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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1985)
Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, January 28, 1985 inDYIMIflN Vigilantism doesn't solve the problem A Manhattan grand jury Friday indicted subway ‘vigilante’ Bernhard H. Goetz on three charges of criminal weapons pos session, instead of attempted murder, in the shooting of four youths on a subway last month. In effect, Goetz was exonerated of any guilt in the shooting. The jury decided Goetz used justifiable force in defending him self against the youths. He was justified, the jury said, in shoot ing four teenagers — two of them in the back as they tried to run away. This man who said he had intended to kill the four and only stopped shooting because he ran out of ammunition was justified under the law. The most seriously injured of the four youths — 19-year-old Darrel Cabey — has been in a coma for 18 days, breathing with the aid of a respirator. If Cabey does recover from the coma, he will be paralyzed from the waist down because his spine was sev ered when Goetz shot him in the back. There is no question that crime in the New York subways, and in New York itself, is a very real, very dangerous problem. The tremendous outpouring of sympathy and support for Goetz is testimony for that fact. But allowing people to take the law into their own hands is not the answer. Allowing people to seek revenge through any means flies in the face of our committment to live in a country of law and order. Obviously the legal system is not working effectively to ]3i ro- eir tect New York’s citizens. And those citizens obviously want city to be safer. So where is the outcry for better law enforcement, instead of praise and applause for needless, unjustified violence? It is a tra gedy that New Yorkers aren’t pulling together to fight for their city and their safety with the same force and enthusiasm they showed for vigilantism. This subway shooting is a tragedy in all senses. It is a tragedy that crime is so out of control in New York that people are frightened and pushed to the point of violence. It is a tragedy that a young man is lying in a hospital in a coma, his chances of survival slim. It is a tragedy that the likelihood of vigilantism and violence will increase because of the precedent set by this jury’s decision. The Battalion Editorial Board LETTERS: People must live by their own morals EDITOR: When it comes to morals, everybody is right. People’s opinions on moral is sues stand as solid as granite and there are few people that can change their views. Gay rights are no exception. If people feel that homesexuality is wrong, they will continue to believe that. Even if 1 they were the only ones left that did. That is their right and it would be a sad day in the country if we lost that free dom to live by our beliefs. What people do in private is their own business. Some people in Houston sounded as though the world would come to an end if those sexuality referendoms were passed. The truth is, the laws would have had no ef fect whatsoever. There is not a law that can be made that would stop discrimina tions. However, if it had passed, it would certainly serve as a reminder of what this country is all about. We all have the right to choose our friends, place of worship, and how we conduct our lives, especially in private. The world would not come to an end if gay right legislation were passed but it cer tainly would if we eliminated any seg ment of our great society. Senario Two: An officer walking through campus at 4 a.m. sees a girl be ing mugged. The suspect flees, the cop has his gun; make my day — blow him away. Kelvin Callaghan Male cadets are perfect gentlemen EDITOR: In response to Berkowitz’s “twisted” article regarding Cadets, we have a few comments of our own. First, how can anyone pass judgement on the Corps without ever experiencing it? Issues shouldn’t be condemned based on hear say. John R. Mugg Class of ’88 Campus cops carry guns? Yes and no EDITOR: Should campus cops carry guns? So far I have heard either yes or no argu ments, but what about yes and no. In otherwords carry guns in their car, but not on their person, except if the officer is on a walking patrol. Here are a couple of senarios to help explain. Senario One: Last semester the cam pus police were called to break up a do mestic disturbance in the the north side quad. It would seems that dorm X had more of than their share of dorm spirit. So they began to spread it around in the best way that they knew, naturally by throwing pizza dough at dorm Z. Before dorm Z was able to show their apprecia tion the campus cops arrived, billy clubs in hand and guns in holsters. Children in dorm X were spanked and let go. Ev erything okey dokey. The unity of the Corps has an undy ing influence on all of those who are ex posed to it. It is this unity that creates the aura we are all inspired by. This or ganization provides A&M with a unique identity. What would A&M be without the Corps? Allison Meyer, Class of ’85 Holly Helt, Class of ’86 At Ease staffers praised for work EDITOR: Dear Battalion At Ease Staff: WHOOP!! What could have happened: Redneck in dorm X gets in a skuffle with the cop Thanks for a nice and intelligent whole issue. Keep up the good work. Agustin Restrep Regents need to wake up and smell reality Band battle is a losing one I believe that this simple solution will make both conservative (“Happiness is a warm gun”) types and liberal (afraid of another Kent State) journalists happy content citizens. Although we’re not members of the Corps, we’re still thankful it exists. Ca dets are “the mirror of all courtesy.” Not only do they go out of their way to open doors for ladies, but they never seem to break that old Aggie traditions of “HOWDY.” They also provide the serv ice of protective escorting which insures our safety. We’re not alone in our ap preciation. No matter how many times a dead dog is kicked, it’s still dead. Inevi tably, U.S. District Judge Ross Ster ling ruled in favor of Melanie Zent- graf, approving an out-of-court agreement which will allow women President Frank E. Vandiver said 500 to 600 faculty members would have to he laid off and student enrollments cut if the Legislature slashes appropriations like it wants to. Loren Steffy to enter the Aggie band. Naturally, our omnipotent Board of Regents will ap peal the decision. Constitutional rights aren’t the issue here. It’s a matter of principle and tradi tion, which are the same thing in Aggie- land. Since women have never been al lowed in the band, the Ross Volunteers, or the drill team, why should they be now? Women wormed their way into the Corps, but we gotta stop them be fore they take over the whole Univer sity, right? In a related incident, Texas A&M Now, while A&M may lose valuable faculty and students, essentially the life blood of this University, the Regents are sitting on their fat bank rolls fighting a case which will be lost eventually. No way will the Supreme Court, if the case even gets that far, uphold a clearly dis criminatory restriction such as keeping women out of a college band. Instead of fighting frivolous lawsuits, the Regents could be putting their tens of thousands of dollars to use in pre serving the precious jobs of faculty members, a function that would cer tainly benefit A&M more than an all male band. In all the turmoil surrounding chang ing traditions, the real purpose of A&M — education — is often lost. Whether the University has a coed band is trivial. Whether professors are available teach courses and enhance the don of students is not. As a student, I’d like to knowtl tax and tuition dollars A&M receivesu being spent to better this leamingi ronment for myself and my fellows dents, enhance the research and lead! ing f acilities for professors and presenl and maintain this institute oi higher«| ucation. Of course, Tm sure Bright would rather be able to down on Kyle Field and say “Yet there’s not a skirt in that entire I down there. It was a long, hard! but I won.” Even if he had toselliul the University to do it. The Regents need to wake up; smell reality. Fighting Sterling’s de is a hopeless case, and A&M couldf the money to better use. Bright shoi follow his own advice and “cutouii fat.” By joura Loren Steffy is a sophomore lism major and a weekly columnist The Battalion. Budget cutting, tax reforming more difficult than they sound Help nations [search i [food si Agency jopmen |in Rud< “Mei Itions is Brady Ruddei Brae! itrator [with tl gAid, sa meet w countri lucedI “We selves," This three-p First ribbon frost Irady: Seen countri md tf jdividu; “We researc sities," What we have here is “High Noon” played by the Marx broth ers. The gunsling- ers are warily walking down the dusty street — Pennsylvania Ave nue — but they are not eager to George Will sling guns. The winner may be the one who draws last. The President is going to submit a sort of budget, in a perfunctory sort of way. The House of Representatives, the last redoubt of Democrats, must (the law is picky about this) pass a budget. But it does not want to do that until Senate Re publicans write one. resulting in gun play, and the death of an innocent surf-punk (me) in dorm Y. This tragic death of mine could have been prevented had the police been al lowed to leave the guns in the cars and brought pizza dough. Their leader, Robert Dole, is going to run for President as a Responsible Re publican, meaning one who will conun- tenance some Social Security cuts and deeper defense cuts than the President wants. If Dole oversees Senate passage of a budget like that. House Democrats will stand back aghast, entrophy will spread through Congress and there will be government by continuing resolution until 1986, which is an election year, so . So let’s kill time by reforming taxes. Rub, rub, rub, rub. There. We have erased every line in the wickedly compli cated tax code, because Americans say they crave simplicity. And yet, and yet. . So parsons and their flocks will put the fear of God into Congress. Furthermore, America itself — meaning, of course, baseball — is en dangered. Last year, 15 million tickets — one-third of all tickets sold — were deductible as business expense. The government, in one of its sweeter moods, has declared that a major league stadium is an “appropriate business set ting.” For business entertainment, that is. Change that, and much revenue will be drained from sports, and Dave Win field will not be able to live in the man ner to which he is accustomed. So, sports fans, let’s keep a little complexity in the tax code, to protect sports. Now, about, that \dea vA ending the deductibility of mortgage-in terest payments on second homes. That change would persecute the plutocrats, right? Well, it will not amuse Aspen, Colo., Sun Valley, Idaho, and Jackson Hole, Wyo., for starters. And those states have as many senators as Califor nia, New York and Texas — where, come to think about it, there live many persons who have second homes. The end of second-home deductibil ity would alarm lumbermen — the horny-handed sons of toil who harvest the trees that make the beams and shin gles and floors in second homes. And the union members who make the plumbing fixtures may oppose any tax change that would inhibit construction. And so on. cal governments to issue tax-exem bonds, right? Such bonds finance! struction of public works (school, ways, airports, hospitals, brid There were $83 billion of such bond sued in 1983. Restrict them and youti strict the wealt h-amassing byi wealthy. But you also restrict consrf tion, so yoy will hear from theconstn lion unions (Democratic) and thei tractors (Republican). So what will happen in this yean budget cutting and tax reforming?Hi year will be momentous if muoi hap < pens, or if nothing happens. If much happens, that will be mr mentous. If nothing very much hapi pens, we will have established the mol vwewuwvs bwA vVyav vbfc sxvwkwAta&y grown weak by growing b\g—v\yauu immobilized by the constituencies it ha created through the services it hasm dered. By January 1986, we will eithe have no enlarged sense of the possible or we will have the knowledge thatthf modern state has so woven itself into tht fabric of society that it cannot raoit without ripping the fabric, and cannot move. George Will is a columnist for (hi Washington Post. A few months ago the Reagan admin istration was said to be bent on establish ing a theocracy, turning the goverment over to the nation’s parsons. But lo! The administrations’s tax-simplification plan would erase the provision whereby par sons are not taxed on the value of the compensation they receive in the form of their parsonage or housing allow ance. Taxing that will give the govern ment $164 million in 1990. But that is $164 million that, congregations will have to make up, or take from charities. Concerning the three-martini lunch, who will die in the last ditch in defense of current permissive rules on the de ductibility of “business” meals? Not fat cats grown fat on too much gin and not enough vermouth. They are too fat to fight. No, the defenders will be the res taurant and hotel workers’ unions. And (for starters) the. two senators from Louisiana: New Orleans is kept afloat by deductible spending at business conven tions and meetings. Well, at least we can agree about radi cally restricting the right of state and lo- The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Brigid Brockman, Editor Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Editor Ed Cassavoy, City Editor Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor Mic helle Powe, Editorial Page Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editors Kari Fluegel, Rhonda Snider Assistant News Editors Tammy Bell, Cami Brown, John Hallett Assistant Sports Editor Charean Williams Entertainment Editors Shawn Behlen, Leigh-Ellen Clark Staff Writers Cathie Anderson, Brandon Berry, Dainah Bullard, Ann Cervenka, Tony Cornett, Michael Crawford, Kirsten Dietz, Patti Flint, Patrice Koranck, Trent Leopold, Sarah Oates, Jerry Oslin, Tricia Parker, Lynn Rae Povec Copy Editor Kay Mailed Make-up Editors Karen Bloch, Karla Martin Columnists Kevin Inda, Loren Steffy Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lane Sports Cartoonist Dale Smith Copy Writer Cathy Bennett Photo Editor Katherine Hurt Photographers Anthony Casper, Wayne Grabein, Frank Irwin, John Makely, Peter Rocha, Dean Said) Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M and nryan-College Station. 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