Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday. July 22, 1986
Without ‘serious’ solutions,
drug problems will continue
Mail Call
'Murder' leaves bank stumped
EDITOR:
Maybe ii’» me, maybe I have become a bit petulant lately, but when 1 saw
that the tree in front of University National Bank had been cut down I had a
feeling of loss and anger. One tree probably doesn’t mean much to a town
that burns down a forest in an annual salute to pyromania, but it meant a lot
to me.
/
Bt
William F
B^cmey Jr
In French and
Spanish the word
“serious’* has a
meaning that
doesn't corre
spond with any of
the synonyms
given for that
word in English.
It means respon
sible, reliable,
trustworthy, re
flective. T h e
other day, James J. Kilpatrick, who is a
serious man. made an unserious sugges
tion about how we should deal with
dope traffickers. It repays hard atten
tion to the meaning of the word to un
derstand its ramifications in the current
situation.
What we ought to do, Kilpatrick said,
is catch a bunch of dope traders, try
them, convict them and then hang them
in public squares.
Now if you heard that kind of talk
from the mouth of, oh, the early or even
the middle Oeorge Wallace, you would
smile and say, there he goes again, the
same man who suggested the best way to
deal with protesters standing in the way
of a bulldozer is to bulldoze tnem.
But Kilpatrick reallv means it. It is an
expression of great offense and also a
concrete recommendation. He has
heard described, and he has witnessed,
the tortures experienced by those taken
in the biological and psycological death
agonies of drug consumption. It is ag
ony whether you go on to die or
whether you go on to live. Kilpatrick's
point is that if there ever was justifica
tion for executing a murderer, there is
justification for executing those wanton
murderers who distribute narcotics that
cause worse pain by many leagues than
any pain experienced by the mugger's
pistol shot.
Now 10 days ago we saw almost exac
tly that happen in Malaysia. The execu
tions were not, to my knowledge, public,
but they may as well have been, given
the attention they received in the world
press. Two Australians, caught with
merchandiseable quantities of heroin,
were tried, convicted and, after due
process using up almost three years,
nanged.
There was the usual outcry from the
anti-capital punishment set and even a
few others, out the government of Ma
laysia stood its ground, pointed out that
there were signs all over that place
warning potential drug merchants of
the fate that would befall them. It is of
passing interest that the local equivalent
of the American Civil liberties Union,
which opposes capital punishment, an-
nouncea that drug merchandising was a
crime so heinous that opposition to capi
tal punishment officially was suspended
when applied to that crime.
But Kilpatrick's suggestion is not se
rious. It is not responsible. It is not rep
utable. It is not viable. Why? Because it
is absolutelv predictable that it will not
happen
This has nothing whatever to do with
the entirely different question: Should it
happen? If tomorrow I needed to vote
ves or no on a national plebiscite, “Shall
we adopt the Kilpatrick Proposition?" I
would unflinchingly vote yes. And after,
oh, a couple of hundred hangings, there
would be a sharp decrease in the mer
chandising of drugs. It wouldn’t cease,
any more than crime in great Britain
ceased when they used to hang you for
stealing sixpence. But in modern Amer
ica, death sentences are taken much
more seriously than they were 200 years
ago. when executions were common-
place and public Hoggings a regular fea
ture of city life.
There are still a lot of people out
there who maintain that there are no
figures to sustain the proposition that
capital punishment reduces the inci
dence of murder. Well, let that one go.
But it would be hard to find anyone who
would dispute the conclusion that a lot
of public hangings would dry up the as
sembly line of drugs passing under the
eyes of the American public on a vibrant
street comer.
But this is not going to happen. We
are too frozen, institutionally, in our
views about executions, let alone public
executions. So then, why make the sug-
f [estion? If it were done in the spirit of
antasy (“One dav they passed a law . . .
the next day, the consumption of drugs
dropped b\ 90 percent"), that would be
one tning. But Kilpatrick was being —in
the American usage — serious. But not
serious in the continental sense. ^
Coke consumption is up 600 percent
in many American cities. In Pakistan,
the morning paper advises us, the
growth of poppies is up 400 percent
over last year. A lot of that stuff is des
tined for American blood vessels. And
we can’t stop it, and aren't stopping it.
We are subsidizing a criminal class,
overflowing our prisons, corrupting the
police and the courts, depleting our re
serves of detectives and judges, and ac
complishing nothing. Either bring on
the scaffold (which we aren’t going to
do), or legalize (which we probably
aren’t going to do). We can, then, look
for more of the same. Much more of the
same
Copyright 1986. UnivormmJ Prem» Syndicmi*
» PftONTRUNNER LEE IAC0CCA H0LPS k COMMANDING LEAP,.
Wrm 73 PERCENT OP THE DENIALS ISSUED SO PAR »
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not some kind of tree fanatic who thinks every
tree should be saved no matter what the reason. However, I do respect
nature. I can see why someone would cut down a tree if it was dying and
became a hazard. Somehow in my mind it would have been easier to accept
the loss if University National Bank cut down the tree because it was dying —
just like it is easier to accept a death if the person died of natural causes. But
when someone is murdered, death is hard to accept.
I called University National Bank to find out why they had cut down the
tree. The first woman I talked with said, “We no longer felt the tree
enhanced the bank's appearance.** The second woman I talked with was more
honest: “The tree blocked the bank’s sign and people would complain that it
dripped on their cars. We thought the tree was hurting our business."
We’re not talking about some sapling here — the diameter of the tree
trunk was over two and a half feet. In fact the tree was probably older than
the bank.
The tree served a purpose — it enhanced an area that is mainly asphalt
and concrete. It gave refuge to wildlife. It added shape, color and form to a
cold sterile environment. All that is left is a stump — a stump that symbolizes
a quintessential act of vandalism
Michael Bolton
Additional comic relief
EDITOR:
I propose that The Battalion print the comic strips Doonesbury and
Bloom County. It shouldn’t cost too much and it would be money well spent.
While it is true that one can read Doonesbury and Bloom County in The
Eagle, having them in The Battalion would make them more accessible. Also.
1 believe that Doonesbury would make a good addition to the opinion page.
Like the usual conservative opinion letters, these comic strips should
provide good comic relief when reading The Battalion.
Stephen Flowers-Chavez
Physics —
EDITOR'S NOTE: While we agree that Doonesbury and Bloom County
would be nice additions to The Battalion, The Eagle is permitted by the car
toon syndicates to have exclusive rights to the features.
Shedding some light
EDITOR:
Since early June I’ve been observing many room lights on in closed
dorms. I called the Housing Office a month ago and they said they would
take care of it. Last night (July 16) on my jogging route I counted:
a) 148 lights on out of 184 rooms in Moore Hall.
b) Some lights on in Puryear Hall plus a large window air conditioner on
in a double room in the north end that contained trash — no bed, desk or
chairs —just trash!
c) A large office near Moore with its light on and a sign on the door ,
stating, “This office is closed until August 19."
d) Lights on in locked restrooms at Kyle Field (maybe since the end of
football season).
If the person in charge of the keys will call me at 693-4444. I’ll be happy
to turn off the lights and air conditioner for them. That way I’ll feel I will be
accomplishing two beneficial things at the same time.
I know that you can’t teach students to turn out lights, but it shouldn’t be
expecting too much to ask adult employees to help eliminate waste.
Apparently none of these people remember the early 1970s when we had
to have a special supplemental appropriation from the Texas Legislature to
pay the University's utilities bill and purchase expensive diesel fuel during
natural gas curtailments to run our electrical generators.
Let us hope that the upcoming special session of the Legislature doesn’t
hold any hearings on our campus at night. If they do, it might shed a little too
much light on some of our problems.
Bart Braden
Letter* to the editor should not exceed 900 word* in length. The editorial staff reserves the right
to edit letters for style and length, but wiN 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
Growth of store-shelf smut result of idle ignorance
Smut has been
unleashed on the
unsuspecting
masses of Amer
ica. Luckily. 1
have seen the
light, and I can
help vou see it,
too.
In the begin
ning, there were
girlie magazines
— pictures of women without clothes,
proliferated to the innocent and impres
sionable public from behind the coun
ters of 7-Eleven stores. But then came
our savior. Attorney General Edwin
Meese, to purge society of this exposure
to unnatural nakedness.
But it was not enough. Smut, like Sa
tan himself, comes in many forms. Rock
’n’ roll, long known to be the favorite
source of entertainment for Lucifer,
went into the publishing business.
That's right, not only was the ever-un-
knowtng public being seduced by rock
albums — from which, in the nick of
proverbial time, we were saved by Tip
per Gore — but now we even had rock
magazines.
Worse yet, they were shamelessly dis
played in family settings such as Wal-
Mart. But Jimmy Swaggart delivered us
from this fateful pursuit.
Jimmy knows about music. He’s kin
to Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley, so
how much more does he need to know ?
Jimmy lashed out at Wal-Mart, compar
ing the musical smut to real live porn.
Before you could pass the platter, Wal-
Mart began vanking rock albums and
magazines — 32 publications in all. in
cluding that bastion of evil. Rolling
Stone.
Another attempt at smut-on-parade
is being thwarted by the Rev. Don Jack-
son in San Angelo. Brother Don is lob
bying the city council to ban Harlequin
romance novels. True Detective mag
azine and TV soap operas. The rever
end is calling for the removal of all
material he considers pornographic, but
the city council, a legislative arm of the
devil, is slow to see the light.
✓ And vou probably think that finally
society is safe. Ed, Tip, Jimmv and Don
have, after all, worked to make store
shelves safe again.
But 1 tell you, brothers and sisters, it
is not enough! It is no longer enough to
ignore the dissemination of evil that has
infiltrated our society's marketing are
nas. If you see a piece of merchandise
that offends, don t go to another store,
or even another aisle. To do so is to in
vite damnation! Stores must be made
safe, and it is up to you. brothers and
sisters.
Inventories must be acceptable to all
or none. No longer shall we tolerate free
trade and unchecked displays of items
such as wrestling magazines, products
of feminine hy giene (known to promote
desires for illegitimate children) and
beef jerky, whose mere name, let alone
appearance, can lead to frightening spi
nal disorders in children.
But it is up to you. Demand the item
be removed from the public’s grasp.
Picket without mercy, until these retail
ers of the devil clear their havens of
smut. The public demands freedom of
choice, but look what they choose. Mag
azine circulations speak for themselves:
Penthouse —- 5 million copies a month;
Cosmopolitan (the female equivalent) —
3 million; Rolling Stone (Satan’s enter
tainment monthly)—861,000.
We have successfully fought two out
of the three. But, like a hydra of hell,
when we cut off one head two more
crop up to take its place. I'm speaking,
of course, of Reader’s Digest.
It’s the largest circulating magazine in
this great country (with a readership of
about 17 million), yet its despicable con
tent is virtually ignored. This proves the
public has no ability to decide its own
purchasing habits. Don’t let the small
size fool you, brothers and sisters, Luci
fer comes in small packages.
The word “sex" appeared 345,697
times in the last 5,784 issues, according
to my infornfal survey. This publication
is known for its condensed books, but I
say they should be called condemned
books. They do not show women how to
clean toilets or men how to mow the
yard. Sometimes there is no mention of
God. The jokes, though usually pure,
are not funny — at least to true believ
ers.
A typical article, “How I Cut Off My
Hand With a Chainsaw and Still Built a
Log Cabin in the Bronx Without Any
Fingers,” gives readers the message that
life is wonderful and positive, and that
through determination man cap ac
complish anything. Stronger satanic
propaganda has never been written.
Vile publications such as this want us to
believe their message to distract us from
our true purpose. But life cannot be
wonderful until we rid our country of
this despicable blight.
Don’t think this devil’s digest is alone.
Look, for example, through the smut-
filled pages of National Geographic,
which prides itself on being an educatio
nal publication. Education of what? The
lifestyles of people who disobey the
Lord by not wearing clothes? Our so
ciety doesn’t need to be subjected to pa
gan cultures. This is not education, it’s
indoctrination! The depiction of diverse
and deviant cultures and peoples is ob
viously designed to lure the unsuspect
ing reader away from our own great so
ciety.
And we must not forget newspapers,
brothers and sisters. They cause the im
pressionable public we are sworn to pro
tect to confront Satan's work daily.
They cover events of evil and throw
them in our faces. Worst among them is
the Christian Science Monitor, whose
name lures us near, but whose content
warps our very spines.
Pick up your signs and start picket
ing, brothers and sisters. We have much
work to do.
Loren Steffy is a senior journalism ma-
and the Opinion Page editor for
Battalion.
Southwest Joumaham Conference
Michelle Powe. Editor
Editor
Scott Sutl
Ken Sury. Sports