Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1985)
10,1900 pinion I s *' i TV* ^ MAfiSOjK VI Mail Call » ' 5 isi». ShUKBHH (T Heckler will fill vital need for Irish linen consultant Mr Bocnwaia Pr«*p*e in Wash ington wrrr skrp> tical last week when the White House annoum-ed Secretary of Health and Hu* man Services Mar garet Heckler was being "promoted" from a cabinet post to American ambassador to Ireland The stor> circulating for the past month was that the President » duel of waff. Donald Regan, led the “dump Heckler" movement because he was dis- satisfied wtth her performance e The rumors of the serretaiVt immi nent departure were leaked privately and then denied publicly by almost ev eryone who worked for the president Just as I was about to be swept up m the hystena. I was calmed down by a White House aide who vigorously den ied that there was anv effort by the ad- miauBtration to force Mrs. Heckler out of her job. "This is what reaiiv happened.'' he told me in confidence "The president has been trvmg for the better part of a year to find a new ambassador to Ire land He wanted a person whom he could trust, who had the abtlits to circu late amongst the ruling classes, but roost of aM someone who cmild speak the lan guage Thai person would be the presi dent's eyes and ears m the most sensitive diplomatic post m the world " "I didn’t realize Ireland was that im portant." I said. t The White House aide looked around the room before be whispered "Evervthmg that floats down from the North Sea eventually winds up on the beaches of Ireland It’s the perfect plac e to keep track of Irish exports to the United Scales But the most strategic va lue the Dublin spot has for the United States is that it's the ideal location to monitor the BBC ~ "I know that being ambassador to the Irish Republic is vital to our foreign pol icy, but isn’t secretary of Health and Human Services a more important posi tion in the administration He laughed “The two don’t com pare The secretary of HHS is just a fig urehead. She's only responsible for spending $300 billion Her role is to see that the health, welfare and Social Secu rity systems don’t get fouled up. A child could do it. On the other hand, an am bassador to Dublin has to be in daily contact with the president, and is per sonalis consulted on every decision the White House makes concerning Irish linen ” "If it’ssurh a good job whv does n pay $16,000 less than Secretary of HHS?" "Because it’s so much cheaper to live abroad . “How did the president persuade Mrs Heckler that he was not getting nd of her?" "He told her the last thing Pal O’Bnen said to him before he died was. ‘It's always been mv dream lo have a woman ambassador to Ireland.*" "And Heckler bought it?" “The president reads the line much better than I do Reagan can be very persuasive when he sets bis mind to it. It's mv understanding Mrs, Heckler ♦woke Ihto tear* when She chief started talking to her about his relatives who were caught up in the potato famine ‘What else did he tell her?" “He said, Margaret, never forget this A president has 19 cabinet officers to serve him. but oofv one ambassador to Ireland " I looked at the White House aide. “Then you are telling me no one in the White House had anything to do with bouncing Mrs. Heckler out of her post “We didn't knock her out of a job All we did is give her a better one I his ad ministration has never stopped anyone from getting ahead " Art Buchwmld is Los Angeles Time a coiumnit i Syndicate. for the Aggie restrooms invaded by rude towel dispensers Public restrooms across our great I nMrd States tomain a vanetv of gadgets whose mam purpose m life is lodry hands Some bathrooms have tattle while gadgets that blow hot air for about a minute, some have gadgets that hold a bag white towel that a used by everyone and some have gadgets known as paper towel d ape risers . Here in Aggieland. Rock the Good Ag recently has blessed us with a new towel dispenser in soaar of You probably have seen type of paper to our bathroom* My first personal encounter with one of them was about two weeks ago in the tabrarv And. take with anything new and different. I looked N over and formed an opinion about a. I didn't like a T hat may not be fair because the dis pensers can't form an opinion about me. but ma everything m life is fair Just ask the people who were on the Achille Lauro cruise liner The gray dispensers don’t have much of a personality besides being big. bulky and rude They do have a hand crank on the bottom right corner, though Actually, a’s not ready a crank It is more take a putter. Basically a’s just de formed. like the rest of the but so be ai accurate as I can I'm to refer so it as a crank-putter The! In*. f>M »*■ ».CI Trsvw Iwglr tjn IWI .war. > ■ am»* mwm tmmm CSV f - mmmxl • •3 » pm l 1*1 >VXI <*■ The crank-puller has to be pulled on about three times before enough low eling tomes out to serve as purpose And sometime* a n bard lo hold on to the crank-puller smer vour bands still are wet when you pull on it I suppose the crank-putter u on the right comer because most people are right handed Thn means left-handers have So reach across the dispenser to make more toweling come out. whic h is kind of meowvemem Because the dispensers are new. a s unhkrly the crank-putters soon But when thrv do. (when they re old) a will be wnpossable towel out. and then vou your has What ers? If. for some reason, the paper jammed, you can't just open the penser and fix h because n’t lucked And when the person who rrfdh the * you'll have on your pants out the lock on the to dry r' 1 ' IX VM l* 1 * f H The key n s rude so to the girts -I- Legest Hatt ■Sand* wvd E the the As a Si m trmfth The rdm mmke cwy rtfary to i Cartoonists causo bonfire brouhaha EDITOR When are The Battalion cartoon- nts going to show some support for bonfire? Last year. Scott Mrtasttnr ran a heart-rending cartoon depict ing Ssnokev the Bear with a tear m Km eye as bonfire burned The im pression given is that Aggies went into a national park, killed all the trees and kit ked Bacnbi out onto the street. I don’t suppose Scott both ered to research the fact that we were c utting on land sc heduled so be strip mined Thn year's “Waldo" cartoon de picts two bonfire injuries. Thanks a lot. Kevin Ihocnas. what a ref re- vhingtv optimist* way to publicize bonfire. Never mind the fact that the bonfire coordinators stress safety as the most important factor so a successful bonfire. Everyone n needed to make thn year’s bonfire the best ever Perhaps if Kevin and Scon went owl to cut they would have a more enlightened approach to their work. Kim Tibbetts **7 Moses Hall Ideas for stopping mad mopeders EDITOR Dr Baum s complaint about mo torcycles and mopeds on campus walkways deserves better than Rob ert E. Wiatt’s glib respHise. I. too. i have been nearly struck by motorcy cles operated illegally on sidewalks, and I, too, have received little satis faction that anything is being done lo prevent a serious accident The situation n out of control, es pecially in view of the burgeoning fleet of mopeds that seem to multi ply like fruit flics. Wiatt s imagery of “Starsky and Hutch" tactics is hu morous. but it suggests to me that he should watch less television and put more effort into catching of fenders. It is ludic rous to argue that noth ing can be done because, in Wiatt s words. . . the majority merely speed up. zip around the officer and roar off'' Granted, it's easier to write parking tickets, but perhaps a little ingenuity usefully could be ap plied to catch the marauding mopeds Several ideas, offered without ex pressed or implied warranty, come immediatelv to mind Whv not use ticket revenues to equip several offi cers with blue-and-white mopeds of their own, complete with scaled- down flashing lights, wrens and ra dio antennas? A few more mopeds would hardly be noticeable at first, but imagine the surprise when an un suspecting offender, zooming past the library to make it to class on time, suddenly sees the long arm of the law in has rear view mirror Why. it would strike terror into the hearts of all motorized two-wheel ers when news of the arrest broke in the next day’s Ban? Of course, the effectiveness of the moped patrols will rapidly as offenders* asn their arthrey inc reases so some re serve tactics are so keep the uppust- tsosi guessing One could, for exam ple. equip trees near certain not to blow their cover. In the r. carry a bag stark. Spikars snubbnd EDITOR: I am writing this tatter on behalf of the Texas AJcM volleybarfl team concerning their treatment in re gards to their practice facilities I would take so begm by asking you a question: what color is the ceiling m G. Rottae White (dincum? I know, most people do not look at c eilings or one what they look take The Texas AArM volleyball team has been “kicked out" of the gym to that the entang may undergo an "Aggie face lift " I realize that being a Aggie carnet with n a certain pnde and tradition and thn attitude n reflected in the physical appear ance of the AAcM campus. I (irmly believe thn image needs to be upheld, but why couldn t they have decided to perform thn cosmetic surgery during a time that the gvni would not be needed by anv partic ular sport? fhe volleyball team has been for tunate enough to have use of a P E. m during its lunchtime !>reak: jwever. they are still being de prived of an hour and a halt of practice time they would normally use Practice time to any team is valu able. after all. "Practice makes per fect." When vou consider the fact that the AJcM volleyball team has been practicing for over a month and at the present are into their sea son. this practice time becomes even more important. My point is I know that AJcM and its studenu support athletics and that same Aggie pride and tradition thrive on a winning spirit. What would Jackie Sherrill say if he was told he could not practice on Kyle Field this week because the lines needed to be re-painted? Gen ye Allen ho 1 Sodomy law unfair EDITOR: The Texas sodomy statute <21 06) cannot benefit society in any way. It certainly will not slow or Mop the spread of AIDS. Even the judges who ruled in favor of 21 06 knew this, as they did not mention AIDS as a reason for their decision. The statute is unfair, because it allows heterosexuals to perform the same acts that are illegal foe gavs The statute is not enforceable It only affects Therefore. from having sex. All M doe*”* pro vide a legal basts for harrassntent and dMcrunmation The statute is an attempt to stifle the gay rights movement. But con sider how much worse the AIDS problem could be now if gay organi zations had not been there to alert the gay community when the straight world chose to ignore AIDS. Thank about it. Tha aosy way out jcc is hoc emoncwi**- it private, consensual acts it wiH not stop people g sex All it doe^is pro- EDVTOft: K W. Brown’s raising the yet. a I look IS bves) drinking age a n vahd lo fact. I bet we could cut ties oi half if nr nose the drinking age to 90. » -» * - - i . .f. ,t — _^ The sasopir truth is that a %rpa- lantty inerxjng me sprmuers. re- rggz|[M|ttjmei§dtaModlBttMy J£S| adv c» •('■mg gMognaou and b* m- a conuewsem reacimn aoa problem There n no excuse tor drunken i mill 11 h I " rmng behind the wheel 1!. ^ ~ nri1 "' *** ,, , , w drunk is kkr pomung a loaded gun tenges ami <*untermovr* could oc- ^ # fmgm A 4^* dMr ^ » r^robabfv even additional jobs msaao^oTuasng th-iVyes* canli hr jonifiod. mmmB m >ri |, rpnasa to a problem of I to the day the law ges and the rxec- c drunks as drunks