Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1980)
Page 8 THE BATTALION MONDAY, APRIL 14, 1980 Las Vegas, Jersey style Roaches a toss off ^ Free lunches, dollars pack little old ladies in casinos sprays United Press International ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — There are so many little old ladies at the casinos you’d think bingo — not craps — was the attraction. “I’ll bet $5,” announced a sub urban-looking matron as she and a companion emerged from their char ter bus, complementary lunch tick et, free Susan B. Anthony dollars and salt water taffy in hand. “If I win, I’ll stretch it to $10.” “I once saw a man put down a $10 bill — and it was gone just like that, ” said her more sophisticated friend. “Oh my — well that’s not really very wise,” said the first woman, stunned into silent contemplation. Bus 32693 was playing it cool, being, after all, New Yorkers who had never met each other until they plunked down $15 each for the trip, taffy, buffet and three silver dollars. “You want to have fun, go to a movie,” said Leo, who wore a green checked suit and an American flag on his lapel. “This is serious business.” “Roulette wheel here I come,” yelled his girlfriend, Gerri, breaking the mood. Last year 12,000 charter buses rol led up to Atlantic City’s three shiny new casinos, giving the East Coast’s clubwomen, retired elderly, penny- Last year 12,000 charter buses rolled up to Atlantic City’s three shiny new casinos, giving the East Coast’s clubwomen, retired elderly, pennywise vacationers and a smattering of hopeful un employeds their crack at the only legal slot machines and roulette wheels east of Las Vegas. Dial . u a summer job: 800-33M000 wise vacationers and a smattering of hopeful unemployeds their crack at the only legal slot machines and roulette wheels east of Las Vegas. On 32693, Pete, who is young and dreamy and unemployed, fingered his $50 stake and told his seatmate Martha, a retired bookkeeper, about his missed opportunities — lottery numbers that came in just one digit off, a friend who was hit by a bus and collected $125,000. “I could have been a bookkeeper, ” he connided. “I was good at that in school. I was so good I didn’t even have to take the exam. I should have kept at that.” Phyllis, who visits the casinos often, warned her fellow passengers about the Crush at the $2 blackjack tables. “You feel like you’re drinking coffee at a Chock Full O’ Nuts,” she sniffed. Inside the Boardwalk Regency, however, the real jam was not at blackjack but the fruitbowl at the free buffet. “Just delicious, girls,” called out a chunky matron in slacks and fur coat to dozens of similarly dressed women waiting in line for their turns. “These ladies eat so much,” won dered an elderly Hungarian doctor as he watched the crowd pile their plates with pseudobeef stroganoff. At the next table, two elderly women with crooked wigs and crooked lip stick carefully piled up surplus pats of butter. “We hate to waste,” said one as her sister nodded sagely. The free buffet is an investment for the Boardwalk Regency, which knows that most of the people who are congratulating themselves on their great bargain at noon will have lost far more than its price by 5 p.m. “Nothing is really free,” says Gwen Groves, who handles the char ter buses for the casino. Indeed, by the time bus 32693 had been parked for 15 minutes, Martha had lost $40 and exited for “a long walk.” “It isn’t bad today,” said a man named Eddie at the craps table. “But I’ve been here on weekends, and you see them sitting in the lobby after an hour, all their money gone and just waiting for the buses to come back and get ’em.” Even the three Susan B. Anthony silver dollars which the Regency dis tributes to each of its charter bus guests are the product of an ulterior motive. The average charter bus customer is a slot machine freak, frightened by the more complex machinations at blackjack and roulette. “But the bus people won’t play the dollar machines,” said Groves. The “Susie Bs” are an attempt to wean them from the lines in front of the nickle machines, and on to more serious gambling. Groves, however, has her doubts about the free candy. “It’s a fallacy to give a bunch of senior citizens salt water taffy,” she mused. “Think of the flying dentures.” It is still possible for a charter bus refugee to while away the hours sightseeing along the Boardwalk, although the general impression, these days, is that anyone standing too long in one place would be moved to make way for another casino. “Everything must go,” announce all the fudge stands and salt water taffy boths and tacky souvenir stores where “Squirt ’em Toilets” and cedarwood copies of the Lord’s Prayer have been marked down to prepare for the blackjack tables and roulette wheels of the future. Back at the casino, the Hungarian doctor had invested enough in the It is still possible for a charter bus refugee to while away the hours sightseeing along the Boardwalk, although the gener al impression, these days, is that anyone standing too long in one place would be moved to make way for another casino. blackjack table to compensate the Boardwalk Regent for all of bus 32693’s buffets, taffy and silver dol lars. When the bus retrieved its riders at six o’clock, it appeared that 32693 had donated more than its share to helping the Regency break its Feb ruary record of $13.8 million in win nings. The bus’s only real winner was Ramon, a silver importer who ran into an unexpected opportunity to do some business on the Boardwalk and never got to the casinos at all. “We got wiped out,” said Leo, who had vowed earlier that he would be “happy whether I have a penny or a million.” “Sure, I’m in a good mood,” he added sullenly. “If he says he’s in a good mood, he’s in a good mood,” snapped Geri. Pete lost his $50 stake, plus another $30 he borrowed from his uncle. “If my father asks — I just lost $30, okay?” he pleaded. The bus took off and Leo began a high-decible complaint about Presi dent Carter’s foreign policy. "You think Nixon would have let them get away with that stuff?” he asked no one in particular. Pete sat wondering whether he would have won his money back if there’d been a little more time. “You know,” he said to Martha. “1 really was awfully good at book keeping. ” CB craze big, illegal in U. K. United Press International j LONDON — Use a citizen’s band radio in Britain and you’re in the soup with “scuffers” or “the custard” — as “Smoky bears” are called. from the U.S., are smuggled into Britain each week, even though the estimated 40,000 CB users in the United Kingdom are breaking the law. Work as a Manpower temporary. Flexible schedules. Good pay. Assignments available in your college town or hometown. Please call, toll free. TTk >:>\s rn-vre: o The CB radio craze may be on the wane in the United States, but in Britain it is hot, and illegal. In America CB radio sales have fallen by two-thirds in the past four years. But hundreds of sets, mostly “The basic reasons lie in the psychology of government in this country,” says James Bryant, head of the Citizens’ Band Association. “We’ve got a permanent civil ser vice that believes people should be kept under control. Giving them two-way radio is not a way for them to keep people under their thumb. ” With that kind of attitude it’s no surprise that British CB jargon terms the Home Office, responsible in Bri tain both for radio waves and law enforcement, “the Meanies.” © MANPOWER TEMPORARY SERVICES Prescriptions Filled Glasses Repaired 216 N. MAIN BRYAN 822-6105 Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. ~ 8 a.m.-l p.m. “The government has admitted that there are frequencies available for CB users,” Bryant said. “Nothing has been done yet because there are hidden but influential bureaucrats who don’t want to see CB legalized. ” There is, however, a 20-member parliamentary committee which is pressing for CB legalization. Its sec retary, Member of Parliament John • • • • ••••••• MSC AGGIE CINEMA Movies This Week The Thin Man • STARRING: WILLIAM POWELL • MYRNA LOY • NAT PENDLETON • Wed. 7:30 701 Rudder CLINT EASTWOOD ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ Fri. 7:30 & 9:45-Aud A NOW STORY WITH NOW MUSK I V / <gs»|PP| ^ TECHNICOLOR® UNIVERSAL PICTURE • Fri. • Sat. Mid.-Aud. Mid.-Grove • Tickets Available at MSC Box Of- • flee Mon.-Fri. 9-4. Tickets also • Available 45 Min. Before Show- • time. •••••••••••••• Butcher, said he became interested after talking to his American cousins who use CBs to help round up cattle. “Since May (when the Conserva tive Party came to power) there’s been a more positive attitude from the Home Office,” Butcher said. But he said the government fears a new bureaucracy may be needed to regulate CB use, and it is hamstrung by the need to cut government spending. Bryan said his organization has the financial backing to set itself up as an independent administrative body. British CB advocates cite standard arguments about CB’s ability to help save lives in road accidents and natu ral disasters. Bryant offered a more chilling reason for its adoption. “With the events going on in Afghanistan and the present world climate as unsettled as it is, CB United Press Internaliom! RIVERSIDE, Calif.-:, roaches, perhaps the mostpcfc of all household pests, arerart}^ trolled by most commercijjk traps and sprays, a researde,^ 1 Furthermore, you might commercial spray has knod (°f Y’ colony of the ugly creatures;!y s > P° out 30 percent of the spraseF 61 ' ^ are just a little stunned and esj^dly l\ will wake up and crawl al “y s unl University of California JS 10 ^ cher Don Reierson, presenliS ^ findings last week at UC Rivei e | con annual department of enrf ea ^ ( conference, said tests of cL®* 1 ' 1 * preparations designed to proved consistently ineffectiir® 6 & ugene, "People with a roachprobltfijfolly try almost anything if it is pa|j3ly s< and marketed well,’ he saiapgits ^ when they see a lot of roacliant cm trap, they think ifs doing tli('M 0 llv Reierson said two or threerfop in a commercial trap only the presence of the pests ante, indirectly contribute totheptl by relieving overcrowdingai ing more food for the survival What does kill roaches, 1 was a technical grade ofbc-J powder, applied fullstrengtlp tight closed spaces roaches!^ inhabit. El u NEW (Hall, When No. E ler tell 'St of h Bs. “You jgar or t would have great benefits f#^,f s a defense purposes in case a sa i ( confrontation occurs," hesaic^ * ,v Some 99 percent of Brifl 1 a lingo is borrowed from Ament.^- users, Bryant said, althoughujit- don the police are called “mb and in northern England tll^ . “scuffers. ” ,n Bryant’s organization has iJUner national demonstration for) m. “S London ’s Trafalgar Square, ft any, more than 10,000 CB entf ) na llv will attend. ButhesaidhewouK to see the government make the aaa, < unnecessary by legalizing * * Bryant said there was a " Burger percent chance” of getting thf r( tard off CB users’ backs by the* _ the year. If that happens, he - ^ anywhere from 4 million to8ir a(:e E’ Britons could wind up chati*^ s d) € away on CB radios. U. S. ready to mine harbors if necessary Ursula g matii irnum < :r dres rewn akeup larges. ! he circi WEST LOOP CLINIC 622-2170 United Press International WASHINGTON — America has 25 ships in the Arabian Sea and they stand ready to blockade the Persian Gulf or mine Iran’s chief oil-loading port — if President Carter gives the word. White House press secretary Jody Powell said last week the next steps Carter takes to punish Iran will not be along military lines, but officials have made a point of keeping the military option alive. Defense officials said the United States already has deployed the materials it needs on ships in the Arabian Sea to blockade the Persian Gulf or mine a port. But both Pentagon officials and 2909 WEST LOOP SOUTH HOUSTON, TEXAS 77027 .*$MSC AGGIE CINEMMffiWWWfo. Win Free Movie Tickets! »•••- ••••* ••••*« #•••- ••••» ©*•••• •••••* ••••« Enter Our U Academy Award Quiz n ••••« •••— ••••* ••••*- »•••- »•••*- »•••*- *•••- : •••** •••— ##•••• •••• Details and entry Blanks available at first floor, MSC ••••• •••000 ■•••00 -••00 —••00 -••00 —••00 .•••00 —••00 —00 -••00 -•000 — 00 —••00 -••00 — ••00 —••00 .•••00 —00 -••00 — 00 —•00 —00 —••00 —•00 —•00 —00 —•00 —•00 — ••00 —00 —00 —•00 —00 —•00- — ••00 —00 —000 —000 —000 •000 Deadline: Monday, April 14th, 5:00 p.m. —000' -••00 —000 — ••0 ; n nAUUN "ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED” PRE-LEASING FOR SUMMER AND FALL SEMESTERS Furnished & Unfurnished On Shuttlebus Route Efficiency, 1, 2, & 3 Two Beautiful Swimming Pools Bedroom Apartments Tennis Courts (Lighted) 24 Hr. Professional Maintenance Party/Meeting Room with Sundeck Service Health Spas, Including Saunas for Families Welcome Men & Women Pets permitted Three Laundry Rooms Lighted Basketball/Volleyball Court Rental office open Monday through Friday 9-5 Saturday 10-5 Sunday 2-5 693-1110 1501 Hwy. 30 .693-1011 College Station - Houston TRUCKING SERVICE — LET US TRANSPORT YOUR BELONGINGS HOME FOR THE SUMMER — CONVENIENT DOOR TO DOOR SERVICE TO HOUSTON! CALL: LARRY, 693-0225 WEEKDAYS BETWEEN 7 AND 9 P.M. imerou The bt academic military experts are,g^ uss j[ to note the dangers of such ^e I First, Iranian militants o m ^ threatened to kill the 50 Anf hostages if such action is takei while the United States i deterred by threats, it has nog tees a blockade would lead I dom for the captives. |A| Aside from that, both a bkw I ^ and mining the harbors aimed at preventing Iran fe ceiving goods or shipping That might cripple Tehrail also would mean America’s* would not get the Iranian oil ’ now use. In Japan, for instancy ^ ^ nian oil comprises more than 11^^ ^ cent of the imports. *§ and d b) 111 1 PRE-VET ,m bo,r I s *— * U I anc Meeting April 11 Lm* 7:30 Rm 140 Barbecue April 18 - 5:30 happy hour at the studio 4 for 1 / p/i Fri ' udled ii ^und ze 'Lin the The bo ck and f tying h n he c< ^er frig] Ter s for four tin at H ^ed th 1,1 of his :er the t ^fter sei 1132,00 * have ; wty his Poston tykUta] 'foe life ifi’ 0661 ^ over ihenh ‘'ed a 1 .n^mia. foen ci t tnan fit is h lent ^ 5100, Starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday thru Friday 1401 FM 2818 Come out to the Doux Chene Complex! s blan (Y d <>n ;%bet djjj St. 5s J; d FV n * trv hi