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THE 1985 CAMPAIGN
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism 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
Donn 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
Senior Reporter Robin Black
Staff Writers...Tammy Bell, Shawn Behlen,
Cami Brown, Dena Brown, Dainah Bul
lard,
Leigh-Ellen Clark, Tony Cornett,
Patricia Flint,Kari Fluegel,
Bob McGlohon, Karla Martin, Sarah Oates
Jan Perry, Lynn Rae Povec, James R.
Walker
Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lane
Make-up Editor John Hallett
Editorial Policy
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operated as a community service to Texas A&M and
Bryan-College Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
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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.
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t for ‘
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77843
His job: Watching
Reagan’s copters
By ART BUCHWALD
Syndicated Columnist
I spoke to a man who has one of the
most important positions in the admins-
tration. His job is to stand on the lawn
when President and Mrs. Reagan are
leaving the White House by helicopter.
“I actually work for Larry Speakes,
the press secretary,“ the man told me,
“but my duties keep me outside.”
“What do you do?”
“My job is to make sure the presi
dent’s copter motors are going full blast,
so the press can’t ask him any ques
tions.”
“That is a very responsible position,”
I admitted. “How do you do it?”
“I station myself right here next to
the helipad. The press is over there be
hind those ropes. When the helicopter
lands on the lawn I get in radio contact
with it. As the president walks out, I tell
the pilot how much thrust to give the
engines so the copter will drown out the
yelling reporters. In that way the presi
dent can just smile and shrug his shoul
ders, as if to say it isn’t his fault if he
can’t understand what they’re saying.”
“I’ve seen your work on TV,” I said
admiringly.
“We’ve got it down to an art. The only
orle we haven’t been able to silence is
Sam Donaldson of ABC-TV. No matter
how much noise we make, Donaldson
manages to get his question heard above
it.”
“What’s his secret?”
“He has developed a higher pitch to
his voice than we can give the motors.
It’s uncanny. We’ve tried every type of
engine to drown him out, but nothing
seems to work. Everyone knows no mat
ter how loud the copter is roaring, the
president is going to have to answer one
question from Sam, even if it’s just a sim
ple ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’”
“That doesn’t seem too high a price to
pay to get off for a weekend at Camp
David.”
“It all depends what the question is.
As you know, the president has a slight
of weeks MSC Town Reader’s Forum
Hall has received Reader’s Forum
many inquires into R H - pomm
why Chicago did not
appear at Texas
A&M, and why there was all country
and western music and no rock, jazz or
R&B this semester. Hopefully, the fol
lowing typical MSC Town Hall concert
booking process will clear up any confu
sion surrounding the concert season.
The process usually begins when pro
moters from various agencies contact
Town Hall about the possibility of a
show on a certain date for a certain
price. Town Hall is limited by their bud
get at this point. A concert cannot ex
ceed a particular price. If it does, ticket
prices skyrocket.
Lately, Town Hall has done the con
tacting. Most groups who used to con
tact us (ie. Hall & Oates, The Commo
dores with Lionel Richie, Cheap Trick)
have priced themselves right out of G.
Rollie White. Now that Town Hall is
making the contacts, we are looking for
popular groups in an affordable price
range on an acceptable date. This se
mester the only groups that were avail
able to us and that accepted our offer
have been country and western. We also
unsuccessfully pursued the Beach Boys,
Cyndi Lauper, the GoGos and Chicago.
In regard to Chicago, an offer was
made for early September which the
group did not accept. They then con
tacted us for a possible November date.
At this point, as with any other concert,
it was brought before the entire Town
Hall Committe. The group was very en
thusiastic about Chicago. It was unani
mous that the show would be successful.
LETTERS:
Linda needs
the picture
hearing problem, so there are times
when he should say ‘No’ and he says
‘Yes,’ and other times he says ‘Yes’ when
he should say ‘No.’ Whenever I see the
president is going to reply to a Sam
Donaldson question, my job is to make
sure that the helicopter pilot gives the
bird full throttle, so no one can under
stand the answer.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier for the presi
dent to leave the White House without
the press being thereon the lawn?”
“It might be, but this is the only
chance Reagan has to be seen by the
public. If we didn’t allow the TV cam
eras to cover his departure and arrival
from the White House, everyone might
think he’s in the Cabinet Room taking a
nap.”
“Do you do anything else besides rev
up the president’s helicopter on the
White House lawn?”
“Of course . . . I’m also in charge of
making sure that Air Force One never
shuts off its engines when the president
is descending from the plane. It would
be disastrous for Reagan if the engines
were quiet when he stepped on the tar
mac and reporters started throwing
questions at him.”
“I imagine even Sam Donaldson can’t
compete against the four jet engines of
Air Force One.”
“Donaldsoji must drive him crazy.”
“You would think so. But the strange
thing is that when the president comes
out of the White House to board his he
licopter, and Sam isn’t there, Reagan
gets very upset and confused because he
doesn’t know whether to shout some
thing to the press or not.”
I said, “I admire the president for be
ing able to walk out on the White House
lawn with the engines going full blast,
and not only field a question from Sam
Donaldson, but hold onto Nancy’s arm
and board his copter, all at the same
time.”
The man smiled, “They don’t call
Ronald Reagan the Great Communica
tor for nothing.”
Linda McMillan
Class of’81
P.S. I said yes!
Not all Ags
are good Ags
Kirk Rice
Class of ’87
Sully Symposium
will continue
EDITOR:
Project X. Spring 1984. Lambda
Sigma plans a forum to improve com
munication between students and their
leaders with the ultimate goal of solving
students. Before a final decision«
reached, Chicago’s agent called and in
formed Town Hall that Chicago dt
cided not to swing their tour bad
through Texas for just one show (Texas
A&M). Normally at this time aftertlif
Council approves the show, contracts
are signed and public relations have be
gun.
The process described above is net
essary to weed out potential bombs.Tbt
process takes no more than a week, anil
is a good way for Town Hall to checkin
self. Each show Town Hall brings de
pends on our performance at every pre
vious concert. Alabama depended on
Bob Hope and Willie Nelson depended
on the success of both Alabama andBob
Hope. In turn, our spring program'
ming depends on the success of out
bonfire show, Willie Nelson andFamil),
B]
The final step in the process is the ap
proval of the MSC Council which con
sists of student leaders from all parts of
the campus, A&M faculty and former
This is where the students of Teas
A&M and the surrounding communin
come in. If we are successful with Wit
Nelson (the campus buys tickets), Tom
Hall can begin contacting groups fortke
spring. It is our goal to bring a varietyol
spring concerts in the catagories of rod.
jazz and R&B. We ask for your support
both in buying tickets for Willie Nelson
and in filling our monthly surveys. IVt
cannot promise the Bruce Springsteens
and the Michael Jacksons, butthereare
several popular groups touring soon
who we could have a good chanced
bringing here.
Town Hall is going to continue trying
to bring quality entertainment to the
campus. I appreciate any suggestions
and would be more than happy to an
swer questions. Thanks for yourcondn
ued support. We will see you after the
bonfire at the Willie Nelson and Famih
concert.
Before 1
niors gathe
on Military
sly about
ephants al
izes the f;
graduate t
will be of
Twelfth M
The Cla
ephant wa
noon at th<
van Ross i
Building.
The cla
ephants in
pictures.
Carla P
I president,
gin with a:
Because
seniors “w
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she said.
Head y<
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cause oi a
have put it
“It’s rea
ry,”Josep]
Julie Plesalla is a senior and the pre f
icient of MSC Town Hall.
EDITOR:
Dear Fellow Ags,
I need your help. Remember the
plane that flew over the Rice game with
the banner “Linda, will you marry me?”
Well, I’m Linda and I’m desperate to
find a picture of the stunt.
If you can help, please call me collect
at 713-975-6662 after 6:00 p.m. Thank
you.
EDITOR:
This past weekend, I attended the
A&M-Arkansas game in Fayettville. The
student Aggie Club sponsored the bus
trip for a low price, and I felt it was the
perfect opportunity to back the Aggies
as well as have a great time. This trip
with the many cases of beer was great;
but for the first time in my life, I have
been ashamed of some fellow Aggies,
one of which is an officer in this club.
Before we left A&M for the trip, we
were told by this officer that we were
representatives of Texas A&M Univer
sity and to act accordingly. At the game,
however, this officer and others were
drinking beer and liquor that they had
brought into the game, becoming quite
obnoxious in their drunken state. They
degraded the Aggie team very openly,
and I was embarrassed for all of the Ag
gies, as well as the Arkansas fans, that
had to observe this display of stupidity.
This is not how one acts as a representa
tive of his university. I feel there is a
time and place for everything, and an
A&M football game is not the appropri
ate place to get drunk. You go to a foot
ball game to support your team, not to
make a jack-ass of yourself. Hopefully,
these people will act as real Aggies in the
future!
some problems faced by the University.
Sully’s Symposium. Fall 1984. A foun
dation for the future.
Lambda Sigma would like to thanl
the leaders, the Battalion, and the slo
dents. Every leader we contacted
agreed. They saw the need. The)
wanted to hear what students were
thinking. Without the leaders, Sul
would have no claim to success. Also,
the Battalion’s commitment to this free
exchange of ideas gave Sully a loudei
and more lasting voice so all Aggies
could hear. Most importantly, students
took time out on Wednesday mornings
to consider an idea, to question a polio
to listen, and to think.
Sully’s Symposium is here to stay.
The positive support and enthusiasm
that Lambda Sigma has received has
convinced us that the Symposium can
go far beyond bridging the communica
tion gap. A single student with an idea
can stiumlate change, define issues,
prompt solutions, and redirect goals
The significance of Sully is that it hap
pens every week. Through the contin
uation of this open discussion on cam
pus, we, as a university, can consistend)
improve.
Look for the Symposium eacli
Wednesday at noon next spring. Ever)
student has a voice at Sully.
Robert Beard
Lambda Sigma
Colling needs
to lighten up
EDITOR:
After reading Phil Colling’s letter on
Thursday, I decided I couldn’t let it go.
He theorized that most of the letters
criticizing the Corps were written b)
“misinformed, stupid and lying” people
Some may be uninformed, but stupid,
lying and trying to incite a fued as you
put it, come on.
Phil, are you so perfect that you can
make such judgements? The letters
were mostly written by fellow Aggies
who are merely expressing their opin
ion. That’s what this page of the Battal
ion is for; look at the top in case you for
got.
As for the letter written by Susan
Nickels and Chris Young on Monday, I
did think it was funny. I seriously doubt
they were out to undermine or damage
the Corps, I’m sure you can handle it.
They have a sense of humor that appar
ently you lack. Loosen up!
Lucas Nenoff
Class of’85
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