Slouch
by Jim Earle
“/£ may be just a game to you; but to me, it’s the founda
tion of this country, right up there next to apple pie and
hotdogs! It’s what made this country great and it’s un-
American to not appreciate the institution that it’s created!
That is why I’m not letting a few homework assignments
keep me from supporting the world series.”
Opinion
Waste not, want not
America deserves its energy crisis.
Though once a union of hardworking, self-made
pioneers, it is fast becoming a nation of lazy, self-
indulgent tenderfeet. The president mandates a 78-
degree thermostat setting and people scream like the
pampered pigs they are. Or worse, they disregard
the order altogether. Closer to home, able-bodied
college students find it too inconvenient to walk to
classes, preferring the air conditioned comfort of
gas-guzzling automobiles.
And what we don’t use, we waste.
We use water — a precious natural resource —
like we did gasoline before the oil crisis of 1972. If
only half the people in America let the water run
while they brush their teeth, they waste 160 billion
gallops of water every year.
Our mam problem is not a shortage ol resources.
It’s a shortage of energy — human energy.
We can’t inconvenience ourselves to shut off a
light switch, turn down the thermostat, get off the
gas. We just can’t summon the get up and go to get up
and go on foot.
Aggies, however, now have an added incentive to
conserve. Texas A&M Watts Watcher awards are
given every month to those who are especially
energy conscious or who come up with particularly
good conservation ideas.
This is our chance to garner fame while doing our
bit to conserve America’s resources, to take the lead
out of our gas-wasting feet, to open the windows and
turn off the air conditioner ... to turn the water off
when we brush our teeth.
Be energy conscious. Start watching watts now
before there are none left.
the small society by Brickman
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Friday
October 12, 1979
Washington
Congressmen listen; they all know
the best ad is a satisfied constituent
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Write your con
gressman. It actually works; at least it
works most of the time.
At a time when government seems to be
responding less and less to individual citi
zens and their problems. Congress still lis
tens.
You may get a carefully worded non
answer which tries mightily to sound as if
it is actually saying something. But at least
your view will be known to someone who
may soon be voting on the issue you men
tioned.
Contrary to what you may believe, your
letter probably will be one of only a few
dozen “personal” letters your con
gressman receives in any month. When
hundreds or thousands of letters pour into
a congressman’s office, it is a safe bet that
they are easy-to-recognize organized cam
paigns by lobby groups.
Therefore, your letter probably will
carry more weight than you think because
it is from a truly concerned voter and not
from an organization.
And if you have a problem, most con
gressmen will assign a “case worker” to do
everything possible to get action. Most
congressmen learn very early that the best
advertisement in the next election is a
satisfied constituent.
In some cases — if you are lucky enough
to have such a congressman — case work is
handled by staff members who take joy in
browbeating the bureaucracy. In some
cases, case workers work under a time
limit for handling problems.
How do you write your congressman
and what happens to your letter?
First, find out who your congressman is.
That’s fairly easy. Just call the local library
or look in the phone book under “U.S.
Government.” Almost any agency listed
there would know.
Usually you will get faster action on a
particular problem from a House member,
but letters stating an opinion should go to
both the House member from your district
and to both your senators.
The address usually is “The Hon.
(name); House (or Senate) Office Building.
Washington, D.C. 20515 (or 20510 if the
letter is going to a senator).
Your letter probably will be opened by a
secretary who then will route it to the
proper staff member. Therefore, it is good
to get the subject of the letter as high as
possible.
If your letter expresses an opinion, you
will receive a reply — often a form letter
— saying whether the congressman agrees
or disagrees, or talking around the subject
so well that you may not be able to figure
what he thinks.
Whatever the answer, your opinion will
By MIKE
Batti
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be taken into account when
gressman wants to know what
back home” think.
If your letter is aboutaprob
worker may make some phon
answer you directly. . . .
But with most problems, oaii jF c
asking information about some?; *. at 1 ,j’ y
staff member probably will simpl f ^ r ‘
form post card to your letteranb*
the proper agency in the bureann *5* e IC
will almost always get thronpi
proper agency faster through^ ^ p en
gressman than through writinj .
reaucracy yourself. f
Agencies and departments Ic i
these letters from congressma* 11 1.' 1 Y
priority, and you will almostcerta if ,Y mU
• i ir itec at roo
quick answer. It you area t satin J
the answer, write again.
Somewhere along the way
someone to listen. Br
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DICK WEST
Oh, those tacky mispronunciation
of senators’ names — how to cope!
rs ago.
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By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — With luck, a body
can get through an entire lifetime without
ever having occasion to call a senator by
name.
You never know, though, when you
might bump into, say. Sen. Barry Goldwa-
ter on a streetcorner, and the two of you
would strike up a conversation, and you
would wind up inviting him to your place
for dinner.
If that happened, you might find your
self introducing the senator to your
grandma, and you would want to be sure
you pronounced his name properly,
wouldn’t you?
Of course you would. It would be em
barrassing to all concerned if you put the
accent on the wrong syllable, used a soft
vowel where a hard vowel was preferred,
or something of that sort.
For your information, and to spare you
any possible chagrin, the name should be
divided into two syllables: “Gold” and
“water,” with the accent on the former.
That, at least, is the way it appears in a
newly published “Congressional Pronun
ciation Guide, ” compiled as a public serv
ice by Rep. Douglas Bereuter, R-Neb.,
whose name we shall deal with in a mo
ment.
First, let it be noted that people in some
areas, when trying to pronounce Goldwa-
ter correctly, might have trouble compres
sing “water” into one syllable, as the guide
dictates.
My own inclination, I confess, would be
to split it — either as “wa-ter” or “wat-er. ”
But that would turn Goldwater into a
three-syllable name, and the guide defi
nitely gives it only two, as in Baker,
Bentsen, Bradley, Bumpers, Burdick and
so on.
Since we are told the pronunciations in
the guide “were provided by the members
of Congress or by their employees,” we
have to assume the two-syllable form is the
senator’s own choice.
You shall have to deal with it as best you
can. Try saying “water” real fast, sort of
slurring the end. That will help you hold it
down to a single sonant.
For some names, the guide gives a
phonetic pronunciation; for others, a
rhyming word.
For example. Sen. Robert Dole is listed
as rhyming with “roll.’ Thafsfo
fit of people who might tendt
with “bowl,” “soul,” “goal,”
“pol.”
I learned from the guide that It
mispronouncing a number old
sional names. For one, I always
Sen. Paul Laxalt as “laxalt. ”The?i
it’s “lacksalt.”
I don’t know what motivated!
to published the guide, but 1 st
may have been a sly way of call®'
tion to the correct pronunciatio!|
own name.
He gives it as “Bee-writer, *
the first syllable. How he got
of “renter, I cannot say. I we]
made it rhyme with “Roto-rooteil
Letters
Student: Zachry should have been
honest about construction deadlines
Editor:
H.B. Zachry, old hand that he is, seems
to have forgotten how much we Aggies
admire honesty.
At the end of last spring everyone knew
that Kyle Field would not be completed
by the BYU game. By the end of the sum
mer I was wondering whether it would be
ready for the t.u. game. Why? Mr. Zac
hry, with long-range meteorological fore
casts predicting a colder, wetter climate
available to him, blithely set a deadline he
couldn’t possible meet. Wally Groff also
with dollar signs in his eyes sold tickets to
non-existent seats even after it was clear
that construction delays would probably
increase.
Both made a bad mistake for all the
wrong reasons and the Class of’83 and the
alumni are paying for it. Squeeze, Aggies
and pray Duncan Field Midnight Yells
don’t become a tradition and the ’80 boot
line becomes “safe.
— Max Triola, ’81
Chance to he honest
Editor:
I have heard of the “good old Aggie
spirit” and now I am hoping that some Ag
will display it.
Tuesday afternoon I left my
calculator at the data processing
next to an APL terrfnnal. When |
back, I couldn’t find it. The cal
not as expensive as some, 1
don’t have the money to replace‘1
the person who picked it up wilt*
siderate enough to return it.
— Linda Krtf*
(
Writing the editor
The Battalion welcomes letters to
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THOTZ