The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 15, 1983, Image 5
15,18 local / state Battalion/Page 5 February 15, 1983 d ristin t Trucker fined for giving ride Cultural! mpson )f Edna Pram, United Press International AMARILLO — A truck driver says he learned that helping stranded people Entenim "along the highway can be hwHeti more costly than just the time it takes to give them a ride. Tom Sweeney, 41, of Here ford got a $100 ticket last week for picking up two stranded motorists in Ari zona. “I was just trying to help somebody out,” he said. “If that makes me a bad guy, that’s just how it’s got to be.” Sweeney said he was travel ing between Flagstaff and Holbrook, Ariz., Wednesday at about 7 a.m. when he spot ted a man and a woman in a ^rest area about 15 miles from .Flagstaff. “It was cold, below 20 de grees,” he said. "They were wo years ness, tht a prtifl entary.l rood mi >n Villa the aditl :ountinji :hool. schoolofl 5 175 30 andi shivering from the cold. I took them into the cab and gave them some coffee to warm them up.” Sweeney said the pair apparently had suitcases but no vehicle. Sweeney said when he let the pair out of the cab, an Ari zona highway patrolman pre sented him a $100 ticket for carrying unauthorized pas sengers. Arizona highway patrol su perintendent Ed Ray said the situation sounded like a mis understanding. “The Arizona highway pat rol absolutely does not ticket truck drivers who carry pas sengers in what is obviously an emergency situation,” Ray said. “Even our patrolmen do that (take stranded travelers to help).” Local Eastern Onion entertains Messenger loves singing her tune by Kathy Wiesepape Battalion Reporter Janus Retterer slips into the doctors’ office, tiptoes to the front desk and whispers to the nurse. The people in the waiting room stare and giggle as she waits patiently and pretends she’s not a novelty. But as soon as the doctor enters the room, her quiet manner disappears. “Eastern Onion singing tele gram!” she announces in a circus barker’s voice, before blowing a piercing siren whistle. In honor of Valentine’s Day, she’s dressed in red and white tights and a huge stuffed silk heart costume, with a red heart painted on her cheek. She’s flashy — from her rainbow ear rings and black sequined bow tie to her white high-topped sneak ers with red sequined stripes. Retterer places a bright red party hat on the doctor’s head and launches into a Valentine’s tune, accompanied by the cym bals of her wind-up monkey. To most people, she’s some thing of a clown, an actress who entertains and then disappears. But there’s a real person behind the smiles and songs. “You can’t be up all the time,” Retterer said. Sometimes she’s down and the last thing she feels like doing is smiling, singing and dancing, she said. But even if she’s having a bad day, making people happy cheers her up. That’s the best part of her job, she said. Every group is diffe rent, and she never knows what kind of reaction she’ll get. “Some people laugh so hard they cry,” she said. Some have been nervous and almost afraid of her, some have been bold and some have even been downright rude. “But for the most part they enjoy it,” she said. “I don’t think I was embarrassed very many times. If someone delivered one to me, I’d be embarrassed. But when I’m giving one, it’s like being an actor. I’m per forming.” But she does remember one bad experience. “I wasn’t embarrassed for me, but for the person I was singing to,” Retterer said. The recipient, she said, would not cooperate. He was in a restaurant and he wouldn’t stand up, smile or ack nowledge that he was the person she was singing for, she said. “I really felt sorry for the peo ple who had paid for the tele gram for him,” she said. Retterer has enjoyed most of her assignments, she said. Some of her favorites include deliver ing a telegram to the A&M Con solidated High School football team from the cheerleaders at their pep rally; singing to a veterinarian while he was oper ating on a cat; and delivering a “belly-gram,” complete with a belly dancer, to one of the Texas A&M baseball pitchers on the baseball Field during practice. The belly-grams and macho- man-a-grams come with a sing ing messenger and either a belly dancer or a male dancer. They’re the most expensive tele grams offered by Eastern On ion. Retterer said they’re also the most fun to deliver. When she’s delivering a belly- gram, Retterer said, she sings the message first to “set them up for the dancer.” Then, when the person is thinking that the embarrass ment is over, she turns on her tape recorder and in comes the belly dancer. Eastern Onion offers songs for every occasion, Retterer said. “People can write their own messages, but they usually don’t need to,” she said. “We have songs for everything — birthday songs, divorce songs, I love you, I hate you, we just bought a home, I want your business, please give me a job — every thing anyone could possibly think of.” “Some people have tried this and just couldn’t take it,” she said. “I guess you have to be pretty crazy.” But Retterer said she loves her job. Her bright blue eyes shine and she smiles broadly as she finishes out the song. “You’ll gain a lot of weight from all the sweets you ate, but thank your stars above, now that there’s more to love. Oh, Happy Valentine’s!” eal with extortionist may be dismissed ardsfoti 4 schook ouldbej eportsra f a suspj -alii Mai United Press International HOUSTON — A co defendant in the $15 million a recontBiOulf Oil Chemicals Co. extor tion case says the alleged master mind knew all Five bombs planted at a Houston area plant Irad been found before he began negotiating with authorities. r jr. Timothy Justice, 30, testified Monday before U.S. District Judge Gabrielle McDonald in a pre-trial hearing on motions to Suppress evidence against all fjve Colorado defendants and to dismiss charges against co defendant Jill Bird. Assistant U.S Attorney Ron Woods contends a deal federal agents made with Bird’s com mon-law husband and alleged ringleader, John McBride, 46, should not be honored because McBride was not honest with federal agents. The deal for Bird’s dismissal from the case called for McBride to tell agents where other bombs were. But Woods argues McBride knew there were no irsi j Rare books found in UT buy United Press International AUSTIN — University of Texas researchers have found two rare books among the Gloria Swanson archives purchased by he university in 1982, UT offi- ials said. Decherd Turner, director of he Humanities Research On er, said “Jim’s Book: A Collec- ion of Poems and Short Stor ies,” by James Merrill, and a First edition of James Joyce’s “Ulys ses” were discovered in De cember. “Jim’s Book,” is one of the most difficult of Merrill’s books to find since there were only 200 copies printed in the early 1940s, said Turner. The copy of “Ulysses” is one of the first 1,000 editions printed in 1922. more bombs to be found when he made the deal, so it cannot be binding. Justice testified McBride — who stayed in Durango, Colo., while Justice and others went to plant bombs and mail a letter demanding $15 million — had heard newscasts all five bombs put in GulFs Cedar Bayou plant were found Sept. 28. Justice said that in a meeting with McBride in Durango Oct. 1 — after the bombs were found but before McBride negotiated with authorities — Justice affirmed for McBride what was said in the newscasts. “I said they had found all five,” Justice said. “He said it didn’t make any difference be cause they still believe there’s more (because of the extortion letter saying there were 10).” Defense lawyers are asking Judge McDonald to enforce the deal and dismiss Bird from the case because, they say, federal agents got what they wanted from McBride, namely, an assurance that there were no other bombs. The judge deferred ruling on all 40 pre-trial motions and ordered attorneys to submit briefs by Friday. No trial date has been set. Justice has agreed to testify against his four co-defendants in exchange for dismissal of 10 of 12 counts against him in the case. He could receive as much as 15 years in prison on his guilty plea to those two remaining counts. 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DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD 6 DRAMA DESK AWARDS pepe's ^vd^ght spec/t Chili Con Queso and any Medium Size soft drink EVITA The Intemationai Musical Hit iPresented by MSC Town Hall-Broadway February 14, 15 & 16 at 8:00 p.m. Rudder Auditorium-Texas A&M Univ. Available at MSC Box Office Phone (713) 845-1234 Ticket price* $14, $18, $22 Mastercard & Visa accepted Fountain Forum presents Christianity on Trial is Christianity credible in today’s world? — you be the judge — Hear such relevant issues discussed as: — Christianity & the academics: contradiction or agreement? — What is a Christian? — Who is Jesus Christ? — Is the Bible reliable? — Are all religions basically the same? — Is there a God? — Could a caring God allow war & suffering? — Would a loving God send people to hell? This Week: Christianity & Psychology — God’s solution to psychology’s depression When: Every Wednesday 12:00-1:00 February 16-March 23 (Except March 16) Where: Rudder Fountain — OASIS i.tt.'wcTq