By Jim Earle
"P iff 11
“Just for the sake of conversation, why couldn’t we get the
Zachry people to take a hreakfrom the stadium and give us a
hand with the bonfire?”
Opinion
Why no names?
No name — not even initials — appears at the end of most
editorials in this space. And one reader wanted to know
why.
The reason is simple: the editor, Liz Newlin, decided this
column should carry the opinion of the newspaper.
Adding a name to an editorial makes it that writer’s opin
ion, not the newspaper’s. Out in the “real world, ” most daily
newspapers also leave out names.
Newlin writes most editorials, the rest of the staff writes a
few, and some come from other newspapers through our
wire service, .United Press International.
■ ' Curious reader's ip ay call The Battalion and find out who
^ Avrote a particular editorial. We’re not afraid to tell.
But we want opinions displayed here to stand as ours, not
those of Texas A&M, its administrators or the Student Pub
lications Board.
By leaving off the writer’s name we can do that more
effectively.
Wealth wins this one
Both sides spent millions, and the wealthy man won.
T. Cullen Davis is free after three trials and two mistrials,
cleared of murder and murder solicitation charges.
Attorneys from both sides agree his millions were an
advantage.
As District Attorney Tim Curry noted, “I doubt we will
ever have a situation again in which a man of his wealth faces
charges of this type. ”
Maybe not. But the state shouldn’t shy away from pro
secution if it is warranted. If that happens, critics who say
wealth can buy justice will be right.
the small society
by Brickman
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The Battalion
u s p S 045 360
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone
News Editors Karen Comelison
and Michelle Burrowes
Sports Editor Sean Petty
City Editor Roy Bragg
Campus Editor Keith Taylor
Focus Editors Beth Calhoun
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
Tuesday
November 13, 1979
Dick West
Our monolingual speech pattern
not conducive to foreign relation
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Not all presidential
commissions stand out as beacons of dis
cernment, but the one on foreign language
study appears to shine a light.
It reports that part of America’s troubles
in the world today stem from our “scanda
lous incompetence in foreign languages.’’
Our monolingual speech pattern causes
“dangerously inadequate understanding”
of international issues and weakens Amer
ica’s position in world trade, the commis
sion concludes.
It notes, for example, that Japan has
10,000 English-speaking businessmen in
the United States whereas only a few of the
900 U.S. businessmen in Japan speak
Japanese.
Other examples can be found right in our
own hemisphere.
Although we live next door to Mexico,
few Americans bother to learn even
rudimentary Spanish. And although our
northern border adjoins Canada, most of us
can’t speak a word of Canadian.
If we have gotten along fairly well with
both neighbors, that probably is because so
many Mexicans and Canadians speak En
glish.
Canadians, it is true, have a rather com
ical accent. But a trained ear usually can
make out what they are trying to say.
As smooth as our relations have been, it
is patent that a grasp of their languages
would sharpen our insights with respect to
their cultures, national aspirations and
political peculiarities.
I say this not in the spirit of preachment
but of confession. I am as guilty as anyone
when it comes to erecting language bar
riers.
The last time I visited Mexico, I had the
devil’s own time communicating even my
most basic need — i. e., making a bartender
understand I wanted an olive in my mar
tini.
Have you ever tried expressing some
thing like that in pantomime? Marcel Mar-
ceau might handle it without creating an
international incident, but an American
tourist’s explanatory gesticulations only
draw police.
And believe thee me, being arrested on
charges of impersonating an olive is no way
to start a vacation.
Communicating with Canadians is some
what less awkward. If they have not ac
quired enough English for mutual compre
hension, an American usually can get his
message across by grunting.
Canadians have a natural flairh
preting grunts, although someth
lost in translation.
But neither pantomiming nor
however articulate, satisfactorilysu
for learning another language.
In financial transactions, a mow
American is at a disadvantage even
foreigners who speak English,
igners are talking business, they\i
denly start jabbering away in
tongue, usually with sidelong glam
way and a certain amount of discree
ering.
and
experienct (),
It’s a demoralizing
almost invariably winds up costn,
money. No wonder the dollar is insi
shape overseas.
pin
a r
Fight unemployment before recession hits
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A few cou
The jump in the nation’s unemployment
rate, up 200,000 over the previous month,
would seem to offer strong evidence that
the U.S. is indeed in a recession.
Not unexpectedly, the latest round of
layoffs has struck hardest on women and
blacks, reflecting the longstanding inequal
ity of hiring and promotional
within the U.S. labor market.
For the moment there is a wait-and-see
attitude on the part of President Carter and
members of Congress regarding action to
cut unemployment. Their caution is based
not so much on conflicting data, but their
political concern over the effects of infla
tion.
practices
The unemployment issue is far down the
list of concerns expressed by most Amer
icans to their elected representatives. In
flation is at the top of it. But unemploy
ment, which is double-digit among minor
ities, is a pressing social problem. It pre
sents once again a classical election year
confrontation, placing politics up against
economics. Neither the President nor
members of Congress is going to act until
push comes to shove, when the social prob
lem outweighs the economic problem.
That is why the administration has he!
line on employment-related spend!
creases and Congress voted against
cut to stimulate the economy.
Unfortunately, that means him:
ment will continue to increase J3
minority Americans and government
wait until the middle of a recession |
deciding to do anything about it.
Dallas Times Herald
Letters
Article on divining provokes 37 Ag
to tell ‘water witching experiences
COURT!
SHG
“Exp
sh
104 C
N
84
Editor:
Relative to the article “Divination —
Valid or hoax” in your Oct. 30 issue by Clay
B. Cockrill, my answer to that is “I wish I
knew.” This subject has always intrigued
me and I have some experiences to base an
assumption on.
Going back some 35 years, my cousin got
married and his father-in-law gave them a
farm. Before building their home they
wanted a water well. A “water witcher” was
brought in who had a great reputation for
locating sources of water. The only tool
used was a fork limb cut from a peach tree.
For about an hour he wandered over the
land and it began to look like a lost cause.
Then suddenly the peach fork bent down
with great force. The man said, “Here is
your water well. ” The well is still produc
ing water today.
That witching was all very strange and
new to me. I thought it was kind of funny. I
asked to try it. The man showed me how to
hold the peach limb and what to do. No
thing happened until I came over the
marked spot. I could not believe what was
happening; the downward pull was so great
that the bark was stripped from the peach
limb. Many of the family in attendance
tried this but it only worked for about two
of them.
This left a lasting impression on me and I
always had a subconcious interest in this
mystery. Literature and reading matter is
very scarce and what little there is, is very
general and hazy. This lead me to another
incident in my adult life. Some 10 or 12
years ago, interstate highway 40 was being
built across the Panhandle ofTexas. On the
Eastern outskirts of Amarillo a site was
selected for a Highway Department Tour
ist Bureau. The right of way was about 300
feet wide and it was necessary to lay two
pipes underground ahead of all construc
tion, one for the future water supply and
the other for the electrical connections.
Some four or five years later work was
completed on Highway 1-40 and work was
started on the Tourist Bureau Building. No
one could remember where the two pipes
were placed. After two days of digging,
probing and searching, wc wished that we
could give up —— but we couldn’t.
Mr Reuben Bewley, maintenance fore
man, remembered that he had a man who
could “witch” for and locate the pipes. He
used two welding rods bent in an “L” shape
and within a matter of minutes located both
lines. To my amazement later I “located”
the pipes about a dozen or more times.
In 1971 the Highway Department de
sired to make the roadside park on the
White River, five miles east of Crosbyton-
on Hwy. U.S. 82, truly an oasis in the arid
country, by installing a sprinkler system in
the picnic area. To install a new system was
prohibitive in cost, but if we could tie on to
the existing, partial sprinkling, or rather
water distribution, system the cost would
be reduced by half. We were fortunate to
find a blue print of the original park layout
which was built in 1936 with W. P. A. Labor
Forces. We anticipated no problem tying
to the existing water lines, even though
they were placed some 35 years ago. The
project was approved.
One of the very first needs was to locate
the existing water “main” and make a “key”
connection. We hunted, we dug by hand,
machines were brought in.
In desperation I was hesitant to make a
fool of myself by suggesting that I could
locate the pipe by “divining” for it. We
didn’t have too much to lose. Anyway two
welding rods were secured and I started
walking: within 15 minutes the “water”
main was located 57 feet north of the loca
tion given on the original plan. We located
other water lines that were not shown on
the plan but added later (see story in April
1971 issue Texas Highways, Page
During the noon hour the men
ded proof positive that this was notafi
fluke or show off. With a jacket ov
head the men would hide a metal bar
tall grass and then watch me find it
time it was 60 feet from the starting
There was no way that I could see tk
bar in the knee-high grass — and (lit
would cover it with more grass.
I used this same procedure in
some “lost ” water lines while rehab®
a roadside park two miles southofLa'j
I have located many gas and water
but somehow I do not have any
ing water.
I don’t know what all of this proves
all of my years of experience and woi
philosophy came to be “you’re lookinl
you can’t argue with it.”
— Ben J. Lednicl
Brownwi
THOTZ
by Doug Grab
4
LET'S LEAVE THE ALUMONSTER-
YEH, HE WANTS TO
SACRIFICE
ANOTHER COQCH-d