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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1979)
Page 10 THfc BAiTALiON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15. 1979 ALTERATIONS' IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF OLD TEXAS WHERE MOTHER TAUGHT DAUGHTER THE FINE ART OF SEWING — SO HELEN MARIE TAUGHT EDITH MARIE THE SECRETS OF SEWING AND ALTERATIONS "DON’T GIVE UP — WE LL MAKE IT FIT!" AT WELCH'S CLEANERS. WE NOT ONLY SERVE AS AN EXCELLENT DRY CLEANERS BUT WE SPE CIALIZE IN ALTERING HARD TO FIT EVENING DRESSES. TAPERED SHIRTS. JEAN HEMS, WATCH POCKETS, ETC. (WE RE JUST A FEW BLOCKS NORTH OF FED MART.) WELCH’S CLEANERS 3819 E. 29th (TOWN & COUNTRY SHOPPING CENTER^ [ the world MG goes to happy honking groum Child care for TAMU FOOTBALL at French’s Care-a-Lot 900 University Oake College Station (Behind Woodstone) Reservations Please DAY OR NIGHT 693-1987 W H M H W w H H W H W • vlxL/ vT* •tJLd wX<r wXrf OL <.X<i wXtf wLi ^Tii vT* Lx * vjr- «ry Small Ads... Big Results! CLASSIFIED ADS! 3D N/NUTE MEEQtlVim I I 846-7785 United Press International LONDON — The theory is that MG sports car drivers, barreling down the highway at full throttle, are really mild-mannered everyday folk when not behind the wheels of their saucy vehicles. Tbe notion was badly battered re cently when several thousand MG owners angrily demonstrated in London against plans to end produc tion of the famous little automobile. Weekend demonstrations are a tradition in Britain. Usually expatri ate Asians or Africans complain ab out developments in the homeland. But a mass march on behalf of a sports car, even one that enraptured motorists the world over, was as much a first as the MG when it appeared in an Oxford show room on Aug. 11, 1923. Owners from Clark Gable to Prince Philip — worrying Bucking ham Palace as he careened around London with the future Queen of England at his side — loved it. In these fuel-hungry days, there may never be again be so devoted a union of motor car and motorist even though the MG never was the easiest car to drive. The marchers in the London de monstration, clumping awkwardly along like dismounted cowboys, planned to drive a couple of thousand MGs to the offices of Brit ish Ley land with 12,500 signatures on a petition urging reconsideration of the firm’s decision to end produc tion of the car next year. Police made them park and walk — the final indignity — behind a dozen token MGs of varying periods. Instead of massed MG horns blar ing defiance, there was only a brave but weak chorus of honks that sound ed mor^ like taps. And despite homemade banners and chants of “Save the MG,” everyone knew British Leyland had bigger worries on its mind. The company is desper ately in need of financing, and may have to fire thousands of employees. The MG, alas, can’t help. Its epi taph may be: “It made people happy but didn’t make money.” Unless there is a reprieve, the MG story will end in September 1980. It began soon after 1920 with a designer named Cecil Kimber who worked for Morris Garages (hence the MG). His idea for a sporty runab out almost died at birth. Kimber’s boss, William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, was an auto mobile magnate more interested in sales than individuality and not hap py about a handmade car that did not use parts interchangeable with his mass-produced vehicles. Against his opposition, the won der is that the MG survived at all. But dedicated craftsmen at the little MG plant at Abingdon turned out a classic series of cars for the young and the young at heart including the first car of its class to break 100 miles an hour in 1931. American servicemen in Europe after the war started the MG rage in the United States which became and remains its best overseas market. They shipped the car home in vast quantities. This, said F. Wilson McComb, historian of the MG, even though “it made not the slightest concession to the requirements of other countries, had no heater, no bumpers, could not be bought with lefthand drive, scarcely anyone knew how to service or even main tain it, and comparatively few really knew how to drive it.” MG found it could sell 10 abroad for everyone sold domestically. McComb claims the MG “trans formed American motor racing from a little known professional sport to an activity within everybody’s reach, introduced the pleasures of sports car ownership to a land that had nev er known them before and blazed the trail for a multitude of imported cars.” Owners of the Stutz Bearcat will doubtless dispute some of that. Former Nazi SS officers charged with WWII death camp atrocities United Press International COLOGNE, West Germany — A former deputy SS commander in France refused Wednesday to answer charges he helped send some tZl t0 the NaZiS Au ' to the liazi death camp at Auschwitz where most of them perished. charges were “inconcrete and ambi guous.” Lischka, Ernst Heinrichson and Herbert Hagen are accused of de porting at least 73,000 French Jews schwitz death camp. Kurt Lischka, 70, sat silently in the Cologne courtroom where he is standing trial as his lawyer said the Lischka is the only one of the de fendants refusing to speak in court. It’S not exactly a checking account and not exactly a savings account But it does pay bills. And it does pay interest on everyday money until you need The time has come to earn interest on the everyday money you use to pay bills. Regular checking accounts don’t pay interest. The MoneyStore pays you the maximum interest permitted by law until the day you need to pay bills. And the MoneyStore pays your bills direct — after you authorize payment by telephone. No more checks to write, no envelopes to address, no stamps to buy. Just call the MoneyStore, tell us who to pay and how much and we ll pay your bills. MoneyStore is new. It’s completely safe, it’s confidential, it saves time and it earns interest on everyday funds until you need them. For information about MoneyStore, call or visit: Savings College Station Branch: Ttexas Ave. at Southwest Parkway • 696-2800 Main Office: 2800 Texas Avenue / Bryan, TX 77801/779-2800 United Pr [OUSTON piood Fe nesday a j; of Ameri tions and a more ag J-abortion at Pollster Mic federation- 500 adults she ve a woman : abortion unc instances, wl danger.” deration 1 ijpn said tb ileased that [arts the aims A special automobile always has its problems, but the MG did not run into real trouble until the Ralph Nader-inspired Safety Act of 1966. To meet its demands the MG had to make concessions. Worse came in 1968 when the MG was merged with Leyland. British Leyland, as it became known, needed profits, not prestige. It decided to retire the famous octa gon symbol of the MG and concen trate on the Triumph sports car, a car anyone could drive. That year British Leyland stopped all MG exports except to the United States where the MGB model had achieved great popularity since its introduction in 1962. The MG’s demise was announced this September, ironically just after Golden Jubilee celebrations of the MG Car Company. “We lose 900 sterling ($1,980) on every MGB we sell in the United States,” said a spokesman for Ley- land. “It’s uneconomical and we need the facilities at Abingdon. It’s as simple as that. “Our loss runs into millions of dol lars and the rising strength of the pound hurts, too. If we were to charge an economic price, we would simply price the MG out of its market. “Sales have been static. We sold 12,763 in the first seven months of this year compared to 12,817 last year. On the other hand we are sell ing Triumphs at the rate if 35,000 a year.” Those who consider the MGB a way of life are not giving up The MG Owners Chib, witt ches in the U.S. and other cons offered to raise $1 million aji r , ltor sa j t j \ keep production going Americans and Canadians! ration divis with Leyland but were sion to stop production was in able at this time, although (lie woud be preserved in the hop; future renaissance. “We’re not going to takethii down,” said Martin Bentley, ecutive of the 11,0(X) strong ME Owner’s Club. JohnThomley man of the club, predicted E: ; e arch We Leyland’s sales would suffer United States. “They’re kidding themsen they think Jaguars and Triumph take the place of the MG,” Military gains cabinet posts Haitian old-guard brought bad I AM ARIL ompany’s ibandoning ave turnec Capt. Cu ment, said t e Enterpr ibout 26 m The van National B; Martinez, ' Martinez n ut locked The van Canadian F There w :ake, but il Crump ; 1061, wind ly would h. United Press International PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A sudden government shakeup by the dictator of Haiti has .brought piilitary officers and loyalists from the feared old re gime back into key ministerial posts. President-for-life Jean Claude Duvalier, 28, who assumed pow er in 1971 after his father’s death, dismissed eight of his 14 Cabinet members late Tuesday in the second such shakeup this year in the Caribbean island nation. No reason was given for the reshuffle, which included the addition of generals to the Cabinet for the first time, but it came four days after a meeting of the Haitian Human Rights League was violently broken up, sparking protests from four fore ign embassies, including the Un ited States. Embassy personnel from the United States, France, Canada and West Germany — all major aid donors to Haiti — and several Haitians were injured in the inci dent, some seriously. In a broadcast over the official Radio Nationale, Duvalier “de plored” the incident. The gov ernment also denied allegatu the meeting was broken upl outgrowth of his father’s one- private terror army. f The most unusual change the appointment of Gen. Cli Raymond to the post of ini jjL mmlS *king enro versity wi and national defense There have previously beea generals in the Cabinet. The small Caribbean natiot 4.9 million people is among! world’s most densely populi! and the Western hemispheim sa j c j poorest. It occupies the on third of the mountainous 1 Hispaniola. :ering the 1 by the Ir :ation Serv Charles Pe eduled on cket, but 1 eir trials m AWwV \va] I bridge s iy were i ®n or an< e later dt ation and ■Vice Y)ep; where n< ak about MEAT, FISH and LIQUOR CO. SERVING LUNCH MONDAY THRU FRIDAY 11-2 Now featuring a large assortment of salads, sandwiches and burgers. SERVING DINNER MONDAY THRU SATURDAY AT 5 P.M. Prime Rib, Steaks, Lobster, Stuffed Flounder and many spectacular desserts. NEW — WONDERFULLY ORIGINAL MAD MIN ,,. UTES. iji From 4:30-6:30 — All drinks poured double with a variety!*’! of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres. LUNCHEON PARTIES SPECIAL DINNER OCCASIONS REHEARSAL DINNERS 815 Harvey Rd. College Station 693-1991