opinion
Battalion/Paj
February 3,
Trashy’ tradition no good for A&M’s imag
It’s heartwarming to see so many peo
ple benefitting from The Battalion.
But it would be nicer if they were read
ing the paper, not holding it up and
creating severe litter problems at basket
ball games in G. Rollie White Coliseum.
This “tradition” of holding up news
papers while the other team’s lineup is
announced is one that hopefully will die a
sudden death. Unfortunately, it’s been
going on since the Arkansas game last
season.
It doesn’t seem like very good sport
smanship on the face of it; in fact, it’s just
plain rude. And when the papers are tos
sed down to the floor, it’s surely no big
thrill for the people who have to clean up
the mess afterwards.
Besides, it costs a lot of money. Almost
3,000 papers (that’s a third of a ton of
newsprint) were taken from their regular
distribution points the day of the Univer
sity of Houston game. The circulation
department spent Tuesday answering
calls about the lack of Battalions available
on Monday. There’s no charge for The
Battalion, but it does cost money to print.
This paper ritual isn’t going un
noticed either. The caption under front
page pictures in The Eagle from Monday
night’s game said this “mass indifference
and massive mess have become a regular
feature of home basketball games.”
Texas A&M’s reputation already has
become a little trashy of late. This latest
tradition doesn’t help clean it up any.
by Steve
Battalioi
A group of
gineering stui
Europe as a res
andum of Unc
was signed late
officials of I
Bochum in W<
Texas A&M
Leroy S. Fletch
of engineering
The Colleg
is offering the
co-operation 1
universities in
jty and studen
joint teachin;
efforts.
The 19-da
May 13, will i
stay in Amste
tour through
the students ar
the Ruhr Rive
xtivities at
by Reb
Home basketball game fans have developed a new “tradition” of holding up newspapers, followed by throwing them on the floor.
Slouch By Jim Earle Reader’s Forum
Set ocr NOV Pac
JAM
Democracy is hope for Middle Ea
Udll.
The MSG
Committee is
Further Adv
Lovers” tonig
der Forum a:
mittee’s cele
History Moni
I The per
given by the !
Theater of 1
black group ]
out the year
munfty Cent
only original
playwrights,
'ecutive direc
' said.
Editor:
“As a matter of fact, I haven’t had much time to study.
I’ve been very busy getting my study schedule worked
up!”
This missive is in reply to Nabil Al-
Khowaiter’s pompous yet factually in
accurate letter. I have sat silently by while
one Arab student after another has writ
ten into The Battalion lambasting and
chastising the nation of Israel, absolving
in the profess the Arab states’ oil-avarice
hands. If one decides to go on the “offi
cial” record as an advocate for a particu
lar cause (i.e. Palestinian statehood), then
let him/her refute the role of a demago
gue and base the mer its of their case on
the facts as they are universally under
stood and accepted.
A case in point is Mr. Khowaiter’s de
nouement, which stated that Israel is in
directly responsible (or will someday be
responsible) for the deaths of thousands
of American youth in some far-off land.
Balderdash! Menachem Begin, Moshe
Dayan and other past and present illust
rious Israeli heads of state have made it
emphatically clear that nobody, but no
body, will ever fight Israel’s battles for
her. Translated into language that even
Mr. Khowaiter can fathom, that means
that no American soldier will ever, I re
peat ever, have to enter a battle on
Israel’s behalf.
Another point of contention that I
must dissect for proper evaluation by
The Battalion’s constituents, is Mr. Kho-
waiters’ assertion that Israel’s military su
periority (aided and abetted by the
“underground railroad” between
Washington and Tel Aviv) is her chief
and most potent weapon in her war for
survival against her Arab adversaries.
Israel’s superiority, however, is not of the
hardware type, in the form of caches of
weapons, but of the cerebral type, a far
more formidable device than man has or
ever will devise.
It also appears incongruous to me
when the Arabs call for “sanctions”
against territory acquired by Israel when
the territory would have remained in
Arab hands had they not started four
wars predicated on the cardinal tenet of
“pushing Israel into the Mediterranean
Sea.”
Lastly, I feel it superfluous to enumer
ate and elucidate on the vast pressures
that Arab P.A.C.s (political action com-
The pla;
have diverse
froi
Building Trusthouse Forte in U.S.
by LeRoy Pope
United Press International
NEW YORK — A young businessman
who is being mentioned as the best matri
monial catch in Britain now that Prince
Charles is married has come to America
to invest a sizable chunk of his family’s
millions.
Rocco Forte is launching a program to
build or buy up to 50 hotels in American
cities in five years. That could mean out
lays of well over $1 billion.
Much of the financing would be raised
in North America but the investment of
the family company, Trusthouse Forte,
would be significant.
Trusthouse Forte, built by Rocco’s
father, Lord Charles Forte, is the biggest
hotel, restaurant, resort and catering
combine in the world. It owns or operates
830 hotels, including some of the world’s
most famous — the George V in Paris
and Grosvenor House and the Hyde
Park in London among them. In addi
tion, it has 3,000 restaurants and numer
ous other businesses.
Although it owns the Westbury in New
York, the Plaza in Philadelphia, the Plaza
of the Americas in Dallas, and the Trave-
Lodge chain of some 530 motels, head
quartered in San Diego, it has kept a
rather low profile in the United States.
Now, however, it is starting to move
into the American market aggressively
and exploit the company image for the
first time on the western side of the
Atlantic.
Rocco Forte said new hotels will be
built at an average cost of perhaps $30
million in the faster growing American
cities, especially in the Sunbelt. Others
will be bought and remodeled. He said he
would like more hotels in New York.
Trusthouse Forte’s global operations
cover all price ranges, but Forte said the
new American program will emphasize
prestige hotels with a definite European
ambiance. He is confident the program
will move right along despite the current
recession.
As Lord Forte’s only son and a hand
some young man, Rocco Forte inevitably
began to be talked of as perhaps the most
eligible bachelor in the kingdom after
Prince Charles married. In his early thir
ties, he already is deputy chief executive
of Trusthouse Forte. The family stock
interest in the huge empire is about 20
per cent.
“That isn’t nearly enough to assure my
succession,” Rocco said. “I’ve got to earn
it if I get there.”
He has an ingenuous explanation for
his continuing bachelorhood: “Every-
time I seem seriously interested in a girl,
my sisters discover reasons why I
he said with a
shouldn’t propose,
straight face.
The five sisters all are younger than
he. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have sur
vived,” he quipped.
Although they are third generation
British subjects, the Fortes are pure Ita
lian and Rocco has a Latin charm.
He was educated at Oxford and was on
the varsity fencing team. He no longer
fences but goes in for hunting, fishing,
golf and windsurfing.
Young Forte worked in the family
hotels and restaurants on his vacations
during his school years. On his first job,
he shattered a big tray of plates. The
manager knew who he was but docked
him just the same. “That taught me
something,” he said.
When he got out of Oxford he consi
dered entering Harvard Business
School. “I probably should have,” he
said. “The only way to get equivalent
financial training in England was to be
come a chartered accountant. I did that
and had the most boring three years in
my life at it.”
Lord Forte, who now is 73, has no in
tention of retiring soon, his son said.
Raised in Scotland, Lord Forte began his
business career dishing out ice cream at a
seaside summer resort on the west coast
of England.
The Battalion
mittees) exert on Capitol Hill. Peoj 1
the Western and Third worlds are!* ! -
ning, Mr. Khowaiter, to seriousljfl
tion, to use your own words, whetk
U.S. government can ever castoSlP
yoke of Arab control on its domes'll 1
well as foreign policies. IlcilJL
In closing, Israel, not the Arabs,B
bastion of democracy in the Middlfj ' by Sh
a democracy, not a Saudi plutofflB Battai
Syrian autocracy, or a Jordanianu'. lexas suc<
chy. It is just such a democracy, eUn g>. wai
the U.S., that enables you to voi«iL pliance v
opinion and acquire your efltf m pj 1 S p ee< j \
without fear of recriminations Iflr ,
sovereign and oppressive govern® Publit e Sa{ "
Can the aforementioned stait Highway D<
also be proclaimed in the Arab wc j unct i° n wit]
portation In
Marc Ei # r j°ng P*
standards o
federal act,
creased com
^ Jttph speed 1
* The aim
prease the ra
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion also serves as a /aboratoryn^
For students in reporting, editing and photognfi
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ter should be directed to the editor.
Editor Angelique Copeland
Managing Editor JaneG. Brust
City Editor Denise Richter
Assistant City Editor Diana Sultenfuss
Sports Editor Frank L. Christlieb
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Assistant Focus Editor Nancy Floeck
News Editors Gary Barker,
Phyllis Henderson, Mary Jo Rummel,
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Staff Writers .... John Bramblett, Gaye Denley,
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Photographers Sumanesh Agrawal,
David Fisher, Peter Rocha,
Colin Valentine
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the small society
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©1961 King FMturn Syndicate, Inc. World rights reserved.
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