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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1980)
Page 4 THE BATTALION TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1980 The last picnic show by DEBBIE NELSON Battalion Staff “Willie Nelson invites you to his iast eighth annual Fourth of July pic nic at his own Pedemales Country Club near Lake Travis in Austin.... ” A canned speech on a picnic infor mation line in Austin repeats the message over and over while canned Willie Nelson songs wind through the background. The “picnics” started in 1973, in a cow pasture filled with 50,000 prog ressive country fans, country singers like Waylon Jennings and Kris Kris- tofferson and of course, Willie Nelson. Following years took Willie and his picnic from the cow pasture in Dripping Springs to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, with cold beer, excessive heat and unruly crowds all part of the tradition. So why is this the last picnic? “He accomplished what he set out to, bringing together rednecks and hippies with the mutual understand ing of music,” said David Anderson, public relations man for Nelson in Austin. “He also did it to promote the artists at the picnic, which it did. Besides, it takes six months out of the year to set up the picnic and another six months to revive from it.” This year s picnic features, besides the 47-year-old Nelson, such coun try music names as the Charlie Daniels Band, Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb, Leon Rus sell and Asleep at the Wheel. Picnic tickets at $13 each are avail able at Rainbow Ticket Master loca tions throughout Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Also, tickets will be available at the entrance for $15. Locally, the only place to buy tick ets is Hastings Books and Records in Culpepper Plaza, which has sold 300 tickets. Anderson said mail orders for tick ets were accepted for the first time this year, with over 1,000 tickets Willie Nelson being sold for a special $10 price. “We got mail orders from London, Mexico, every state of the Union,” Anderson said. As for this year s pic nic, he predicted, “I know it’ll be the best. I don’t know about the big gest.” Anderson does expect a bigger crowd than the 25,000-30,000 who attended last year’s picnic, which was on a Wednesday, in the middle of the gasoline crisis. The Pedernales country club, 30 miles west of Austin off state High way 71, is the scene of this year’s picnic. Nelson bought the aban doned golf course, country club building and two homes for $250,000 as a site for last year’s picnic. Pre viously, he had trouble leasing land, plus trouble providing adequate sanitation facilities and security guards. Nelson also had trouble convinc ing some residents of the Briarcliff subdivision, which surrounds the country club, that they would not suffer “irreparable harm” from the anticipated crowds. Not until July 3, when the Texas Supreme Court refused to hear the case, was the fate of the picnic se cure. The picnic went on as planned, evidently to the benefit of some Briarcliff residents. The Houston Post reported residents were selling lemonade, beer and tacos to the crowds packing the area roads. The concept of outdoor concerts has changed since Nelson’s first pic nic, Anderson continued. “We might wait a few years and come back and do some indoor concert dates, some stadium dates, but this is defi nitely the last one (picnic) here at Briarcliff. ” This year there are no lawsuits trying to keep Nelson and his friends from their picnic. Anderson said when Nelson bought the country club he told area residents the picnic would be an annual event, but some residents still objected. Anderson explained the picnic uses no tax money, because the county is reimbursed for any ex penses. Besides Department of Pub lic Safety and medical attendants, about 500-600 private security guards will be hired this year. Expenses for the annual picnics have cost Nelson about $250,000 a year, Anderson said, but he claimed the picnic tradition is not being broken because of the money. Instead, Nelson may be going out of the picnic business and into the movie business. Nelson’s film “Honeysuckle Rose” premieres July 3, Anderson said. The soundtrack contains some of the first original songs Nelson has recorded in quite some time. And although rumors have floated since 1978 about a movie based on Nelson’s “Redheaded Stranger” album, Anderson said work on the film is scheduled to begin next year. Sounds like Willie is changing his tune. Five who scaled Alamo walls scheduled for court today United Press International SAN ANTONIO — Five members of the Maoist Revolutionary Com munist Party were scheduled to go to court today to defend themselves against disorderly conduct charges filed as a result of their symbolic “takeover” of the Alamo on March 20. On that date, three members of the group scaled the walls of the his toric shrine, which they termed “a symbol of oppression of Chicano people,” took down the Texas flag, ran up a red banner and shouted re volutionary slogans through a bul lhorn as an angry crowd yelled for police to remove them. Scheduled to appear before Muni cipal Judge Benjamin Samples were James Callahan, Gary Clements, William Chavez, Hayden Steele Fisher and Abigail Bayer. Fisher, Bayer and Damian Garcia were arrested on top of the Alamo and were originally charged with de secration of a venerated object, a charge that later was dropped for lack of evidence. The other three were arrested on the ground near the shrine. Garcia, whom the Maoists termed a “martyr,” was stabbed to death April 23 in Los Angeles, Calif., and Fisher was wounded in a knife attack during a communist demonstration in a barrio housing project. Monday a half dozen members of the Maoist group talked to reporters in Alamo Plaza and charged that Gar cia was killed in “notorious coin- telpro fashion” by government agents who they claimed vowed to hunt down those who participated the Alamo demonstration. Neta Reynolds, 30, of Houston, spokesman for the group, said the Maoists had applied for a parade per mit to stage a rally at noon today in front of the Alamo to protest Garcia’s death and to support the five com munists to be tried on the misde meanor disorderly conduct charge. “The Alamo takeover and the Ala mo itself are going to be on trial, ” she said. “The Alamo itself is offensive, not only to Chicano people but to people all over the world. It’s a decrepit old monument. It is a symbol of oppres sion, not freedom; slavery, not liber ation. I think the thing is an insult.” The Alamo, a mission established by the Spanish in 1718, was the site of an 1836 battle during Texas’ war for independence from Mexico. Surgery today first step for Pryor United Press International LOS ANGELES Comedian Richard Pryor, suffering from pneumonia and in critical condition, today faced the first of what may be years of operations for severe burning. Pryor’s physician Dr. Jack Gross- man said Monday that some mislead ing news reports had given the im pression Pryor was out of danger. “He’s in very critical condition,” Grossman told a news conference. “He’s about as sick as you can get and still be alive.” Pryor has developed a form of pneumonia that afflicts some burn victims, but Grossman said it was “one of the anticipated complica tions.” The comedian, who received third-degree bums on his chest, up- McKenzJe-Baiawin BUSINESS COLLEGE Inquire About Our Terms Starting July 8, 1980 Phone 822-6423 or 822-2368 INTRODUCTORY TALK EVERY TUESDAY at 7:30 p.m. 101 Church St. College Station Old City Hall Mimosa Room Fr«* to tho Public Or Write to: ECKANKAR, P.O. Box 3100, Menlo Park, CA 94025 ECKANKAR is a registered trademark ot ECKANKAR. Printed in U.S.A. 2/80 097 Te o Prescriptions Filled Glasses Repaired 216 N. MAIN BRYAN 822-6105 Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. per arms, armpits and face, was sche duled for surgery today to remove the burned flesh. After surgeons remove the dam aged tissue, skin grafts can begin. Grossman would not comment on the course of treatment, but medical experts have said that burn cases as severe as Pryor’s usually require two or three skingrafting operations. Rehabilitation to increase elastic ity of the grafted skin can take years, leading up to plastic surgery to re duce scarring, especially on the face. Day students get their news from the Batt. Get your Xerox copies ON THE DOUBLE at Northgate, above Farmer’s Market Copies only 3^ each for 2000 or more copies, 48-hr. service. FREE COLLATING in most cases. We specialize in REPORTS and DISSERTATIONS. Also: Self-service copying, typing, binding, resume writing, editing, translating. ONE STOP service for reports and dissertations. ON THE DOUBLE 331 University 846-3755 Open M-F, 7 a.m.-lO p.m. Sat., 9-6 W Advertisement Houston Woman’s Thin Dreams Come True and Ken Stabler Congratulates a Loser Special writer: Michael Hutchins Kenny “Snake” Stabler with Linda Clements. Kenny Stabler plays to win. And as Houston’s new Oiler quarterback, it’s not often that he congratulates a loser. But Linda Clements’ story is differ ent. She met Stabler after losing more than 62 pounds. No wonder she’s smil ing! Her new figure has enabled her to do things she only dreamed of when she was overweight. Like meeting Kenny. At 126 pounds, Linda feels fantastic. And not a bit self-conscious. Even with a ce lebrity! “I feel like a new person. It cer tainly has changed my life.” Linda started gaining weight when she was only three years old. Her dieting at tempts have been unsuccessful all her life. And on top of her unhappiness, she was beginning to worry that her weight would lead to a health problem. Linda explains that she has tried every fad diet and program imaginable. Doc tors’ diets, diet clubs, fasts; you name it, Linda’s tried it. The only constant in her Battle of the Bulge was the fact that nothing ever really worked for her. “The main problem was that 1 never ate enough to satisfy my appetite. 1 al ways felt hungry. And I felt so tired... so I would eat more to feel better.” Even after so many vain attempts to lose weight, Linda was not ready to quit. She was plainly “tired of being fat.” And that meant that she was ready to ”be happier... feel better and wear nice clothes.” So she decided to enroll in the Hous ton Medical Clinic weight loss program. And it proved to be very successful. Linda shed more than 60 pounds on the Clinic's professionally supervised, quick weight loss program. Within only a few months of joining Houston Medical Clinic's ‘‘losing cause”, Linda went from a size 18 to her goal... a junior size 9! 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Behav ior education training instructors con centrate on teaching the patient such things as good nutritional basics, better eating habits, and most importantly, new attitudes toward food. Because, Linda agrees, keeping the weight off is the key to success. Another important reason for choos- ing Houston Medical Clinics was professionalism. They don’t skimp on the things patients need like EKG’s, blood tests, urine analyses and medical exam inations. The Clinic’s professional staff de signs weight loss programs that are in dividually tailored to patients’ special needs. A professional staff of Medical Doctors, Registered Nurses, Dieticians and Psychological Counselors help pa tients every step of the way. This insures that each patient achieves a safe maxi mum weight loss within a minimum amount of time. Linda “felt very safe” on the Clinic's program and described the staff as being “very supportive” and “behind me all the way.” At 32, life has begun anew for Linda Clements. Her husband is so proud of his “new” wife that he is taking her to Ha waii for a second honeymoon. And Linda has been having a wonderful time clothes shopping for the trip. “For the first time in my life I am buying stylish clothes. And I feel great in my new bikini!" Note: While a price tag can't be put on good looks or good health, it is impor tant to note that Houston Medical Clinic's program is now being offered at $40.00 OFF There are 9 Houston Medical Clinics in and aro’v.d the Houston area. To arrange a no-obligation consultation about your individual weight problem, simply phone 846-1727 for the Clinic nearest you. Until Houston Medical Clinics, I lied about my size. To my friends and especially to myself. Now I’m a beautiful size 7 and proud of it. 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