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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 1979)
Viewpoint The Battalion • Texas A&M University Wednesday August 22, 1979 A cure for freshman disorientation Although A&M’s enrollment is expected to reach more than 31,000 this year, it is still easy to spot the freshmen. He’s the one walking around with a puzzled look on his face and an MSC bookstore map of the campus in his hand. She’s the one cringing in the backseat amid the boxes and clothes when the proud parents ask a fellow Aggie the way to Keathley dorm. College life is a unique experience, but life at A&M is in a class by itself. Aggie- isms, phrases, and traditions can over whelm the timid freshman. But not to worry. The hapless freshman need not go catatonic or go throw himself into the muddy Brazos. Instead, he may read on, and find himself enlightened about some of the pitfalls of Aggie life. First of all, the freshman should learn that A&M is very much a school of tradi tion. And there’s a truckfull of traditions, rang ing from the rather beautiful and solemn Silver Taps memorial for students who die during the school year to the rowdy act of Aggie baptism, “quadding.” He should learn, also, that there are two basic kinds of Aggies, excluding the rather obvious division of male-female. There are the 2,300 uniformed cadets and their vastly more numerous civilian counterparts. Though there are differences of opinion be tween the two, they are still, deep down. Aggies. When a cadet accosts you for violating a tradition, don’t get rattled or take it per sonally. Most cadets mean well, and there are a million traditions to learn anyway. Two places you can’t go wrong are: don’t walk on the MSC grass, and don’t wear your hat inside the MSC. But, as all incoming students find out, one of the traditions not listed in the stu dent handbook is standing in line. Never finding a parking space and writ ing at least one "What constitutes a 'Good Ag”’ letter to the Battalion are other un written traditions. And believe it or not, it used to be tradition to play home football games at home in Kyle. As for the lighter side, don’t let anyone con you into thinking A&M lacks members of the partying persuasion. All you have to do is cruise by the Dixie Chicken any night of the week and you can see them hanging off the porch rail. It may take a while, but there are hard-core fiesta-lovers just like there are fanatic Aggies. In fact, there’s really no difference between the two. De ciding to party is not nearly so difficult as deciding what intoxicant to use and where to indulge in it. A little advice to the freshmen to ease the shock of the first semester: —If you think you’ll get up earlier than the KK so you can move your car out of that staff space before it gets ticketed, you’re fooling yourself. The early cop nabs the worms. —Remember the old plop-plop fizz-fizz when you find Sbisa food isn’t what you think it is. —Don’t get bent out of shape when the coke machine eats your last quarter. That’s an unwritten tradition, too. —Remember that “Old Army” whatever that was, is dead. —And lastly, beware of fun-loving seniors selling 50-yardline football tickets in the third deck of Kyle Field. —D.F.G., K.L.R. Only 10 complete second term History full of one-term presidents By ARNOLD SAWISLAK United Press International WASHINGTON — Because the 22nd Amendment limits presidents to two terms in office, we may have come to think of that as the normal tenure of a chief executive. The record indicates otherwise. Starting with George Washington, only 10 of the 38 men who have held the office have completed two full terms. Only three of the 15 presidents of the 20th Century — Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower — have finished a second term. Thus the overall record since 1789 is a second full term to one president out of four; but since 1900 it has been only one president in five. It can be argued that the change in this century is a fluke; that FDR’s three terms plus and the murder of John F. Kennedy in his first term distorted the long range trend. Argue away — even if you count those who won but did not finish second terms, no more than one president in three would have served eight years in the White House. All three 20th Century presidents who completed two or more terms were in volved in three of the four major wars this country has fought during the last 80 years — Wilson with World War I, FDR with World War II and Ike with World War II and the Korean conflict. Some might say if it takes a war to keep a president in office, perhaps we are better off with one termers in the White House. What might be more to the point, espe cially in the current situation, is the ap pearance that every modern president who has made it through two terms has had the help of an external threat to the nation. And now even that may have worn off as a guarantee of presidential tenure — Vietnam destroyed Lyndon Johnson after he had racked up a remarkable record of accomplishment on really difficult domes tic issues. Which brings us to Jimmy Carter and his problems. Carter, like Richard Nixon, has had extraordinary success in foreign affairs. But he has not been able to get a grip on the predominantly domestic problems of energy and inflation, and it now looks to many people as if Carter will become the fifth president since Eisenhower to serve only one term or less. If you believe in historical cycles, it is possible to compare Carter’s situation that of the 19th Century presidents between 1836 and 1860. Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan all were one term presidents in a period when the country was struggling to deal with questions raised by territorial expansion, the rise of abolitionism and the develop ment of an economic system that balanced the demands of both agriculture and indus try. Economy 9 energy rate over SALT By CHERYL ARVIDSON United Press International WASHINGTON — The Senate has des ignated October as the opening month in the long-awaited Salt II debate. But there are indications the opening act will be played to a yawning audience outside Washington. Senators traveling their home states dur ing the month-long August recess are re porting that many things now concern Americans — but SALT isn’t at the top of the list. A good way to assess the public pulse is by going through the mail bags on Capitol Hill. A quick check of some Senate offices shows SALT mail picking up a bit, but that the nuclear arms limitation treaty is far be hind economic and energy problems. Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., is receiving about 500 cards a week on SALT, breaking down roughly 80 percent against and 20 percent for. But most of the mail is what is called “generated mail” — pre-printed postcards or form letters that frequently come from outside the senator’s home state. "It will never outdo Panama,” said one Dole aide in reference to the Panama Canal treaties before the Senate in 1978 that gen erated "tens of thousands of letters.” SALT mail has begun to get a little heavier in the office of Sen. David Duren- burger, R-Minn., but aides say the energy crunch is a far more popular topic of his letterwriters. And in the office of Sen. John Culver, D-Iowa, SALT is running far behind the light bill and other bills. “We usually get a couple dozen or so letters a week on SALT, but we get 10 times that many on energy and economic issues,” said a Culver aide. He said a little more than half of the SALT letters are coming from outside of Iowa, and running about 2-to-l against the treaty. The in-state mail is more balanced, perhaps only 3-to-2 against. And at least one-fourth of all the anti- SALT mail arriving in Culver’s office ap pears to be a form letter-type campaign, the aide said. “You get the same phrases, repetition and even identical postcards.” Conservative opponents of the Panama Canal treaties very nearly scuttled the pacts by generating intense public opposi tion. They were hopeful of even more suc cess with SALT. But things just aren’t working out that way in the Senate. There will certainly be some reser vations attached to te treaty. But the tide appears to have turned and SALT ratifica tion, although still a battle, is becoming more probable. Russian, U.S. version of the old ‘shell game 9 By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — OK, parlor game lovers, let’s play around round of “Hide the Missile.” Remember a year or so ago there was talk of digging a bunch of holes in the ground and moving MX missiles from one hole to another so the Soviets could never be sure which holes they were in? Well, that plan, informally known as “The Shell Game,” was abandoned on grounds it might prompt the Soviets to build surplus missile holes of their own, thus making it more difficult for the United States to verify how many missiles they had. And remember the substitute plan last spring to put the missiles on tracks in 20- mile-long concrete trenches and run them back and forth between launching sites? Well, that idea recently was abandoned. Thotz by Doug Graham .... we otfl' To s-harhM 'fork, yoo jo7f> too. Seems the governors of four western states were the missiles would be located weren’t convinced that corrugating the ter rain with cement furrows fitted their re gion’s “land use” concept. So now the boys at the Pentagon have come up with another alternative — build some oval roadways, lace them with cov ered shelters and move the missiles around the track from shelter to shelter on mobile launchers. But I don’t think it is going to go over so big either. What it amounts to, essentially, is missile busing. And you know what an emotional issue busing has become. So I’m afraid it’s back to the drawing boards for the MX game plan. If I were on the strategy board, I would recommend linking the MX "basing mode,” as it is called, to the water projects that are so dear to the hearts of the Ameri can West. President Carter, who has approved the $30 billion missile system, keeps trying to kill off some of the waterworks, claiming they are boondoggles. There should be room for a trade-off here. If those concrete missile trenches re ferred to above were filled with water, you can bet the governors would love them. Then they could transport the missiles on barges, rather than on tracks, and everyone would be happy. In his recent energy speeches, the presi dent spoke of producing synthetic oil from coal and shale. But surface mining, needed to extract the coal and shale, is as bad for the landscape as concrete trenches. Very well. Let the Energy Department go ahead and dig up the coal and shale. Then let the Defense Department use the ditches and holes to hide missiles in. Doubling up like that might not entirely overcome environmentalist objections. But at least it would be less controversial than busing. STATE Archbishop named for San Antonio Pope John Paul II Tuesday named Bishop Patrick F. Flores of El Paso, Texas, to be Archbishop of San Antonio, Texas, succeeding the late Archbishop Francis J. Furey. Archbishop Jean Jadot, the apostolic delegate in the United States, also said John Paul has accepted the resignation for reasons of health of Bishop Lawrence M. DeFalco of Amarillo, Texas. Flores, was appointed bishop of El Paso April 4,1978. No successor for DeFalco has yet been named. NATION Buses roll again in Cleveland Buses and rapid transit trains paralyzed by a three-day wildcat strike rolled in Cleveland Tuesday while negotiators tried to hammer out a contract agreement for transit workers. Negotiations were set to re sume late Wednesday between the Greater Cleveland Regional Tran sit Authority and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 268. The RTA trustees ordered the system’s management to reopen stalled wage talks Some 2,000 bus drivers and mechanics, who returned to work early Monday morning, had threatened to stage a much longer strike beginning Thursday if the RTA did not return to the bargaining table. Last Friday, some 200,000 daily commuters had to find alternate means of transportation because of the wildcat strike. The transit union workers have been without a contract since July 31. Man confesses, priest still charged The man who exonerated a Roman Catholic priest by confessing to three robberies the prelate was accused of committing in Delaware has admitted to the one remaining charge against the Rev. Bernard Pagano, an attorney in Philadelphia said Tuesday. But Pagano, 53, still is charged with the crime. Prosecutors said the attempted robbery charge will stand until completion of an investigation. Ronald Clouser, 39, in a statement to the Delaware County district attorney’s office Monday, admitted trying to hold up a boutique in a Concordville shopping mall in February, his lawyer Saul Segan said. A pre-trial hearing for Pagano, originally scheduled Tuesday, has been continued until Sept. 18, according to District Attorney Frank Hazel. Pagano’s trial, first slated for Sept. 5, has been pushed back to Sept. 25. No action over NYC cash crisis A three-year investigation into New York City’s financial crisis is over, with a decision that no criminal action is warranted against city officials or institutions. In an original Securities and Exchange Com mission staff report issued in 1977, then-Mayor Abraham Beame, city Comptroller Harrison Goldin, six banks and Merrill Lynch, the coun try’s largest brokerage house, were charged with misleading investors in city securities in 1974-75 by failing to disclose the city s poor financial state. The report, issued 13 days before the September primary that year, was viewed as a key factor in Beame’s defeat. Monday, Fiske said his office had “completed a thorough review of all the factual information developed by the SEC” and concluded “for essentially the same reasons stated by the commission, criminal pro ceedings against these individuals and institutions are not warranted.” Minnesota to lose millions on crops LA buses leave the driving to you The Battalion U S P S 045 360 United jjW OR innerU. Tuesd gt Justice paged La ping befc Jcted him jttomey •judge put Coui in d ping (Lance tie the CANOE! novice works! G. Rc newly Micke OPEN H floor c House new a and pi STREET G. Ro FREE W “Smol CANOE! signec CALENI have s form { purpo AP0 BI< tion, Unive a.m. 1 The states in the nation’s grain belt are expecting bumper crops this season — all except Minnesota. The losses there due to a late spring, a fuel shortage during the planting season and a lengthy grain strike at the Port of Duluth, could reach millions of dollars, officials in St. Paul, Minn., said Monday. And now, just when he corn, soybeans and sunflower seed need sunshine, they’re getting clouds and rain. “It’s kind of like Murphy’s Law this year against agriculture,” state Agricul ture Commissioner Mark W. Seetin said. “Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. The first frost, during a normal year, can be expected in late September or early October. “All we can do is pray for a late frost,” Seetin said. He said there is no way to estimate at this time how much of a financial loss Minnesota farmers face — but it will run into the millions of dollars. The old, the young and the poor suffered most from a strike that shut down Los Angeles’ bus system, but the motoring majority was also inconvenienced by freeway traffic jams. Compared to a week ago, the average rush hour delay on the area’s freeways increased bv from 55 to 110 percent, state highway officials said. The State Mediation and Conciliation Service was overseeing negotiations to end the strike. Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., a mass transit booster in a city with little enthusiasm for it, said he would not personally intervene but was following the progress of talks. “I certainly followed it on the freeway this morning, ” he quipped to a news conference. The walkout by 5,000 drivers, 1,200 mechanics and 485 clerks against the Rapid Transit District halted more than 2,400 buses in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange Counties that normally carry 1.2 million fares a day. 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. 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Photographer Lynn Ble* Cartoonist Crejt Spcw*^ 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-profit, sdf- supporting enterprise operated by ttwdnfi as a university and community neuspsptt Editorial policy is determined by tht nttsf c 3<