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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1984)
Monday, October 8, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3 Trailways offers transport Runaways home free By SARAH OATES Staff Writer I For many runaways, returning home can be as difficult as leaving. ■ hey often have no money and no one to turn to for help. ■ Trailways Corp. has a solution to the problem of getting home. OP ERATION: Home Free is an effort to help runaways return home by providing them free transportation. ■ “We came up with the idea two t years ago,” said Tricia Barnett, vice- president of public relations. “We go Everywhere and runaways go every- t where. As a corporation, we felt a re sponsibility to give something back ; to the public.” ■ Barnett said the corporation was unable to start a program without the cooperation of law enforcement officials. Then Trailways was contacted by the International Association of the Chiefs of Police, asking for its coop eration in a program to help run aways return home. The organiza tions effectively worked together to get it started. The program, which began in June and is available in every city and town served by Trailways, has been even more successful than its initiators had hoped. “We’ve helped over 1,000 run aways,” said Robert Angrisani, IACP director of communications. “We’re returning about 40 per day. “It’s fantastic. We would not have predicted those numbers.” To use the service, a runaway must contact local police, who verify he has been reported missing. Police notify the person’s guardians, and escort him to a Trailways station. Trailways provides the ticket and transportation home. Free transportation is available to runaways up to the age of 18 who are not under criminal charges. “Most of them are teenagers,” Barnett said. Some runaways have signed re leases giving their permission to be interviewed. However, because the releases haven’t been returned, the IACP cannot yet release names of runaways who have agreed to speak to the press. Arrow Trailways bus services in Bryan and College Station are par ticipating in the program. GSS president: bad feelings caused by misinformation t net ohm :re ijitiu tofttidl nglotJ irremluj ardstoij ■ssingilifl SymposA ibda \T mposEi more ski Baumk lent! cv in rc| g Wem er werti I i easi!)'| i perioc itor ai one. critio iVhatli 1 hat all.4 •espectli By MICHAEL CRAWFORD Reporter He enjoys working out with weights, swimming, drawing still life Pictures and he supports President Reagan. What separates Marco Rob erts from 90 percent of Americans is his homosexuality. The Kinsey Study reports that about 10 percent »fall Americans are homosexual. Roberts is president of Gay Stu dent Services (GSS). He says he realized he was differ ent at an early age. I “I am so gay that there really lasn’t enough room for question,” te says. “Whereas, many people don’t fall into that extreme and then [hey have something to confuse temselves with. They try to pretend [to be straight). “As obvious as it was to me, I don’t think I actually admitted it to myself until I was 14.” I The process of a person admitting (o being homosexual may take years, depending on the circumstances, Roberts says. ■ In high school, Roberts would go to the school library and look up ev erything he could on homosexuality, he says. “I was really very curious. At that [ime I would never check the books nit. I would read them in secret.” Roberts says he knew he had to [■admit his homosexuality to himself if he was going to outgrow the helples sness he felt. Once he started going out to bars and meeting other homo sexuals, he says, he began to feel lood about himself. Roberts says he never felt guilty about his sexual orientation. I “In my logic, a person who is very ugly may feel embarrassed, but I don’t think that person feels guilty,” he says. “I think 1 always recognized that I had not done anything to do that (feel guilty). “I was still keeping up a cover with my friends. I would date girls and say that I was interested in this girl or that girl.” Friends who are told by Roberts that he is gay often think he is lying or being cruel. “Often times the ini tial reaction ends up being the oppo site of the long-term reaction,” says Roberts. Roberts says he understands what a straight person feels when they find out about his sexual preference. “I do my best to try and explain our point of view and see how it goes,” he says. Roberts says negative feelings about homosexuals are rooted in misunderstanding. A transvestite is not necessarily a homosexual and homosexuality does not mean a per son is a transvestite.People confuse the two, not realizing that the issues are separate, Roberts says. “Doing what I do now, under going what I have been undergoing as far as criticism and exposure, I knew this would come out,” he says. “I prepared myself. Anything peo ple have negative to say I don’t pay attention to. I just think they are misguided and I can’t let it upset me.” Roberts spent many years in Latin America and was suprised at the dif ferences between attitudes in the American and Latin American uni versity systems. Universities in Latin America are considered sacred grounds where any idea can be ex pressed, says Roberts. “I’m just kind of suprised, coming to the United States, a land of free dom, that suddenly the universities have so many regulations as to what you can and cannot say on campus,” he says. “If you can’t express differ ent ideas at the centers of learning, then where can you do it? “I like this University and I want to stay here. I think the University has a lot of potential, but I’m disap pointed that such a large institution, with so many resources at its hands, feels the need to control so much about what the students read, see or experience.” Roberts says he was sure the court fight for GSS recognition against Texas A&M would resurface while he was president of the organization. Roberts was elected president af ter only two months in the GSS. “Most of the stress of being presi dent is from keeping the group to gether in a working body rather than from addressing the class room,” says Roberts. Roberts is a member of a speaker panel provided by GSS to address in terested groups. “Sometimes I get more flak from my own members than I do from the people we address,” he says. “They want me to do the best job possible. GSS is composed of members of dif ferent ideas, and we are concerned with the image we portray.” Roberts says the GSS cannot af ford to make even a minor mistake because those opposed to the group will focus on it. Roberts includes the A&M University administration among those who would concentrate on any error. “You can’t just say to some group ‘we don’t want you here because we don’t like what you say,”’ Roberts says. “The test of freedom is not when the will of the majority is being followed.” Beyond the immediate concern of achieving recognition for GSS, Rob erts wants to have a career as an elected official in the public service. “A gay person can get elected if he proves and shows to people that the stereotypes they hold about gays are not true,” he says. “We would not have a female vice- presidential candidate if some woman 40 or 50 years ago had not tried to start to do something. Even if she knew the odds were against her.” ALCOHOL AWARENESS WEEK ☆ ☆ SPECIAL EVENTS October 8-12 The Texas ASM University Alcohol Awareness Program will host the FOLLOWING SPECIAL EVENTS DURING ALCOHOL AWARENESS WEEK. In ADDITION TO THESE EVENTS^ AN ALCOHOL RESOURCE TABLE WILL BE AVAILABLE EACH DAY IN THE MSC HALLWAY FROM 10:00AM - 2:00PM. FY Of DWI TALK ABOUT SUCH TOPICS AS BREATH-TEST PROCEDURES. I0:00am - 2:00pm MSC hallway LAWS I WILL n Te EXAS AND ARREST AND cllcP»»' uriR'* 11 lisTirg* ■ dSio* 8 , ’iltcUi* n H J 81 >n Bloc* 1 ' fl ) a iin# ■icial® 1 s p<; r i„irf r ■diilc 0 |>f n 311(1"*’ |: j $ r;4| ■ I #»■; I #■'* II 'Booze Cruise" or Iii£SMY: Test your decision making skills on the "Mouse Maze" computer games. 10:00am - 2:00pm MSC hallway btEDiESMY: Free, non-alcoholic beverage bar. 10:00am - 2:00pm Rudder Fountain Imurshay^Resource table representing M.A.D.D. and the TAMU Wellness Program. 10:00am - 2:00pm MSC hallway EbidaY: Free, non-alcoholic beverage bar. 10:00am - 2:00pm Blocker Building. SPONSORED BY OPA C THE DEPT. 0E STUDENT AFFAIRS. FOR MORE INFORMATION CAtL. 8^S-$826. VVT. ?.v- s&t. *’vr. y;-2- gy*. •}; . Schick- _ Super]! Specially Fashioned in our school colors Get a Free Schick Super II Razor with two Schick Super II twin blade cartridges and a coupon good for 25p off your next Super II purchase plus ... A chance to win a Schick Super II Athletic Bag in your school bookstore’s sweepstakes. Every bookstore has at least 25 or more winners! Just fill out the coupon below and bring it to the bookstore to receive your special razor. The Super II twin blade shaving system features Super II twin blades that are custom honed for close, comfortable shaves. Quantities are limited and will be distributed on a first come first served basis. Act now and experience great shaves courtesy of Schick Super II. ONE PER STUDENT ONLY TEXAS A&M BOOKSTORE ■ ■■ STORE COUPON ^Schick-.--. SuperJI To receive your free school razor, first fill in the required information Then bring this coupon to the bookstore Hurry 1 quantities are limited ONE PER STUDENT ONLY. Name. Address. City. State Zip Code Phone #. 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