said, could serve in the Peace
Corps or in “some other volunteer de
velopment work at home or abroad.”
But times changed between Kennedy’s
Peace C°rps and the Johnson-McNamara
call to youth to serve their country as vol
unteers.
Kennedy was assassinated and opposi
tion to the war in Vietnam was growing.
The situation did not improve with the as
sassinations of Martin Luther King and
Robert Kennedy followed by Watergate.
“The seventies began with a spirit far
removed from ‘Ask not what your country
can do for you — ask what you can do for
your country, ”’ the national service report
said.
But th e report expressed optimism that
the time may have come for another at
tempt at national volunteer service.
There presently are millions of people of
all ages d°ing volunteer work. Depending
on whom you ask, the number ranges from
20 millio* 1 to 55 million.
ACTION, the parent organization of the
Peace Cerps, lists 280,639 American vol
unteers Serving in the Peace Corps and
other org an i za tions such as VISTA (Volun
teers In Service To America).
But th e American Association of Fund
Rising Councils said in its 1978 report
that “Am er ica may be heading for the day
not enough volunteers volunteer.”
The AAFBC study said psychologists at
tribute th e worry that volunteerism may
be decliniug. to “a variety of factors” in
cluding the “women’s movement, an in
creased political militancy among the dis
advantaged and a tendency to so-called
self-absofPtion, which one behaviorist
characterized as ‘enlightened selfishness. ’”
TtTie AAFRU said the National Organiza
tion for Women (NOW) has passed a reso
lution stating that all unpaid volunteer
work is “an unconscionable exploitation.”
ACTION Director Sam Brown, who
more than a decade ago organized demon
strators against the Vietnam War, said in
talks to student groups he finds “there are
a lot of young people looking for a way to
serve.”
“I’m always being told, ‘Look back on
the good old days of the war protests,”’
Brown said in an interview. But “we con
sidered it a victory for volunteer service, if
40 or 50 people show up. The good old
days were not really that good.”
“We (ACTION) had some 200,000 in
formation calls last year,” he said. “That’s a
whole lot of folks.”
Cynthia Wedel, national volunteer
chairman for the American Red Cross, said
the Red Cross has no trouble getting vol
unteers per se but “we’re having trouble
getting different kinds of volunteers.”
“We used to depend on the middle-
aged housewife, but that group is shrink
ing fast because women are going to
work,” she said. The slack is being taken
up by arranging for employed people to do
volunteer work: “Many people find their
jobs routine and dull and love a chance to
become more creative.”
“Today’s young people are serious, con
cerned and willing to work,” she said.
“They know what’s going on and are aw
fully willing to work . but they want to be
in on the planning.”
Brown put it another way.
“I don’t believe young people are a
problem to society, rather society is more
a problem to the young,” he said. “We
need to turn that around. We need to find
a way that people can serve so they are
real participants.”
He said a draft should provide “an alter
native,” what he called, “an option for
people whose instincts, are different. ”
Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, DMass., a former
Peace Corps member, said his two years as
a Peace Corps volunteer “had more influ
ence over the course of my life than any
other event. ” In a statement released with
the committee report, Tsongas said “un
doubtedly, the people served and the
people who serve would mutually bene
fit.”
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said the
committee’s report should be made an
issue of debate in schools throughout the
nation, adding that he was having copies of
the report distributed to schoo'J
Michigan district.
Vernon E. Jordan, president of|
tional Urban League, said it “si
evident to the nation as a whole 1
must provide increasing opporl
our young people or else run th(|
seeing their lives wasted.”
Alan Beals, executive directorofl
tional League of Cities, said tlie|
was asking mayors throughout the *
to initiate studies of the problem^
“Young people volunteeringlbrl|
full-time service could make
impact on some of our urgent url
lems,” Beals said.
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