Page 2/The Battalion/Friday August 16, 1985
Russian roulette
returns to Luther St.
A year ago two A&M students, Lynn Cash McDonald and
Katherine Hossley, played Russian roulette with a train at the
Luther Street crossing and lost. Another student, Mary Kaye
Pahmeier, was seriously injured.
The crossing was marked only with a sign which was hidden
behind thick bushes. It had no lights or crossbars to warn drivers
of approaching trains. Visibility at the intersection was poor.
The deaths caused much concern in the community for
months after they occurred. The bushes that obscured the rail
road signs were trimmed to make the crossing more visible. The
City of College Station discussed closing Luther Street to
through traffic and extending Holleman Road instead. The
community pushed for better markings at the crossing.
But a year later, little has been done to improve the deadly
intersection.
The crossing is still inadequately marked. The Missouri Pa
cific Railroad, which is responsible for intersection warning de
vices, has not installed lights or crossbars. Luther Street has not
been closed and Holleman Road has not been extended. The
bushes that obscure visibility at the crossing have been allowed
to grow back almost to their previous height.
Drivers coming from west of the tracks can only see a few
feet on either side of the road. An oncoming train cannot be
seen until it’s almost in the intersection.
This lack of concern and poor maintenance of this deadly
area has put the bullet back in the gun. Motorists, once again,
will have a pistol pointed at their heads when they use the Lu
ther Street crossing.
How many more people will have , to die before action is
taken? The Luther Street crossing must be made and kept safe,
before the trigger is pulled again.
The Battalion Editorial Board
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Rock ’n’ roll: Satan’s music
or Christian rock model?
List not complete
24 hours to live
“Rock ’n’ roll
music is the tool of
the devil!”
How many
times have you
heard that
statement? I know
I’ve heard it seve
ral times.
I remember
about ten years
ago while I was at
Karl
Pallmeyer
I have 24 hours
to live.
Not really 24
hours to live, but
24 hours left be
fore graduating
from Texas A&M
University.
So I have 24
hours to do all the
things that I have
always wanted to
I haven’t had my picture taken with
Reveille IV or V.
There is one person who I want to
meet. We have talked on the phone
about 12 times, but have yet had the
chance to meet. Hear that Tom Sames?
Cheryl
Clark
I haven’t gotten a good mug under
the century tree yet.
do, but never had the chance. Remem
ber when you first came to A&M and
made a list of all the goals you wanted to
accomplish and all the new things you
wanted to try. Do you also remember all
the things you wanted to do but you
knew better?
For instance, I know many people
who have wanted to go down to the
steam tunnels at one time or another.
Many have wanted to walk across the
band’s drill field. Others have wanted to
share a passionate moment under the
century tree by Bolton Hall.
I’m sure that many of you had made a
list in your head things you needed to
do before you could successfully grad
uate from Texas A&M. And I don’t
mean completing Chemistry 105, Math
151 or English 103.
Fortunately, I have already com
pleted many of the items on my list so I
can graduate.
I have been down in the steam tun
nels. It was for official business. I work
for the Physical Plant.
I have sneaked in and out of the
Corps dorm. I feel no explanation is
necessary.
I have gotten my car towed for ex
cessive tickets. That was a big moment
in my life.
I have gotten inebriated before a
major project was due. Somehow I
was able to complete the project on
time despite my headache.
I have been thrown in Rudder
Fountain courtesy of some friends.
Just wait til they graduate.
I have gotten several of my under
classmen friends in trouble with their
upper classmen when I really didn’t
mean to. The under-classmen had to
push. Sorry guys.
I got a red dot beside my name for
graduation.
But there are many things on my
list that I haven’t done.
1 have never pulled an all-nighter.
That was an important goal of mine.
I haven’t danced on the tables at
the Chicken. For that matter, I
haven’t carved my name in any of the
tables .
I want my picture taken on the Texas
A&M University sign outside the east
gate of campus.
I really would like to run across the
band’s drill field, but since the band is
out of town, I’ll have to come back in the
fall.
I would love to go up in the dome of
the Academic building and sign my
name.
For the last 24 hours I am trying to
accomplish all that I have listed. It isn’t
always easy to fit a five year list into 24
hours. But I’m going to give it the Aggie
try.
Bottom line — if I
just have to come back!
don’t finish, I’ll
Cheryl Clark is a graduating senior
journalism major and will not be a col
umnist for The Battalion after this is-
a church camp, an old man with Bible in
hand was preaching about the evils of
rock music. He said that the beat of the
music was enough to summon demons
from the bowels of the earth. More re
cently a local religous group held a
meeting on campus to discuss the evils
of rock ’n’ roll. This group was pre
pared to show how Satan was using rock
’n’ roll to invade the minds of the Amer
ican youth. They had pictures of rock
album covers that were sexually sugges
tive or had satanic symbols on them.
They also played albums forwards and
backwards so that they could point out
secret satanic messages that were hid
den in the songs.
Religous groups and rock ’n’ roll
groups have always been at odds. Dur
ing the 1950s many churchs formed or
ganizations to stop Elvis Presley, Jerry
Lee Lewis and other rock stars from
corrupting the youth of America. After
much prompting from religous and
parents groups, there was a congressio
nal committee formed to determine if
rock ’n’ roll was. communist in nature.
When John Lennon of the Beatles
made his now famous “We are more
popular than Jesus” statement in 1966,
many churchs held meetings to burn
Beatle records. It is interesting to note
that Jesus, although he had long hair,
never had a hit record.
When Led Zeppelin released their
classic “Stairway to Heaven” in 1971,
some people discovered “hidden” lyrics
in the song. When you play the passage
that says “Yes there are two paths you
can go by, but in the long run, there’s
still time to change the road you’re on,”
backwards you are supposed to hear the
message: “I know which path I choose,
it makes me sad, whose power is Satan.”
These people say that this shows that
the devil had invaded Jimmy Page, Rob
ert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul
Jones, and made them put the secret
message in “Stairway to Heaven.” If this
is true then Satan’s grammar is worse
than mine.
For years certain Christians have
been screaming and pounding their Bi
bles about the evils of rock ’n’ roll. So
why, if rock ’n’ roll is so evil, are Chris
tian bands trying to sound like rock
bands?
Religous music has not often been
original. There are several masterpieces
of religous music, like Handel’s “Mes
siah,” but most of it is taken from other
sources. Many church hymns are lyrics,
often passages from the Bible, set to me
lodies by Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn
and other classical composers. The
Methodist Hymnal contains no less than
five “different” hymns based on the
Forth Movement of Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony. A great man, the same one
who said “We are more popular than Je
sus,” once said that “Classical music is
the nothing but the rock ’n’ roll of its
day.”
There are many “contemporary”
Christian bands in the music industry
today. These bands are trying to use
rock music to spread the word of God.
These bands cover a large range of rock
styles. You have the soft Christian rock
of Amy Grant and the Heavy Metal
Christian music of Stryper. These artists
do their best to copy the musical styles
of popular secular artists but they
sing about spiritual matters.
Even though the music of Madomu
Pat Benatar, Def Leppard, R
Journey is not totally original, tlu
came before Amy Grant, Stryper,ik
Resurrection Band or Petra.
The worst example of the wayni
gous music “borrows” from seoifc
music came when George Harrisoii
tribute to the Almighty, “My SwU
Lord,” was found to be plagiaristicc
the Chiffons’ “He’s So Fine.” No*
whenever someone plays “My Swtd
Lord,” the Chiffons, not George Hz
rison, receive the royalties.
;ussions
Monday
convene;
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Toda
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I have listened to music for
my life. I have listened to all formsis
music out of interest and for mypan
time position as music reviewer
Ease.
After listening to various conteir
porary Christian bands I haveafe*
questions. Why, if rock ’n’ roll is tk
tool of the devil, do Christian
try to sound like rock bands?
Christian artists find their own stjf
of music instead of stealing from se
cular artists? Is there not a command
ment that says: “Thou/shall noi
steal?” What happens when you
Amy Grant, Stryper, the Resurrectio:
Band or Petra backwards?
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior joum
lism major and a columnist for Ik
Battalion.
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Amy Grant’s picture on her new al
bum cover makes her look like Ma
donna while she tries her best to
sound like Pat Benatar on the album.
Stryper, the self-proclaimed “Head
Bangers for the Lord,” pattern them
selves after Def Leppard. The mem
bers of the Resurrection Band were
obviously fans of Rush before they
started making Christian music. Petra
sounds like Journey at a tent revival.
United Feature Syndicate
MAGfs’dLies
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The Battalion Editorial Board
Kellie Dworaczyk, Editor
Kay Mallett.John Hallett, News Editors
Loren Steff y, Opinion Page Editor
Sarah Oates, City Editor
Travis I ingle. Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editor
Katherine Hurt
Assistant News Editors
Cathie Anderson, Trent Leopold
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, Walter Smith
Staff Writers Karen Bloch,
Ed Cassavoy, Jerry Oslin,
Brian Pearson
Copy Editor Trent Leopold
Make-up Editor „..Ed Cassavov
Columnists Cheryl Clari
Karl Pallmeyer
Photographers , Greg Bailey.
Anthony Casper
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Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
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resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, facufa
or the Board of Regents.
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students in reporting, editing and photography classes
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