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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1986)
Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, October 15, 1986 r Opinion The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association SoutInvest 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 serves 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&rM regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 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. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843. Talking on thin ice A secluded house in a secluded country apparently wasn’t enough to sow the seeds of peace into the superpower non-summit last weekend. Although no concrete compromises were reached, sig nificant concessions were made that could bode well for future meet ings — if the two nations can speak the same language when it comes to space weapons. While President Reagan is being accused of shucking hopes of world peace to keep his Strategic Defense Initiative alive, Reagan needs to be credited with the most promising concessions. The president agreed to keep his fledgling defense program from leaving the nest for another 10 years. The Soviets, opposed to any continuation of Star Wars development, naturally didn’t want to accept the Reagan proposal. That the president would even make suc h a suggestion is a sign of his seriousness about reaching an agreement with the Soviets. At the same time, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s proposal that the United States confine Star Wars to the laboratory for the next 10 years is unreasonable given Reagan’s enthusiasm for his pet weapons system. The reason the president can make his offer without a wince, yet find the Soviet proposal so deplorable, is nothing more than simple logistics. It will be at least 10 years before Star Wars technology has developed to the point of deployment. Only then will the actual fea sibility of the project come to light. At the moment, even SDI scien tists can of fer only speculation about the project’s capabilities. But to accept the Soviet offer would cripple Star Wars into near- extinction. Field tests already have been done on some elements of the Star Wars technological labyrinth. While SDI will almost certainly not live up to Reagan’s expecta tions, it will continue to be a stumbling block for arms negotiations until the Soviets understand the significance the Reagan administra tion places on it. Perhaps the president’s stubbornness in Iceland will help them get the message. SDI may turn out to be a total flop, but that won’t solve arms ne gotiation deadlocks now. Both countries, for economic reasons if not for world peace, need to reduce weapons spending. Reagan’s will ingness for another summit is encouraging. Keeping negotiations going is the f irst step to reaching an agreement. But the superpowers are not communicating on the same channel. As long as the president stands firmly behind Star Wars, the So viets are going to have to come up with more realistic compromises. Until they do, they’re certain to find the U.S. reception colder than the Icelandic winter. Students’ attitudes threaten yell practice -*4 Mark Ude T he violent clash bet we e n members of the Aggie Band and students who tried to run onto Kyle Field at yell prac- tice Oct. 3 has aroused the entire campus to the con troversy. After reading the Opin- i o n Page on Thursday, I was determined to respond to some of the insulting insinuations. But such a crusade was easier said than done,. With all that’s happened over the past three years, the Corps has developed a phobia of the press that prevents the effective use of investiga tive reporting to decipher fact from fic tion. After the unfortunate death of Bruce Dean Goodrich and the introduction of women into the band, cadets are wary of saying anything to the press for fear that they will be misquoted. This has been reinforced by the unfortunate con tributions of some band members, who spoke before thinking and produced in accurate statements and ammunition for “the opposition.” To prevent further damage, the up per crust of Corps leadership decided to enforce a policy of not talking to anyone from The Battalion. This is nothing new. I w'as told the same thing when I was. in the Corps. What I didn’t suspect was that now I was included with the “Yellow Journalists.” I also understood the subtlety advo cated by the Corps leadership. It would rather have this incident blow over and not contest allegations. This effectively stops any attempt to exonerate the band on charges of undue maliciousness. But the question still remains of what will be done at future midnight yell practices. It is my understanding that the Corps, as a result of tyranny of the minority, will not contest the field v HGH HOPES, WE Hl-UGH HOPES, HIGH IN THE SKY, APPLE- PIE HOPES, SO EVERY TIME YOU'RE FEELING PROW) JUST RE-MEMEER fUAT plant. OOPS! THERE GOES ANOTHER NU-CLEAR, WOOPS!! THERE GOES ANOTHER NUCLEAR... MARCHES <g>iw mo^cw n?sr ,cP c/ m $ OOPS!!! „ THERE GOES ANOTHER NUCLEAR PLANT! CP T. ’—T 1 Government disinformation! on Nicaragua flows freely G o o d a f - ter noon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the daily State De partment briefing. If I look familiar to you, it might be because you’ve seen me in the Isuzu commer cials. I play the outrageously lying 1 car salesman. I now Richard Cohen against drunkards or Gandhi imperson ators trying, through “passive resistan ce,” to show the brutality of the so-called “fascist fraternity in uniform.” The Corps (actually the junior class) will not play their game. Instead it will ignore them, hoping they will be too ashamed to attempt such a feat in front of all those in attendance again. Now I don’t know about anyone else, but when a bully extorted lunch money from some unfortunate soul, the advice to “just ignore them” didn’t quite work. If the Corps cannot guard Kyle Field against such people, how is it to guard the band? With armchair lawyers run ning around checking actions and tradi tions against the University Archives, I am waiting to hear the argument that there is nothing to stop anyone from oc cupying the same space as the band at any given moment. So why bother with the juniors at midnight yell if they are not allowed to guard Kyle Field and the band from invading infidels? To carry the argument to the fullest extent, why do we have Officers of the Day at football games? Why not let ev erybody run onto the field if the Corps is just going to roll over and die on this tradition? The conflict at yell practice arose af ter a number of people refused to peacefully surrender the field and started swinging. The hypocrisy is evi dent. These innocent students whine of being hit with fiberglass helmet liners while ignoring the broken fingers and dislocated shoulders sustained by ca dets. If students no longer see members of the Corps (specifically the band) as ex tensions of official O.D.s, and no longer accept their authority in upholding that tradition, then we should expect mid night yell practice to join other dead tra ditions, such as saying “Howdy!,” on the roll at Silver Taps. Mark Ude is a senior geography major and a columnist for The Battalion. have a new job. I have replaced Bernard Kalb. The first order of business is the downing of a cargo plane that the lying Sandinistas say was ferrying arms to the Nicaraguan Contras. Two Americans were killed and a third, Eugene Hasen- fus, bailed out, yelling CIA involvement instead of the traditional “Geronimo!” His statements notwithstanding, our government maintains it was not in volved. After all, it is illegal for either in dividual Americans or — for the mo ment — the CIA to engage in such activities. This government, of course, knows nothing about the plane. Although it was loaded with rifles at Honduran air bases that the CIA uses, Americans were at that time looking down at the ground to avoid the glaring tropical sun. As for radar and all such technology, it was di rected towards Boston where the first of the playoff games was in progress. As you know, “Beisboll” is very popular south of the border. Just to make this government’s task ever harder, it appears that the plane belonged to no one. I know that that’s hard to believe, but you have our word on it. It was not on a CIA mission. N< ,r was it being flown for the largest of tl' 1 * civilian anti-communist groups that — scout’s honor — provides the Conu' siS with only medical supplies and clothing- Retired Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub, i*!' though dismissed in disgrace by presi dent Carter for being a zealot, would be the last person we should suspect, nor. for that matter, should we suspect this administration of either cooperating with him or looking the other way. What then, you ask, are we to make of this incident? Some, of course, will point a finger at this administration, but then these people have become wearily pre dictable and, anyway, are soft on every thing — communists, drugs, criminals, pornography and the source of all that. Jane Fonda. They might say that such an incident was inevitable, that this ad ministration, convinced of the imminent danger posed by 4 million undernou rished Nicaraguans to Texas and Ari zona, not to mention Virgin Cord a, would stop at nothing — certainly not a silly law — to press the anti-communist fight. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have heard reports of previous incidents in which the CIA allegedly got out of hand, mining a Nicaraguan port and blowing a dent into a Soviet ship. These cynics, of which, thank God, there are only a few in Congress, say they even detect what they call a pat tern. They insinuate that, as with Libya, the administration defines a certain goal as so important that (in the interest of national security, of course) it will either bend the law or whisper sweet disinfor mation into the ears of the press. This is Mail Call best another version oftheirioai Leninist doctrine that theendji 'be means and we, of course,rewi * lotiest Indian. ad m i n ist rat inn recognitei is’ wife says he worked ft ■ have no desire to comiw familv discussions anddt u> do. We rect ignize ihaiHs® 1 ter i rewmen were/! I 1 ' 1 I his I lasenf CIA. \\ private] tlu>se who do. fits and the ol to the CIA in the past, butweassim that either these allegations are nit or that they are meaningless.Thu tion is not yet fully developed an will alert you when it is. In the meantime, andfar mon portanilv, we condemn inthestro possible terms the refusal of the Nij gnans to allow l .S. Kmbassvperso to immediately see liasenfus, threaten to break off diplomat^ tions with a nation with wf really at war. A praise him for even though w< We liken him, i Americans who Lincoln Brigade leftists and, in s They should b they were, not I s lor Len. Simjkj whatever he isd • don’t know whaul is the presidentsai fought in the Aim even though theii otne cases, conmii condemned fon| or what thevdidl we think, is the American Way bull again, we* are working bn that pi® I bis government takes serioitil obligation to tell the American pa the truth and keep it informed.!! otherwise would mean that the ment is lying in support of an insii|j table policy. This was the Vietnam, and it will never be rep One final piece of business: Isa interested in a reallv terrific car: Copyright 1986, Wa.« ihington Post ll'nlfr.j . Reliving childhood EDITOR: A thousand thanks to Loren Steffy’s column on Oct. 7. I tried to rattle the memory of a fellow student last week about “I’m only a bill,” but was only given a look that suggested I’d lost my marbles. Funny how certain things run through various minds in the same time frame! I can’t tell you how many times I catch myself singing “a noun is a person, place or thing” or “conjunction junction.” I can even close my eyes and see the cartoons that accompanied these educational ditties. How sad it is that we are raising around us a generation who will never know these or many other cherished cartoons of our own childhood — which isn’t really that far behind us! Again, thank you and Steffy for vindicating me with my classmate and for letting me return to my cherished, non-rushed Saturday mornings —along with many I’ve never met. Carol Ann Duke Hit the road, Pallmeyer EDITOR: The Gorps of Cadets is the safeguard of tradition and the source of uniqueness here at Texas A&M, or so I have always felt. So when civilians ran onto the field Oct. 3, 1 was glad to see that the cadets tried to take them off the field. 1 thought that I might be biased, so I (a civilian) asked my friends (also civilians) how they felt. They agreed that the cadets acted properly. So why are the cadets to blame? According to Karl Pallmeyer (Thursday’s Battalion), the cadets used excessive violence. But he does not mention the fact that several cadets also were injured. Maybe that was because the civilians were provoked into using violence as well. But which was the first provocatiS Maybe the cadets are to blame because KvleFielW off icially a memorial. But since when has traditionIwn I dictated by the University Archives? ' fradi tion stems fffl what the student body decides to do or not to do,ar of these is to remain of f the field. Anyone who challeif j that tradition will have the whole student bodytodeal with, not just the Gorps. 1 (and those I have spokenl0)d the whole event as an indictment of traditions at A&M. I am and always will be proud of the Corpse: and I am happy that A&M still possesses some peopled the determination to preserve tradition. If Pallmeyer is unhappy with the Corps, then the phrase says not only that he is free to leave, but that he must leave. John David Bondy ’90 Play by the numbers EDITOR: In response to the art icle concerning midnightyl practice ( Thursday), let me clarify some vital points: 1. If one steps in front of a moving bus, one will| hurt. 2. If onejumps off the top of the WorldTradeO one will get hurt. 3. If one runs out onto Kyle Field at midnigl practice, one will get hurt. Why is Number 3 so much harder to understandtl' 11 numbers 1 and 2? Joel Kelly Flavin ’88 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length.Tlie» (1 staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length,bul every elfort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter musitr- and must include the classification, address and telephonenumbe 1 writer.