Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1980)
Slouch By Jim Earle “Now that I’m a senior, I have to agree with the old saying that your freshman year is the most fun. ” Opinion Bill Moore is gone — but the world goes on Kent Caperton’s victory in Saturday’s Democratic prim ary calls for an examination of Bill Moore’s importance to Texas A&M apd the area. Almost everybody who is anybody at Texas A&M en dorsed Moore’s reelection — from implicit recommenda tions by the regents and University administrators to ads signed by various student leaders. Their support for Moore as a friend of Texas A&M is based not only on Moore’s 31-year residence in the senate cham ber, but also on their belief that Moore is the Great Defen der of the Peripapent University Fynd. Everyone knows what the PUF means to Texas A&M, and everyone is con cerned about maintaining the PUF’s status. Moore’s white-knight image is appealing — he’s admit tedly done much for Texas A&M in his senate career — but isn’t it also a little unrealistic? The PUF’s backers — friends of Texas A&M and the University of Texas — are almost as numerous in the Legisl ature as supporters of the oil industry. Moore’s absence will hurt, but it’s not going to be the downfall of the PUF. Texas A&M’s share of power on the state affairs and finance committees also will be diluted. But Aggies are everywhere in the Legislature, and it would be very easy for Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby to give those seats to other Aggies. Bill Moore is gone. Instead of crying over that spilt milk, it’s time to concentrate on constructing a firm base of new power in the senate. After all, Caperton is an Aggie too. The first step toward that construction could come with Caperton’s election in November. — Dillard Stone the small society by Brickman ©1980 King Features Syndicate. Inc. World rights reserved <3<3af. The Battalion U S P s 045 360 LETTERS POLICY MEMBER 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. Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress 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 through Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. Editor Dillard Stone Managing Editor Rhonda Watters Asst. Managing Editor .... Becky Swanson City Editor Rusty Cawley Sports Editor Richard Oliver News Editor Lynn Blanco Focus Editor Rhonda Watters Staff Writers Nancy Andersen, Uschi Michel-Howell, Dehbie Nelson. Cathy Saathoff, Jana Sims, Todd Woodard Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr. PhotographersLynn Blanco, Steve Clark, Ed Cunnius 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 May 7, 1980 S taff N otebook Outfit's loss could be start of Corps' gain The itudei :hang< heM By DILLARD STONE Battalion Editor The disbanding of an outfit in the Corps of Cadets is a traumatic experience for its members. It represents an example of where poor performance can lead; it also deprives the affected cadets of ranks and positions they would normally have held. I view the disbanding of Company L-l with mixed emotions. On the one hand it’s my outfit — the group of people I called home during my first two years here. On the other hand, there is some benefit to the Corps as a whole. Unlike Col. Woodall, I’d like to view the disbanding of the outfit not as a beneficial disciplinary action, but rather as a first step in the needed consolidation of 42 Corps outfits into a smaller number. It’s something I’d mentioned on several occasions this year. It got nowhere. Nonetheless, I think it is needed — and the first step lies in the consolidation of existing outfits. The Corps faces severe problems. The current total strength — about 1,830 cadets — no longer justifies 42 separate outfits. Corps leaders agree that under the present structure, 45-50 cadets per outfit is about the right number. The current average is about 40, and many outfits have far fewer. Decreasing the number within an outfit means there are fewer qualified leaders to choose from by the time one’s junior year rolls around. When a first sergeant and one or two staff members are selected from within an outfit, the number of really good people in the secondary leadership slots decreases. The inability of many first sergeants and company commanders to rely on compe tent subordinate classmates within their outfits hurts those outfits tremendously. By increasing the number of outfits and simultaneously decreasing the number of staffs, two advantages will automatically be gained. First, since staff personnel will be fewer, there will be fewer people leaving the out fits for staff positions. Second, increasing the number of people in outfits will give those cadets with mean ingless jobs more responsibility, and they can make a positive contribution to the out fit instead of “dying. ” For example, under current structure, it’s very hard for a pla toon leader to take his job seriously when there are only 12 people in his platoon. The disbanding of L-l could be the first step in this Master Plan for Improving the Corps. But I doubt it. Colonels don’t think the way cadets do. I still can’t help but feel sad at the demise of L-l. Certainly there were wrongs that needed to be corrected. Under normal cir cumstances, a probationary period would have been warranted. And, although L-l was deficient in many areas, morale wasn’t one. There are worse outfits in terms of grades, in terms of milit ary proficiency, in terms of freshman reten tion. Rules violations by cadets in otfia ^ 0 haven’t been viewed as symptomatit y a y n( vere problems within the outfit in tit j ca j]y, L-l appears to be the exception, ^ \j In fact, there are probably two a |an q U other outfits overall worse than Brigade alone. But maybe I'm bias But what’s done is done; the cadets ^ ) ie Lonestar Company are going toll an g e make it on their own. There’safutun ier j te( of them, but just where that will bci each one. eices, develo ly ant busine time. Thi ling ro moret 0 The ng wi said. How volvcd bandit’ relati Reynol “We itrides ing the les tha Reynol In d roved to the a Texas 1 The 1 Letters Miller's 'abjectrudeness'draws reader s fire gonegt pared Reynol eastern o becc MSC. He s] T wa >ut ofh enlist ii batvva ligh: Editor: An open letter to Miss Melanie Zentgraf: Dear Miss Zentgraf: Please allow me to congratulate you upon your graduation Friday night and to apolo gize for my behavior. If I had had any idea that you would be treated with such abject rudeness by a man whose presence at your commencement exercies should have rep resented Texas A&M and the honorable state of Texas, I would have been on my feet, applauding you and your courage on behalf of future women. Dr. Jarvis Miller: Your conduct toward Miss Zentgraf at the commencement ceremonies was deplor able and beneath the dignity of your office. When the final legal decisions have been made — in her favor, as I’m certain they will be, I should expect that you would demonstrate the same integrity which was behind your decision to attempt to demean her publicly and step down from the office of president. there is up, and there is down. Do you think housing prices will ever go down? History shows that every great specula tive boom has ended with a crash. Soon there will be an historic crash in the hous ing market. Millions of home prices will fall far below their mortgage balances, plung ing their once-proud owner deep into debt. Millions of greedy homeowners are plan ning to cash in on your ignorance (even after they could have taught you better in school). So warn all your friends: Don’t buy a house until after the prices crash, and even after a crash, there are always two directions that the price of anything can go: there is up, and there is down. Contrary to popular belief, prosperity is caused by investments for income, and never by investments for capital gain. the person or people who did it must have directed it towards me. The only logical conclusion that I can arrive at is that evidently some patriotic American mistook me for an Iranian and proceeded to revenge the hostages on me. Or maybe it was a terrorist who decided that he didn’t like my bike. Whatever the cause and whoever the doer, it says very little for the character of the Americans who are currently trying to get the world to condemn the Iranian act of terrorism. I just hope that there are very few Americans that are this irrational. I’ve been teased about my accent, bit Jpduri er has anyone held that against me, I have found, on the whole, thatTi are some of the warmest and friem wanted This % ba people (much more so than Northtn and that goes triple for Aggies. I have lished as many friendships down ha ir two years as in all my years up Nori oil n I’ll look forward tol coming August. Marc, I hope that you’ll take a« Jgahij look at yourself. Maybe you’ll find thi hat he problem is you won’t accept Texans- the other way around. Aggies are so( warded — Ednan R. Lodhi Texans are friendly the most terrific people I knowandll hope you don’t waste anymore timeioi ideally, ing that out. it c didn t ki — Kathleen M. Smil World w Alan D. Phipps Bike destroyed — Margery Jones Tipton Apartad 4064 Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela Editor: House boom may bust Editor: I am writing to you students for the pur pose of saving you money. Nowadays there is a great speculative boom in housing. Mil lions of homebuyers are stretching their budgets to buy the biggest houses they can. In fact, they use so much leverage that their outstanding mortgage balances remain approximately unchanged for many years. Little do they know, there are two direc tions that the price of anything can go: I am an international student at A&M and have been in the states for about four months. Up till now I had formed an excel lent impression of the Aggies in particular 1 and Americans in general. But most unfor tunately, something happened Thursday night that has made me change my outlook drastically. I woke up on Friday morning to find that my bike had been utterly smashed and twisted out of shape by someone who ob viously knew what he was doing. Recover ing from my initial shock and surprise, I took a closer look and found that somebody had used a heavy cement block to vengeful- ly and most carefully destroy each and very part of the bike. Since no other bike in the vicinity had been touched and the job was simply too systematic and thorough for any drunkard to have done it, I concluded that Editor: I am writing this in response to Marc Roger’s letter in Friday’s Battalion. I refuse to believe that what Mr. Rogers says is entirely true. He claims that because he is a “Yankee,” he has not been accepted by the student body here at A&M, and has been the butt of many jokes concerning his accent. Mr. Rogers, I would like to know how you deal with the people who belittle you for being a Northerner. Do you immediate ly become defensive? Does your “brash” style come across as obnoxious? Do you naturally assume that everyone who makes fun of your accent is acting in a malicious way? Maybe if you’d stop to consider how you are coming across to other people, you’d find the answer to your problem. I, myself, am a Yankee, coming from New Jersey. Next week, I will have com pleted two years at A&M and will return home for the summer. I will be leaving behind many friends — people I have come to know and care about deeply and who like me for who I am and yes, even for where Tm from, because that’s a part of me. Sure Thanks, CAMACfi Editor: A big “thanks!” to TAMU, the Committee and especially to CAMAd rary,”h the fine family entertainment tonighlP ®ajorin; 30) at Rudder Theater—and it was 1 For one hour, five children, ranj, age from three to eleven years, wereK ™ated, ly entertained by the “Estudiantes 9 Ve zoc Taller de Danza del Instituto Mexicali wfour San Antonio. ” The children, as wel their parents, were dazzled by the coin ^ nayn costumes, precise footwork and handii* j) xono f appearances of the dancers. The musit the regional folk dances communi? the exuberant spirit of our next i neighbor — Mexico. And the handsofl dancers extended to members of the® ence to join them for an exhilarating"’ to a “fast two-step” reaffirmed the waif and friendliness we feel for our neigl to the south. Thank you again for a fun, festive perfectly marvelous evening. — Kathleen W thotz By Doug Graham Howi “Beit iot om Hew Two I acl The place tethei “In t rated p outside feeun Dnivers: