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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1982)
-opinion = — Battalion/Paf September 13, I VIEWPOINT Copping a plea sets ’em all free by Art Buchwald There is a lot of plea bargaining going on in our courts these days. The prosecu tors keep saying they have to deal with criminals to avoid expensive trials and also to get the little fish to testify against the big fish. The only problem with the second argument is that so many little fish get off the hook to catch a big fish, that many times no one is caught. This is how it works. “All right, Trout, we know you blew off Barracuda’s head in New Jersey be cause he wasn’t kicking back on the guns he sold to Libya. If you testify against Mackerel to the Grand Jury, we’ll drop your murder charge down to driving without a license.” Trout goes for the offer, and the pro secutors soon get a visit from Mackerel’s attorneys. “If you let Mackerel off,” his attorneys say, “on a vagrancy charge, he’ll be the star witness against Sharkey, who is the biggest dope dealer south of Miami.” The Justice Department has been after Sharkey for years, so they say, “You’ve got a deal.” Sharkey is arrested on Mackerel’s testi mony and held on $10 million bail. After a week in the slammer, Sharkey tells a government attorney, “I was just a courier in the dope business. If you really want some big fish, lower my bail to $5,000 and I’ll deliver whoever you want.” “Can you give us Bass?” the govern ment attorney asks. “I’ll hand you his head on a platter.” The Justice people go to the judge and tell him Sharkey is a key witness in a case they’re building against Bass, and has to be bailed out. Sure enough, two months later Justice has Bass nailed to the wall for running the largest white slavery business in America. But he’s hiding in Brazil. He sends word that he’s willing to come back and blow the whistle on Whale, the most notorious labor racketeer in the country, but only if they drop the felony charges, and prosecute him for spitting in the subway. Justice said they can’t make that kind of deal. But if Bass is willing to turn state’s evidence, they might reduce the 100 white slavery counts to one count of sell ing liquor to a minor. Bass goes for it and lo and behold Whale has been arrested for the first time in his life. Justice is preparing the prosecution when Whale drops a bomb on them. If they overlook the labor racket and extor tion charges, Whale says he can implicate a United States congressman in a Brinks robbery. The FBI checks out Whale’s story and finds out it’s true. They promise Whale if he testifies to everything he knows, they’ll give him a new identity, a job and a con dominium in Palm Beach, Florida. Whale starts singing and the U.S. con gressman is a dead duck. So the congress man offers to testify against one of the “highest” officials in America, who has been getting regular payoffs from Fidel Castro. The Justice Department lets the con gressman plea bargain his way down to “malicious parking,” and start their case against the “high” government official.” But just before they’re ready to go into court, they get a visit from the CIA, who tells them the high government official really works for them. They warn the Justice people that if the official is tried, the entire U.S. espionage effort against Cuba will be destroyed. Justice drops the case, and with no big fish to fry, they go back to finding out if they can get a better deal from the courts for breaking the telephone company. The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Editor Diana Sultenfuss Managing Editor Phyllis Henderson Associate Editor Denise Richter City Editor BernieFette Assistant City Editor Gary Barker Sports Editor Frank L. Christlieb Entertainment Editor Nancy Floeck Assistant Entertainment Editor Colette Hutchings News Editors Rachel Bostwick, Cathy Capps, Daniel Puckett, Jan Werner, Todd Woodard Staff Writers Jennifer Carr, Susan Dittman, Beverly Hamilton, John Lopez, Robert McGlohon Hope E. Paasch, Bill Robinson, Dana Smelser, Joe Tindel, John Wagner, Rebeca Zimmermann Copy editor Elaine Engstrom Cartoonist Scott McCullar Graphic Artist. Pam Starasinic Photographers . . . David Fisher, Octavio Garcia, Jane Hollingsworth, Janet Joyce, John Ryan, Colin Valentine Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news paper operated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions ex pressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M University administrators or faculty mem bers, or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography clas ses within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter should be directed to the editor. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must also be signed and show the address and phone number of the writer. Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are not subject to the same length constraints as letters. Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Uni versity, College Station, TX 77843, or phone (713) 845- 2611. The Battalion is published daily during Texas A&M’s fall and spring semesters, except for holiday and exami nation periods. Mail subscriptions are $ 16.75 per semes ter, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. Adver tising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. Dream along with me by Dick West United Press International WASHINGTON — Back before Sig mund Freud gave dreaming a bad name, slumbertime hallucinations ranked right up there with apple pie and motherhood among the world class virtues. Dreams were to a past generation of songwriters what “baby” is to today’s lyri cists. Tin Pan Alley then could hardly turn out more than two consecutive lines without using the word. “Give me a kiss to build a dream on,” begged Louis Armstrong between trum pet blasts. “You’ve got to have a dream,” admonished Juanita Hall in “South Paci fic.” “Did you ever see a dream walking?” asked the juke boxes. Dream songs generally had the sort of fruitcake quality one associates with skateboards, love in bloom and other out breaks of dementia. “You’re all dressed up to go dream ing,” reported one tunesmith. To the li teral mind, that suggests the party of the second part was wearing footsie jamjams, or some such attire. Now, of course, this type of nonsense no longer makes the hit parade. Modern psychiatrists have taught us to regard dreaming as the lumbago of the subcon scious — a sure sight the sleeper’s pesky id is acting up again. Perhaps the shrinks are closer to the truth than poets were. It could be our wistful preoccupations are too ridiculous or fanciful to find fulfillment except when we are asleep. Nevertheless, as every romantic knows, some dreams really do come true. So it was gratifying to learn during the recent American Psychological Associa tion convention here that an effort is being made to rehabilitate beddy-bye illusions. “Lucid Dreaming” was one of the topics discussed at the meeting. The idea seems to be that with proper preparation a dreamer can control the contents of noctural imageries and even dicate their conclusions, thus ensuring that the dreams have happy endings. 1 like that. Ungoverned dreaminj; be disconcerting, to say the least. It frequently is my rotten luck toll sweet dreams about people whom 1| bitterly disagreeable in real life.\ most of my other dreamland exctira are equally unrealistic. In order to have lucid dreams, psychologists were told, an indisij “must have the intention to recoa i that he or she is dreaming.” Here, I fear, is where the wholelw of cards is likely to collapse. I have known a small armyofdra j ers who were totally incapable of reo I nizing that they were dreaming.Infi have exhibited such an incapacity mu | upon occasion. “You must be dreaming," emplw and relatives have said to me wfea offered some helpful suggestion weighed in with a modest request. And all the while I thought Iwasvi awake. C e If tion; of, th Book be th T theF Univ all ci A&IV must 5 p.n / giver inclu an o child terat ern . tion ‘ al en $25 Recurring Disasters conte 25 w collet M piadtfe China.,, Pi FLOODSOF YANfilZE DUST STORMS RICHARD NIXON re If yoi Iloing i 7VEAR LOCUSTS 'ear fro Letters: Bootline rules effective nients a eseard aid. Exar eseardi noise c< Editor: Once again, it seems that another let ter has reached the pages of the Battalion before its authors thoroughly investi gated the issue at hand. We wish to de fend the bootline ring check that was un justly criticized, by two juniors and one sophomore, in a letter appearing on Sept. 8. First of all, it should be noted that, contrary to popular belief, the members of Student Government are not stupid. They realize that not all students, two of us included, can not afford senior rings. At the first bootline for the Class of ‘83, student ID’s were also checked for ‘79’ as the first two digits; therefore, we were all able to take part. We feel, along with all others seniors that we have spoken with, that the class verification provided for the most organized, and least crowded, bootlines in the three years of our attend- ence at Texas A&M. Our congratulations go out to those persons that were in strumental in the establishment of the ring check. To conclude, it is difficult for us to understand the grave concern of three individuals regarding a privilege that will not be theirs for some time to come. We have watched non-seniors participate in bootline (on a regular basis) in the past, and could not help but think of this ex perience as we read the letter in question. We do not intend to accuse the authors of the letter of unscrupulous motives; however, we would like to see the busi ness of the Class of ’83 left to the Class of ’83 Jim Stolarski ‘83 Craig Martens ‘83 Thad Massengale ‘83 Soccer thanks Editor: I want to express my appreciation for the enthusiastic participation of the A&M men’s and women’s soccer teams at the second annual Sidekick Soccer Com petition held Saturday, Augest 28, co sponsored by McDonald’s and Coca- Cola, in cooperation with the local youth soccer clubs. Over 200 area children, ages 3 to 16, participated in mini-games of soccer with everyone winning a prize and having fun. The A&M soccer players helped with everything from the early morning set-up of registration tables and marking fields to officiating the games, plus giving an excellent demonstration of soccer skills. The team members’ interest in young soccer players and their dedication to the sport of soccer was shown by their volun tary participation in this community pro ject. Thank you. Linda M. Martin Coordinator, Sidekick Soccer, ’82 Wallet lost Editor: Last Wednesday night, after a long day at school, I decided to go to the Dixie Chicken and have a few beers. I left the Chicken but happened to leave my wallet sitting on one of the tables there. I admit that it was my fault for leaving my wallet, but I would think that whoever found it there would have turned it in to someone at the Chicken or would have contacted me. The wallet contains quite a few things of value to me and I would extremely appreciate it being returned. I know my phone number is not anywhere in my wallet so I’ll leave it here in The Batta lion. If you happen to be the person who found it, or if you know of that person, would you please call me. My phone number is 693-4702. David L. Blake ’84 Campus litter Editor: Last Thursday evening I learned something new. That is, the tendency to litter does not decrease with the amount of education a person possesses. How many of you have been surprised, and nauseated, when the person in the car in front of you nonchalantly threw2k can out of the window onto thehigbi 1 I see it all the time and I always have same reaction: utter disgust of the man race. What gives this person| right to pollute what is not his? lab liked to think that this person hadt«'I some stupid dunghead that was lb taught better. Well, Thursday I saw a sight it made me realize that those of us whoa considerate of mother nature and os fellow man are in a depressindyJFl minority. As I approached the 1 entrance to the MSC, I noticed t had an unpopular flyer in the talion. I could tell it was unpopular^ cause there were hundreds, yes a dwp of those flyers strewn all over thesis walk. Inside the MSC it was even worst They were literally piled on the floor the Flag Room looked as though® 35,000 of use had read the Battalion mistakenly taken the Flag RoomtoheiW Battalion Can, you know, file #13 After seeing all this, I began tow der. If the inside of the MSC, thecb ished Memorial Student Center, like this, I wonder what the rest campus would look like if it weren't the hard work of the maintenancestalfl ; wonder how many people are emplolB by the University whose sole respon ity is to pick up other people’s trashd wonder how much of our tuition gb toward picking up this trash. The students who did this obvionil 1 . do not care about keeping our mow 1 clean, but everyone cares about raonf 1 Thomas Hubbel 2421 Colgaif Friendship Editor: As a corollary to David Fisher's artidf on friendship, I devised the following maxim: “Anyone can be an acquaintance i| but only someone can be a friend.” Marc Rogers Graduate student lavior c ' The 1 0 c