opinion
Battalion/Page 2
April 5
Slouch
By Jim Earle
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Atfost! An honest politician!”
But, will Rhode Island
recognize Taiwan?
by DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Several town
meetings in New England have gone on
‘record as favoring a freeze on nuclear
;weapon deployment. And a town in
Georgia has adopted an ordinance re
quiring citizens to own guns.
Somehow I don’t think this is exactly
-what President Reagan had in mind in
■advocating New Federalism.
But on the other hand, why not?
If states and communities are going to
administer federal social programs, why
not saddle them with foreign policy and
Mayor Deadwright as this city’s ambassa
dor to China.
Fort Snowtread, Colo. — The town
council here has passed an ordinance re
quiring all pregnant women to have
abortions.
“The old theory that population
growth provides a larger tax base has
been thoroughly discredited,” said
Mayor Amos Spadecaller. “AH the baby
boom has gotten us is a bigger deficit.”
;Jet them take over other national issues as
well?
Following are some of the local actions
y we might be seeing:
;< Buttermilk Falls, Wis. — The city
^council voted today to open negotiations
v with Cuba looking toward a settlement of
> the Central American crisis.
“We hope to convince Fidel Castro that
;* it would be in Cuba’s interest to break off
-‘relations with the Soviet Union and to
•‘stop supplying arms and military advis-
\ ers to rebel forces in El Salvador,” Mayor
•; Nathan Windfinger said.
Broken Treaty, Okla. — The local
school board announced tonight it has
completed arrangments for busing stu
dents from one all-white school to
another.
“Despite the fact that no minorities are
involved, the board feels it is a form of
discrimination to require students to
attend schools in their own neighbor
hoods,” Superintendent Primbley Bung-
lewoof explained.
“Besides that, riding across town in a
school bus is an education in itself.”
South Succotash, Ala. — The Bagatel-
£le County Commission has approved a
•Jplan backing the sale of arms to Syria.
\ “If the federal government won’t let
\ the Syrians buy the latest military air-
craft, we will sell them some shotguns
■‘from the Sheriff Department’s arsenal,
•'said Cmintv M^rmcrpr Fndirnft TVirnnr
said County Manager Endicott Torpor-
\ bolt.
£ Tinker’s Dam, Nev. — The town coun-
\ cil tonight confirmed the appointment of
Sump City, N.J. — At a town meeting
tonight, residents of this community
approved plans to convert a vacant lot
across the street from the courthouse
into a nuclear dumping ground.
“The word we get is that nuclear pow
er plants across the country are having
trouble finding places to dump radioac
tive waste material,” said municipal
spokesman Banebridge Flickelnurd.
“If the price is right, they can dump on
us.”
Upper Wrought, Pa. — The council of
aldermen voted today to prohibit the sale
of cigarettes that carry health warnings
on the packages.
Democrats change rules
by Arnold Sawislak
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Once again
changing their national convention dele
gate selection rules, the Democrats have
moved toward adopting the philosophy
of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture —
namely, “form follows function.”
The outside shape of Wright build
ings was dictated by what they was to be
done inside. The Democrats, after more
than a decade of emphasizing democratic
procedures in choosing presidential can
didates, now have turned to the more
pragmatic goal of trying to assure that
their candidates can both win elections
and govern successfully.
Between 1968 and 1980, the Demo
crats cleansed their nominating process
of bossism and back room wheeling and
dealing. There can be little argument
that George McGovern in 1972 and Jim
my Carter in 1976 and 1980 were the first
choices of the people who actually took
part in the long nominating processes.
The problem was that neither
McGovern nor Carter were widely
accepted by the Democrats whose liveli
hoods or avocations were tied most close
ly to the party. The reason: the new rules
had cut many of them out of the easy
access to the nominating process they
had enjoyed before the reforms were in
stalled.
In 1972, many Democratic elected
officials, party leaders and organizations
traditionally allied to the party walked
away from the McGovern candidacy.
The party reformers had a lot of expla
nations for this, but none of them blamed
the rules they had written.
The problem became clearer when
Carter was able to win the presidency but
found it almost impossible to govern suc
cessfully without the active cooperation
of the officials and leaders of his own
party. He came to Washington as an out
sider; he served his term in the White
House as a virtual outcast. He owed little
to the other Democrats nor they to him.
Some blamed Carter for his troubles,
but more thoughtful observers saw a
structural problem: the Democrats had
built a temple to democracy that had no
place for politicians.
The Democratic National Committee
took several major steps last montliii
these vital allies back into the foli,
The most important of these^1
create 570 new delegate slots for
cratic elected officials and party faM 1 * >
These delegates will not havetontgiT 1 T
their convention seats nor pledge’ 1 ®'*'
selves to any presidential candid;
important point for many
fessionals who do not wanttobuya
in January on a horse thatisnl
run until July or August.
The new seats are in additional
convention slots already in plati,
elected officials and party leaden
are willing to pledge themselveslo
dates early in the game.
The ef fect of all this and otheii
changes should be togivethepeopid
have the most direct stake in tnefom
of the Democratic Party a much sit ty
voice in the selection of its presi
candidate. It is assumed—bi
may be a more realistic term —
also will be more likely to work
convention choice in the campaii
if successf ul, in office.
by Kathy R«
Battalion R<
Jjohn Doe is drh
iad listening to tl
a familiar buzz bi
ogramming. Bi
buzz isn’t a t
tual civil defei
hat happens no
Surviving a nuc
nds on knowing
icrisis situation,
p The Brazos Cot
Civil Defense am
’anning—f'undei
Ians, prepar
-pi;
ordinates all cou
at could be used
saster. The state
vernments also c
urces if needed.
Besides nuclea
ivil defense office
does, radiatioi
zardous materi
|om train dera
ods.
"We have a plat
ese areas,” Br;
Svil Defense D
langlose said.
jThe Civil Defer
Jaff—made up o
fense directors of I
ty. Bryan, College
jTexas A&M Unive
iponsible for settir
mutee to deal witf
iter.
A nuclear em<
:cur from an accic
a U.S enemy r
gressor situation
[overnment then v
Ivil defense offic
Tea so the group
local citizens.
Next, a plan calf
adon would b
effect. This plan is
Battalic
wins pi
Letters: Petition for Easter holiday
Three Battalion s
on five awards
nnual Southwest
ism Congress on /
Editor:
This letter is in regards to a petition
which I sent to President Vandiver be
fore Spring Break requesting that April
9th, the Friday before Easter be consi
dered a school holiday. Before anyone
claims that it has been tried before, I
would like to stress that the petition was
written with the realization that the
school calender could not be changed
this year, but that it could be altered in
future years. Since I have only been able
to reach a very small segment of the stu
dent population here at A&M, I would
appreciate other’s opinions. The petition
reads as follows:
“It has come to our attention that April
9th has not been considered a holiday by
our school calender. We feel that this day
should be a school holiday because it is
Good Friday and the beginning of Pas
sover Season. We feel that this is a very
special time which should he spent with
our families. We do not feel that it is too
much to ask for you to give us this day as a
holiday, because earlier in the year you
were willing to give us a holiday merely
on the basis of whether or not we won a
football game. Certainly, Easter and Pas
sover are more important than a football
game.”
This petition was signed by 400
people.
if the crowd is not extremely
True, the crowd was not very lively
ing the singing. They were quiet
very attentive, and held their screai
and applauding until after each
Unlike the concert which led Lain
lin a few years ago to ask for a
3. The Battalion pi
of the 17 universit
competing.
The competiti
! a jWoman’s Universi
as judged by st
rom the Sacramen
he Miami Herald.
Greg Gammon
lion photo ediu
lace in the spot ne
phy competition ar
Lynne Pusanik ’85
490 Mosher
Be critical, not rude
sped during his songs. The crotf ln the sports phot
Ronnie Milsap’s concert was just thft S ( ' r y; Fran k Ghri
of Aggie crowd that I’m proud to^ e “‘ tor ’ won seconc
part of. Also, many performers do
leys, especially when they have as
hits as Ronnie Milsap. With a voice
Ronnie Milsap’s it doesn’t reallyffi
what he sings, it will always be entert)
ame sports story
enise Richter, cit;
bird place in the j
story category. Riel
$50 in the scholars
tion.
Editor:
This is a letter in regard to Cathy
Saathoffs review on Ronnie Milsap’s
concert that was printed in the April 1
issue of the Battalion. I truly hope her
review was in the spirit of April Fools and
that she was not really serious. I know a
critic should be critical, but rude, I would
think not. I’m sure her review was an
assessment of her opinions and not that
of the crowd’s. A singer does not receive
three standing ovations and two encores
mg. I have seen him perform here The Battalioi
three years in a row and would glad(o>' awards for its advei
him again, that is if he comes back.W R°y Leschper Jr.
but by far not least was Miss SaatH* 2 ^ 6 * n
psychological assessment of the
wanting Mr. Milsap to fall off the
I’m proud to say sorry Cathy,butnod
Ag ’
P.S. I wonder if Miss Saathoff joi
the other Ags when they stood as
sang “America the Beautiful.”
place in tne com
newspaper ad fora
tiser; Steve Cooksey
and third place in
for series of ads
advertiser; Reggie
won second place in
Andrew Won
Editor’s Note: This letter wasaccor
nied by 24 other signatures.
\ -category; and 'Tex;
versity won third pi
op ad competition.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Angelique Copeland
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,
Nancy Weatherley
Staff Writers Jennifer Carr,
Cyndy Davis, Gaye Denley,
Sandra Gary, Colette Hutchings,
Johna Jo Maurer, Hope E. Paasch
Daniel Puckett, Bill Robinson,
Denise Sechelski, John Wagner,
Laura Williams, Rebeca Zimmermann
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon Jr.
Photographers Sumanesh Agrawal,
David Fisher, Eileen Manton,
Eric Mitchell, Peter Rocha,
John Ryan, Colin Valentine
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