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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1983)
tttinga aside Texas A&M Mon Serving the University community ol 78 No. 60 USPS 0453110 20 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, November 23,1983 impron Straw elop i went the s ns pro* 'berry J :llent one oft ro ” • iPresnal to aid A.&M by Brigid Brockman Battalion Staff' R anmBj o b er t Q Cherry announced Tues- nuchof ontofi he Cilia iy that state Rep. Bill Presnal will suc- id him as executive secretary of the A&M Board of Regents on June [Cherry will continue working as sec- to the board on a part-time basis. I has worked for Texas A&M for 40 ith in b Septemi the seal put upjon Jan. 15, Presnal will begin his t ’ ln ?'|oikby assisting Cherry until he offi- 10 " pally takes over June 25. ny teadBchen-y said the five months will ■ve as a learning period which will st a Presnal through two complete cy- j hardr'ies of hoard meetings. *exas A&M is very fortunate to have snal appointed to this a strategic jition, Cherry said. “I am elated at having a man of such stature succeed me,” he said. Cherry said Presnal has unique qual ifications for the job because he knows the academic organization very well having served at one time as a Universi ty teacher and having served as com mandant in the Corps of Cadets. Cherry also said that Presnal’s work with the Texas A&M Research Founda tion has familiarized him with Universi ty research activities. “He has a complete familiarity of all budgets in the System through serving as chairman of the House Education Committee, Cherry said. “Moreover, he is an Aggie — gradu ate of Class of ’53, and by his depth of character he has earned the respect of the Texas Legislature.’’ )lishedi it was Is n area. owed :k ofdi les le; Bonfire mascot I - i mn t be eaten by Christie Johnson Battalion Reporter tilljunior civilian bonfire coordinator s atNa ^ on ^ re wor ^ ers do not intend to Jit this year’s official bonfire mascot at bonfire barbeque. iehard McLeon says bonfire work- trs have never intended to roast the lascot, a goat named Zippo, in spite of Riors to the contrary. We were keeping it hushed,’ on said, “because it’s a tradition to t the mascot,’’ he said. icLeon said Zippo is on loan and will Brack to his owner as soon as bonfire is m 5consAk said the 19-month-old goat is too )f the v|ble to he roasted and eaten at the redid® )e( t ue because it is registered breed- thine §1 stock. He also said male livestock yggiesJpe than one year old usually has an Bleasant taste to it. Bbr. Arthur Blair, assistant to the Bsident of Texas A&M, said the presi- ry, I lent’s office received several com- id. D;: I a j ; :ams inglok f gfighi," nts after a picture of the goat was printed in the Nov. 9 issue of The Batta lion. The caption beneath the picture read that Zippo would be the “main course of a celebration barbeque before the bonfire.” Blair said one of the letters sent to President Frank Vandiver’s office was from The Humane Society of Brazos County. He said some Texas A&M stu dents also voiced complaints. Blair said Vandiver was opposed to the idea of roasting the mascot and con sulted with Dr. John Koldus, who is the vice president for student services at Texas A&M. Dr. J. Malon Southerland, who is an assistant vice president for student ser vices, said Koldus met with civilian and corps bonfire coordinators to determine if bonfire workers intended to roast the goat. At the meeting, bonfire coordinators assured Koldus the goat was not going to be roasted and eaten at the bonfire bar beque. Dying elephants make a splash Dave Scott, Battalion staff The trail of seniors, known as “dying elephants,” splashes its way through the fountains located between the Chemistry Building and Thompson Hall during Elephant Walk Tuesday. Elephant Walk is an acknowledgement of the seniors’ impending “death,” for after the Texas game, they are of no further use to the Twelfth Man. CS offers to make bonfire signs by Karen Wallace Battalion Staff’ Last year, an Austin city limits sign decorated the outhouse atop the Texas A&M bonfire held before the annual University of Texas football game. Friday night, there again will be an Austin city limits sign, but this year, it will be bought. The idea of buying the sign came during a conversation between Cadet Lt. Col. Kevin Smith and College Sta tion Mayor Gary Halter, an associate professor of political science at Texas A&M. Smith and Halter were discussing the four Texas A&M students who had been charged with stealing Austin city limits signs. Buying the sign will he a lot easier than the previous methods of sign gathering. Smith said. “Times change,” Smith said. “That’s the way we want to do it now. It’s going to cause a lot less trouble. ” Malon Sutherland, assistant vice president for student services, agreed. “It’s a real good thing for students to identify a problem like the these signs and come up with a good solution,” he said. Placing an outhouse atop the bonfire started as a tradition the same way plac ing signs on the bonfire became a tradi tion, Sutherland said. Now is the right time to start buying the signs instead of “picking them up in the community,” Sutherland said. The sign is being made by College Station’s street department. Smith said the cost of the sign should he about $23. Redpot Barker makes sure bonfire gets built >r a dt lookli ibotlii posiw Dsbor by Barbara Brown Battalion Reporter Small groups of people m fathered around scattered camp- r reign ires to visit quietly on a chilly shooli November day. A Waylon Jen- lings tape and the buzz of a saw is leard in the distance. Bonfire -— the symbol of the undying Aggie spirit and the burn ing desire to beat the Longhorns looms only a hundred yards way. “I guess if no one wanted to aarticipate in the construction of aonfire, then we would build it,” lid Craig Barker, one of the eight senior “redpots” in charge of the aonfire. “We re the ones that jaiake sure there’s a bonfire each year.” “Redpot” is the Aggie term for one of the eight senior students in harge of bonfire construction. Speaking from the splintered orch of the shack that serves as eadquarters, Barker’s emotion- alled voice and eyes reveal the ex- [treme devotion this 22-year-old igricultural education major has bonfire. It (bonfire) brings students, both Corps and civilian, together like no other tradition,” he said. Bonfire is the only major activ ity that every student in the uni versity can participate in without having to be chosen, Barker said. An estimated 300 onlookers come to the site each night, he said, and very few go away without having met other people and ex periencing the real meaning of what bonfire is all about. Barker explained that to be come a redpot, a person needs at least one year’s experience work ing on bonfire as a sophomore. Then he must be chosen to serve one year as a junior redpot. After completing his apprenticeship, he becomes a senior redpot. Barker, a Corpus Christi native and platoon leader for Company B-l, is the chief coordinator for the stack, refered to as “head stack”. There is no single redpot in charge,” he said, “but someone has to be the spokesman, the negotiator, and — if anything goes wrong — the blame-taker. ” “I am the liaison between the University officials and the stu-. br dents,” Barker said. But if any de cisions are to he made, he has the final word. As “head stack, one of Barker’s duties is making sure bonfire is built safely. “I observe from both on top of the stack and on the ground to see if anything unsafe is going on,” Barker said. “If anything is unsafe in my opinion, then it is immedi ately corrected.” Although bonfire is a time- consuming responsibility. Barker says he has never missed a class. He said desire is the key to being a part of bonfire. “A person has to make time for the things that are important to him. Barker said. “And since I first saw bonfire as a freshman, I knew I wanted to he a redpot.” Barker’s duty ends immediately after the lighting of bonfire on Fri day night and his “son” will be come the “head stack” for the 1984 bonfire. Barker’s official duty may end this Friday hut his devotion will not. “I’ll be back every year that I possibly can, ” he said, “because I love bonfire. Poor planning blamed for Poland’s problems by Michael Piwonka Battalion Reporter Poor economic planning and poli tical policies during the 70’s are two main reasons for Polish political prob lems that exist today, a noted Polish political scientist said here Tuesday. Dr. Longin Pastusiak, speaking to a group in the Memorial Student Cen ter about the political conflicts in Po land, said the economic goal of ex panding the industrial power of Po land by borrowing to finance the growth didn’t work. The debts caused an economic recession and the reces sion caused political unrest in the country, he said. Pastusiak, who has worked with the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw since 1963, said the Polish government, spurred by eco nomic growth of the early 70s, put disproportionate emphasis on the building of industries. Once the in dustries were built, there was insuffi cient money to operate them, he said. “The industrial potential was not fully utilized,” the Warsaw resident said. To stimulate business and increase exports, the government borrowed more money, Pastusiak said. And this policy only postponed the problem. Pastusiak, a distinguished visiting professor at Ohio State University, said when the recession of the 70s hit the countries that import from Po land, they were unable to buy pro ducts from Poland. The lack of re venue, coupled with an accumulated debt of $28 billion, caused the econo mic slump, he said. Pastusiak, who received his docto rate from the University of Warsaw, said the political actions during the economic trouble aided the problem. “The quality of leadership was low — they didn’t comprehend the com plexity of the Polish economic situa tion,” he said. But poor economic planning was not the only factor that hurt Poland, he said. The selection of incompetent personnel in the government and the circulation of propaganda proclaim ing favorable economic situations also was harmful, Pastusiak said. Censorship of critical evaluations of government policies didn’t allow other policy ideas to surface, he said. The recovery for Poland will be a slow process, Pastusiak said. “We’ve hit the bottom, but we’re on the way,” he said. American-Polish relations have been strained by action taken by the Reagan administration, he said. The trade sanctions set by the Reagan administration against Po land have done more harm to the peo ple than to the government, Pastusiak said. These sanctions were set when Poland was under martial law. A&M-UT rivalry now 89 years old by Linda Griggs Battalion Reporter The football rivalry between Texas A&M and the University of Texas began 89 years ago. Today the tradition continues, but a little differently. The Aggies will take on the nationally ranked Longhorns for the 90th time on Saturday instead of the traditional day of Thanksgiving. The game will be two days later be cause it will be televised by ABC at 11:30 a.m. Having a game nationally televised has its advantages — recognition and money. “This is a situation where — not that you have to do it — but it would be kind of foolish not to take advantage of it,” associate athletic director and former Heisman Trophy winner John David Crow said. Crow said the athletic department could turn down the network but that it’s not a wise idea. ABC will pay appro ximately $1.5 million to air the game. Part of that money will go to the South west Conference; the rest will be di vided between Texas A&M and the Uni versity of Texas. The money Texas A&M obtains from the game is put back into its athletic programs. Crow said. “The money goes to the athletic de partment, and by virtue of channels, it goes hack into the athletic program either through facilities or scholar ships,” Crow said. Wally Groff, associate athletic direc tor for finance, said the game is ex pected to be a sell-out. “We are expecting approximately 75,000 people, ” Groff said. The seating capacity of Kyle Field is 72,387 people. “We’ve already sold out on temporary stands put on the south end zones and we are already selling chairs along the track,” Crow said. Next year, the game is scheduled for Thanksgiving Day, but it is too early to say whether the teams will play on that day. inside Around town 4 Classified 14 Local 3 National 10 Opinions 2 Sports 17 State 4 What’s up 7 forecast Cloudy, chance of thunderstorms. High 88, low 74. 1 \ ■ : ■ ! •i '