Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, September 26, 1986
n
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper oper
ated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial
board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions
of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also seri es as a laboratory newspaper for students
in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Depart
ment of Journalism.
'The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during
Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination
periods.
Mail subscriptions are $17.-14 per semester, $34.62 per school
year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on re
quest.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Building,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
POS TMAS TER: Send address changes to 'The Battalion, 216
Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX
77843.
Wasted on drugs
It seems that bills are easier to get through Congress these days if
they’re linked to the “War on Drugs.” The latest consequence of this
symbiotic nightmare is student financial aid — which can’t afford to
have Congress and the president picking its pocket in the name of an
overblown national crisis.
Just when it looked like the House and Senate wouldn’t agree on
an extension of the Higher Education Act before Congress ad
journed Oct. 3, a resolution was reached that would have made sub
stantially more Financial aid available to students, provided that
schools certify that they have policies to prevent drug abuse by stu
dents.
To add injury to insult, Secretary of Education William J. Ben
nett last week unveiled a Reagan administration proposal to divert
$100 million from student aid in Fiscal 1987 to fund the anti-drug ef
fort.
In a press conference last week Bennett chastised colleges and
universities for not heeding his call to send letters to students telling
them that no drugs would be tolerated on campuses. Only about a
dozen colleges out of 3,200 complied.
Bennett claims that college and university presidents are “duck
ing” the drug problem. But it’s the education secretary who’s the
quack. Students should not be punished because their schools failed
to acknowlege Bennett’s simplistic solution to the campus drug crisis.
The funds that Congress and the Reagan administration are toy
ing with in the name of the drug war will deprive many students of
their education. The proposal would take $50 million from the Col
lege Work Study program and the same amount from the Supple
mental Educational Opportunity Grant programs. The American
Council on Education estimates that 125,000 students will be
dropped from the programs.
The conditional arrangement of future financial aid is especially
devastating because more students are applying for Financial aid now
than ever before, according to a recent College Board study. Schools
and the federal government have granted more financial aid, but it
buys less education, the study found.
What the administration is saying with the proposal is that
whether an individual goes to college is unimportant, what matters is
that they stay drug-free.
College students shouldn’t be forced to pay for the anti-drug ef
fort with their education. Even if it’s in the name of the latest na
tional craze, 125,000 minds are terrible things to waste.
Slaying the dinosaur
The Senate’s vote to allow state legislatures to raise the speed lim
its on rural parts of interstate highways reflects a long-overdue
change of attitude toward this archaic and obsolete regulation.
Born in the energy-overconscious Congress of 1974, the law was
created to conserve gasoline during the time of the national fuel
shortage. Although the law’s purpose has been fulfilled, pro-55ers
continue to cling to its false benefits.
The law’s effectiveness was always questionable. The gasoline
saved by driving 55 — about 1 percent — is comparable to a slight
increase in tire pressure, hardly the massive savings claimed by the
law’s supporters.
What little savings the law did yield were reduced even further
by motorists who refused to comply. The “double nickel” speed limit
has been one of the most widely violated laws since Prohibition.
Besides being largely ignored by motorists and saving only a min
iscule amount of gas, the law falls short of other lofty justifications
bestowed upon it by well-meaning lawmakers and special interest
groups.
Highway safety, an alleged side effect of the mandatory speed
limit, is as uncertain as the fuel savings. Interstate highways were de
signed with a 70 mph speed limit in mind. Recent studies have found
that cars traveling together at sharply different speeds causes more
highway deaths than all cars traveling at speeds in excess of 55 mph.
Claims that the law reduces traffic deaths are inconclusive. Sen.
William Proxmire, D-Wis., says that increasing the speed limit is the
equivalent of “signing the death warrants of 500 men, women and
children.”
But traffic deaths were declining before the mandatory 55 mph
limit was imposed. The battle against drunken drivers and manda
tory seat belt laws has done more to reduce traffic deaths than a
lower speed limit.
Differences between the House and Senate still must be resolved
before the increased speed limit can go into effect. The House could
be a major hurdle for the bill, considering it voted 198-218 against a
similar measure Aug. 8.
The Senate should be commended for its initiative. The 55 mph
speed limit is a dinosaur from the ’70s that desperately needs to be
slain. The House should join forces with the Senate in taking up the
sword.
Opinion
ad vocal
j rights
ental c
testing
ight, bo
angerou
nk Wilk.
meritus
:e Agair
i, spoke
faculty rr
leering
.nt beatii
mistered
ie lectur*
Texas ^
in and th«
Klein’s candidate views
Texas history selectively
fmon.
“In 50 yea
ies, I ha
[ to this ir
iression, ” Wil
He attribui
rejection of
“coordinate
:hes of gc
he Supre
llision co
Its since 1'
lilkinson s
igislation
:ly an ex
by activisi
A funny thing ,
happened to me
when I got to work
last Friday.
On top of my
desk, I found a
campaign bro-
chure, which said,
“Elect Charles Lee
Governor in ’86.”
that Texans boast of probably is derived
from the quiet self-assurance of these
people.
Lee, however, says “these minorities
have nothing in common with our
(white Texans’) culture. In fact, they
wish to destroy our culture and replace
it with their own.”
ALSTIN (.-
h ^.ewis, ho
a tax iiu rea
ini a hostile
Along with the
brochure was a let-
the editor
Cathie
Anderson
ter to
from Lee himself, the grand dragon of
the White Camelia order of the Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan and a write-in can
didate for governor.
OK, so that’s not so funny.
But if you’ll take a look at my photo,
you’ll notice that I don’t have to wait ’til
summer to get a glowing tan. No, the
real beauty of my bronze is that it stays
with me all year long.
My sick sense of humor was shared by
my staff. Above the picture of the grand
gubernatorial candidate, someone had
scrawled, “For Cathie, I know I can
The grand dragon has missed not
only the Mayflower but also the Nina,
the Pinta, the Santa Maria and more.
The United States is a nation of varied
races who came together by choice, acci
dent, collusion or force, yet this country
has survived, not because of the superi
ority of one race but because of the
work of all races. Somehow the groups
have managed to intermix, thus invent
ing such innovative art forms as jazz,
while simultaneously retaining their dis
tinctness.
Jplfeave it to e
Time is run
About six li
issignment, tl~
lommittee vo
!|58.:> million
vould raise tl
lurrlnt 4'/* pe
The plan al
the curre
ine tax.
■the Hous.
But to Lee, such distinct differences
are blemishes or impurities in Texas’
culture.
count on your support.
After a chuckle, I raked this literature
into one of my desk drawers, closed it
and rushed off to the weekly critique
session for the paper. On a less hectic
day earlier this week, I rediscovered and
read the brochure.
Lee says, “Our history is being re
placed by non-white history, which will
bring down and eventually destroy out
white Christian civilization.”
“I feel that the leadership of both
parties have compromised to minority
interest to the point that they can no
longer represent white Texans fully,”
Lee said in his flier. “I myself was born
and raised in Texas and have always
had a deep appreciation for our state’s
history and reputation, in fact, that is
what has prompted me to seek the gov
ernor’s office.”
It seems strange that anyone who ap
preciates the reputation and history of
Texas could forget the importance of
Mexican rebels who stood beside their
Anglo counterparts in the Fight for the
state’s independence. And the pride
Hmmm, I wonder if anyone told
Christ his birth record was mixed up.
“I am also concerned about our chil
dren’s safety because they are suffering
at the hands of minorities in our public
schools,” Lee says. “They are being
abused and in many cases non-whites
are trying to force themselves on young
white girls through threats of violence.
Educational standards have also been
lowered in our public schools so that mi
norities can pass equally with whites.”
Well, after reading all this, I stopped
laughing. People possessed by such
paranoia should not be a cause of laugh
ter because they are breeders of witch
hunts, holocausts and even wars.
“In reply all I can say is,‘Doni(
media lead you to believe thatiM
the only ones that can predicuki
come of this election.’
Indeed, Americans should ke
tinned of this, not just in this but
elections.
Lee says some people have asked him,
“Can we win this election despite the
anti-white and anti-Klan feelings of the
media and the fact that they will do little
to publicize your candidacy?
At the end, Lee says, Thewltf
built this state, fought and diedi
we must remain masters of ouro»t
tinies here in the State of Texas.
member the Klan’s motto, “God’
and Country.”
Yet, Mr. Lee, other rates also
built, fought and died forthisand
states. Don’t tread onus.
Cathie Anderson is a seniorjou^
major and editor for The Battalio 5
Mail Call
Spa
Inte
TA
Dim outlook
EDITOR:
If I am an average student at Texas A&M, then I have
three unpaid parking tickets. This business of collecting
tickets has become a f avorite pastime of Aggies. We have
all heard and read about our friends who left their car to
run to their room on the first floor of the dorm and came
out to find the University Police placing a new addition to
the collection on the windshield.
word of advice: Don’t drive, don’t park and don’t bring’
your car, bike or motorcycle to A&M. And when all this 6 ,
gone, maybe they will give tickets if your shoes need to ^
resoled or your socks have holes in them.
Patricia Lee Evans ’89
In memory
EDITOR:
Well, have I got a story for you. Last night, on my way
to the freshman parking lot, I drove down dark Agronomy
Road. Because of the darkness, I used my high beams.
When I reached the intersection at University Drive, I had
to wait for the imaginary traffic to pass by before the light
turned green. As you can guess, with no other cars around
I didn’t dim the headlights as I proceeded on toward the
parking lot. I reached the stop sign at Kleberg Animal and
Food Science Center and noticed multicolored flashing
lights coming from behind me — it was the dreaded
Campus Police. Yes, you guessed it, at 12:40 a.m. I received
a ticket for not dimming my headlights in the fish lot.
To those friends of Melvin Andy Anderson whod 01
know yet, Andy was killed in a car accident Wednesday
We will all miss his smiling face at the Memorial
Student Center post office. I remember many times'^ 1
he cheered me up with a positive word or two. He neve 1
had a negative thought or word, lie was the kind of
dependable friend we all cherish.
1 would like to say, for all of his friends, thatwetf^
happy to have had a friend like him for the time we (W
His bright, smiling face will not die in our memory.
Carol Czyz ’88
Well, now I must pay a fine and appear before the
justice of the peace. I guess that will take two or three
hours of prime study time.
Now that you’ve heard my story, try to top it. But a
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The
staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but
every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be% '
and must include the classification, address and telephone number 0 ''
writer.
The
Pers
Con
Post C
Higln
Collej