Opinion
Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, October 12, 1984
Convention burden
shouldn't be placed
on poor in Dallas
A $ 1 million bill has been left for the citizens of Dallas by un
wanted guests.
Dallas taxpayers, the Dallas Morning News reported Thurs
day, will have to pay off $ 1 million in unanticipated convention
costs from the Republican National Convention. A long stand
ing pledge by the city that it wouldn’t use city dollars to finance
the Republican National Convention may be broken.
“We were promised it would be funded by the GOP ... and
we boasted we could have the convention without city money,”
Dallas city council member Max Goldblatt said.
Former Dallas Mayor Jack Evans told the Morning News
that the city shouldn’t dip into local tax money to pay off the
debt. In 1982, when he signed the contract to host the conven
tion he promised private fund-raising would meet all conven
tion costs. The city has requested that the Republican Party help
pay off the debt, but have received no reply.
It appears another promise will be broken. And this one, the
Republicans won’t be able to blame on former President Jimmy
Carter.
This is a debt the Republican Party can, and should, make
good. It’s a debt the people of Dallas should not have to pay. If
any Dallasite has to pay a cent to Finance this extravaganza it
should be those who profited from it — hotel owners, restaurant
owners and the like — not the poor people whose city was in
vaded by the hoardes in three-piece suits and party hats.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
TWo seconds:
that’s all it takes
“SEA T BEL TS: to
help lessen the
chance of injury
and/or the severity
of injury in acci
dents or sudden
stops...”
From the 1981
Chevrolet Owner’s
Manual for the
Chevette, page 1-
5.
Reader’s Forum
Reader’s Forum
Reader’s Forum
I doubt many of the people reading this
letter have read the above quote. If you
were to read your car owner’s manual,
you will probably find, essentially, the
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwestjournalism Conference
In memoriam
Bill Robinson, 1962-1984, Editor
The Battalion Editorial Board
Stephanie Ross, Editor
Patrice Koranek, Managing Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor
Brigid Brockman, News Editor
Bonn Friedman, Editorial Page Editor
Bonnie Langford, News Editor
Ed Cassavoy, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
.....Melissa Adair, Michelle Powe
Assistant News Editors
Rhonda Snider, Kellie Dworaczyk, Lauri
Reese
Assistant Sports Editor Travis Tingle
Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lane
Make-up Editor John Hallett
Copy Editors
Kathy Breard, Kaye Pahmeier, Cyndy Da
vis, Patti Flynt
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper
operated as a community service to Texas A&M and
Bryan-College Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
Editorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily rep
resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty
or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for
students in reporting, editing and photography classes
within the Department of Communications.
Letters Policy
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in
length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters
for style and length but will make every effort to maintain
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Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald
Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
77843. Editorial staff phone number: (409) 845-2630. Ad
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Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
same thing: “To help lessen the chance
of injury and/or the severity of injury, . .
.” I do not plan accidents. Nobody does.
But I had one on October 4, 1984 at
about 8:30 p.m.
I was going to Houston to spend the
night with my best friend and his wife.
Friday was going to be filled with a
meeting of the Southwest Catalysis So
ciety. Friday night with some raquetball
and swimming. Return Saturday morn
ing. Simple. What could go wrong? I
have driven to Houston more times
than I can count.
Six miles south of Navasota, some
thing went wrong. Terribly wrong. All I
remember was seeing a tan/brown ob
ject, a brake/tail light, and a license plate
— that was it. Then the impact and the
sound.
The windshield shattered. The hood
crumpled and I was thrown 20 yards
from the car. The roof buckled in. The
engine tore free. The passenger door
crumpled like a piece of paper. The
back seat flew into the front seat area.
Everything that was in the back moved
forward: my racquetball bag, backpack,
and two 6x9 triaxial speakers. The dash
board disintegrated. The right fender
was now in the passenger seat. The
sound was stopping. Glass covered ev
erything. Blood was spattered about.
My blood.
I was going about 55 mph and the car
stopped in about 25 yards. My car and I
had moved a full hay truck 25 yards.
From a little math and physics, the acci
dent took about two seconds. Two sec
onds.
One of the reasons I am writing this
letter is this: I wore my seat belt. It took
about two seconds to put on. Two sec
onds.
Because I wore my seat belt, I could
have walked away from the wreck. I was
cut by glass fragments and bruised by
the impact.
I needed two sutures for a puncture
in my right elbow. It will be a while be
fore I will be jogging or playing racquet-
ball. But I will.
I lost some things. My watch is gone
and so are a pair of glasses. The car is
totaled. Six cassette tapes. A racquetball
racquet. A pair of court shoes. A shirt.
What didn’t I lose? A finger. A toe. A
hand. A foot. A leg or arm. My life.
I will not quote the facts about acci
dents. I don’t need to. You see, I can
walk, talk, see, smile, eat, laugh ... I
hope you do not have an accident. But if
you do, I hope you will be able to write a
letter like this one. All it takes is two sec
onds. The time to put on a seat belt.
Richard K. Hess
Class of’82
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Pets act just like their people
iPlainvie
nth bee
Pets, they say, are reflections of their
owners. Or perhaps owners are reflec
tions of their pets. I’m not sure which is
the case — if either, because most stuff
“they” say is phlooey — but this thought
was brought forcefully to my mind
Wednesday as I sat on the couch in my
apartment.
The thing is, you see, it’s not really
my apartment. I share it with my room
mate, Dave, who also is my brother,
which brings us to the whole im-pet-us
for this column — Dave just bought a
Inouncei
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■“Follow
Robert
McGlohon
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tement
uling tl
Ishels ol
rightfu
drough
d prod
emem
snake ... a python ... and I was dumb enough to let him drape
the three-foot slimy thing around my neck.
EeeYUck.
Anyhow, after this thing, which doesn’t have a name yet
because Dave doesn’t even know its sex, had scroomed its way
onto the floor, I cogitated for a while on the symbolic and ps-
chological significance of owning a snake. All I could remem
ber was that it had something to do with sex. So I told Dave
he is oversexed, figuring that even if it isn’t true, it’d make
him feel good.
Well, Dave just ignored me, because after 20-plus years
he’s used to my non sequiturs. But while he was ignoring me,
I was delving into this insight about people, pets and reflec
tions.
First, I considered my own case. I own a cat.
Or more accurately, Wendy (or Wimpy) owns me. And it
was here that I was thrown for a loop. She — or rather it, now
— is probably the weirdest cat in the world, small and skinny
io«age -
ke posse
lewareh(
Agriculi
[ightowt
nursday
bid news
and of no particular color. I, on the other hand, avoidnj| and PI
ness and, for the most part, am of one color.
There are other differences as well.
But finally, I decided this was an exception to the rule
cause I didn’t acquire Wendy, she acquired me. (Bachl
was a journalist rather than a journalism student,!
into a house with a hippy couple from New York. They
gied a week latet;, leaving me with the unpaid rentanda
kitten.)
Anyhow', after I had rationalized all this to my own
faction, I took the quantum leap my subconscious had
aiming for all along. 1 started speculating on thetypesofj
famous people should own.
I started with Ronald Reagan, and finally decided
Irish setter. Reagan too has red hair, is Irish and kinda
tty. And Irish setters aren’t all that smart.
Walter Mondale was easy. He should own a bulldog,
are ugly things that appear rather wimpish at first glance,!
are, pound for pound, the toughest, meanest creature
the face of the earth. Mondale grabs an issue thewaya
dog tackles an opponent — grabbing on for dear life,ni
letting go come hell or high water. And after Sunday's
bate, Fritz rather fits this image.
I couldn’t decide about George Bush, but whateverit
should have a pedigree.
And let me suggest to Geraldine Ferraro that she buyil
nope, abort that thought.
Tip O’Neill should buy a pig.
L
r$ui
'2co
tie coup.
Bob McGlohon is a weekly Battalion columnist,
umn appears on Fridays.
LETTERS:
Ag volleyball, football
deserve respect, support
Alders: a humble
guy as President
Bring back the fight
in maroon and while
EDITOR:
EDITOR:
EDITOR:
In my opinion, running down one
part or organization of Texas A&M to
support another is in very poor taste. I
am referring to the opinion printed by
the Battalion Editorial Board in
Wednesday’s paper that ran down the
Aggie football team in order to build up
the Aggie Women’s Volleyball team.
We would like to express our opinion
concerning the degrading comments
made against David Alders in the Battal
ion on October 10th.
Okay, enough is enough.
I went to the A&M vs. UT game
Wednesday night, not because the Edi
torial Board would like me to think I
would have had a better time than at the
football game, but because the Aggie
women needed my support along with
the 3,000 others that attended.
It is our intent to explain to the au
thors of those comments that had they
ever taken the time to personally meet
David, they would not have been so
harsh.
Ever since Jackie Sherrill has lali
over as coach of T exas A&M w
adopted a new school color. That 4
is gray. To my best recollection 1 cat
seem to have ever remembering il
football team’s uniforms having gray 1
eluded.
After having a personal visit with Da
vid, anyone would recognize and appre
ciate his humble nature.
I was greatly impressed by what I saw.
The Women’s Volleyball team could
have stood on their own merit and got
ten the same attendance. They didn’t
need you to insult another team to gain
support for them.
I feel very sorry for the people who
call themselves the Editorial Board, who
after only one conference game show
their support growing very weak.
David has a desire to portray a pro
fessional image since he has the respon
sibility of representing such a large
group of adults. We personally are
proud to have him as our Student Body
President, because we would not feel
comfortable being represented by some
one who did not have the honesty and
integrity which David upholds.
I’ve frequently asked fellow Ags^
their opinions were on these grayp
and their answers were all verysini
— stating that they make the unifort
look dull. T hey echoed my feelingspi
cisely.
: in
1 personally feel that the unifort 1
look more attractive with the wl
pants with the maroon strips
sides. These are the pants that are us(
on the road games, and define thei®
roon of the jerseys more attractively
Is it going to be that same weak Board
that supports the other athletic teams in
the seasons to come? I sincerely hope
not! This is the time that you should ei
ther speak out for all of our teams or
put your pens down until you have
something that really needs criticism!
As for the comment about Student
Government being too busy to talk, it is
a known fact the David has an open
door policy regarding student concerns.
We believe that everyone should give
David a chance.
After all, our own school songstf
“. . . Fight, Maroon and White, Wli*
White . . .,” not “. . . Fight, Maroon!®
Gray, Gray, Gray . . .” Even thesis
lived maroon pants that were
duced at last years’ t.v. game are
appealing.
On M
loww
ter. T
hii
in eit
ployn
Pair \
with •
12:3C
As to his use of a dictionary, it would
not hurt us all to dust ours off and in
crease our vocabularies a little.
G’mon Jackie, let’s go back to i
good of maroon and white. Besides,
evident some changes are needed."
not start with appearance?
Louann Nunnallee
Class of ’84
Anne D. Cochrum, Class of ’85
Sharon L. Clifford, graduate student
Jose Tamez
Eric Ferris
Robby Bayliss
Dow
Gene
Hous
IBM
Lock
MCI
Mote
NAS,
Natii
Rock
TRW
Trar
US.,