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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1984)
Wednesday, September 5, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3 Republicans honor Gramm at banquet Lids i relative-j he youngnep| Palace, yiug confused ill of a New % n Astro Josef) >k. WhynotQ Led the hot si icky red subsu bisa; it hadtt d overpizzaf, nient. :amole saladi s taste; the an le tamale wasi <jt and cheesi! Fhc l>eans we ndably then he check,afo lieartburntlu at the motel! movies keptu is 1 searched j| n flicks. 1 f you’re e\r . Worth to De •um and lea 1 hf Battekt By JAMES WALKER Staff Writer Local Republicans celebrated the campaign season with a banquet sup per in honor of Representative Phil Gramm, candidate for U.S. Senate, at the Brazos Center Tuesday night. As could be expected, Gramm’s address included several attacks on challenger Lloyd Doggett and his programs. Amid the typical fundraising con versation and activity, the purpose for the fundraiser attending was al most forgotten until the first speak ers, one being Gramm’s wife, ini tiated a short series of discourses aimed at stimulating the hearts of lis teners. Windy Gramm, actively working in her husband’s campaign, praised contributors for their exem plary efforts. Dicky Flatt, a longtime Gramm protegee, reminisced about his expe riences in Gramm’s campaign for Congress in 1978 and encouraged his fellow “wagon pullers,” a buzz word for Gramm supporters, to maintain their efforts and keep pull ing. Finally, Phil Gramm, flanked by his guests of honor, took the podium and gave an account of his personal past. He related how his career suc cess had been made possible by op portunity in the American system, a point which Gr^mm often makes in nis campaign. A former economics professor at Texas A&M, he became involved in politics during the 1974- 75 recession when economic condi tions hit a low point and he felt that he could improve things. Kin regard to a debate, Gramm x)k what heft ic (-Orps wiilt come a unifa - v<111 r.h air.! Phil Gramm said, “I am not interested in debat ing how we are going to fund their (the Democrats) programs. I want to talk about what we have achieved.” Gramm discussed his sponsorship of the Gramm-Latta bill calling it the “greatest nutritional program in American history.” He said the legislation was directly responsible for “seven million peo ple at work today that were not working four years ago. And those people are earning their own income and feeding their own children.” His sharpest attack on Democratic leadership came when he criticized Doggett and Mondale’s so-called “fairness” policies as “fairness in spreading the misery of society to be sure that we rub everybody’s nose in it.” As an alternative to aid programs, Gramm stated his interest in pro moting jobs, opportunity, and growth. He said he wants to create “a so ciety where families are limited only by the size of their dreams. “I don’t want to go back to the programs of the 1960s and 70s, I want to go foward and provide an opportunity society for our people.” Gramm expressed this vision as a new industrial era with rates of growth “that we haven’t experienced since the 1870s and 1890s.’’ Further criticism was leveled at Doggett and Mondale in accusing them of separating the nation into various demographic areas. “They don’t talk about trying to win the hearts and minds of people of Texas,” he said. “They believe that they can break our society and state into those narrowly defined in terest groups, and that they can acti vate these groups politically, and get them to vote and turn out in massive numbers, and that way they don’t have to worry about how the average citizen thinks.” Ciramm indicated that the election will be won or lost by 4 percentage points, and said currently he is lead ing Doggett. Gramm ended his address with a pledge to put Texas A&M in a higher priority position for receiving federal research grants. “Texas A&M is not in the top 50 universities in getting federal pri mary research dollars, he said. “It is going to be my goal to move it to number one. “One of these days I am comming back to teach. And hopefully not in November.” up to you li nation. AM 1 Corps behai 1 . God), my at ow up boy! utside worklt kind of crap 'oung profess is trying ton ihmore ilion 360 3f • Ki.il ion n (Sonfrrrncf orial Board im -1984, Editor tin^ Editor naging Editor City Editor Mows Editor rial Page Editor ws Editor rts Editor i Staff lair, MichellePo 1 Dworaczyk, 1)® Rrt Travis Tin? Bill Hif Jitor S Angel Sick rd, Kaye Pahmtii Peter Rock i Ryan, DeanSii licy f-siipiwrting neHip? Texas A&M andti’ 1 lion are those oftht^ mt necessarily repo*® listrators, faculty O' horatory newspapet^ id photography d* ications. titled exclusively mi lispatches credited I* 1 natter herein resent icy "rd .100 words in lf»/ it to edit letters for if r ort to maintain thtl igned and must 0 if the writer, lay through Friday^ except lor holiday d lions are f 16.75 pd' 1.15 per full year. Add Reed McDonald ft* ■ Station, TX 7754^ 845-2010. Advetm. fcSuiion, TX77S47 ' General Meeting Socie't’jr Tues., Sept. 11 7:30 p.m. 268 E. Kyle Bring your I.D. For information call: Jenny 260-0276 Kelly 696-6125 Crawford Country Club Charted members wish to welcome their elect new members from the Class of “88” New course aimed at preparing psychologists for the courtroom A new course, currently being taught for the first time at Texas A&M, focuses on criminal and civil issues re quiring a psychologist’s expertise. The course is de signed to help psychologists and other social scientists learn to deal with courtroom situations By SARAH OATES Staff Writer A psychologist is on the witness stand, testifying in a bitter child custody case. His testimony may play an important role in decid ing which parent will get custody of the child. The lawyer cross-examining asks if the psychologist is mar ried, and if so, if he has children. The psychologist replies no to both questions. “Then how are you qualified to deal with child custody?!” the law yer snaps. The psychologist, caught off guard, is too discon certed to answer. His reaction could create doubts about his credibility as an expert witness. This scene is fictional, but is based on a real courtroom inci dent. Dr. Walter Stenning, an ed ucational psychologist at Texas A&M, said Tuesday that court scenes such as this are common. “Sometimes you have a civil case where the defendant ran a red light because he saw it as green," Stenning said. “The psy chologist has to be able to explain that behavior to the court.” Stenning said that in criminal cases a psychologist’s role is to analyze crimes. The psychologist also talks to suspects and tries to determine their motives. He also must be able to interview wit nesses and prepare court testi mony based on professional liter ature. A new course this semester. Special Topics in Forensic Psy chology, emphasizes developing communications skills, such as ex plaining psychological theories in layman’s terms, he said. “We have to provide these peo ple both with practice in speaking E lainly, and an understanding of :gal language. They have to learn how to qualify themselves as experts for a jury,” he said. Stenning said he is trying to prepare his class for the “reali ties” of the judicial system. “The criminal justice system doesn’t always provide justice,” Stenning said, “that’s the reality. Also, psychologists have to be re ady to hear graphic tales and see graphic pictures. “They have to learn how to go through a cross-examination and accept that they aren’t the ones in control in court. The judge and the lawyers are.” Stenning said a major portion of the course will consist of guest lectures by lawyers, such as assis tant district attorney Jim Kubo- viak, and psychiatrists specializ ing in forensics. “I would like to have a victim who has worked through the le gal system talk to the class,” Sten ning said, “but that’s very tricky. It would have to be a very calm, cool person.” Stenning said he has wanted to teach the course for “about eight years.” “Until recently, people weren’t aware of the need for this course. But now the time is right,” he said. “The department has been very supportive of it.” Stenning plans to evaluate and revise the course this spring. It will be offered again during the second summer session. Children’s trust fund for abuse victims recommended by aide to governor United Press International AUSTIN — An aide to Gov. Mark White, the Texas PTA and Attorney General Jim Mattox recommended Tuesday that Texas establish a “chil dren’s trust fund” to provide care and counseling for the victims of child abuse. Mattox recommended to the House Committee on Child Abuse and Pornography that Texas’ mar riage license fee be raised from its current level of $7.50 to “at least $25” as a means of funding counsel ing for abusers and abuse victims and to provide greater support for community shelters where battered spouses and their children can seek refuge. “In our society we have opted to preserve the family unit,” he said. “I think it’s about time you as a legis lature made a policy decision about whether we want not to protect the family unit as much as the individual members within that family, partic ularly the children.” Gerald Hill, White’s top aide, said there were 60,000 confirmed victims of child abuse in Texas during 1983. The greatest number of the cases resulted from parental neglect, he said, with the remainder attributable to violent or sexual abuse. Hill also said there should be some system for keeping a record of child abusers who are given proba tion, then later apply tor jobs with state agencies that care for children. Laura Tynes of the Texas PTA also advocated a children’s trust fund, which she said could be used to fund preventive programs across the state. Vanderbilt missing from climbing expedition United Press International NEW YORK — Nicholas Harvey Vanderbilt, an heir to the Vanderbilt fortune, was missing Tuesday on a climbing expedition on snow-cov ered, 14,441-foot Robson Mountain in British Columbia, a family spokes man said. Vanderbilt, who lives in Austin, is the son of Alfred Gwynne Vander bilt Sr. Vanderbilt, 25, and a second climber, Francis Gledhill, both expe rienced mountaineers, began climb ing the mountain in Jasper National Park two weeks ago. The climbers were last seen Aug. 21 at the 8,500-foot level. Two climbers presumed to be Vanderbilt and Gledhill were spotted Aug. 22 at the 11,000 foot level. They were reported missing Aug. 25 when they were overdue at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Balemount Station. The RCMP launched a search of the area and was joined by a team of climbers sent to the area by the Van derbilt family. A spokesman for the family said the RCMP informed them that an exhaustive search failed to find a trace of the two men and that the mounties had tempo rarily called off their search to wait for warmer weather. Vanderbilt is an author whose most recent work appeared in the August issue of Vogue Vanderbilt graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1980 where he served as president of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. SCANDALS NIGHTLY SCHEDULE Sun. Wed. Thurs. Wet T-Shirt Contest Swimsuit Contest 7-10 p.m. 50$ Bar Drinks 75$ Beer all nite Air Vocal Contest $75.00 - $50.00 - $25.00 prize money 7-10 p.m. 50$ Bar Drinks 75$ Beer ail nite. LaBare Women only ’till 10 p.m. Four for One at 7 p.m. Free Champagne for Ladies after 10 p.m. Comedy Workshop Professional comedians from around the country 2 great shows 9:30 p.m. & 11 p.m. 4 for 1 drinks - 7 p.m.- 8 p.m. “An Aggie Tradition“...4 for 1 at 4 p.m. 4 for 1 at 7 p.m. Double size drinks every night after specials (The Right Club) 1401 FM 2818 College Station, TX 77840 (409) 693-2818