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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1984)
Opinion Politics hurting '84 Olympics It is happening. The Soviet Union is boycot ting the Summer Olympic Games. An eerie sense of deja vu pervades the issue. Boycotting the Olympics seems to be a trend. In 1980, many people didn’t believe Presi dent Carter was serious about the boycott, but he was. And our athletes stayed home that sum mer. Likewise, when the Soviets began threatening to stay home from the Los Angeles Games, many believed it was just a publicity gimmick. But those of us who felt that way were wrong. The Russians say they are staying home. The Soviet press release says the boycott is for safety reasons and an alleged violation of the Olympic charter by the Americans — President Reagan in particular. But the prominent mention of the president in the Russian statements indicate another rea- The sole motivation behind a Soviet and So viet-bloc boycott of the games is the Kremlin’s desire to discredit Reagan in the eyes of Ameri cans and the world. Soviet-American relations are at a low and Moscow would not be disappointed if a Russian abscence from Los Angeles could affect Rea gan’s' re-election hopes. The use of the Olympics for such political ploys is abhorrent. But almost more abhorrent is the lame excuse presented by the Soviets. The Los Angeles Olympic Committee has worked an incredible number of hours to secure the safety of all the Olympic athletes — regardless of na tionality. In these days of terrorism, safety and security can no longer guaranteed. Ask a British consta ble about that. The LAOC is doing all it can. If other nations feel the Olympics are so unsafe that they refuse to send their athletes, then the purpose of the Olympic Games has been lost and the event should be cancelled. But most other nations — including the ath letes — are willing to run that risk. The Soviet argument about safety is a crock. Perhaps the real worry of the Soviet govern ment is the danger of its athletes trying to de fect. Take politics out of the Games. Let the ath letes decide if they are in danger. And if nations that help supply terrorist groups around the world would discontinue support of such atroci ties, maybe security at the Olympic Games would cease to be a problem. The Battalion Editorial Board Slouch by Jim Earle “When you pack up for next fall, don’t even think about carpets!” The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Rebeca Zimmermann, Editor Bill Robinson, Editorial Page Editor Shelley Hoeksira. City Editor Kathleen Hart, News Editor Dave Scott, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editor Bill Robinson Assistant News Editor Patrice Koranek Staff Writers Robin Black, Kari Fluegel, Sarah Oates, Travis Tingle Copy Editor Tracie Holub Photographers Bill Hughes. Peter Rocha, Dean Saito Editorial Policy Letters Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-support- Letters to the Editor should not exceed infi newspaper operated as a community sen-- MM words in length. The editorial staff re ice to Texas AX.M and Bryan-College Station. serves the riffht to edit letters for style and Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those , . , ... , .... »/ the Ed.torM Board or the author, and do 'l"*"' '>«*£ ^rtorf ,o mamtam no, necessarily represen, ,l,e opinions ol Texas 'he author , uuenr Each c„cr nn.s, be stgned A*M administrators, lacultv or the Board ol am ' '""d mclude the address and telephone Repents number ol the writer. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing Our address: The Battalion. 2Hi Reed ' fr aud photography classes within the Depart- Donald Building. Texas \JkM University. Col- ment of Communications. lege Station. TX 77H-4.'i. United Press International is clunk'd exclusively to the use for reproduct km of all news dispatches credited to it. Second class pttsiagc paid at College Station. TX 77H4:l. Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, May 9, 1984 6EE, WE'RE F/VALLV GKAPUATWfi FROM COLLEGE, FRO/A f\ OHtMEf&lT/, FKOIA AiV INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARA/ING. AH, THIS KEniNPZ ME EXACTL/ OF WHEW X. 6K.ADUATEP FROM Hl&H SCHOOL.. r r i Ceremony marred by racial slur Drinking age discriminates by Ed Alanis David Bar nett is 18 years old. He is a high school graduate, and is a freshman at a major univer sity. He lives with a friend in an apartment, and works part time to help pay his bills. He pays a federal income tax, as well as local property taxes. He votes in elections. He has regis tered for the draft. Should he break the law, he would be tried in an adult criminal court. By ordinary standards, David can be considered a responsible adult. However, due to state legislation, he cannot stop by a local bar on his way home from work and have a beer with the guys. David lives in Texas, where the le gal drinking age is 19. However, his problem is shared by young adults living in the many other states that separate the legal drinking age from the magical age of 18, when we all become official members of that il lustrious social group known as adults. Rather than official members, I should say quasi-members. 18-year- olds are old enough to register for a draft, but they are not considered old enough to have a beer in many states. Sometimes this privilege to drink alcoholic beverages comes with just one more year of “growing up.” In some states, however, three more years of growing up is re quired. A legal drinking age of 19 is in di rect conflict with a legal adult age of 18. A legal drinking age of 21 is ar chaic and nothing short of ludi crous. Although I disagree with it, a le gal drinking age of 19 or 21 is not al together bad, in and of itself. What is ridiculous is the separation of a drinking age and an adult age. To say that a person is adult and can do this, this and this, but not this is in effect saying that they are not really adult. A more practical move would be to raise the adult legal age to 19 or 21, so that it matches the le gal drinking age. However, the best solution to this problem of incongruency would be to lower the legal drinking age to 18, nationwide, to match the current le gal adult age. But legislators could never con sider this as a possible solution to the problem. If their owrt personal con victions did not stop them, then the political clout of various special in terest groups surely would. This leads to another interesting point. Granted, drunk driving and the resulting deaths and injuries is a se rious problem, nationwide. But is raising the drinking age by one to three years a viable solution? No. In fact, it is a narrow-minded solution that is at best ineffective. To punish one group for a problem common to all social groups is a simple avoi dance of the issue. A more direct solution to the problem would be to simply create stiffer penalties for drunk driving. Special interest groups should con centrate their efforts on the passing of such legislation and the strict en forcement of it, l ather than on pun ishing teenagers. Teenagers cannot be the scapegoat for a problem that knows no age or social barriers. vSome might think that legal drinking ages of 19 or 21 help by eliminating alcohol related prob lems altogether among a group with a high average of these problems. But do higher drinking ages really eliminate these problems, or even make a dent in them? I don’t think so. Again, more progress could he made if efforts were concentrated in a different area. Teenagers who are irresponsible enough to drive while they are drunk, with no regard for the safety of others, are also ones who will not think twice about violating a legal drinking age. Possibly they might be denied a purchase on some occas- sions when their IDs might he checked, hut alcohol is easily ob tained in today’s society, by virtually anyone. There is also a hidden problem with the higher legal drinking ages, one that people as old as our legis lators often overlook. In today’s society, many young people leave home somewhere around the age of 18. Some leave for college, while others move on to start their careers and to begin fami lies of their own. They are out on their own, but because they are not old enough to drink, they cannot get into bars and nightclubs. They can’t even enjoy a glass of wine with a meal in a restaraunt. This barrier to social activity is the price young peo ple pay, for the shortcomings of ev eryone. A government that perceives a person to be old enough to vote and be responsible for his actions in a court of law, but does not perceive that same person to be old enough to drink, is in need of reform. Drunk driving and other alcohol related problems have reached epi demic proportions. It is time we took a serious and practical ap proach to the problem and stopped placing so much of the blame on young adults. Editor: I am writing to express my ings concerning the commencei exercises Saturday in which lai last received a degree in M.E ceremony gave me a chance to sit hands and joke around, perhap! the last time, with someofmyfi classmates. It is simply amazing how one vidual can ruin such a pleasant for an entire family. As 1 left Rollie White immediately after ceremony, I found my girlfriij and then she and I walked b; the van where we were supposed] meet my f amilv. When we arrived! the van, my sister told me that had just been a skirmish between uncle and some supposedly tin guy. From what 1 was told this son first stuck his head inside open van door in which mymotlil sisters and brother were sitting the time. Of course, they asked stranger to get his head out of van and then they shut the dr This man then began to walkai and called my mother ‘nigj which of course upset her than his getting in the van door, that particular time everyone ve] for my uncle, who had not yet rived. My mother was hystei When my uncle arrived, the mish broke out. The reason that I am most u| is that no one passing by seemedl give a damn. From what I can one offered to help control this and no one tried to stop the 1 Britt New dent: |y KARL /■ reader’s forum he renov idemic B pleled ii rths late ned, Phy Thursda i * project lx drat l.fmt have sl< mish which partly took place in^ street, blocking oncoming trafjl he origin Some individual as I was told®' 1 .* 16 P 1 '°j e kind enough to inform them * ina •l un the guy was drunk and should pay him no attention. Bie renova Anyway, as this was related to i^leorge D I began to utter some offensive guage for which I would like apologize. 1 sincerely hope thal one, white, black, brown, yellow, red will ever have to experien what I did on Saturday night. RacJ slurs are quite offensive and oftrj lead to bloody noses, scratdij knees and elbows, puffy faces aj who knows what else. As I leave here I urge — nolfcl you all to see that nothing like i| happens again. 1 detest the ideal my eight-year-old sister had toi this happen and is now anythingl* burning with desire to attendTesl A&M someday. I thank the campus police fori help generosity, understandingai concern that they showed for! family. Your efforts have not go] unnoticed. Ed Alanis is a senior journalism major. Kevin Johnson is a 1984 gr» in mechanical engineering. Letters: Paper applauded Editor: I would like to give The Battalion staff a “pat-on-the-back.” I think you have done an excel lent job publishing a well-written, provocative paper with good cam pus coverage and a wide range of national, state and local news. And since students often take the time to write in and express differ ing opinions and negative views of the paper, I decided I should take a moment to thank you for your ef forts and to tell you how much I have enjoyed reading The Battalion this year. Keep up the good work. Dana Adams Class of ‘87 Faith in Iran during the month of April. According to Gerald Knight, spokesman for the Baha’i Interna tional Community’s United Nations office, over 700 Baha’is are cur rently being held in Iranian prisons without charges, 111 of these having been arrested in the past three months. Reliable information has been received describing torture of several Baha’i prisoners. All Baha’i holy places have been confiscated and in some cases destroyed. Thou sands of Baha’is have been dis missed from their jobs, cienied edu cation, and driven from their homes. The fact that many Baha’is have been promised that their lives would he spared if they xenounce their faith amply testifies that these perse cutions are religiously motivated. cal offense or crime. They only wish to live according to the dictates of their own consciences. I strongly urge other world leaders to join me in an appeal to the Ayatollah Kho meini not to implement the sen tences that have been pronounced on these innocent people.” The only means we have to lessen the degree of these shameless ac tions is the dissemination of the shocking facts so that public a] world opinion might he grought hear on Iran’s leaders. May o] combined voices lead to the cess] tion of these persecutions. John Wend Secretary, TAMU Baha’i CM 1 ...MONDALE IS A PAWN OF BIG LABOR, IS RESPONSIHf FOR IRAN, IS WEAK, INEPT. Baha’i atrocities Editor: I would like to call to the attention of Battalion readers the execution of four more members of the Baha’i President Reagan, in a statement whereby he agrees with a joint con gressional resolution, evaluated the situation thusly: “America and the world are in creasingly alarmed and dismayed at the persecution and severe repres sion of the Baha’is in Iran ... thesein- dividuals are not guilty of any politi-