The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 11, 1983, Image 2

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    Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, March 11, 1983
opinion
I
t Slouch By Jim Earle
Proposed program
to aid liquor safety
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Most people
probably agree with the maxim, “If it’s
worth doing at all, it’s worth doing right.”
But how many would subscribe to the
addendum, “If it’s worth doing right, it’s
worth over-doing?”
The latter platitude is the motto of
Dale Lowdermilk, head of one of this
country’s most panicky safety organiza
tions. As was perhaps inevitable, he fears
the campaign to curtail drunk driving in
America doesn’t go far enough.
Lowdermilk, in private life a Santa
Barbara, Calif., air traffic controller, is
especially dubious about efforts to make
bars, taverns and other such establish
ments more careful about serving “the
last drink” to patrons who obviously are
in no condition to drive competently.
His most immediate cause for alarm is
a measure introduced in the California
legislature to require the posting of
“scorecards” in drinking places.
The charts would set forth the state’s
legal definition of intoxication and list
the number of drinks it takes to impair
the average person’s driving ability.
“The concept of a ‘scorecard’ can, in
and of itself, encourage competitive
drinking,” Loudermilk warns in his latest
media communique.
To be on the safe side, he recommends
that the government assign monitors “at
every location where liquor is sold, con
sumed or retained, home refrigerators
included,” to discourage “inebriated
rivalry.”
By me, however, the most salient pro
vision of his safety program would be the
administering of “slur tests” to barflies.
Under this section, “everyone who leaves
a socially sanctioned intake facility”
would be required to say: “The sixth sick
sheik’s sixth sheep is sick.”
Failure to achieve vocal clarity and
proper enunciation “shall constitute a
felony offense and an immediate arrest
shall be made,” Loudermilk insists.
I admire that recommendation, if for
no other reason than its scientific authen
ticity. Researchers long have recognized
there is a direct correlation between driv
ing an automobile, particularly in rush
hour traffic, and reciting tonguetwisters.
Both require steady nerves and a high
degree of mental and muscular coordi
nation, not to mention navigational skill,
in order to reach a given destination.
As a general rule, a commuter whose
consonants run together during the re
citation of “Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers” is the commuter most
likely to run over the curb and hit a mail
box, or some unsuspecting pedestrian,
on the way home.
By the same token, a driver who stum
bles over “she sells seashells by the
seashore” is a pretty good bet to run into
a ditch, or fail to stop in time to open the
garage door after turning into the
driveway.
I salute Lowdermilk for his perspicac
ity, and caution, and offer but one
amendment to his program. Rather than
station government “monitors” in joints
where competitive drinking is apt to
break out, I would assign umpires or re
ferees.
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion
Editor. DianaSultenf'uss
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,
Shelley Hoekstra, Johna Jo 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 JanSwaner,
Chris Thayer
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artists Pam Starasinic
Sergio Galvez Thompson, Fernando
Andrade
Photographers . David Fisher, Dena Brown, Eric
Lee, Irene Mees, John
Makely, William Schulz
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Reagan asserts compassion
by Helen Thomas
United Press International
co “and my opponent went out and said
said
WASHINGTON — President Reagan
takes most things in his stride. But he
cannot stand it when he is accused of
lacking compassion for the poor. And he
doesn’t like it one bit when he is viewed as
anti-environmentalist.
As a Californian, that is hard for
Reagan to swallow.
In terms of his attitude toward the less
fortunate, Reagan made it clear that
those charges rub him the wrong way. In
a recent speech he ticked off the pro
jected budget outlays for food stamps
and other social programs, and quipped
“hard-hearted me.”
He also feels he has been unfairly tag
ged as one who does not believe in con
servation and preserving the nation’s'
natural resources. A recent poll did not
give him high marks as a leader against
the nation’s polluters, either.
Nor has the controversy engulfing the
Environmental Protection Agency and
the investigations into the handling of
the $1.6 billion “superfund” for toxic
waste disposal helped the White House
image as protectors of the public health.
In remarks at Klamath Falls, Ore.,
where he toured a lumber mill and talked
with industry representatives, Reagan
said that in 1966, when he was running
for governor of California, he addressed
a forestry products group in San Francis-
that I had said that if you’ve seen one
tree, you’ve seen them all.
“I never said any such thing,” Reagan
said indignantly, having never been able
to shake the effects of that quote.
The subject came up when the indus
try representatives asked him if he would
consider vetoing new wilderness legisla
tion “which would take millions of acres
from our timber base.”
Reagan said in the ’60s the “big wave”
from the conservationists was for setting
aside outdoor recreational land. ‘T hey
were even foreclosing on some mining
claims and they were buying up land and
using eminent domain to do it,” he said,
“claiming that it was needed for the f u
ture so there would be outdoor recrea
tional space.
“Well, finally when they had ex
hausted about all they could do with that,
then came the environmental surge.”
Reagan said the nation now has 80
million acres of wilderness land off limits
for private development. “This is land
that you cannot have a road in or any
thing of the kind,” he said. “It’s there
because out of 250 million Americans in
this country, we realize that at least 240
million of them are backpackers who
want to hike into that wilderness area.”
Reagan’s joking remark about the
astronomical number of backpackers
drew a laugh from the lumbermen.
The president said he realized that
some areas "still should beprotl
are so unique ... 1 mean inaddilij
80 million ... but let’s be reasom
sensible about that.
“And we intend to be. Andifi
definite reason fiom an esthjM
uniqueness of the land ... loajj
wilderness, fine; but not logootl
wholesale amounts that theyanl
about because that wasn’t thet
and the private sector has nod
of rape of all the natural ret
There is today in the liiitedSl
much forest as there waswheid
ton was at Valley Forge.” j
White Mouse spokesman!
Speakes said that Reagan watfl
to the United States “belli
Louisiana Purchase.”
Reagan said that “there
great effort spread over a nui
years by the government to[
Mon ol moi e lainL and it now“fli
third of all the i eal estate inthel
States.”
He said the bulk ofthegon
owned land is in the West,“aniil
used \at ious devices todoidT
Reagan and the Sierra Cuba
t onsei \atiouists li.ur been ail
heads since he tame into
has Interior Secretary James Wa
up ilic ui 1 n u u isi i .itiun side,and!
his full backing to Watt lorniorej
lands to lie developed by pri
dust rv.
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Jdollemai
Letters: Reagan and the circus
Editor:
Concerning Stephen Weiss’s “Political
Seesaw” letter (March 9):
Although Democratic Party criticism
of Ronald Reagan’s policies strongly re
semble a seesaw, Mr. Reagan’s views re
semble less a seesaw and more a circus.
While campaigning for the presidency in
1980, Reagan told us “The federal deficit
provides the chief motive for the de
bauching of our dollar.” The Reagan
adminisitration now predicts a 1984 fed
eral deficit of 145 billion dollars. Reagan
had campaigned under the battle flag of
laissez faire until he spoke to auto work
ers at the Chrysler plant in Detroit two
months before the election. He then
appropriately concluded that the federal
government’s spring of 1980 bail out of
the Chrysler Corporation, a move which
risked. 1.5 billion of the taxpayers’ dol
lars, was the “proper answer.”
In a December 17, 1981 press confer
ence, Reagan said he was opposed to any
tax increase, while his senior aides were
quick to remind him that since Septem
ber of that year he had been supporting a
“revenue enhancement” measure.
Reagan had sought election as an oppo
nent to mandatory registration for the
draft, but now supports the prosecution
of non-registrants.
When not reading from a script,
Reagan’s act is even harder to follow. It
woidd be “enlightening and informative”
to see if Reagan still defends his positions
that the progressive income tax is a “sys
tem spawned by Karl Marx” or that the
true basis for the New Deal was fascism.
responsible and realistic attitude toward
pre-marital sex. It does no good to try to
deny its existence or to try to punish
those who “do it.” Nor is it right for us to
try to force our own moral judgements
onto others. It is fine for others to try and
persuade people to follow a certain moral
code, but trying to limit teen-age sex by
denying teen-agers easy access to con
traceptives is ridiculous and detrimental
to the long term good of society.
anything connected with sexuiL^
fication. Pretty much the saniep PE
don’t you agree?
Lea Anderl
In response to Ms. Stevens’ letter of
March 3, I would like to say that her
solution is ridiculous. She suggests that if
you want to have sex, get married. Do
you really feel that this is a rational solu
tion? We already have a high divorce
rate. Shall we increase that by having
more marriages based on physical de
sire? And what about teen-agers who get
married in order to have sex. Ms. Stevens
feels that a teen-ager’s parents should be
informed when they get contraceptives.
Will a married couple have to get their
parent’s permission in order to get con
traceptives? Why not just lock everyone
into a chastity belt until their wedding
vows are said.
Parked car wrecki
J r
Editor: B *
Help! Someone played destn
derby with my silver ’80 Citation
time between Feb. 25 and March6
parked in the Red lot behind La*
Both the front and back doors
driver’s side were hit while a car«
ing out of their parking placed
who has any information s’
please give me a call.
To the person who did it: 1 real
you may have panicked when you
car and just didn’t know whai tod*
is your chance to get rid of yi
feelings. Thanks!
Greg Rickard
4110 College Main
Realistic attitudes
Editor:
I think it is about time we adopted a
Furthermore, limiting the availability
of contraceptives to teen-agers would not
have the desired result of decreasing
teen-age pregnancies. Rather, this would
increase them. Teen-agers are not going
to stop having sex because they can’t get
contraceptives. They’re going to stop get
ting contraceptives. This is not a new
problem; sex before marriage has been
around as long as marriage. The focus of
this issue is how to decrease the number
of teen-age pregnancies.
Surely a more responsible and realistic
attitude would be for teen-agers to accept
the responsibilities that go along with sex
— this includes preventing any “acci
dents,” or “punishments,” as you would
like to call them.
Oh, and by the way, sex and lust do
mean kind of the same thing. I looked it
up in Webster’s just in case I was mis
taken. Lust — strong sexual desire; Sex
Gena Kirkf
26f
Stereo stolen
Editor:
Dear Aggies:
Did any good Ags see a theft inP
61 between Saturday, March :
Wednesday, March 9? My yellot
GT was broken into and the car
was stolen. The car looks likes
corvette. It was parked in the first
the northwest corner undernea 1
light. A $100 reward is being gi'j
information leading to the arH
conviction of the guilty party.
App
:
IV
Gregor
?