— Backstabbing, obstruct fair ticket sales r ■ V ■ . /'■ E D i T O R ’ S SOTEi An Buch- wakl's column has been delayed in the mail, so Aggie- land's favorite col umnist, Karl Pal- Im e v e r, has agreed to fill in. - Karl Patimeysr t Everyone is ex- tiled about the Cotton Bowl — maybe too excited. Since Saturday people have been camping out to get tickets that didn't go on sale until this morning. People set up tents and brought couches, sleeping bags, radios, televisions, food and va rious other commodities to make their wait more comfortable. Someone decided to be helpful. This person .or persons started a list so that peopleapho had to go to class, eat or get some wep could leave the queue with out losing their place. Unfortunately the list was 1 bogus. This person or persons must have thought that it would be eas ier for them to save their place if they could get rid of some of the other peo ple waiting in line. When 1 heard about the list I Called the Athletic Department s ticket office r to see if the list is valid. The woman who answered the phone said there *was no list and that it was up to the students to “fight it out for tickets.” She said the Athletic Department can’t be held re sponsible for what the students do. Despite the tremendous support the student body has given the football team this year, the Athletic Department seems intent on stabbing the 12th Man in the bach. Of the 20.000 tickets alloted to Texas A&M, only 8.000 went to the students; the other 12,000 went to sea son ticket holders. Students are only allowed to buy up to six tickets in one block while season ticket holders can buy up to 25. Stu dents must have a ticket book for each ticket purchased and must have one graduate, senior or junior ticket book for each two tickets purchased. By giving only 8,000 tickets to stu dents, the Athletic Department is telling the students that they are not as impor tant as the former students/season ticket holders. Aggie students don’t even rate the same consideration as other Aggie fans and will have to go through alot more hassle than the Former students- /season ticket holders to get their tickets. The $5 discount on student tickets is an tmpty gesture since the Athletic Depart ment is. not making any financial loss and most students won’t get tickets any- way. If there is anything worse than the Athletic Departments ticket policy it’s the ticket scalpers. These people buy more tickets than they intend to use and sell the extra tickets at a huge profit. Ticket scalpers serve no purpose other than to destroy ocher peoples’ chances of getting tickets in a legally and morally accepted fashion. 1 Overheard some potential ticket scalpers today who planned to charge $1 00 per ticket. What right do these people to make a profit off of a event that they are not responsible for or par ticipate in. Ticket scalpers are the sec- ond lowest form of humanity on this earth..The lowest form of humanity is those who aVe too lazy to get tickets on their own and agree to pay the ticket scalpers so that the practice of ticket scalping is financially attractive. Last week I wrote about how 1 had re ceived a renewed dose of Aggie Spirit because of upcoming trip to the Cotton Bowl. Now after seeing the lack of con sideration of the Athletic Department and the pettiness of some of my fellow students, I have recovered from this re cent loss of sanity. Karl Pmllmeyer is a senior journalism major and a columnist for The Battal ion. ,, ■ AAAA6UU6S <£>f9P£ HCVSRM R*T" Urut*d FtMivct S)ndir»t* " i—i" — What to from Poindexter Barry Schweid M* ,Ynt» The abrupt depar ture df Robert Mc- Farlane as President Reagan's national se curity adviser breaks _ up the administra- tion's foreign policy team and leaves an unknown, untested adviser in place. Where Henry Kissinger and Zbig niew- Brzezinski once exercised enor- ; mou*. influence on the presidents they advised. Vice Adm. John Poindexter now sits. And the battle to influence him — or override him — is about to get un der way.. Administration hardliners wanted Jeane Kirkpatrick placed in the job last winter wh_en she tired of being a : - £ si^ in The Battalion USPS MS 560 Member ol Tr*a* Pms Aubciation The Ban ■lion Editorial Board Rhonda Snider. Editoi Mkhetle Powe, St muffing Editor Loren StefTy. Opinion Page Editor Karen Bloch, Cky Editor John Hatteti. Jtay Mallett, N’r»*s Editors Travis Tingle, Sports Editor * Editorial Policy I hr AafuJami «* a nmt-ptralh. w/l-mfif.wrtii* »r tytmted » « cnttuMutMt am Mr I nat SJtSI jtmft OpMunti, npmtrti in The Balutbun are thme at the BdmmJ Stmni or the imthnr Mtd dn not netemsarth try nrtrtn the up-mum at l exm* .Ut.W attmajmtrmtarh Enruk* or
ti 75 ptr —meuer SSXBf per tehoul *em* and $SS per fuB ft/ \d%ertmttit rate* lutindted on reyueu. ml,hen the Battatiimi, fit Beed Methmtakl « Tetun AAM Chnenm. < SfeMMO. IX I etn* portage pami at Cenegt tOraav ffSSt spokesperson for Washington at the United Nations. They are likely now to step up their efforts to fill the vacancy created by Mc- Farlane's departure and to win new in fluence over Reagan’s decisions. Whether they prevail could depend on Poindexter's world views and on the force of his personality. About both, little is known outside the tight little world of the staff of the National Secu rity Council, where he served as deputy to McFarlane. There, Poindexter concentrated on regional issues and managing U.S. ac tions in hijackings and other crises. He has little experience iiv the broad issues of foreign policy. He holds a doctorate in nuclear physics and has a reputation of being a low-keyed conservative. McFarlane came into office in Octo ber 1983 with none of the academic cre dentials and distinctive personalities of a Kissinger of a Brzezinski. Many of the S uestions now being asked about Poin- exter were asked about him. But the former Marine combat vet eran and student of international rela tions worked hard, steeped himself in the intricacies of arms control and gained Reagan’s confidence- \ 1 They met three or four times a day, sometimes alone. Together writh Secre tary of State George Shultz, who shared his conservative outlook as well as his pragmatic instincts, McFarlane helped to persuade Reagan to lower his anti-So viet rhetoric and commit the United States to nuclear weapons negotiations with Moscow. The negotiations have not paid off yet, but there were strong indications that McFarlane — unlike Secretary of inberget, other top Pentagon officials and possibly the pres ident himself — did not want the Star __ Mail Call r Wars anti-missile research program to become a barrier to an agreement to re duce strategic weapons on both sides. When Weinberger and Shultz dis agreed on U.S.-Soviet relations. Mideast policy, terrorism and other issues, Mc- Farlane's views often were pivotal, and he usually came down on the side ot Shultz and the State Department. The public reason for McFarlane s departure was that he wished “to move on to new personal and professional challenges.” The persistent speculation is that he was losing a battle over turf with Donald Regan, the presidents chief of staff. At issue was whether he would keep his easy, unscheduled access 10 the Oval Office. Regan moved over from Treasury in February to become the president's chief of staff. He quickly asserted him self, and along with Shultz. Weinberger and McFarlane, became a regular guest on the Sunday television talk shows that serve as a barometer of power in Wash tafliftfe. . ^ McFarlane and Regan took charge of preparing the president for last month’s summit meeting with Soviet leader Mik hail Gorbachev, but apparently it was an uneasy, makeshift alliance. A widely distributed photograph showed the chief of staff leaning over Reagan and Gorbachev as they sat con ferring on a couch after dinner. Regan was in the center of the picture, McFar lane off in the background. A White House photographer took the picture, along writh many others. The decision to distribute it was made by the White House under the supervi sion of Regan and Larry Speakes, the presidential spokesman. * Barry Schweid covers diplomacy and national security for The Associated Press. Letter* to the Editor shook! hot exceed 300 worth in length The editorial staff reserve* the right to edk letters for style and length but will make Every effort to nuunuun the author* intent. Each letter must be signed and must inshide the address and telephone number of the writer «, • Mormons not a cult EDITOR: Thank you for providing news, editorial comments and other interest ing articles for the people of Aagiefamd. I find R informative and at times ind rebuttals humorous to read opinions at Batt. in the Mail Call section of The an On Nov. 20. the letter from Mark Sheppard touched me, and concerns me a great deal. 1 am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are commonly called Mormons because of our belief in a volume of scrip tures entitled The Book of Mormon (k is also a much shorter name, but b not derogatory in any way). ^ 1 served as a missionary in the Republic of Argentina for two years at my own expense to teach the Latin American people about Jesus Christ, K loved every minute of the time I spent in that country and developed appreciation of many aspects of different lifestyles and life in general. I do not consider my religion nor any other that teaches of Jesus Christ as savior and redeemer of all mankind to be a cult tfi the broadest sense of the word. AU that teach true doctrines of Jesus are good for the spiritual progression of those people willing to obey those truths. Sheppard suggests that people interested in seeking the truth read a book by J. McDowell and D. Stewart, or any other of the “numerous books on the market’’ that expose cults! L’nfortunately, some of the books to which the reader was directed have been written by former members of one or more of the religions they brand as cults. As one who is seeking truth, 1 would not ask a non-believer of a particular idea or doctrine to teach me about it. I cannot speak for others, but if anyone would like to ask me a question about my choice of a church. I'd be delighted to explain the reasdns that my search tor complete and total truth have led me to this church. Christ taught that we not judge others but invite all to come unto him. To the honest seekers of truth among us, 1 say: continue the search and don’t settle oh the words of men. Ask God for help to discover for yourlelf what complete truth is. and where to find it in this world. Alan D. Simpson *87 Pride in the uniform ‘ editor: ; First of all, this orange-blooded teasipper would like tb extend his Sin cere congratulations to the Texas A&rM football team for its impressive vic tory over my Texas Longhorns on Thanksgiving. The Southwest Confer ence will indeed be represented by its best team on Jan. 1, as it should be. The Aggie win will make this great rivalry even more intense in the fu- 1 ture, yet I hope it will always remain a friendly one. I call several A&M stu dents, including members of the Corps of Cadets, my friends, and 1 can, based on my own experience, assure them that they will enjoy the Cotton Bowl celebration. 1 say all this and mean it, because 1 do not wish that what I have to say now be read as mere sour grapes. After the game as 1 was preparing to head back to Austin, I witnessed an incident that gave me a great feeling of outrage and then dismay. 1 had earlier performed in my fifth consecutive UT-A&M halftime show as a member of the Longhorn Band, a show in which we paid tribute to the Ag gie Corps of Cadets as well as members of the U.S. Armed Services. As my fellow bandsmen and 1 were loading our buses, a small group of uniformed cadets stole or attempted to steal several of our white, western hats. Since I have seen this happen before, I am aware that this conduct is considered some kind of tradition within the Corps, however, like other re cently unbecoming traditions, this one is ready for retirement. The fact that upperclassmen give freshman cadets incentive to engage in public theft of state property, surely threatens the respect that many Texans hold for that organization. We in the Longhorn Band are aware of the responsibilities we assume when we wear our uniform, and of the image we must reflect. I know that the Corps also realizes the importance of their image, and 1 hope that they will strive to avoid such damaging inci dents in the future. Good luck. Ags! Beat the hell out of Auburn! Scott Hendrix UT Austin Class of ’86 Litter not a sin EDITOR: 1 w as just waiting for the first activist to come along and complain about the “Colton Bowl Party Weekend So Debbie Maggs was upset about the Ut ter . . . too bad. Actually, 1 didn’t see anything see anything extrao Unary; * I had my eyes open that morning — and my schedule does take me all over ’ campus. I’m not saying that litter is an okay thing, but it is not an evil wicked sin either. It’s just something that comes along with bag crowds and good times. — a fact of life. It’s obvious her complaint is irrelevant. (By the way, is she a freshman? Her sentence structures — and reasoning — sound quite spon taneous and immature) Just how does she suggest the University Police should apprehend 70,000 roaring fans . . . these liiterbugs? Keep in mind there were thou sands of fans of the other team on our campus that day. Maybe every bit of that trash she saw was distributed by them. Yes! We should put our trash in a can. But did she see how many were full and overflowing? AU of this is just simple evidence of a big crowd of excited fans. WeU, 1 sure didn’t see piles and piles of trash aU about on Monday morning. Even if she did, she already knew what the campus looks like — we all do. I’m sure Grounds Maintenance was just around the comer from her working their hardest to correct the situation. Ms. “Clean” was complaining about nothing. Her letter was weak and no one could hear she words. It was a meager attempt at activism. Then I think, she may be more than just a local activist —perhaps she’s an anar chist. Is she uying to incite a new student movement? Perhaps it is one to overthrow the merrymaking and all-round “hoopla" of our festive week ends! • ' Brad Salinsld ■e- .'v4wr