THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1981
Page 5
Shoplifting increases
during holiday season
Staff photo by Greg Watermann
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Panel discusses Pearl Harbor
By TIM FOARDE
Battalion Staff
Forty years ago, the U.S. milit
ary was shaken by a devastating
attack by the Japanese at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii.
Eight battle ships in the harbor
and close to 200 planes were des
troyed on Dec. 7, 1941. More than
2,400 Americans were killed.
Three Texas A&M history pro
fessors participated in a panel dis
cussion Monday at Rudder Tower
Deiorti eom,nemora bng the 40th anniver-
r. sarv of the Japanese bombing of
' iffPearl Harbor -
Dr. Roger Beaumont discussed
the forecasting of the Japanese
attack. Dr. James Bradford ex
plained the strategic elements of
the attack itself and Dr. Martin
Melosi, author of “Shadow of
Pearl Harbor,” discussed the
bombing’s aftermath and the
question of culpability.
Beaumont traced the decay of
Japanese-American relations from
the end of the Russo-Japanese war
in 1906, through the outbreak of
WW II in 1939, up to the day of
attack in 1941.
The U.S. military had several
warnings about the possibilty of a
Japanese attack and particularly
vulnerable Pearl Harbor,
Beaumont said.
Forewarnings of an attack in
cluded a report from Billy Mitch
ell in 1924 who testified before
Congress that “... some Sunday
morning, about 7:30, Japanese air
craft would come in, catch the
pacific fleet at anchor in Pearl Har
bor, and destroy it,” Beaumont
said.
Mitchell’s prediction, however,
included some prerequisites that
didn’t develop before the attack.
Predicitions of an attack on
Pearl Harbor ranged from science
fiction stories to military intelli
gence reports. As 1941
approached, the increasing num
ber of rumors about a Japanese
attack created a type of “crying
wolf’ disbelief that contributed to
the U.S. military unprepared
ness, Beaumont said.
Bradford said the Japanese used
a two-wave attack to surprise the
U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor.
The first wave of Japanese air
craft was to cover all planes in the
air, the airfields and then attack
the fleet of battleships and des
troyers, Bradford said.
The first wave was far more
damaging than the second wave,
which was equipped to attack air
craft carriers that had not arrived
at the harbor yet.
Bradford said the Japanese plan
basically worked as planned, ex
cept it went better than they ex
pected. The American reaction
was one of disbelief.
Speculations about culpability
— such as the idea that President
Franklin D. Roosevelt knew about
the attack beforehand but allowed
it in order to enter the war — were
common but unfounded, Melosi
said.
Investigations about culpability
were said to threaten U.S. milit
ary security, he Said. The U.S. had
decoded many Japanese military
codes and it was important that
the Japanese did not discover
their codes had been broken.
The result was the Roosevelt
administration’s effort to bury the
Pearl Harbor story and assign the
blame to Pearl Harbor Naval
Commander Husband Kimmel
and Pearl Harbor Army Comman
der Walter Short, Melosi said.
The politically sensitive nature
of the Pearl Harbor issue caused
the Roosevelt administration to
adopt a “cover-up” attitude. Sev
eral culpability investigations
were carried out, Melosi said, but
most of them were affected by the
administration’s “national secur
ity” censorship.
By Chris Howland, Susan Scott
and Rebeca Zimmermann
Battalion Reporters
As shoplifting activity triples in
the final weeks before Christmas,
some local merchants are prepar
ing for the increase in thefts by
increasing security.
The College Station Police De
partment has conducted a seminar
on shoplifting and related crimes
to alert store owners to the prob
lem. Police said large coats with
inside pockets, bloomers, and
umbrellas with large rubber bands
attached are frequently used by
shoplifters.
Ron Morton, manager of the
local J.C. Penney Co., said his
store increases the sales force and
shows films about shoplifting to
employees to prepare them for the
Christmas shopping season.
However, Ed Bushak, manager
of K-Mart, said he did not notice
an increase in shoplifting during
the holiday season.
“Actually in proportion to sales,
it decreases,” he said.
Morton and Bushak said cosme
tics and records are a prime
targets for shoplifters. Morton
said clothes also disappear when
shoplifters try them on.
Rusty Rush of R. Rush and Co.
said his store is smaller and does
not have the theft problems that
most large department stores
have. He does not change his sho
plifting policy during Christmas.
At the shoplifting seminar,
Johnny Maxwell, a security guard
for a food chain, told the audience
that most shpplifiting is done by
housewives and young children.
Maxwell told the group that col
lege students and teenagers who
actually have the money to purch
ase items sometimes shoplift as a
challenge. Professional shoplifters
are very rare, he said.
Maxwell advised store owners
to remove store areas enclosed by
racks to prevent shoplifting. He
also suggested putting bells on
doors to attract the store owner’s
attention.
Police estimate that a store’s
profit loss is about 0.5 percent to 1
percent because of shoplifting.
The average loss per shoplifter
varies from $5 to $23 per incident.
The Police Department said if
store representatives apprehend a
shoplifter, the store managers
must know exactly what merchan
dise was stolen, which counter it
was stolen from, how it was taken
and how it was concealed. They
must know whether the merchan
dise is still concealed on the sus
pect, and they must identify it as
the store s property. About 5C
percent of those apprehended are
prosecuted, police officials said.
The penalty for shoplifting an
item worth $1 to $5 is a fine of up
to $200. For an item valued at $5
to $20 the penalty is a fine of up to
$1,000 and/or up to 80 days in jail.
For items $20 and above, a fine of
up to $2,000 and/or up to 12
months in jail can be imposed.
In Bryan and College Station
the first-time offender is usually
placed on probation, police offi
cials said.
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7:0
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CLEVELAND — Santa Claus
visited the employees of Lincoln
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bag was a record $59 million in
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Santa — otherwise known as
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Last year, Lincoln’s 2,637
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same place in which workers have
been told since the bonus program
began in 1934.
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