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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1983)
opinion Slouch By Jim Earle ‘Black was a poor choice to paint that radar antenna. Our town just plain simple folk by Art Buchwald STAGE MANAGER: The name of the town is Seven Corners. It’s a nice town, you know what I mean? Nobody remarkable ever comes out of it as far as we know. We’re must plain simple folk here and we can’t claim to be nothing more than just another town along Route 16. I better show you around a bit. That nice white house for sale on the corner belongs to the Jorgensons. It’s a real good buy if you don’t mind living over a land fill of dioxin. Oh, I forgot to tell you. About 10 years ago, a fellow came through and sprayed oil mixed with dioxin on the roads to settle the dust. The dioxin’s all over the place. That’s why you see so many “For Sale” signs on people’s lawns. Over there is the school, and right be hind it is where some chemical company dumped all its PCB in those big oil drums. The chemical company’s out of business, and the stuff is now seeping into the playground. Funny, you don’t ever see any kids playing there anymore. Well, as I said, it’s just about morning? Here’s the mayor. How’s it going Charley? MAYOR: Not too good. I been calling the EPA for two weeks trying to find out what they’re going to do about all our hazardous waste. They claim they still have no idea whether our soil samples are bad for human health or not. Even if they find the stuff is unsafe, they said they can’t do anything about cleaning the waste up until they do a study. They also said if their study shows we got a prob lem, their first concern is to find the che mical company and make a deal with them to pay for the cleanup. STAGE MANAGER: Well, have a nice day, Mayor. Here comes Doc Gibbs. You look kind of peaked, Doc. DOC: I never saw so many sick people in a town in my life. Them that isn’t sick is scared silly they’ll get sick. I haven’t slept in months. STAGE MANAGER: What’s going on at the hospital? DOC: Mrs. Henigan gave birth last night to a premature baby. That’s the 14th premature baby I’ve delivered this year. By the way, if you’re still using well water, be sure and boil it before you let any of your family drink it. STAGE MANAGER: Thanks for the tip, Doc. Fellow over there is Tad Jones. He’s a farmer and has 100 acres of graz ing land right next to the Cloverleaf Acid Pit. You look down in the dumps, Tad. What’s up? TAD: Five of my cows died last night. STAGE MANAGER. What hap pened? TAD: I don’t know. They just keeled over and died, like my dog did last week. I’m on my way to the newspaper to put my farm up for sale, if anyone’s stupid enough to buy it. STAGE MANAGER: Good luck Tad. Here comes the editor of the newspaper, Hiram Bonifal. Hiram knows everything going on in our town. What’s the big news today, Hiram? HIRAM: I just talked to the governor about our pollution problem. He says he’d like to help out, but he doesn’t have enough money to tidy up every town in the state. He said the feds have a Super fund just for cleaning up places like ours and we ought to talk to Washington. STAGE MANAGER: Well, you can’t say the governor doesn’t have a good sense of humor. You going to write another editorial about the sludge? HIRAM: I’m too busy talking to repor ters from out of town, who keep saying they’re going to put Seven Corners on the map. USPS 045 360 Member ot Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editor Diana Sultenfuss Managing Editor Gary Barker Associate Editor Denise Richter City Editor Hope E. Paasch Assistant City Editor Beverly Hamilton Sports Editor John Wagner Entertainment Editor Colette Hutchings Assistant Entertainment Editor. . . . Diane Yount News Editors Daran Bishop, Brian Boyer, Jennifer Carr, Elaine Engstrom, JohnaJo Maurer, Jan Werner, Rebeca Zimmermann Staff Writers Melissa Adair, Maureen Carmody, Frank Christlieb, Connie Edelmon, Patrice Koranek, John Lopez, Robert McGlohon, Ann Ramsbottom, Kim Schmidt, Patti Schwierzke, Kelley Smith, Angel Stokes, Tracey Taylor, Joe Tindel, Kathy Wiesepape Copyeditors Shelley Hoekstra, Jan Saaner, Chris Thayer Cartoonist Scott McCullar Graphic Artists Pam Starasinic Sergio Galvez Thompson Photographers David Fisher, Dena Brown, Jorge Casari, Ronald W. Emerson, Eric Lee, Irene Mees, John Makely, William Schulz Editorial Policy The Hmtiilion is ;i non-protii. self-supptu unp zieu s- p;tpcr operated as a community service to 7 exas A&M University and liryan-Collcffc 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 administrator,s or faculty mem bers. or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboralorv newspaper for students in reporting, editing and pholographv clas ses within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning an\ editorial mallet should be directed to the editor. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length, anti 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 signet! 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, 21b 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, 'EX 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 mailer herein reserved. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. Reader: Sex needs commi To Steve Patti: I would like to ask you where your concern lies with respect to the letter written by Dannette Heren. Are you con cerned that perhaps a source of birth control for minors which attempts to undermine parental authority is being restrained somewhat, or are you truly concerned for the well-being of young people in our country? I will expand on what seems to be your concern, deriving my claims from what you have revealed about yourself in your letter. It is true that Miss Heren contends that “countless minors are sexually active only because birth control devices are so easily and secretly available.” You then say: “I find this state(ment) highly ‘ignor ant’ for ‘one simple reason.’ Most teens in high school neglect to use any form of contraception at all because appealing to a parent would tend to put them in an ‘embarrassing’ situation.” To use one of your own terms, you have “missed the boat” yourself, a fact made evident by your statement. In the junior high and high school that I grew up in, I never did know anyone who’ needed to or wanted to appeal to a parent for a birth control device. The reason being that we knew it was wrong to be sexually active when we weren’t even married. Whenever we believed we might use a contraceptive device, we would find a source we could get it from without having someone tell us it was wrong. Your “obvious(ly) inept, naive atti tude,” is that the only source available for contraceptive devices is a parent in the case of a minor. You are not living up to your name, because there is no reason in “reason” for labeling her statement ignorant. And so I charge that you termed it so only because you consider the statement a threat to the lie that you are seeking to advance. Let me be more specific. You seem to believe that pre-marital sex is “a natural men seek to advance it and uset advantage, and not enough peoL against. For example, whydojl that there is so much lustinsoa[| by La advertising, etc. I say because Ban promoters think, the best waytK: 00 ^ <UI can get people interested in 'l exT they know that if they can inieilj inn pie, it profits them. Boris has I he “most important part ”o:n ess prog ter is further evidence that yoilB The want consequences to your signed to which might influence you lo A&M fao from having it; for example:iRd their teen preganancy must be curbedl ril:er ^ stec * do not want the price involved want the feeling as “cheaply’’asB? 11 ^ that is that it would not requii p term commitment. Sport H< The intent of your letter is Educatior and while 1 agree that “Moralii pie. It’s b be enforced,” I do believe that Jem in reflect a standard of morality, out mind the people of their responi ,Ilc e p rn . act in a decent manner; othervB’ L ‘ u , are not what they should be. 14“ l ; to say that if you spent a lot ofd p | imental paring your “logical approadW wasted your time, and that iffl| 11 must have sexual relations, theyi the price to have them, that istoj ried, a commitment which requinj than a short period of timeandi “rewarding experience.” Reader’s Forum and rewarding experience.” Well, you old stud you, is the temporary feeling involved the only thing that you are af ter? Apparently so, for you seem to ignore the problems pre-marital sex causes. What about the guilt and loss of dignity involved that hardly anyone wants to talk about, or the family and social scorn as well as perhaps the finan cial problems affected from a possible resulting pregnancy. An abortion might even become a part of the problem, but you seem to only be concerned with a feeling, and not with the welfare of young people. Later in your letter you say that “sex” is a “prevalent part of everyday life.” I would first say that you mistake the word sex for the word lust. Secondly, the only reason that lust is a prevalent part of the American lifestyle is because lustful Shawn Stenf Editor's note: This letter was ac nied by four signatures. I by P ven iff gi\e Larry Bi others California Rpllie Wh ■ Larry, ill, native; berformin together s gfers. Tht tieir first Shield Re ■Bsed in A their teen I The o Hie lead ' He got hi while on group, tl Vegas. ()i ier Dottii llirned to a tape of lings. Sh them and has taken On th writing t: Known tl music in< play in sn recording home, an the single the song known. GEE.,. A THREE BEDROOM HOUSE FOR ONLY TWO HUNDRED BUCKS.., WH ATS THE CATCH ? r~ Tl Letters: Support baseball team Sund: Editor: Since 1876, students and former stu dents of Texas A&M have answered chal lenges that have confronted them. Aggies, there is a challenge coming to College Station Sunday at 1 p.m. One of the top ranked baseball teams in the na tion, Cal State Fullerton, will be playing the Aggie baseball team in a doublehead er at Olsen Field. Army, the challenge is this ... pack Olsen Field with 5,000 Aggies. We have one of the finest facilities in the nation in Olsen Field, but we have never packed the stadium. About 35,000 students are at Aggie- land and there were more than 5,000 all-sports ticket books sold last fall. Please come out and support the Aggies and Coach Tom Chandler. Chandler is in his 25th year at Aggieland and has only had one losing season, that coming in 1960. Last weekend, only 300 people came out to see Coach Chandler record his 600th victory. This Sunday, a special presenta tion will be made to Coach Chandler be fore the first game. Aggies pack Olsen Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. and back the Aggie against one of the top teams in the nation. I know the Aggies won’t let the baseball team down. Thanks. ., _ Alan Cannon 84 attacks on women around the compus. We have begun an ongoing service to help alleviate this problem. Law Hall is offering a free escort ser vice to women every night of the week. If you need to go to or from your dorm, the library, the MSG or anywhere on cam pus, please call 845-9803 any night from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. That “it won’t happen to me” philoso phy has been proven wrong too many times. Any attack is one too many, and just having someone nearby will normal ly discourage a would-be attacker. This service is offered for you Aggie Ladies. Please play it safe. That number is 845- 9803. We want to help. Jim Armentrout, ’85 quite satisfy all of the above rel ments, although it would beclosertfl truth. We conclude, therefore, that voij quite correct. You are indeed “onlj ignorant nuclear engineering studt| Richard I DuniO Editor’s note: This letter wasaccoi nied by 12 oilier signatures. Dorm noise rehashf Editor: Pulsed neutrino beams Editor: Editor: Safety escorts Our dorm has become concerned ab out the increasing number of night Dear Mr. Eubanks: You obviously have a firm grasp on the physics of high-energy interactions in volving radiation and matter. It is true that Glashow’s project will utilize pulsed neutrino beams rather than X-rays, as was incorrectly stated in the headline you referred to. However, it is also generally accepted, at least in the case of newspapers in tended for general circulation, that head lines should be short, should give some idea of what the article is about, and above all should make sense to the aver age reader. It does not seem as if some thing like: “Process uses neutrino- induced thermal shocks and meson pulses to find hidden resources” would This letter is in response to theli from David Adams and Kent Knight' residents of Davis-Gary Hall, in March 1 Battalion. First of all, let me how disgusted I was with your ignoi response to the “keep it down” pleaf ladies in your neighboring hall. 1 m you got to admit that yelling and sere ing at 2 a.m. is not exactly the afi sensible and and considerate people The statement you made to iW ladies in the March 1 issue — “Altho the people involved did not intern keep anybody awake, I do not thinl owe an apology” — has got to be on* the more, if not the most, arrogant ignorant statements I have ever he from anyone. Were you without cor ence or what? You don’t have to apj gize to them but the least you could admit your own wrongdoing. I’m that’s what a person with the least decency would do. Nimit Stapol