Opinion
Gun control is necessary
The mayor of San Francisco and a city supervisor are shot to
death.
A one-term congressman who was a friend of the Kennedy
family is shot to death in his office.
The mayor of St. Albans, Vt., the first woman mayor of
that northern metropolis, is fatally shot.
The doctor who wrote the famed “Scarsdale Diet” is shot
to death.
The former mayor of Evansville, Ind., is shot four times
by a woman.
A man is slain at the dinner table — again by a gun.
The thing that all these shooting victims had in common is
that they were killed by people who knew them.
Unhappily, most persons who are shot to death in this
country are killed by people who know them — not by total
strangers or what might be considered criminal types. An
argument gets out of hand, love turns to rage that is com
pounded by the closeness of the relationship, a gun is at
hand and it is used before the user can calm down. If he
had a book or a plate at hand, he might fling it with limited
results. A fired gun, however, is so fatal.
The opponents of gun control legislation might ponder
this before automatically coming out against every effort, no
matter how modest, to cut down on the number of senseless
fatal shootings that take place in America every year.
Newport (R.I.) Daily News
Carter’s actions inconsistent
If there were no other reason to evict President Jimmy
Carter from the White House (but there are a hundred
reasons), his mishandling of the Iranian hostage affair, now
highlighted by his admission of about 11,000 Iranians into
this country, should be sufficient cause for his defeat.
There is no way of knowing how many of them are spies,
how many are terrorists, how many are for us and how many
are against us.
Furthermore, the Immigration and Naturalizaion Service
Headquarters in Washington has issued a directive to im
migration inspectors saying that ‘ £ Ir^riiai\s.^hall not be quf§- \
tioned as to whether they are pro- q( anti’-shah, Khomqiqi or: v
USA.”
In other words, Iranians are being let in by the thousands
and we are not even making a close check of what their
motives and records may be.
This is outrageous!
Iran has declared war on us and imprisons our people —
and President Carter not only coddles Iran but lets
thousands of potential enemies pour into our country un
checked.
This stupidity, carelessness and ineptness should cause
his removal as president. But while it is bad enough in itself,
it only indicates his lack of grasp of the total world challenge
to America and his inability to face up to it and handle it.
Mr. Carter has surrendered. The American people
should not.
Chattanooga News-Free Press
the small society by Brickman
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Viewpoint
The Battalion Monday
Texas A&M University April 7, 1980
Reagan urged to consider
vice presidential candidates
bo
ap
Sa
lef
ne
By DONALD LAMBRO
United Press International
WASHINGTON — With the Republi
can presidential nomination almost within
Ronald Reagan’s grasp, increased attention
is focusing upon who the former California
governor will choose as his vice presiden
tial running mate.
While Reagan has not yet begun to think
seriously about it — believing there is time
enough once he has nailed down the nomi
nation — some of his closest advisers and
supporters have been discussing the No. 2
spot in earnest.
According to key Reagan strategists,
two chief criteria will govern the GOP con
servative’s selection: youth and political
compatability. Reagan has vowed not to
repeat his mistake of 1976 when his selec
tion of the then-liberal Sen. Richard
Schweiker, R-Pa., angered many of his
bedrock supporters and, some say, cost
him the nomination to Gerald Ford.
Interviews with a wide range of Reagan’s
closest supporters reveal that six names
dominate the list of choices. They are Sen
ate Republican leader Howard Baker of
Tennessee, former Treasury Secretary
William Simon, Gen. Alexander Haig,
Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, Rep. Jack
Kemp of New York, and former U.N.
Ambassador George Bush, who remains in
the race against Reagan.
Suprisingly, despite his position as a
longtime party moderate, Baker is being
supported by a number of staunch congres
sional conservatives as Reagan’s strongest
choice.
“I could support Howard without reser
vation,” said a conservative GOP senator
who has backed Reagan from the begin
ning. “He would give the ticket a broader
base of support and give a Reagan candida
cy much more muscle. But the question is
whether he could pledge one hundred per
cent loyalty to the governor.”
Said another Reagan supporter in the
House, “With the exception of the Panama
Canal treaties,” which Baker supported
and Reagan opposed, “there isn’t that
much separating them. He would be
acceptable to a number of conservatives. ”
Still, the GOP Senate leader is strongly
opposed in a number of conservative quar
ters (the right-wing weekly Human Events
said Baker’s selection would represent a
“betrayal” of conservative views). And in
deed, Reagan himself has privately indi
cated the Tennessee lawmaker is not high
on his list.
That indication came recently when
Reagan received a strong plea to place Bak
er on his ticket from two GOP senators
during a private conference call in which
the senators, joined by Ted Stevens of Alas
ka, pledged their support to the Califor
nian.
Sens. Pete Domenici of New Mexico and
Alan Simpson of Wyoming took the oppor
tunity to suggest that Baker would be
Reagan’s smartest choice for vice presi
dent. Reagan, however, was decidedly cool
to the idea and offered two reasons which
he said mitigated against Baker.
First, there was Baker’s active support of
the Panama Canal treaties, for which many
conservatives have never forgiven him.
Second, Reagan pointed out, Baker’s un
successful entry into the early presidential
primaries revealed that he had “little vote
getting ability” outside his own state.
Br
Ifoi
Nonetheless, mindful of Baker)
larity among party moderates, Reap an
he would rule no one out. Andili 1
that when push comes to shove, COI kt t) 1(
crates and conservatives could es |
Reagan’s mind. | es |
Baker has already made it clear; 1 t 0
would accept the No. 2 spotifi^
offered it. g ^
“Remember, if he won, Reap j| j 0 ]
begin his presidency at age 70,”s p],
Baker partisan. “Howard wouldle ^
not to accept it.” B c jj
But one well-placed Capitol HI h<
vative said, “I’d be willing to putmf
it. Baker will not be Reagan’s
may seem right for the coming
but it is doubtful that Baker would
Reagan’s policies in the event
And would Reagan want to positioij
for a future run for the White
don’t think so.”
Meanwhile, among the listof|i
running mates, one name seemstoi
more than any other as being acceil
everyone, conservatives or raoi
That was freshman Sen. Richard Li
Letters
Editor:
Election polling at Texas A&M Universi
ty is archaic and offers an easy way to cast
illegal votes. For about $3.00 any student
wanting to give his preferred candidates a
better chance at winning can purchase a
duplicate ID card and vote twice or for as
many duplicate ID cards in his possession
Readers’ Forum
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THOTZ
New campus election methods needed
Walker backs Sit
for that matter. Another system should be
implemented in which duplicated votes
could not occur. Below are three sugges
tions:
Solution 1: Each student will code his ID
number on his ballot. The ID number will
be verified by the poll officer by examing
the student’s ID card. The computer will
maintain a file of ID numbers of students
who have voted. On each ballot read the
computer will compare the voter’s ID num
ber against those in the file. Duplications
will result in a void of the duplicate vote.
This will utilize the same system with only
minor program modifications. It will still
allow for wide dissemination of polling
area. Its only drawbacks are a slower and
more expensive computer tally and fear
among some students that someone may
know how they voted since their ID num
ber was on their ballot.
Solution 2: Every student’s name and ID
number will be printed out alphabetically.
Polling areas will have only a certain por
tion of the alphabet. Each student must
vote at a location determined by the first
letter of his last name. After a student is
issued a ballot his name will be checked off
the list followed possibly by his own signa
ture. The drawbacks of this method are
much lower dissemination of polling areas
meaning less voter participation due to
polling location inconveniences.
Solution 3: The last solution is to issue
the ballots from a central location making
sure each student receives only one ballot.
This is the most inconvenient method and
one that would probably result in the
lowest voter participation.
The problem is a difficult one to solve but
still a solution is needed to eliminate the
possible graft which probably goes on in
every election.
Nathan R. Banks ’83
Editor:
Open letter to the student
As a recent candidate for Stutfe
President, I wish to express my
appreciation to everyone who coi
so many hours to my campaign
ported me with their votes.
At this time, I feel it is myresp®
to express my views on the»!
runof election. Having three
perience in Student Governni®
come to know each of the presick
didates well. Although both are
ing individuals, Brad Smith kasi
himself the more capable leader ®
tinuous response to students’ ne**
interests through the many acc®
ments of his Student Services (# ;
leads me to endorse Brad Smith for® My
Body President.
Debbie
By Doug Grab
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