Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, June 18,1985
Macaw's service
not worth price
Bryan-College Station has been plagued by poor cable serv
ice for years. These troubles were only made worse when
McCaw Cablevision took over the system left by the two previous
companies.
McCaw recently announced it would drop Chicago’s WGN
from its programming. After much community protest, McCaw
announced that it would keep WGN. They could have saved
themselves a lot of hassle if they consulted the records of the old
companies, who also suggested dropping WGN and met with
similar community opposition.
The cable company’s second blunder is the introduction of
the new cable packages. Basic cable service will consist of five sta
tions for $4.00 per month. This basic package, which will be the
minimum service deal offered by the company, conflicts with
the College Station cable franchise ordinance which states:
“The Company currently furnishes and shall continue to
furnish users a minimum of 12 signals or channels . . .”
The basic package’s five channels fall short of the minimum.
Only by purchasing the eight-channel Broadcast Pac can viewers
receive the minimum number of signals specified in the city or
dinance. But the basic deal alone, not a basic-Broadcast Pac com
bination, is the minimum service furnished.
Of course, the Broadcast Pac is only an additional $2.00 a
month, assuming you don’t want it installed. Installation costs
$250.00.
Why so much? Because the cable company is a monopoly.
Why is it a monopoly? Because the cities of Bryan and College
Station give it special permission to be one. But along with that
permission goes the right of the cities to regulate the cable rates.
Reporter’s life in ‘real world
differs from The Battalion
The rate increase put
anything
and many
but local channels beyond
Ann Cervenka
Guest Columnist
the grasp of most students and many other members of the com
munity.
These random price increases and service changes must
stop. It’s time for the city halls to exercise their authority and
put some restraint on McCaw’s ever-increasing prices.
It’s time for McCaw to listen to the voice of the community.
People are tired of being expected to pay more and more money
for cable “service.”
The Battalion Editorial Board
Americans catch
‘Sovietophobia’
Karl
Pallmeyer
There is a new
disease that is af
fecting millions of
Americans. Every
one is susceptible
to the disease:
government offi
cials, movie actors
and ordinary peo
ple. The disease
clouds people’s
reasoning abilities
and can be fatal to those afflicted and
those around them. The disease is Sovi
etophobia.
Sovietophobia is a form of xenopho
bia, a disease that causes a person to
have an unnatural fear of someone or
something that is different. Xenophobia
begins with a misunderstanding that
grows into an actual fear. Once the dis
ease enters the fear stage a person loses
all rational thought, begins to hate and
is prone to violence. Throughout his
tory there have been many cases of xe
nophobia. In one form or another this
disease has been the cause of millions of
deaths and has caused discomfort for
most of the world.
Xenophobia has been the cause of
hundreds of wars. It has caused many
millions of people to be enslaved by
their neighbors. It has often caused the
world to be kept in the darkness of igno
rance. It has often caused people to
deny others their rights as humans. Xe
nophobia was directly responsible for
the execution of a great man from Na
zareth who wanted only to tell the world
how everyone could live in peace. It has
caused the death of many great men.
America has often been plagued by
xenophobia. Xenophobia caused a
group of European immigrants to vir
tually exterminate all of the “true”
Americans on the continent. It has
caused many Americans to try to subju
gate some of their own countrymen. We
nave fought many wars because some
people had become infected by the dis
ease.
Xenophobia, in the form Sovietopho
bia, is now running rampant in Amer
ica. A form of Sovietophobia struck
America once before. During the 1950’s
a senator from Wisconsin named Joseph
R. McCarthy had a bad case of Sovieto
phobia. While under the influence of
the disease, McCarthy did a lot of dam
age to several legislators, actors and sci
entists. Few people were willing to stop
him. Many people were so afraid of him
they actually helped him with his “witch
hunts.” McCarthy was almost able to in
fect the entire nation with the disease
until people finally saw how ill he really
was.
Sovietophobia still has an influence
on our government. Often our domestic
policies are based not on what we can do
for our country but what we can do to
keep them from doing anything to our
country. Our foreign policies are often
acts of fear instead of acts of compas
sion.
Sovietophobia has now infected seve
ral moviemakers in Hollywood. Last
summer’s “Red Dawn” was a prime ex
ample of how horrible the disease can
be. Sylvester Stallone has a bad case of
the disease. In “Rambo, First Blood II,”
Stallone returns to Vietnam to find the
g lace swarming with Russians. It is as if
tallone is blaming the Soviets for all of
our problems in Vietnam. Stallone’s
next movie is being advertised with the
slogan “World War III is about to be
gin.” In “Rocky IV,” which is supposed
to be released in the fall, Stallone nas to
fight a Russian boxer. Maybe Stallone
has a good idea: it would be better for
two boxers to meet in a ring than for
two million soldiers to meet in some
third-world country.
Sovietophobia has also infected many
ordinary people. The popularity of
movies like “Red Dawn” and “Rambo”
show how many people actually believe
that the Soviet Union is the root of all
evil. These people try to rationalize
their fears by recalling many counts of
Soviet aggression throughout the world.
These same people probably have trou
ble recalling any counts of American ag
ression throughout the world. To an
outsider it would seem as if the U.S.A.
and the LI.S.S.R were involved in a giant
game of chess using the rest of the
world as the board.
For almost 40 years now man has had
the capability to utterly destroy the
world. For almost 40 years now the
United States and the Soviet Union have
been involved in a series of thaws in the
cold war. This can not continue much
longer. Something has got to change or
mankind will not oe able to last another
40 years. Fear and hate and violence are
going to have to be replaced with under
standing and love ana cooperation.
Unlike the old line from all the old
western movies, this “town” is big
enough for the both of us.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for the Battal-
As a staff writer for
The Battalion last se
mester, I got a kick
out of seeing my
name in the paper
and occasionally
hearing someone say, “Haven’t I heard
your name before?” or “Do you work
for The Batt?”
Well, now that I write for the Waco
Tribune-Herald, I still get a kick out of
seeing my name in the paper, but no
one else seems to really care.
Welcome to the real world, or at least
something close to it.
It’s different writing for a city paper,
even if the city is just Waco.
Although I think The Battalion does
a good job at informing students at
A&M about events that concern them, I
realize it is not quite the New York
Times.
Some of you may knock The Batt. I’m
not. Keep in mind that The Batt is com
pletely student run, and these students
do have class, extracurricular activities
and personal lives.
Not to mention the fact that The Bat
talion is free.
I’m just saying that there are bigger
and better things in this world. The Bat
talion is not quite “the real thing.”
For all I know, the “Trib” isn’t either,
but it’s a step closer.
My first day, I walked into the news
room and my editor already had five
I
story assignments for me! I expected to
be held by the hand for about a week
until I got used to my new surround
ings.
Not so. I became a full-fledged re
porter on day one. In fact, my first by
line came the next day and I probably
wrote about 10 stories that week.
At A&M, I averaged two a week.
In fact, the Trib had me driving all
around Central Texas.
I believe my first out-of-town story
was in Reisel. Who’s ever heard of Rei-
sel? At A&M, I usually just had to walk
over to the MSC or some other building
on campus. Not here.
Another difference is the type of
work I do here. Real things happen in a
city such as shootings and fires. Not just
Board of Regents meetings and pro
grams by MSC committees.
My first story in Waco was about a
suspect who shot a police officer in the
head. Never a dull moment.
Well, that’s not exactly true. I have
taken my share of obituaries — not too
exciting.
But normally, the newsroom is buz
zing with reporters and photographers,
heading every which way to make their
deadline, kind of like “Lou Grant.”
Speaking of deadlines, I have defi
nitely learned to work under pressure,
the newsroom is not a fun place at 11
p.m. on Saturday night before the Sun
day edition is due. In fact, it’s awful.
Editors are screaming at reporteim
who are frantically trying to addksH
minute touches to their work.
And that brings me to anotherpokl
Although I spent many nights in Ret®
McDonald past midnight, I never did®
five days in a row for nine hours straij®
each day.
At the “Trib,” my normal shift®
from 2 p.m. to 1 1 p.m. Not real god®
for the social life.
But that’s what you expect being®
the bottom of the totem pole. Evena®
lowly intern, I do have my own de®
typewriter and phone (with my o®
number, of course). At The Batt, lo®
had a temporary spot at a long
shared by every journalism student ami
staff member around.
But the “Trib” does have its dra*
backs: working weekends, nights,®
name it. News doesn’t only happen ftp
tween 8 and 5.
But I always try to remember \diti
my journalism professors say: “greates
perience.”
And they are right. I have learnd
more at the Waco Tribune-Herald in
two weeks than I learned at The
a semester. I actually think this crat'
lifestyle is for me.
But come next fall, 1 think 1 willbf
content as a staff writer for The Battal
ion at good old Texas A&M.
Ami Cervenka is a senior journalism
major who is spending her summern
an intern at the Waco Tribune-Herald
Mail Call
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 the author’s intent.
Each letter must be signed ind must include the address and telephone number of the writer.
Police station lines
inspire Aggie Jokes
EDITOR:
I had a rather unfortunate incident
this morning involving the campus po
lice. I went over to their office to get a
duplicate parking sticker for my daugh
ter’s car since she rides with me to work
and we may wish occasionally to drive
her car. By the way, her car is registered
in my name so it is technically my sec
ond car.
The young ladies who were on duty
were courteous but so entrenched in bu
reaucratic double talk that they insisted
that I spent some 30 minutes or more in
each of several lines to just get cleared
so I could purchase a duplicate sticker.
I assured them that there was no way
that I intended to stand in line for that
length of time to pay them $ 12 for park
ing a car that may be on the campus 3 or
4 times this summer.
As you may surmise, I’m a little upset
— I do not want special treatment — I
am not in Russia and I do not intend to
let a bureaucratic service function of
this university intimidate me or hand
me this kind of flack.
As a faculty member of this university
for 28 years, a graduate of this univer
sity, a recipient of the Faculty Distin
guished Achievement Award in tea
ching and a Century Club member I
am ashamed of what I observed this
morning.
When I got back to the office seve
ral of my fellow faculty members, in
cluding one faculty senator, adde;d
horror stories of how they were so ru
dely and indifferently treated that I
thought they were referringto the
KGB.
This is pitiful — the Campus Police
are virtually despised —not for doing
their job, but in their manner and be
havior.
It appears to me that they (the
campus police organization) have for
gotten that without the students and
faculty, their would not be much
need for their “servic^.”
This is a classic example of the
University perpetuating “Aggie Jok
es.”
James H. Marsh ’51
Professor of Construction Science
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Kellie Dworaczyk, Editor
Kay Mallett, John Hallett, News Editors
Loren Steffy, Editorial Page Editor
Sarah Oates, City Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editor
Katherine Hurl
Assistant News Editor
Cathie Anderson
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, Walter Smith
Staff Writers Karen Blech,
Ed Cassavoy, Jerry Oslin,
Brian Pearson
Copy Editor Trent Leopold
Make-up Editors Ed Cassavoy
Karla Martin
Columnists Cheryl Clark,
Karl Pallmeyer
Photographers Greg Bailey,
Anthony Casper
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 Ed
itorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily rep
resent the opinions of Texas AScM administrators, faculty
or the Board of Regents.
j'he Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for
students in reporting, editing and photography classes
within the Department of Communications.
The Battalion is published Tuesday through Friday during
Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and ex
amination periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per se
mester, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. Ad
vertising rates furnished on request.
Our address: The Battalion, 21 b Reed McDonald Build
ing, I'cxas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Editorial staff phone number: (4 09) 845-2630. Advertis
ing: (409) 845-2611.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion,
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843