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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1979)
Slouch by Jim Earle “Z will sure be glad when all this Halloween stuff is over and you settle down and become a person again.” Opinion Let Greeks in book Ten years from now, some former students will pull the ’80 “Aggieland off a shelf and look for a photo of the group that meant a lot to them. And they won’t find it. Last night the Student Publications Board decided to keep a policy that excludes fraternaties and sororities from the organizations section of the yearbook. All student groups recognized by the University have the option of buying a page in that section of the book. See related story on page 3. Student groups not recognized may not buy a page for their picture, according to a Pub Board policy adopted in 1976. Greek letter organizations are not officially recognized. The Pub Board is refusing to face reality. Greek organi zations have about 1,400 members, or about 4 percent of the students. Few other student organizations can claim that size. The issue is not — as the Pub Board argued — whether the University has formally recognized the organizations. The issue is whether the organizations are significant to Aggies and deserve the opportunity to buy space in the book. They are and they do. Holy bat wings: a Halloween hater We know at least one student who won’t celebrate this week’s holi day. “I hate Halloween,” she said, hanging up Christmas decorations in her apartment the other day. “I have not liked it since I was little.” Once on All Hallows’ Eve, dressed as a very small witch, she was walking from her bedroom to the den — excited about a night of trick-or-treating. Then her mother walked up behind her. And she softly said “Boo.” She did not intend to scare the child half to death, but she did. “And ever since then,” the college student relayed, “I’ve hated Hal loween.” the small society by Brickman ^V^fZ-YTH !N<£ - X WA^ HAPPIER IN WITH <$5,000 A YeAP. THAN X AM N<2W WITH <$[0/000 - /O -3/ The Battalion U S P S 045 360 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. Represented nationally by National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday hrough Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per frill year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. 1 United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. i Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. : Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Liz Newlin Managing Editor Andy Williams Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone News Editors Karen Cornelison and Michelle Burrowes Sports Editor Sean Petty City Editor Roy Bragg Campus Editor Keith Taylor Focus Editors Beth Calhoun and Doug Graham Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy Andersen, Louie Arthur, Richard Oliver, Mark Patterson, Carolyn Blosser, Kurt Allen, Debbie Nelson, Rhonda Watters Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Photographers / Lynn Blanco, Sam Stroder, Ken Herrera Cartoonist Doug Graham 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, self- supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Wednesday October 31, 1979 Analysis Sweden’s experiment in cheap trawl pays off for airlines and railways By CHRISTINA JONSSON International Writer’s Service STOCKHOLM — Within recent months, Swedish airline terminals and railway stations have been clogged with record numbers of travelers, and for a simple reason. Airline tickets and train fares are being sold at bargain rates. This is a peculiar phenomenon, since in flation here as elsewhere has been driving up the prices of everything else. But Swe den, which always introduces novel ideas, is experimenting with extremely low-cost air and rail transportation. And the innova tion appears to be working dramatically well. Two men are responsible for the effort. One is Jan Carlzon, a tourist expert who now runs Linjeflyg, the government- controlled domestic airline. The other is Bengt Furback, who recently took over as head of the State Railway. Both have been operating on the theory that long-distance travel must be put within the reach of more people. In addi tion, they believe, inexpensive fares and high volume yield higher revenues. Carlzon went into action a year ago, first by slashing airline prices 30 percent. Then, last spring, he initiated a system under which passengers under the age of 25 can fly anywhere in the country, on a standby basis, for the equivalent of about $20. The only days excepted are Friday and Sunday, when weekend traffic is heavy. This is a drastic cut from the old tariffs. A round-trip flight between Stockholm and Gothenburg of some 220 miles, for example, formerly cost $200. The gamble is paying off. Air travel last summer was almost double that of the year before, and passenger traffic overall has risen 40 percent. Linjeflyg, which had been functioning at a loss, is currently in the black. Skeptics warn that Carlzon, who has broked every rule in the book on how to run an airline, may break his neck as well. They point out, among other things, that he may not be able to resist making huge investments if the demand for air travel keeps expanding. Given the sums re quired to buy more aircraft, they say, he could overextend himself. So far, though, Carlzon is looking good, and he keeps coming up with fresh bar gains. In an effort to persuade Swedes to spend their vacations in Sweden, for in stance, he is offering half-price hotel rooms and half-price car rentals along with reduced air fares. His only setback to date, in fact, has been his failure to persuade the govern ment to allow him to serve liquor on domestic flights. Originally, the loudest protests against Carlzon when he inaugurated his cut-rate fares came from officials of the State Rail way, who charged “unfair competition.” But then, last July, they counter-attacked. Furback, who has just taken over as boss, announced that the government- owned railroad would match the airline with across-the-board discounts of 30 per cent. He also introduced a special cheap tariff’ card, costing $27 for first class and $16 for second, with which passengers could get a further 40 percent discount any day except Friday and Sunday, the peak periods. That move triggered chaos in the na tion’s railway stations. Some 80,000 Swedes rushed to buy these cards during the first 10 days they were on sale, and ticket clerks simulated nervous break downs. Close to 150,000 cards have been sold so far. peans, are prepared to have tket" operate with governmentsul In this instance, the govei proved Eire cuts largely because lated that train passengers »e» relatively more to maintain! than motorists were for the us ways. Thus, it was thought, railroad traffic would be social Furback had a more pi He wanted to fill the State capacity on the five daysofthe traffic was slow. To a large extent, ments in cheaper air and train made possible by the n government coalition power here after the defeato( Democrates in 1976. By El Ball Sororities a able to p Aggielai ons Board )n Nov. oted a p ■ to stude ed by Tex the boa ley Bridgi relati Passenger traffic on the railroads soared 30 percent during the summer, and the demand was such that Furback had to bor row trains from West Germany and De nmark. But he will have to generate a steady 20 percent increase in traffic to compensate for the loss in revenues from fere reductions. That may not be possible over the long run. But the Swedes, like other Euro- ieland. 7 The government told Liujel; If seven c State Railway to do theirbestt the red — or least operate ing increased public subsidies and Furback are trying to pi swer. Besides the sharp increase in airplane as well as train, oner of the experiment was areduefe tomobile accidents duringth summer vacation. Andthatisa cannot l>e figured in money. Jonsson writes /or lb Dagbladet, the Stockholm X wqnrfed a good CosYurne ■£oc Hatto vJfien v /££% N / Ita Pi sore to be cc rities, an ridges, ernity C na, req policy i Greeks idges ar Greeks of the U ored. “We’re s,” Tije petition to ackn i expla i ,< ; ifr " { not onl vities, but ommunity ■ted Way HBridges p members ar activities. We ar We feel th roud of us ro rities the igh not i section, the 19 jeland e lonnie 1 Resident, iphold the made an exc ks, he s odetermin r as otb izatior Care atudent acti Letters Journalism prof defends coverage by news media of industry profits Every se ears, MS( ered a sj burses” o Bets. This dtli regist: hursday. The shor One night a Editor: I am always disturbed when someone doesn’t like what the news media reports and instantly claims bias. For example, an A&M professor has charged the news with distortion and bias in reporting record third quarter profits in the oil industry. The reports I read in newspapers, news magazines and on tele vision merely stated what these earnings were and how they compared with those of a year ago. I heard no editorial comment; the reader or listener could decide for himself whether they were excessive. Blitzkrieg bikers The professor then claimed that the news media had excessive profits and were covering it up. I admit that investment in newspapers and broadcasting is a good in vestment. He is probably right in figuring profit in several ways. But return to the investor? The news release from A&M said the New York Times had a 51 percent return to the investor. A check of the Wall Street Journal at the close of business Fri day showed New York Times stock selling for $22.50, down from $26.75 for the same date a year ago. Dividends paid during the year were $82.50. Thus an investor in 100 shares had a net loss of $344.50 or down 12.9 percent. Harte-Hanks, a Texas-based group and owner of the Eagle, showed a profit of combined dividends and appreciation for the same period of 14.7 percent. Captial Cities Communications, primarily in broadcasting but also owner of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, had a profit of com bined dividends and appreication of one- half percent. These facts are available to anyone who cares to read the Wall Street Journal or his daily newspaper. Editor: I would like to bring out the story of the life-and-death confrontations occuring daily in the areas of the Academic and Harrington Complex buildings. I am speaking of the invasion of two-wheel ar mored vehicles and their roving con querors known repectively as bicycles and bicyclist. Last week I decided I should write this letter after my third “close call” for the semester. This time our “engagement” did not occur in front of the Academic Build ing, but near Sbisa Dining Hall while walking to class. Within the brink of a brow I suddenly noticed a bicyclist coming at me head on at full speed ahead. After my life experiences flashed through my mind, I was able to dodge the fellow and thus save both of us a lot of unneccesary trouble. That afternoon on returning from class I became much more attentive of these pedestrian and nomadic encounters. What I witnessed was Kami-Kazi fighters utiliz ing the blitzkreig method on innocent pedestrians. These people seemed to make good sport out of the most frustrating events for walkers; somewhat similar to the feeding of Christians to the lions in ancient Rome. Well chances are pedestrians can relate to what I have said, but it is them that I haven’t written this letter to. If you do ride a bicycle and would like to experience the same feelings of a member of the Wal- lendo family I suggest the following: (1) Pick a weekday morning or afternoon and begin to walk from HECC to the Academic Building. If you have made it this far and still feeling unusually bold you may want to try for the MSC. (2) If things seem to be just to easy to be true wait until about three or four minutes before the hour and that will begin the last minutes flight for those who are late and can’t afford to be late at any cost to others. Nevertheless, I do hope this letter will help bring to mind that bicycling has seemingly become more of an offensive strategy than a pleasurable means of rec reation and traveling. — Gary Bennett, ’80 machine is not a toy. It can M struetive tool but also a veiyk | weapon. I know how a chainsaw worb i 1 the hell out of a tree, but itwillS hell out of a person. Tell me happen if in all the excitmentY ch;iin.saw in hand, youtripin is at 4:30 a.m.)? I can seethe-' 1 now — “student battles saw, stitches. This doesn’t soum me, not a bit. So please remember, safety W before spirit, so no one gets W — Noel JliI® Saw safety first Editor: I was awakened early Saturday morning by the whine of a revving chainsaw outside of my dorm. I didn’t mind the noise; it was the safety factor involved. It happens that someone has been mis informed as to a chainsaw’s capabilities. My chainsaw-wielding friends, your Writing the ed^ The Battalion welcomes let® the editor on any subject. to lie acceptable for pubtafc : letters must meet certain They should: V Not exceed 300 words# characters in length. V Be neatly typed w. possible. Hand-written lette- acceptable. Y Include the author’snamf' dress and telephone inmit verification THOTZ by Doug Oral Probably the professor, whom Channel 3 reported as being a consultant at one time to two petroleum companies, is prob ably right in his other two analyses. But frankly, I want the media to have profits so it can remain strong and not be subjected to the whims of government or pressure groups. What would psychologists call this tactic — drawing a “red herring” across the trail? — David R. Bowers Professor, Journalism GOOD NCWS/ X FOUND A PLACE ON GWUS td dump sbjsa leftovers' / 'IT’S A OARbAerE CAN IN THE v-.'YT 1 memorial student CENTER. A REPULSIVE r creature NAMED “ERNIE THE WERE-MAGGOT, /ahTthYi 'jDaily mail/ 0 0 0 0 5 («' WELL, If anybody Ri4l5E A: ABOUT Pm I w