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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1979)
Viewpoint The Battalion # Texas A&M University • Tuesday • July 10, 1979 Talkies fare badly at A&M By ROY BRAGG Texas A&M University traditions set the school apart from almost every other school in the country. Notre Dame has their fight song, and Texas has their big drum, but tra ditions at A&M are in a class by them selves. I think the big difference is that A&M has so many of them. Here at Texas A&M, these tra ditions are not just ceremonial, they’re a way of life. The majority of these rituals neatly tie into football games: students stand for the entire game, form “boot” lines for the team to run through after halftime, and all participate in yelling for the team. There’s the War Hymn, the Spirit and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Twelfth Man. On the domestic front. Aggies are supposed to say “Howdy” to each other on campus. Aggies don’t wear their hats in the Memorial Student Center or walk on the grass surround ing the building. Even the newer Aggie traditions are one-of-a-kind: paying for football tickets and then standing in line to not get them, paying for the privilege of parking a couple of parsecs away from class. Friday nights before football games are especially active. Thirty thousand students crowd into fifteen or so bars, get blind drunk, go to midnight yell practice and throw up all over the alumni here for the game. This is Ag- gieland. But even destroying brain cells at local nightclubs and passing out in a stranger’s lap take a back seat to the most rude and aggravating Aggie “tra dition” — the predictable and almost ritual “whooping” and “hissing” dur ing movies, plays or concerts. Nothing irritates me more than to be watching a movie at the Grove or a local theater and to hear a hundred or so farmers (i.e. CTs ) screaming “WHOOP!” or “SSSSSSSSSS” during an important scene of a film. After years of sitting in Aggie audi ences trying to enjoy movies, I’ve been able to discern several types of Aggie movie audiences. If the crowd “whoops” during the climax of the film and whenever a bikini-clad woman is shown, it is con sidered an intellectual group. These are the people often found discussing New Wave films at the Sonic. Whenever the cartoon before the film gets a “whoop”, it can be said the natives are “restless”. Anyone in the audience wearing orange clothing should carry firearms. If the villain gets hissed throughout the film, the crowd is labeled “ineb riated”. Hearing the dialogue is con sidered a luxury and occurs rarely. In addition, it is unwise to smoke in this crowd because sterno ignites so easily. If the previews of coming attrac tions are “whooped” and the opening credits get a standing ovation, it’s midnight and the film is probably X-rated or about the Green Berets. This kind of crowd could drown out “Earthquake” in Senssurround. It would be advisable for all women and barnyard animals to stay clear of the theater. Since I know it’s impossible for Ag gies to change habits any more than they like to change socks, I suggest that theaters in the area be equipped with sound-measuring devices. Whenever the crowd whoops or hisses at a decibel level high enough to dis rupt the hearing of the non-cretins, the film would automatically stop, re wind and replay the preceeding ten seconds until everyone has heard it. Now that I’ve had my say, I hope lynching won’t become the newest Aggie tradition. Conservatives plan defeat of SALT supporters in 1980 By DAVID BRODER WASHINGTON — The Senate starts its formal committee consideration of the SALT II strategic-arms treaty with the Soviet Union this week, and, so far as one can tell, most of the senators advocating and opposing the treaty are approaching the issue with the seriousness it deserves. But there are some people who would like to substitute a blackjack for a persua sive argument to kill the treaty. Their threat to the senators who must weigh this decision is, quite literally: Vote right or we will knock you out. The New Right Report, a political news letter published by Richard Viguerie, the conscyrvative direct-mail specialist, and edited by Morton C. Blackwell, is an example of the shillelagh school of SALT debate. “A growing number of conservative political activists,” they write in their latest issue, “now see the SALT II fight as the key to defeating liberals in the 1980 elections. The 1978 election saw the defeat of eight U.S. senators who had voted for the Panama Canal treaties.” (Aside: It also saw the re-election of seven senators who had voted for those treaties and the defeat of two anti-treaty incumbents — a point Blackwell understandably does not men tion.) “Conservatives believe that the SALT II treaty vote will provide an even larger crop of liberal scalps in 1980. Whether the treaty is stopped in the Se nate or not, those senators who vote for it are in for a rude shock if they believe this issue will blow over before next year’s primaries and general election. “Conservative preparations for this bat tle are nothing less than massive,” Blackwell and Viguerie wrote. “On June If only we By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Like other con cerned citizens, I am hoping the Skylab re-entry debris will fall harmlessly into the middle of the ocean, striking nothing ex cept open water. But in case some of the pieces are de stined to hit something more substantial, I have drawn up a list of preferred landing spots. Pray let the plunging remnants of the errant space station come to rest at one or more of the following sites: —The secret hiding place of former Ugandi President Idi Amin. —The computer that stores the data on which OPEC oil price formulas are based. 14, several conservative movement lead ers revealed at a news conference many of the steps they are taking to stop SALT II. “Their announcements show conserva tives learned some lessons in the Panama Canal battle. Political impact, not an elaborate argument about missile megatonnage, was the main thrust ...” In outlining their planned “carrot and stick” approach to the senators — an ap proach that seemed weighted to the 2-by-4 or mule-training school of educational psy chology — Blackwell said that no less than nine of the “top political experts of the conservative movement” had committed their talents to the defeat of any SALT II supporter. One of them, Paul Weyrich, head of the ironically named Committee for the Sur- —Whichever concert hall or outdoor arena that has booked that evening a per formance by Led Zepplin. —The headquarters of any motorcycle gang. —The room in the Florida state prison that houses the electric chair. —The television studio used to tape episodes of “Eight Is Enough. ” —The conference room at the Energy Department where allocation plans to minimize gas shortages are formulated. —The recording studio where albums are made by the Osmond family. — The Iranian courtroom where pleas for mercy are entered by enemies of the Ayatollah Khomeini who are awaiting execution. vival of a Free Congress, is quoted as hav ing said the “prime goal is to recruit anti- SALT II primary and general-election op ponents for senators who are wavering on this treaty. Weyrich also observed that “an effective threat to their re-elections has a way of convincing senators to vote right. ” I know Richard Viguerie and Paul Weyrich as vigorous political partisans, but they — like their opposite numbers on the left — approach this question with an ideological fervor that makes me skeptical about the quality of their own judgements. Terry Dolan, chairman of the National Conservative Policical Action Committee, says the billboard which the newsletter is planning to use against Sen. George McGovern (D-S.D.), one of those up for —The press relations office of the gov ernment of Nicaragua. —The storeroom containing the legal pads upon which are written the majority opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court in cases touching on the First Amendment. —The broadcast booth at any stadium from where Howard Cosell reports sport ing events. —The private gasoline pump used by government limousines assigned to lead ers of the House and Senate. -—Any movie theater where “Rocky II” is playing. —A bookstore shelf upon which are dis played the complete collected works of Harold Robbins. —The ring into which 1980 Republican re-election next year, is a digrace to politi cal debate. According to Blackwell’s and Viguerie’s description, it “shows McGovern handing a Soviet officer a box full of missiles labeled SALT II and reads, “McGovern sells out the U.S. ... again! If McGovern wins, you lose.” What the New Right is doing is not all that new at all. Back in 1950, the club was in other hands. Sen. Robert A. Taft (R- Ohio) had opposed the Truman adminis tration and led the unsuccessful fight against the North Atlantic (NATO) treaty. The administration, working with or ganized labor, set out to purge Bob Taft, recruiting a popular Ohio Democratic of ficeholder, “Jumping Joe” Ferguson, as the unlikely instrument of its retaliatory policy. Truman sent no less a personage thn W. Averell Harriman, then his special assistant, to the AFL convention in 1950 to charge that if Congress had followed Taft’s lead, “Communist objectives would thereby have been furthered.” It was demagoguery then and it is de magoguery now, when the same charge comes from the other side of the political fence. Taft replied that he thought the people of Ohio “want an independent Congress,” not a senator who “knuckles under” to the dictates of “a President or a Political Action Committee.” That November, he beat Joe Ferguson by 431,184 votes, i don’t know what my young friends in the New Right think of Bob Taft. But there’s a monument to him on Capitol Hill, which is more than can be said for the kind of senator who would let himself be intimidated by their threats. (c) 1979, The Washington Post Com pany presidential candidates throw their hats. —Any disco. —The conference room of any Madison Avenue agency engaged in the preparation of television commercials in which actors pretending to be consumers utter words of thanks to the advertisers for having sold them certain goods and services. —The liquor cabinet or wine cellar at any Iranian embassy. —Any magazine rack containing any periodical containing any article about the doings of Jackie O. —Any radio studio from which origi nates a talk show on which one of the guests is Truman Capote. —The satellite tracking station at NASA. could choose where Skylab falls the small society m 6PAPDATEJ? LA^T A^NTH - by Brickman (Sit i.r, Stdl J .'.ilC alts liu. 7- // ' Top of the News STATE Davis’ retrial delayed 3 weeks The Fort Worth retrial of millionaire T. Cullen Davis on charges of conspiring to have his divorce judge killed was postponed for three weeks Monday because the defense claimed it could not locate a key witness. Defense attorneys said witness Pat Burleson, a former karate school instructor and friend of Davis’ former wife, could not be lo cated in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They maintained Burleson’s testimony was a cornerstone of Davis’ defense and the millionaire industrialist could not receive a fair trial unless Burleson could be questioned. District Judge Gordan Gray granted the delay and re scheduled jury selection for July 30. Jury deliberating in Estes trial Courthouse sources in Dallas said Monday it was unlikely a de liberating federal jury would reach a verdict before midweek in the complicated fraud and income tax evasion trial of Texas swindler Billie Sol Estes. The eight-woman, four-man jury began deliberations late Thursday. After a weekend recess, the panel resumed its work Monday morning. Estes, 51, and his codefendant, Abilene busi nessman Ray K. Horton, were charged last year with collaborating to defraud three industrial leasing companies of about $600,000 through am arrangement to market 36 heavy duty steam cleaners used in oil field work. The government said the cleaners — like Estes’ thousands of liquid fertilizer tanks he once claimed to have owned — did not exist. NATION Explosions on rig kill one AMA says laetrile use can kill FAA says DC-lOs still grounded WORLD French ship rescues 837 refugees A French hospital ship arrived in Singapore Monday with 837 Vietnamese refugees, i ncluding three pregnant women, rescued from boats in the South China Sea, a French Embassy spokeswoman said. The ship, the He de Lumiere, was sent by French voluntary organiza tions to provide med ical aid to Vietnamese refugees on the refugee island of Pulau Bidong off Malaysia’s east coast. A French Embassy spokeswoman said Panis has guaranteed their resettlement in France. She said the boat people will be brought to a refugee center about 20 miles north of here to await departure to France. Students y (Chinese fight over noise Two explosions and a fire ripped through an Amoco oil rig in Port Hudson, La. Monday, killing one man and injuring three others, two of them critically. Firemen and other emergency crews were pulled back from the well, located off U.S. 61 in East Baton Rouge Parish, after the second explosion about two hours after the first. Additional equipment and manpower were called to fight the blaze. The steel structure atop the well toppled to the ground and a gasoline storage tank next to the site was in danger of igniting, authorities said. There was no immediate report on the cause of the accident. Laetrile, the controversial cancer treatment made from the pits of apricots and other fruit, can kill, the American Medical Association said in Chicago Monday. The AMA based its allegation on the re search findings of Dr. Janardan D. Khandekar at Evanston (Ill.) Hos pital and Northwestern University Medical School. Khandekar fed Laetrile to groups: of tumor-infected rats to study the affects of the substance, also known as amygdalin. He reported not only a progress ive increase in the* size of the tumors, but also death rates as high as 56.8 percent from cyanide poisoning in three of the study groups. Federal Aviation Administration officials in Washington said Monday several obstacles still remain before the nation’s DC-10 fleet can be returned to the skies. FAA spokesman Denis Feldman said there are still a “number of unresolved issues that the administrator has to take care of. B ond grounded the DC-10 on June 6. Before he allows the planes to fly again, he must give a federal judge 24 hours notice under terms of an agreement in a suit filed by the Airline Passengers Association. African, Asian and! Arab students fought Chinese students in a series of battles at the Shanghai Textile Institute, leaving 21 foreig ners and one Chinese injured, a student said Monday. A spokesman among the foreign stv.idents said by telephone from Shanghai that the fight began at the night of July 3 when Chinese students came to the foreign students’ dor naitory to complain about loud radios. He said the Education Ministry in Peking “appealed for calm” July 5 and “Asked us to leave our building. We left behind our radios and tape recorders and everything on the street. The foreign students were taken to a small hotel near Shanghai. The student said they could not return to their classes on textile production “as we fear for our lives.” St Wi l PASA ook clc £uropa, upiter, vhy it is jlanet s grooves Photc ivhich i: (noon, s ind pos mow. G< ad i LOUl feature < Louisvil oiggest ; Louisvi energy i [rational Presic main at speaking Associat he sumr group t and ther with his dent Wa top Whi eonferer It is fi of what ( emergm —Stu dent’s tc icy, arm ‘come o his enei Look for — Bu tyre, ask federal operativ postpon necessar with the It is goir —Bot Spoke of of foreigi spoke of and “for economy tional se —Moi technolo pendenc cans den project 1 Message to overta is wo'rkii sybstitut k. 01 The Battalion LETTERS PO LICY Letters to the editor should not ext eed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to ed it such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter \ Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writ er and list a telephone number for verification. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDovx aid Building, College Station, Texas 77843. 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Address: The Battalioni, Room 216, Reed MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Karen Boffi News Editor Debbie Pant: Sports Editor Sean Pet City Editor Roy Br^ Campus Editor Keith Ta;i Staff Writers Robin Thomps* Louie Arthur, Carolyn Blosser, Da' :: Boggan Photo Editor .Clay 0^ Photographer Lynn Blant Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the uriter of the article and are not necessarily those of the , University administration or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, supporting enterprise operated by sfui*' as a university and community netospaf^ Editorial policy is determined by the #