Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, November 1, 1983
Sh
Sil
Letters: Grenada invasion wise
t
Editor:
I would like to express my thanks to
President Reagan for his swift and wise
decision to support out Caribbean neigh
bors in the fight against Communist
aggression in our hemishpere.
In his speech Thursday night, the
President cleared up several points on
Grenada and on our Marines in Leba
non. Most importantly, I believe, he
noted the discovery of three warehouses
full of Cuban and Soviet weaponry. He
also noted that our Marines in Lebanon
must be partially accomplishing the goal
to achieve peace or else the incident on
Sunday would not have happened.
There is no way that nations can negoti
ate with murderers. The rebels in Leba
non just must be driven out.
Finally, summarizing a letter the Presi
dent read from a Marine’s father — with
all the talk about civil rights, his son rec
ognized that no rights come without first
accepting responsibilities. The father
said that he is glad his son is taking re
sponsibility for our rights by being in
Lebanon.
Care Team don’t have names?
While telling us all who damaged his
knee in P.E.class (26 Oct., 1983), how ab
out making a little more personal identi
fication of the volunteers who came to his
aid? Those are the same volunteers who
stand by all day in the ambulance squad
room waiting to aid the injured.
Those medics have spent a consider
able amount of time learning and practic
ing the skills necessary to render profes
sional quality emergency medical ser
vices, free of charge, to the students and
staff of Texas A&M, and they deserve
more recognition than a general notice as
Emergency Medical Technicians.
Butt out of place
Editor;
“pt
>be
Stephen Johnson
Identify medics
Editor;
All right Battalion photographers!
Medics with the Texas A&M Emergency
Straw votes increase
interest in politics
by Arnold Sawislak
United Press International
Glenn, D-Ohio, in the dust.
WASHINGTON — When Florida
Democrats gathered for their state con
vention last month, the smart money was
on former Gov. Reubin Askew to walk
away with the presidential straw vote par
ty officials had scheduled.
He did both, getting more than 800
votes compared to Askew’s 1,053 and
Glenn’s 400-plus.
In the process some interesting facts of
iled.
political life in 1983 were reveal
Straw votes are a political gimmick
exploited this year by state and local poli
ticos to provoke interest in their conven
tions and other events. In terms of the
1984 elections, they have no official sta
tus, but they do seem to increase attend
ance at party functions.
They also have some meaning for the
candidates. Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif.,
wanted to demonstrate last summer that
he had appeal outside his own state and
so he went all-out to beat former Vice
President Walter Mondale in the Wiscon
sin Democratic convention straw vote.
First, Mondale got far more mileage
out of his alliance with organized labor
than anyone had thought possible in a
right-to-work state in the South. Florida
is not known as a state where labor has
had major political influence, so it was
assumed that Mondale would get little
out of his endorsements by the AFL-CIO
and the National Teachers Association at
the convention.
Mondale was the favorite because he,
like Hubert Humphrey before him, com
es from neighboring Minnesota and was
identified with the strong populist-liberal
tradition that dominates the Democratic
parties of both states. But Mondale didn’t
pay enough attention to Cranston’s
efforts in Wisconsin and got a nasty shock
when the Californian won the straw vote.
Wrong. Especially in the big city coun
ties, such as Miami’s Dade, union activists
— teachers as well as blue collar types —
arrived well-organized and delivered
some large blocks of votes to Mondale. As
someone pointed out, there might not be
unionized steelworkers or automakers in
many states, but they all have teachers
and government employes, many of
whom are union members.
In Florida, Mondale was trying to pull
off a variation of the Cranston feat in
Wisconsin. He didn’t have to — or want
to — win, because that might have mor
tally offended Askew loyalists, who con
stitute the establishment of the Florida
Democratic Party. But he did want to fin
ish a strong second and to leave Sen. John
A second fact was pointed out by
Askew himself. He estimated after the
vote that 3 million people had moved into
Florida since he left I'
the mid-1970s.
the governor’s seat in
The people who remembered him as
governor were intensely loyal, but there
were plenty of delegates to the conven
tion who knew Askew only by reputation.
His hold on them was only through state
party officials who worked hard on be
half of the state’s favorite son.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Hope E. Paasch
Managing Editor Beverly Hamilton
City Editor Kelley Smith
Assistant City Editor Karen Schrimsher
Sports Editor Melissa Adair
Entertainment Editor .... Rebeca Zimmermann
Assistant Entertainment Editor Shelley
Hoekstra
News Editors Brian Boyer, Kathy Breard,
Kevin Inda, Tracey Taylor,
Chris Thayer, Kathy Wiesepape
Photo Editor Eric Evan Lee
Staff Writers Robin Black,
Brigid Brockman, Bob Caster,
Ronnie Crocker, Elaine Engstrom,
Kari Fluegel, Tracie Holub,
Bonnie Langford, John Lopez,
Kay Denise Mallett,
. Christine Mallon,
Michelle Powe, Stephanie Ross,
Angel Stokes, Steve Thomas,
John Wagner, Karen Wallace,
Wanda Winkler
Copy Editors Kathleen Hart,
Susan Talbot
Cartoonists Paul Dirmeyer,
Scott McCullar
Photographers Michael Davis,
John Makely, Dave Scott,
Dean Saito, Cindi Tackitt
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
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Columns and guest editorials also are welcome, and
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Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor,
The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Uni
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The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news
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77843.
lion and its anonymous staff. The prime
area they focus upon is what happens on
campus. What is printed are putdowns
and criticisms, including language that is
worse than that spoken by General Pat
ton, in front of Old Glory. The Buttalion
has no place at Texas A&M and repre
sents no benefit for the students. Please,
do us all a favor — leave!
Gavin Jones ’86
Walkers dangerous
Editor;
Chris Efird
the week of October 17.
This is a letter of praise aDd a letter of
disapproval.
The praise is for the Battalion and its
staff. The Battalion staff present stories
of interest and different areas of con
cern. These include events happening on
campus, throughout the state, and across
the United States. And don’t forget what
goes on in the Middle East and other
important strategic areas.
Now, the disapproval is for the Butta-
This letter is in response to Mr.
Stephen Weiss’ letter of October 24.
I do not know if Mr. Weiss is a full time
pedestrian or if he rides any sort of two
wheeled vehicle. From his letter I can
only guess that he does not ride a moped
or motorcycle.
I ride a moped around campus most
of the time. (I also walk to class when it is
not feasible to ride.) I find constantly
slamming on the brakes to avoid pedes
trians who insist on their rights of way
frustrating, if not dangerous. If a pedes
trian steps in front of me closer than the
minimum stopping distance, say 22 feet
at 20 mph, that person had every good
chance of being injured. This situation is
even more dangerous if a car or truck is
following behind, because chances are
that driver did not see the pedestrian, or
me, in time to stop.
In order to safely stop, I must be able
to see the person who is about to cross. 1
am unable to see the person if he/she
steps from between cars parked alon the
road, emerges or steps from a crowd of
heading a different way, or steps
the sidewalk on a day with poor
visibilty.
Mr. Weiss’ suggestions are well in
tended but unreasonable. First, there is
nowhere off campus to accomodate all
the cars and bicycles. Second, reducing
the speed limit to 5 mph is extreme. I ride
a small vehicle and have some difficulty
remaining upright without my feet drag
ging on the ground while going 5 mp’
Can you imagine the difficulty a much
heavier 750 hp motorcycle would have
going 5 mph? The bigger motorcycles
require more speed for the drivers to ba
lance them without their feet on the
ground.
The main problem is lack of communi
cation and manners on both the pedes
trian’s and driver’s part. It is very difficult
to look out for a large number of people
who decide to jaywalk, or on the spur of
the moment, to cross at a crosswalk or
corner. Drivers do not know, often until
the second before, that a pedestrian will
cross. Sometimes pedestrians just turn
the corner. Drivers do pay attention to
their driving. Maybe pedestrians ought
to pay attention to their walking.
So, pedestrians, pause a moment be-
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day to re
fore you step on to the road,es[x||'' el 1 a
bad weather, look to makesureift, |p nl
of the vehicle sees you and issiflf The
I do not mind that driving on bronze :
requires extra consideration frtr one on
ers. Fewer people are hurt that. Sbisa Dii
the Fish
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Abbott support'
Editor;
Student
Planned
We would like to express our
for The Fighting Texas
commander Preston Abbott onii ofstudt
ment that Brown should be shot
do not lie, steal, or cheat, not
those who do.
Tracey Dieter
John Giat-
Letters too grim
Editor;
If these letters to the Editor
only information someone hi
A&M, they probably think we’n
in downtown Beirut.
Come on Ags, things aren’t all
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Beach Boys and Nazis
shatter Watt’s dreams
by Art Buchwald
We all saw James Watt ride off into the
sunset a few short weeks ago. Unfortun
ately we didn’t hear what he said to his
horse.
a national park would be charged a fee
for setting up a tent and fishing in a trout
stream.
As he rode up the winding trail he
said, “Well, old Paint, our work is over. I
knew it would only be a matter of time
before the Nazis, the Commies and the
environmentalists got my job. I’m not
saying it doesn’t hurt. I had great plans
for this country form sea to shining sea.
But I knew the Beach Boys would finish
me off sooner or later.”
“I was going to build motels and souve
nir shops so the park service would pay
for itself. No more would the wilderness
become a free lunch for every black,
woman, Jew and cripple.”
Watt and his horse started down the
trail. He was singing “I’m an old cow
hand who wanted to give away this land.”
He stoi
Watt reached the top of the trail and
looked out over the massive mountain
opped by a mountain spring.
‘Look at that spring there, Paint. Nobody
range.
“I had great visions for this land,
Paint. I wanted every American to have a
strip mine he could call his own. I wanted
to sell off the wilderness areas and make
them into thriving real estate develop
ments which produce jobs and taxes.
uses it. Nobody even knows it’s there. If I
were still Secretary of the Interior I
would dump hazardous chemical wastes
in it, where it wouldn’t do any harm to
anyone. You see those deer over there?
They’re eating federal foliage. Even they
think they’re entitled to a free lunch.”
“I’ll be darned. You don’t look!
Secretary of the Interior.”
“I’ve beeen searching for youil
where, Jim. I’m trying to findoui^
land you sold off and what land sf
longs to us.”
|
“I’ll draw a map for you heret
dirt. Now you don’t have to worry?
California any more, but the goven
is still stuck with Montana. We’ve y
coal bids on the Grand Tetons andl
still waiting to hear from the oil ?
panics about the Chesapeake Bay. !
here in the wetlands of Florida tli
estate developers have an option ai<
Berry s World
“I dreamed someday we could cut
down all the forests to provide wood for
the lumber people who love this country
as much as I do. I wanted to drill into the
deep brown earth and offshore blue wa
ters for gas and oil, to supply our fuel
needs for the next 50 years.
“I longed to take America’s most valu
able heritage and protect it from the bird
lovers and the Indians and the Demo
crats who don’t believe in progress and
ecomonic growth. I needed time to sell
off the outer continental shelf.
Old Paint neighed. Watt rubbed his
nose. “But don’t worry, fellow. We lost
the battle but we didn’t lose the war. I’ll
go back to private life as a lobbyist and a
fund raiser fighting for what I believe in.
There are thousands of patriotic Amer
icans out there willing to pay $1000 a
plate to fight for their oil and gas leases.
Now that I’m a private citizen I can say
what’s on my mind. We’ll beat the reds,
the pinkos and secular humanists yet.”
Suddenly a man on another horse
came riding over the hill.
“Just think, Paint. If I’d had a few
more years we would have had bulldozers
down there in the valley, oil rigs in the
hills, and all of that snow on the mountain
could have been turned into acid rain.
“I dreamed that everyone who entered
“Why it’s Bill Clark, the president’s na
tional security adviser. What are you
doing out here, Bill?”
“The president has appointed me the
new Secretary of Interior.”
©1983 by NEA Inc
"Mind if / join you?”