Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, December 4, 1984
Opinion
Hunting with Joe Commando
Living off land: fun of the sport
My dad said I had
it. He could see it in w
my eyes — Buck txatni
Fever. Cook
I thought the
glazed look was from
three tests the week before Thanksgiv
ing.
I knew he was determined. I pre
pared myself to spend the entire holiday
in the mesquite trees of west Texas.
I had proved myself ^ marksman
early in life, but I hadn’t been on an ac
tual hunt since childhood. All I could
remember was darkness in the early
morning and cold, freezing cold.
I got home on Wednesday and Dad
had already made a spot on the trophy
wall for a new rack. I felt the obligation.
Deep guilt would have followed.
I also had to stop the harassment
from Mom and my sibling rivals.
“She won’t go. The sales start this
week.”
“Four days without a shower? Where
will she plug in the hot rollers?”
They almost got me with the soap op
eras, but All My Kids could make it
without me a few days. I knew if Dad
could rough it, so could I.
Dad excused himself from the turkey
feast 32 minutes after we began. He re
turned to the living room, wearing your
basic camo-everything. I was going out
in the woods with Capt. Joe Commando.
He shook his head at my purple sweats
and Kaepas.
Six hours later when we arrived at the
lease outside of Junction, I wondered if
I could still pitch a tent. I was surprised
when a trailer appeared out of nowhere.
“Does Mom know about this?” I ques
tioned, thinking about all the stories of
barbaric living on these hunts.
“I think I mentioned it,” he
mumbled. “It only sleeps four.”
The wind was howling and the tem
perature was dropping as we unpacked.
Numbly, I wondered when the last
death due to frostbite had been re
ported in the county.
I tried to count my toes through the
three pairs of socks I was wearing. One,
two, three...six. Close enough.
Capt. Joe Commando asked if I was
really that cold?
I chattered out, yes. He produced an
outfit similiar to his. Same size,too.
Men’s large. I’m 5’2”, but insulation is
insulation. Green is not my color either,
but I suffered.
Commando has slipped into the
woods. He returned to open the trailer
door and the electricity flickered. The
light revealed a color television, (I knew
Doug Flutie woudn’t do it without me),
a bathroom, stove, oven and kitchen
area. This I could handle. It was a little
cramped, but it was inside.
I rolled out at 4:30 a.m.(That’s
usually before I roll in at school.) I was
wired, but images of the brush blinds I
had heard so many hunters moan about
ran across my mind.
The blind was not a pile of sticks at
all, but a little house on stilts. It was
complete with windows, carpet, a swivel
chair and a heater.
I sat there in total darkness trying to
put the chainsaw murders out of my
mind. I made a mental list of the nifty
equipment Commando had outfitted
me with.
-hand-loaded bullets. Check.
-.243 rifle. Check.
-binoculars with zoom lens. Check.
-special nylon trigger-finger gloves.
Check.
-flashlight. Check.
-plastic bag for deer and game.
Check.
-plastic gloves for field dressing. Me?
Joke, right? Check.
-knife. Check.
I was ready for the big kill.
I didn’t get a deer. I saw several does,
but the image of Bambi’s dad telling
Bambi his mother would never come
back to the thicket wouldn’t let me shoot
one. .
We stopped at a smokehouse in town
where a deer Commando had bagged
earlier was being processed.
In the meat locker, deer carcasses
with beaming hunters hovering over
their prizes filled the room. One hunter
was offering to sell his deer.
“Hey, Dad,” I started, “I could maybe
see how much he wanted...”
I thought about the empty place on
the wall and my family, waiting.
A scowl crossed Commando’s face.
“No, Kathi,” he said. “It just takes the
fun out of the sport. It is just too civili
zed.”
Kathi Cook is a juniorjournalism ma
jor.
LETTERS:
Beating Longhorns
enough for Aggies
EDITOR:
Jackie and Team:
Who needs cotton anyway?
Thanks for beating t.u.
Steven R. Hart
accompanied by 117 signatures
Aggies love to
hate Cassavoy
EDITOR:
First, I’d like to say a few words to the
sports editor everyone loves to hate, Ed
Cassavoy. Hey, Ed, do you remember
last week when you picked Texas to beat
our Aggies by 75 points? Do you? Well,
you were wrong. You were off by exac
tly 100 points. Take your foot out of
your mouth, eat your words, and resign
your editorship, please. A bleeding-
heart liberal two-percenter like you
should have never have 1 anded the job
in the first place.
Now that that’s out of the way, I feel
confident that I speak on behalf of the
other ninety-eight percent of the stu
dent body when I say congratulations to
Coach Jackie Sherrill and the Fightin’
Texas Aggie Football Team, especially
the seniors. Your domination of Texas
was the biggest A&M over t.u. point
spread since 1925, and 37 points is the
most ever scored by the Ags against the
sips.
Let’s make it a habit.
Adam D. Hartman, ’87
accompanied by 20 signatures
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ed Cassavoy is no
longer sports editor for The Battalion.
Starting with Monday’s paper, he is The
Battalion’s city editor.
Aggie bonfire
should be maroon
EDITOR:
If the Aggie bonfire is supposed to be
the ultimate manifestation of Aggie
Spirit, then why are the flames it pro
duces orange (burnt orange, at that)? I
would think that a chemistry depart
ment with people capable of finding an
economical way of producing hydrogen
or producing a dog comb that kills fleas
could produce a chemical treatment
that would cause the bonfire to burn
deep maroon.
Frank Irwin, ’81
Music critic should
be more gracious
EDITOR:
To: Miss Katherine P. Hurt:
First of all I would like to know who
gave you the power to be music critic for
The Battalion. From reading your arti
cle it is obvious you have as much musi
cal experience as my two-month-old
nephew.
You must first realize that each indi
vidual vocal group is* unique and out
standing in their own way. Vocal Music
is an extra-curricular activity and the
people jn the groups are in them be
cause they want to be. Many hours of
hard work and practice go into each
performance in order that we may share
our special Christmas gift to you. My
opinion is that you learn to accept gifts
more graciously.
In closing, I would like to try one
more time to wish you a Merry
Christmas.
Mike Marino, ’86
Dead Zips stomp
pregnant woman
EDITOR:
As you know, there is an Aggie tradi
tion called the Elephant Walk. This is
supposedly for the graduating seniors
to show that they are no longer an active
part of A&M’s 12th Man.
I believe that traditions are good
things, as they give a certain spirit and
unity to those involved. However, this
particular one has gone too far.
I am a relatively new employee of
Texas A&M and I am still learning
about the traditions around here. Well,
believe me, I learned about the El
ephant Walk the hard way.
On my way back from lunch Tues
day, I was engulfed by these “dead el
ephants.” I couldn’t get away from
them, and by the time it was all said and
done, I had been hit by a flying toy pis
tol and pushed to the ground. That
probably doesn’t sound too bad, but
considering that I’m 8 months preg
nant, it certainly wasn’t very good!
Now, I don’t begrudge anyone a good
time. However, when having a good
time gets to the point of abandoning
one’s senses and pushing pregnant
women around, then I think someone
needs to step in and take a closer look at
things.
Is this the kind of behavior our uni
versities condone from the supposedly
future leaders of our country?
Shree Crane
How the Democrats
can make it worse
By I
By Arnold Sawislak
Columnist for United Press International
WASHINGTON — During the years
that Franklin Roosevelt held the presi
dency, Republicans made things worse
for themselves by embracing the posi
tion that FDR’s personality was the rea
son he was beating them every time.
That certainly was one of the keys to
Roosevelt’s political success, but by seiz
ing on it to explain all their troubles, the
GOP crippled itself for more than two
decades. Instead examining what they
were doing wrong, Republicans spent
the 1930s and 1940s snarling at FDR
and his works.
(Wendell Willkie was an exception to
this, but he was never accepted by the
Republican establishment and was in ef
fect drummed out of the party after his
one shot at making it over in 1940.)
The question now is: are the Demo
crats repeating history in 1984?
The answer is yes if the party tries to
explain its 1984 defeat as nothing more
than a victory of personality for Ronald
Reagan. If the Democrats tell them
selves they did nothing wrong and no
body could have beaten the old smoo
thie in the White House, they will blow
the chance to learn something from
their loss.
Will Rogers has been quoted as saying
he didn’t worry as much about things
people didn’t know, as about things
“they know for sure that are dead
wrong.”
This points toward several areas in
which the Democrats might profitably
spend their energy in the next few
years.
They could examine the government
policies they have been espousing. Are
the programs of the New Deal, the New
Frontier and the Great Society still
valid? Are there better ideas that Demo
crats can offer?
They also could take a cold, hard look
at the political strategies they have used
1 Only
, , . ir r ■ Christina'
in the last hail century, ror opeE stores are
here are just area few examplesonw j n g to fim
(h i atu polnu al ‘'truths" that migt:!Christina:
worth examining. when she
The South is Democratic. NotirJjjleVasie:
national sense, it isn’t. Most Southerrn paling,
cal and state offices are held by IM “Most
crats, but the GOP has a virtuallod] they feel
its electoral vote in presidential n |‘ c ^ ) an(
lions. Yet Walter Mondale wasted™
able time trying to woo Southern r shoplil
that never were within reach. industry
Big Labor has big politicaldouil ani ' 111 *^'
AFL-CIO is a legitimate player in pq
dential politics, but it can’t elect apt* ^ p^j)
dent and if it appears tobecomeadot leasing<
nant factor in the effort, its supjxmc | “Thos<
hurt more than help. That seetra breed to
have happened to Mondale. t0 * )e t ^ e
‘Howeve
Women have untapped politii ers we a
power. The gender gap exists,butu tween th
tistical difference in male and fei#l ( ‘. w ho
opinion or the selection of a woman J|P
pr< sid< ntial ( tndidate does notbji • v
win a presidential election. Reagan! l2tol5\
a larger share of the men thanolmMany
women, but most important, he! their sec
more of each than Mondale. against si
"We ti
Young people are natural liherlchants or
Youth and lil>eralism nolongerarei re,” Kapi
omymous. Young people seem in ^
ested primarily in makingthejrqw^K^J^
rather than embarking on cnisiiiLg
Reagan spoke to that interest; Mon Saying t
and Geraldine Ferraro seemed unavineed an’
of it and spoke to the young peop watching
the 1960s.
X
give betn
, “We w
alert the
iware of
The ethnic vote is dependably
cratic. Italian, Polish, Irishorwhatf
Americans aren’t automatic Demot
anymore and haven’t been since
suburbs bloomed after World \\a ■ j'f W e rt
Their grandparents might hatch ment, ar
loyal to the party, but that was ir then the
days of big city political machines foshopli
bosses. The Democrats have just ^
managed to assimilate the fact than ^
machines and bosses are gone forti p r() g Tail
and now must accept that so are the well as a
ers they controlled.
“Coin
Hats can say much about
their owners’ personalities
The semester is al
most over. It’s almost
time to relax, almost
Miller Time. Take a
break; quit reading —
about the murders and who shafted
who.
Dib
Waldrip
It’s time to be a little less serious. If
you have a hat nearby, put it on. Now,
go find a mirror and look at yourself.
Ask yourself, “What does this hat mean
to me?”
Have you ever taken a moment to
consider the meaning of all the differ
ent kinds of hats that people wear
around campus? Well, let’s take a look.
Probably the most prominent hat
worn around campus is the military
pants’ cuff that is cut off and sewn up on
one end called the bider. The color of
the braid on the bider is a status symbol
among Corps members. Underclassmen
just can’t wait to wear a white-braided
bider, meaning “watch out, I’m an up
perclassmen.”.
Along with the tent-looking biders
comes the military olive-drab combat
cap. What a combat cap on a supposedly
peaceful campus means, I don’t know.
You figure it out.
Next in line has to be the golf cap. Do
the donners of these caps wear them to
promote a “prestigious” country club or
what? Tell me quick, “Who cares?”
I have to admit I own a golf cap from
the Meadow Brook Country Club in
Rapid City, S.D. Did you know that’s
where the South Dakota mens’
championship is played? One more
time, “Who cares?”
Have you ever noticed how the foot
ball and baseball caps that people wear
correspond with the hottest team going,
and as soon as the team loses a couple of
games, break out the bugles and play
Taps. See-ya-later, Lastros or Disastros
(or what ever you decide to call your ex
favorite team).
Another favorite hat around campus
is the ever-present and illustrious cow
boy hat. You can see all kinds. Dirty
ones, clean ones, felts or straws, colors
from pink to black, you name it, and
sooner or later you’ll probably see it.
Some cowboy hats are so dirty, you
would think the owner has been using it
to wipe his oil dip stick with. I’ve
watched my brother take mud and dirt
and rub it into the felt on purpose. I
think he’s trying to win a dirty hat con
test or something.
Some cowboy hats are so trashed out
with hat pins and feather hat bands that
they look like something won at a circus
carnival. I don’t know what they:
supposed to mean either, but plea
give me a break.
You can also see funny loota
French berets that appear to be sm
form of a hat that has been run over
the five o’clock traffic.
Some folks wear caps withsotnei'i
of lude phrase written across thefn<
It’s too bad these folks don’t realize!!
ignorant they appear wearing s«
trash.
Hats can be very personal andini|»
tant to the owner. Some hatsalmosi!
come security blankets for somefolb
really doesn’t matter what anyonefi
thinks about your hat. All thatmattec
what it means to you.
Merle Haggard was right when:
sang, “I wear my own kind of hat,”
Dib Waldrip is a junior journal
major.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
In memoriam
Bill Robinson, 1962-1984, Editor
The Battalion Editorial Board
Brigid Brockman, Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Editor
Ed Cassavoy, City Editor
Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor
Michelle Powe, Editorial Page Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Kari Fluegel, RhondaSnidd
Assistant News Editors -
Tammy Bell, Cami Brown,John Halltf
Assistant Sports Editor
Charean WiUiar*
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