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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1981)
i Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Tuesday February 10, 1981 Slouch By Jim Earle “The guys downstairs are putting in a fireplace and I figured you wouldn t mind, so I let them. ” Unparalleled growth facing American West By DAVID S. BRODER SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Scott M. Matheson is in an unusual — even unique — position. In 1980, he was the only incumbent Democrat re-elected to a governorship west of 4 the Mississippi. Five others who tried were defeated. In a state which has become a Repub lican power center, with two major Senate com mittee chairmanships, a Cabinet seat, and the chairmanship of the Republican National Com mittee, Matheson is the only Democrat remain ing in statewide or federal elective office. He won a second term in 1980 with 55 per cent of the vote, while Ronald Reagan was tak ing 73 percent in the presidential race. Among the 104 members of the state legislature, only 24 are Democrats. Matheson, a quiet man of 52 who spent most of his adult life as a corporate lawyer, com mands respect in this increasingly Republican state region, not only as a political survivor, but as a leader on regional issues. He and Nevada Gov. Robert F. List (R) are going to Washington together to try to persuade Reagan’s secretaries of energy, interior and de fense to create a joint task force with western governors on the challenge now facing the In termountain West. That challenge is coping with the dramatic transformation this arid and underpopulated region faces in the next 10 years as it becomes the center of a new defense technology and energy industry. The region’s resources of coal, oil, gas, tar sands, uranium and oil shale are bringing in a tidal wave of investment and development that threatens to engulf an area with only 13 percent of the country’s water and 5 percent of its popu lation. No one sees any way to halt the oncoming assault, and the promise of jobs and profits and growth is tantalizing to many. An insurance agent in Grand Junction, Colo., the center of the oil-shale development, says, “I don’t sell policies anymore; I just write up the business that comes in.’’ But local governments do not have it so easy. Mayor Jane Quimby of Grand Junction, which has just passed a $23 million bond issue for its expanding school needs, says the front-end capital costs for the four-county oil-shale de velopment area far exceed the resources avail able to its governments. A survey of those needs totaled $350 million, the mayor says, seven times the amount available in the oil- shale trust fund the state has set up for the four counties. Demands on the separate severance Warped The business of education Schols lege can Schol The biennial rotation of regent seats has brought three new members to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, the gov erning board of this institution and its com plementary campuses and service agencies. Gov. Bill Clements, who has become known in some circles for naming people to state boards on the basis of their ability, has given us no indication as to what kind of men he has presented us this time. H.R. “Bum” Bright, William McKenzie and Joe Richardson have expressed a considerable and consistent interest in the quality of Texas A&M and its programs. Whether that is a mark of genuine concern or of self-serving paternal ism is not evident; it has not, however, been Bill Clements’ practice to appoint others solely because of political favoritism. Since we can’t really judge these men, we can at least examine the type who do become regents, and pass on a recommendation. There is one predominant characteristic which all these men share: they’re successful businessmen. The Texas A&M System has, among its regents, a building construction ex ecutive, a successful surgeon and an energy magnate. Now we’ve been given a transporta- Sidebars By Dillard Stone tion company executive, a successful lawyer and an oil operator. There’s nothing wrong with success; quite the contrary. In fact, success and managerial ability are often so related as to be indisting uishable. The reasoning goes something like this: He’s interested in his school, and he’s successful in running his business, so he’d probably do a good job in running the school. It’s simple, and it makes sense. But it’s not necessarily true. Any business, including an educational insti tution, requires that its managers be versed in a confusing maze of rules, regulations and spe cialized knowledge. Knowing the territory is essential, and until new appointees grasp the complexities of the job, their actions, however benevolently intended, could do more harm than good. All of which brings us to the question:! about placing an educator on the Boai gents? University and System executive officen well in advising the regents, but they’re k pered in two respects: 1) they are still ate the regents as though they were reporting boss and 2) there’s always that neat little (4 phrase, “I serve at the pleasure of the Boari Regents.” In other words, that gap still exists, et between the highest levels in the Syst bureaucracy and the regents. Information from professional educat should be delivered on an equal-to-equalfe not from subordinate to superior. Chancellor Frank W.R. Hubert’s recentS; tern Conference on Quality in Teaching ste sed, among other things, what the could do to improve teaching. The govern should consider what he could do to impn the representativeness on those boards wli run universities. Governing boards invariably administers cation like a business; wouldn’t it make sera appoint someone to the board whose busiM was education? student has fallei It woi have bel builds u graduatii presiden A stu overall ( average To get to a 2.0. For ei three-ho could be and mail semester Stude: *• tax fund run 10 times the $20 million annual yield. Democrats like Matheson and Quimby are not critical of the corporations moving into their region. Matheson says he has had “good cooperation” from “20 or 30 really big, well- capitalized companies that are licking their chops over us and will probably turn dirt on their Utah projects in the next two years.” But the impact of that development on the air and water, the land, the people and the com munities of the West is more than the states can cope with by themselves. “Two-thirds of Utah’s land is owned by the federal government,” Matheson says. “We can’t get enough from our tax base to provide the infrastructure that we need.” So the states are looking to the federal government for help. Matheson expects the legislature to scuttle his modest growth-management program. The legislature is bent on continuing a property-tax rebate program and instituting local tax caps in a time of burgeoning school population and se vere restraints on school funding. Its attitude toward Washington was evi denced by a vote in the state senate a few days ago denying Salt Lake County the authority to institute an auto-emission inspection program demanded by the Environmental Protection Agency as a condition for continuing $152 mil lion in federal aid for air-pollution abatement. Despite the fact that the valley has suffered under a pollution-breeding inversion this win ter, the legislature balked at what one member called the “blackmail” attempt by EPA. This kind of parochialism is not uncommon here. Salt Lake City is the headquarters of a new political-action group called LASER (League For the Advancement of States Equal Rights). It is headed by John L. Harmer, who was, for a time, Reagan’s lieutenant governor in California. The group is promoting the “Sageb rush Rebellion,” the call for a state takeover of the vast federal public lands. Reagan sent LAS ER’S post-election convention a telegram say ing, “Count me in as a rebel.” Secretary of Interior James G. Watt has asserted that “good neighbor” cooperation can eliminate the radical reaction represented by LASER and the Sagebrush Rebellion. Mathe son, who testified as a Democrat in support of Watt’s controversial nomination, agrees. But Ronald Reagan’s administration faces a major test in devising policies that assure develop ment without ruin for the region that so strong ly supported his election. courses i jors, sai< hire. Proba Collej A stui permitte whose G probatio come in These said, wit students are evah At the student’; blocked, student One o regular : Colleg A stu points b( letter of suspensi for acadc C-15 ai semestei About ofArchit ation, M The a appeals; dents. MacG Cl Wide open spaces in the Bronx? Ns* Bury me noton the Eastern seaboard By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Walk out in the streets of nearly any Eastern city these days and you will see natives dressed in high-heeled boots, ranch-style hats and other lone prairie gar ments. At first, the fashion known as Texas Chic was blamed on the influence of disco culture, Ronald Reagan and the movie “Urban Cow boy.” But now there’s a suspicion it may be a result of demographics. Robert Orben, a professional speech-writer, puts it this way: “According to the latest census, the coun try’s population is shifting to the South and to the West. It’s only a question of time before people in Utah are going to be singing songs about the wide, open spaces — The Bronx.” I can see it all now — a saga that one day will be published under the title “The Winning of the East.” Pittsburgh will again be on the frontier, only this time the hardy pioneers will be headed in the opposite direction. Eastern-style justice will be dispensed by self-proclaimed judges who set themselves up as “the law East of the Monongahela. ” There will be a new style of music called “country-eastern” featuring such ballads as “The Streets of Altoona. ” ‘As I walked out in the streets of Altoona, “As I walked out in Altoona one day, “I spied a young cowboy all dressed in designer blue jeans. “His ranch had a ski lift and the foreman was g^y- ” ‘easterns. ” Each film will have the sameplf A new Civil Wa A&M Un Studen research and play c the Civil The Li’ its organi: With ir muskets, accurate! west of tl at re-er througho Organ johnson s cipate thi Galvestc Pleasant Hills, Mi While < a struggle between cowmen and sheep! | eave ^ over grazing rights on Three Mile Island Crime will be different, too. Where! War sold On the site where Hackensack, N.J. now stands, buffalo will roam. On the site where Buffalo, N. Y., now stands, hackens will sack and antelopes play. What is now the right-of-way of the Long Island railroad will be a stagecoach route, with approximately the same travel time between stations. The biggest event in what is left of Baltimore will be the annual round-up. Cattle will be driven to the Wilmington stockyards along the old 1-95 trail. Hollywood will be turning out movies called gings and hold-ups now occur, there rustling and hold-ups. On Saturday nights, highrollers will ride! Atlantic City and whoop it up in the garf . halls, even as now. Only this time thedei folks who live there will hire a marshal 'A quick on the trigger to clean up the town make it a fit place for the pretty young set Clay, we marm who is arriving on the noon stage t Dodge City. And some day they’ll drive a Golden Sf 0nes had near where Montpelier, Vt., now stand mark completion of a trans-New England road. Maybe we won’t see all of this in ourlfc Back Bay buckaroos, but as sure as Sunbelt, it’s coming. into All the thentic cl a charact< Johns while on; ate, we whether fore the B times eve Re-ena By Scott McCullar BOY, IT'S TIMES LIKE THESE WHEN 1 LONG FOR THE DAYS WHEN DAD FILLED OUT MY F0RN\S FOR N\E..., HMM, EMPLOYMENT FORMS HAVE GOT TO BE ONE OF KINDS... THE MOST ^ S.IH rrtir << n«*ni'i LIST 4: PREVIOUS EMPLOY ERS 4 GIVE _3_ PERSONAL REFERENCES OF PEOPLE THAT KNOW YOUR WORK HOW COME THEY ONLY WANT PEOPLE WHO CANY HOLD A STEADY TOB AND WORK FOR FREE A LOT?. The Battalion U S P S 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congres Questions or comments concerning any editorial W0 should be directed to the editor. Editor Dillard Stone Managing Editor Angel Copeland Asst. Managing Editor Todd Woodard City Editor Debbie Nelson Asst. City Editor Marcy Boyce News Editors Venita McCellon, Scot K. Meyer Sports Editor Richard Oliver Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff Asst. Focus Editor Susan Hopkins Staff Writers Carolyn Barnes, Jane G. Brust, Terry Duran, Bemie Fette, Cindy Gee, Jon Heidtke, Belinda McCoy, Marjorie McLaughlin, Kathy O’Connell, Bitchie Priddy, Rick Stolle Cartoonist Scott McCullar Photo Editor Greg Gammon Photographers Chuck Chapman Brian Tate LETTERS POUCY Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in lent and are subject to being cut if they are longer. The cditorilll reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but' make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each must also be signed, show the address and phone number^ writer. Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and&t subject to the same length constraints as letters. Addreil’ inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Battalion, Feed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station. 77843. EDITORIAL POUCY The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper op erated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily repre sent the opinions of Texas A&M University administrators or faculty members, or of the Board of Regents, The Battalion is published daily during Texas A&M s spring semesters, except for holiday and examination peo® Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25perse"’ year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates fiimisheiit ,l|f quest. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Buil^ Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to tlx* for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Risl 111 reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX TiW 7U