Page 2fThe Battalion/Wednesday, June 19, 1985
OPINION
Valuable choice
or space filler?
Gov. Mark White appointed San Antonio Mayor Henry Cis
neros, to the Texas A&M Board of Regents June 13. White
made a wise selection. Cisneros, an A&M graduate, was a finalist
in the selection of Walter Mondale’s vice presidential candidate.
He is certainly qualified for the position. His many credentials
include membership on the President’s Federation Council, the
Council on Foreign Relations and the National Bipartisan Com
mission on Central America as well as second vice president of
the Texas Municipal League.
At 37, Cisneros is a welcome addition to the aging board.
However, the appointment of someone with so many irons in
the fire raises some questions as to the effectiveness of a regent
with such an array of responsibilities. Cisneros, who was on a
business trip in South Korea when appointed, may not have
enough time to devote to his regency.
While The Battalion Editorial Board is pleased with the se
lection of the accomplished Cisneros, we hope that he will prove
to be a valuable asset to the Board of Regents and not merely oc
cupy a seat at the table.
The Battalion Editorial Board
A
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 and must include the address and telephone number of the writer.
Professor picked bad
time to visit police
EDITOR:
Apparently, Dr. Marsh, you had a
reason to visit our department at a time
when students were waiting in lines to
obtain summer parking permits. At
times these lines extended beyond our
front door. That fact alone might have
indicated a “wait” was in store for all.
The young ladies working behind the
counter are all students. Their sole
function is:
•To. issue a permit upon proof of
payment.
•To notify a prospective purchaser
that a permit cannot be sold because of
outstanding unpaid violation notices.
Signs, as well as designated employ
ees, inform all patrons to enter one line
or the othei' — depending upon
whether they recalled having outstand
ing tickets.
Many, unfortunately, learned they
had unpaid tickets and were then ad
vised they must enter the other line to
first resolve those.
I am unable to determine what prob
lem you encountered from the minimal
evidence you offered in your first par
agraph.
You did acknowledge that the young
ladies were courteous, which I find a bit
paradoxical to the comments made in
the remainder'bf your letter. However,
you did use the expression “get cleared
so I could purchase a duplicate sticker.”
This was the example you used in refer
ence to “Bureaucratic double talk.”
To me it would appear that the young
ladies discovered the vehicle (for which
you were seeking to obtain a duplicate
permit) had one or more unpaid viola
tion notices as a previously unregistered
car.
You would have then been refused a
“duplicate” until you resolved the un
paid notices — which would have re
quired you to enter the other line.
Obviously, you elected not to do so
or, as some faculty/staff members have
loudly vocalized, insisted you go to the
front of the line ahead of the students,
which is not permitted.
You did not give me or my full-time
staff the opportunity of addressing
whatever problem you encountered,
thus my rather lengthy surmise now.
In case you have encountered any
other difficulties (other than the timing
of your arrival during the influx of sum
mer students), I will now address the
rest of that verbiage which followed in
your letter and your desire to share
these feelings with the those to whom
you sent copies.
Perhaps you intended to lend cre
dence to the “horror stories” you and
some faculty members relate to one an
other. Again, without the benefit of spe
cifics, I must conjecture that these sto
ries are the result of our policy
concerning parking violators as op
posed to the myriad other duties we
have responsibility for.
That policy is “parity for alF in our
enforcement ef forts.
Since I have assumed my position,
faculty/staff are being held responsible
for their violations and not just the stu
dents.
I am aware of the outrage this has
caused some distinguished members of
the faculty/staff when informed they,
too, must pay for their violations.
They then perceive that we are “rude,
indifferent, despised, pitiful, KGB” (all
your words ).
Your protestation of “I do not want
special treatment” belies why you then
proceeded to list your impressive cre
dentials.
I welcome you, or any of your col
leagues, to contact me, seven days a
week. I will then be given the opportu
nity to resolve your problems.
You will be treated courteously (as
you have experienced) but your creden
tials will not intimidate us to extend you
special privilege.
Robert E. Wiatt
Director of Security and Traffic
Students lose battle
to the legislature
EDITOR:
Proud are the Texas state legislators
of their most recent rape of the citi
zenry, hallowing their dubious accom
plishment this past session as “social re
form.”
What, in fact, did they accomplish?
They managed to raise every imagin
able fee — lauding their own efforts at
evading a tax increase, while squeezing
every cent they could.from our pockets.
They paid the usual deference to the
corporate taxpayers of the state, those
lurking beasts of freedom which con
tribute so generously to their election
campaigns.
And we should be thankful that the
blue law was appealed, so to increase
sales to a higher level — thereby bring
ing more money into the state coffers by
way of sales tax.
Finally, we students should be proud
to anticipate the fall tuition increase,
eager to make our hefty contribution.
It was a tough battle but, after insuf
ferable roundabouts, punctuated so ni
cely by Gov. White’s promise to repeal
any college tuition increase, we lost.
William H. Clark
Is $1.22 for E3VLPBUT=X
reasonable price to pay?
to 5
By ART BUCHWALD
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
I came into the office and found my
assistant, Cathy, crying.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been trying to get the phone
company for two days to move the tele
phone two and a half blocks to our new
offices.”
“So what’s the big deal?”
“I finally succeeded. Do you want to
hear the rest of it? AT&T will come in to
disconnect the phones and reconnect
them for $90 for the first hour and $1
for each MINUTE after.”
“You’re kidding me. Not even law
yers have the nerve to charge by the
minute.”
She said, “That’s not all of it. AT&T
no longer has anything to do with instal
ling the dial tone. The tone can only be
created by the C&P Telephone Com
pany. They charge $94 for a one-time
connection fee, plus $35 for the FIRST
15 MINUTES and $11 for for each ad-
ditonal quarter hour. There is also a $3
fee for the cost of the jack in the closet.”
“Let me get this straight,” I said.
“AT&T is socking us for the connection
and the C&P people are mugging us for
the dial tone. Did you ask either com
pany how we can be sure they don’t
waste a minute while they’re doing all
this?”
“They said we should trust them.”
“Okay, so they are behaving like the
Mafia. Is that any reason to cry?”
“I’m not finished. If we want to keep
the same number we have to pay extra
for that too. They want $9.55 per line
per month, which they call a ‘mileage’
charge. In case you’re interested, they
charge $8.20 for the first quarter mile
and 45 cents for each additional quarter
mile.”
“That’s more than a New York taxi
charges.” I said. “Where do they find
people to come up with these num
bers?”
“I just got our phone bills for the
month. We used to get one bill, now we
get two — one from AT&T for our
equipment and one from C&P for their
service. Here, look at this. Everything is
in computer code. Do you know what
product E3VLPBUT = X, description:
BUT-SIGNAL, Unit price $1.22, total
amount $26.36 is?”
“Not right off hand,” I admitted.
“It’s our button signal,” Cathy said.
“AT&T charges us to let our phone ring
and button light up. They’ve made a
price increase retroactive from July of
1984, but so many people have com
plained about it that if you holler loud
enough they’ll take it off your bill.”
“There, you see?” I said. “The phone
company does have a heart.”
“Then there is the $2.62 monthly
charge for an intercom line.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“It is except we don’t have an inter
com line. They’re also charging us $ 1.66
for the buzzer for the intercom line we
don’t have.”
“The phone company would never
cheat us. Call them and tell them they
made a mistake.”
Cathy turned red. “I’m not going to
try to get through again. No one can get
through to them because everybody is
complaining about their telephone
bills.”
“What’s this charge of $7.56 for a
PICKUP BUTTON?”
“As far as I know,” she replied, “it’s
this plastic button on the phone. I’m not
sure if they’re charging us for the but
ton itself or the connection when we
push it in. But whatever it is, AT&T has
made it retroactive.”
“This is more serious than I thought,”
1 said. “Take a letter to Judge Harold H.
Greene, U.S. District Court for the Dis
trict of Columbia, One John Marshall
Place, Washington, D.C. 20001. Dear
Judge Greene, since you were responsi
ble for the breakup of the phone com
pany, the greatest and cheapest system
in the free world, I am writing to you
for guidance. You have maintained the
divestiture would encourage competi
tion and save the consumer money. Pray
tell, dear Judge, what exactly did you
have in mind? Since no sane jurist
would be stupid enough to tear apart
something that was working so well, I’m
sure you have a secret plan. You at least
owe it to the American people to let us
know how we’re benefiting from yo
historic decision. If you don’t tellusl
fore we get our next phone bill I'm I
going to print your home number in the
paper. Respectfully yours, An Admi
rer.
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 StefTy, Editorial Page Editor
Sarah Oates, City Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant,City Editor i. ..
Katherine Hurt
Assistant News Editor
Cathie Anderson
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, WalterSmilh
Staff Writers Karen Bloch,
Ed Cassavoy, Jerry Oslin,
Brian Pearson
Copy Editor Trent Leopold
Make-up Editors Ed Cassavoy,
Columnists Cheryl Clark,
Karl Pallmeyer
Photographers Creg Bailey,
Anthony Casper
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