Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, August 1, 1984
Opinion
Ac records
beset that
Yiotft be seai on
TV tWs week-
MR OOWN F. BIUWSKV, OF DUU/IH, M1NN. ?
mu Mvm^R/ir CONt COUNT W
commits NNrn>iT^; v 22^31 tim^s,
A NFW
MR HERMAN PFIT1KIN, OF TAMfA,nORlCA, IVIU CONSUME
167 BAGS OF F’RETTRS, 6E5T1N6 1HE OU? MARK SET
PUR1N61HE l%4 WINTER GAMES 8/ 26 6A6S.
RICK ANP JANET PlSTENPEP, OF OGDEN,UTAH, WILT DRINK 96^
GALLONS of THEIR FAVORITE BORAGES, shattering both men's
ANP WOMENS RECORPS SET IN i960.
in parking spaces
Warning
for the
unwary
You are now entering ... the Com
bat Zone.
Not quite, but if you spend any time
near the Blocker Building (and the re
mains of Parking Annex 7), the Chem
istry Building or the Academic Build
ing, you know that the fences and torn
up earth look like a war zone.
If you’ve been at Texas A&M for
awhile, you probably know that the
campus is undergoing continuous con
struction and renovation. The con
struction is one of those “necessary
evils.” The constant sound of jackham
mers can be annoying, but those noises
and inconveniences are the price stu
dents still must pay for Texas A&M’s
rapid growth in the 1970s. The cam
pus hasn’t caught up with the growth
of the student body.
Construction sites can be danger
ous. During the spring semester, a stu
dent was hit by a loose sheet of metal,
blown off the addition to the Halbouty
Ceosciences building by a strong gust
of wind. Accidents such as these do
happen.
Sitting in a classroom can even be
hazardous — at least to your ears. At
least one professor who is teaching a
class in the Academic Building has
found that competing with a blow
torch is tough. Workers use the blow
torches to loosen paint on the windows
so the paint can be scraped off.
The noise is a problem. But another
problem — or inconvenience — to be
worked around surfaced Tuesday
when the fences went up at Spence —
and Ross streets. To allow construc
tion of the new chemistry building,
this major thoroughfare has been
closed. So if you ever have to walk
from the library to Zachry, allow extra
time to reach your destination. Cir
cling around does take longer.
And a gaping hole that has been cut
into Ireland Street in front of the
Printing Center presents an obstacle
course for motorists as workers at
tempt to repair a leaking sewer pipe.
Stay alert. Don’t wander too close to
the construction sites. And don’t stand
in front of windows when blowtorches
are in use.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Investing
By ART BUCHWALD
Columnist for
The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
There is now a big real estate boom
in parking places in Washington. As
more “No Parking at Anytime” signs
go up in the streets, people are desper
ate to have a parking spot they can call
their own.
To find out about the boom I went
to see a real estate agent who special
izes in selling parking spaces. He had
color photographs of various garages
on his wall.
“I’m interested in buying a parking
space,” I told him.
“You’ve come at a good time. We
have several outstanding ones that
have just come on the market. May I
inquire what kind of automobile you
own.”
“A 1984 Volvo.”
“Then you will want a quality park
ing spot in the upper range brackets.
Here is one that was only used by the
original owner. The garage is just five
minutes from the Washington Mon
ument, and your place would be on
the first tier, right near the entrance.”
“How big is it?” I asked.
“It’s quite large, 11 by 22 feet. It is
marked by lovely gold stripes and dec
orated with a handpainted RE
SERVED sign on the wall. Your Volvo
will be very happy there.”
“How much does it cost?”
“Since the owner wants to sell be
cause he is moving to San Fransisco we
can let you have it for $23,000, not in
cluding maintenance charges.”
“What are the maintenance charges
for?”
“Heating, a 24-hour garage atten
dant, and keeping your space swept
clean, Of course, you’ll have to be
passed by a board of the other parking
space owners, but I’m sure you won’t
have a problem considering the make
of your car and the year.”
“Can I get a mortgage on it?”
“You’ll have no problem at all. The
banks consider parking places in
Washington much better collateral
than apartments and condominiums.”
“Suppose I only want to spend
$10,000 for a spot. Do you have any
thing downtown for that?”
“We have a 9 by 16-foot spot in a
dark alley that has just come on the
market. The front of your car would
look out on a meatpacking plant and
the rear would face an empty ware
house. I don’t know if your Volvo
would feel very safe there or not.
Frankly, I would buy something with a
roof over it.”
“But it seem like so much money.”
“You must not look at it as a finan
cial burden. After all, owning your
own parking place is now the ultimate
American dream.”
The Rusk
view of partisan policies
By D’VERA COHN
Columnist for
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Dean Rusk,
secretary of state through the turbu
lent Kennedy-Johnson years, came to
Capitol Hill to dispense some uncon
ventional wisdom about the conduct of
foreign policy.
There is a lot less disagreement be
tween the two major parties about for
eign policy than election-year rhetoric
would seem to indicate, Rusk told a
Senate Governmental Affairs Com
mittee hearing last week.
The University of Georgia interna
tional law professor, now 75, also said
government leaks are a lot less harm
ful than most officials say they are,
and only one really got to him during
his eight years in office.
Rusk, the 54th secretary of state,
served under Presidents Kennedy and
Johnson during the Cuban missile cri
sis and Vietnam War years of 1961 to
1969.
As the campaign season gets going,
and the rhetoric over Central America
and nuclear arms heats up to the level
of a four-alarm fire, Rusk said the two
parties basically are not that different.
“If a president goes over on the soft
shoulders of the road,” he said, “The
American people and Congress have a
way of nudging them back onto the
main highway.”
As for splits between the Republi
can and Democratic parties, Rusk said:
“There may be differences in tone,
style and emphasis from time to time,
but the central interests of the United
States do not vary significantly when
one party or the other occupies the
White House or has a majority in Con
gress.”
He said in his hundreds of meetings
with congressional committees and
subcommittees, “not once have I ever
seen differences of view turn on party
lines.”
Tensions between Congress and the
White House are inevitable, but can be
muted by regular meetings. Rusk said.
He recommended the president sit
down once a month with the biparti
san leadership in Congress to “build
up a consensus of understanding,” not
necessarily to reach decisions.
Rusk said it can be confusing for
other nations to hear a “cacophony” of
voices from Washington. But he said
even when differences are magnified
during an election campaign — which
he described alternately as “a grand
inquest of the nation” and “our qua
drennial silly season” — the damage is
not usually too great.
“Candidates of both parties will
probably say some very foolish things
and create a certain amount of confu
sion at home and abroad,” Rusk said.
“One could hope that candidates on
the campaign trail would be a bit care
ful about foreign policy matters, but
complete prudence would be asking
too much.
“Fortunately, when the elections are
over, we are inclined to put these par
tisan debates behind us and follow the
policies which are set for our nation as
a whole,” he added.
On the matter of leaks and secrets,
Rusk said he would not like laws re
stricting disclosure.
“Secrets are not as important as
people think,” he said.
He said only one leak bothered him
during his eight years in office. It is
perhaps the remark for which he is
best known.
After the Russians backed down
during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis
and agreed to remove their weapons,
Rusk was quoted as saying, “We were
standing eyeball to eyeball with the
other fellow and I think he just
blinked.”
He has said on other occasions that
the remark leaked during a dangerous
crisis where considerations of ‘face’ or
prestige could be important, and who
ever leaked the remark had no busi
ness doing so.
Petroplex
A gusher
of Aggies
Donn Friedm
MIDLAND —
To understand
the culture of
Great Britain a
tourist visits Buck
ingham Palace
and Big Ben and
the Tower of Lon
don and a host of
other landmarks,
but a visitor who
wants to under
stand what caused
the white man to inhabit the bar
lands of the Permian Basin neei
make just one stop — the Permian!
sin Petroleum Museum.
Here you can see oil.
Crude Oil.
Where it comes from and wheiti
going. The men who wildcatted
The men who pumped itoutofi
ground. The men who condnut
wage the battle of the crude.
The museum’s brochure says a
an average visitor spends 1 1/21x1
in the museum, hut a careful insa
tion will take, they Ixoast,4hours.
Four hours in a sacred templel
voted to oil?
Yep, that’s how long ittookforj
reporter to travel through the
seum.
The three wings — the west
icated to the pre-drilling people:
east centering on geology and
ogy; and the north on thefutureo::
including reclaimation of old wel
are equally interesting to the pe
buff or the environmentalist.
The video-touch-as-you-go
range from a nitro explosiontoa
sized airplane that takes you on a pij |
line checking flight. In the Oil Hal
Fame you can see the mugsoftheE
that have pumped the region inds
ing a few good old Ags.
Midland itself is an Aggie
town.
There’s an office building do>
town that one resident told mein
the skyline with that Aggie flag."
That building, along with ont
Midland’s newest: Clay Desta, isci
trolled by overall good Ag, Clart
Williams.
On the floor of Clay Desta, amoK
the rooms, the glass elevators
green plants —that make it lookm
like a Hyatt Regency than an off)
building—is a small plastic case.
Does the case cover a pre-hisw
footprint, the Midland women'sbf
or perhaps a piece of avant gardes
work, you ask.
No way, not in the petroplex.
Upon closer inspection l coi
clearly see the object d’art delica
preserved. Gently fingered into
concrete it said, “Gig ’em Aggies."
It’s a foregone conclusion in
land that Aggies are a bit different
As I stood in line at the Petroli
Museum, I handed my guide $2
the admission. He pulled am
buck from his wallet and laid it on
counter. Upon realizing that he t
only one single, he handed the lad'
the cash register a $5 bill.
She smiled, picking one of the'
gles off the counter and handing
back to him.
“NO, no,” he said, “that’s airea
mine.”
Flustered, she punched the
on the cash register trying to
open.
“You wouldn’t,” she asked, “happ
to be Aggies, would you?”
One man's flower, another's crabgrass
By DICK WEST
Columnist for
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The U.S. gov
ernment, I am pleased to note, has ex
panded by 17 species the list of 76 for
eign “noxious” weeds that are subject
to import restrictions.
The action by the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service means that
nobody can lawfully bring the weeds
into this country without getting a per
mit from the Agriculture Department.
While it is difficult to imagine the
department being so heartless as to
deny an import license to noxious
weed-fanciers, I say the move is long
overdue.
That some travelers to foreign lands
will go to any length to enhance their
noxious weed collection is apparent to
anyone who has spent any time at a
port of entry.
I’ve known returning globetrotters
to try to fool customs inspectors by
pressing noxious weeds in the family
Bible between the bride’s bouquet that
Aunt Mossy Belle caught at Cousin
Lobelia’s wedding and the carnation
Uncle Rimbeau wore to the senior
prom.
Once they have are safely through
customs, having disguised the contra
band as keepsakes, these shifty, albeit
artful, tourists then evidentally sow
the weeds in my yard. At any rate, I’ve
got all 76 varieties flourishing amid
the crabgrass.
According to my dictionary, the
word “noxious” can mean something
is injurious to health or morally harm
ful. The name of the agency seems to
imply that the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service regards the
former as the prime menace. But I be
lieve the threat to our morals is a
greater danger.
Oh, I suppose some Americans may
be genuinely fond of Rubus molucca-
nus, a type of wild raspberry that is
one of the 17 newly proscribed plants.
I’m told that until you’ve tasted Ru
bus moluccanus jam or sipped a bit of
Rubus molucannus wine, you don’t
really know what epicurean living is all
about.
I rather doubt, however, that the
problem would be as acute as it is if the
motivation for the importation of nox
ious weeds was mainly a matter of pro
viding new taste thrills, or asthetic ap
preciation, or ignorance.
The Battalion
(ISPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rebeca Zimmermann, Editor
Bill Robinson, Editorial Page Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor
Brigid Brockman, News Editor
Kathleen Hart, News Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editor Robin Black
Assistant News Editors Dena Brown,
Bonnie Langford
Staff Writers Ed Alanis,
Kari Fluegel.Bob McGlohon,
Sarah Oates
Copy Writers Karen Bloch,
Cyndy Davis
Copy Editor Tracie Holub
Photographers Peter Rocha,
Eric Evan Lee
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting neMptf''
operated as a community service to Texas A&M andAn^
College Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of*
Editorial Board or the author, and do not ntxessarilf ttf
resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, W
or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory nmspaperl 1 '
students in reporting, editing and photography
within the Department of Communications.
United Press International is entitled exclusively W*
use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited B*
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein resrtvw
Letters Policy
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 mrdi
length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit
for style and length but will make every effort to DiainB 11
the author's intent. Each letter must be signed and
elude the address and telephone number of the Hnier.
The Battalion is published Monday through I'ndn d-
ing Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday w
examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75p"*
mester, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. M'* 1 '
rising rates furnished on reouest.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Bvli
ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77815.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77H5