Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, October 17, 1986
Opinion
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&rM and Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial
hoard or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions
of Texas A&rM 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&:M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination
periods.
Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school
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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.
POSTMASTTR: bend address cnanges to The Battalion, 216
Reed McDonald, Texas A&rM University, College Station TX
77843.
You still can go home
again — well, sort of
-S'
Cathie
Anderson
The slow,
steady kiss of the
s u n cl r y i n g the
laundry on the
clothesline. Long
walks to the gro
cery store to get
food so Momma
could make her
ma g i c on the
kitchen stove.
Sleepy days filled
with nothing more
than lounging in the shade of the two
oaks and one mulberry tree that Daddy
had cleverly thought to plant close to
gether.
Long, slow, sleepy days in the country
— my memory is filled with these. How
is it that days and scenes gone by always
seem so glorious?After half a semester
at school, all I can think about is back
roads and river bayous.
Henry David Thoreau, in 1845, built
a cabin in the peace and tranquility of
Walden Pond where he remained for
two years, “living deep and sucking out
all the marrow of life.”
And though I’m no Thoreau, I can
imagine why he would seek such a sim
ple life. I ache for the country.
Funny how I once hated it, and it
couldn’t be too soon before I shook the
dust of Sealy, Texas, off my boots. But
now I’d gladly give up my Associated
Press-Styl<ib<Jua-k.-ibr the detestable.job of
feeding the-Htirkens dif Collecting the
hefts’ eggs.
I’d even be brave enough to face the
gouty, old rooster who cornered me, at
age 9, in the chicken coop and flapped
his superiority. I must admit that my
parents came close to losing all the eggs
(as well as me) that day.
But as any adventurous child would, I
struggled on, which is to say that I
avenged myself upon that hapless bird
2,000 times over after I got out of there.
Besides chickens to feed, there was a
garden to weed, plant and water, fruit
to pick, and trees to prune.
Working in the garden wasn’t so bad
though, especially when my older
brother, rather than my parents, super
vised. These were the times for strikes.
Unfortunately, our strikes were never
of the sit-down variety. I can hear us
now.
“Cathie, you aren’t weeding that row
well enough,” David would say. “You’ll
have to go back through and do it
again.”
“You’re crazy if you think I’m doing
this again,” I’d tell him. “If you want it
done over, you do it.”
“Momma and Daddy said we have to
finish this by the time they get home,
and it has to be done right. You’ll just be
here when we’re done with our parts,
doing yours over again.”
“Hmmph, fat chance,” I’d say loudly.
And after that, jokes about my weight
would fly.
Then it was Lance’s turn. “I’m tired
of doing this. I wanna go play.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” David
would insist. “And after this, you’re
going to go in the house and make up
your bed.”
Uh-oh, the seeds of rebellion were
planted. Lance would insist that David
was only supposed to be in charge of us
while we were weeding the garden, and
I would insist that I wasn’t going to
clean up that row again.
My younger brother Lewis, the soul
of obedience, always would take David’s
side, and depending upon what was
nearest, either rocks or water would
shoot through the air, along with our
cries of frustration and pain.
No matter what tasks we did together,
they always ended in pain for us. Take
# picking■ Fruit, for instance.-'We wtmlrl
climb me mulberry trees, ana then by
jumping on the limbs, we’d manage to
shake the berries onto a blanket that
we’d lain underneath. Picking up the
berries would take a while because we’d
talk and eat, and laugh and eat, and eat
and eat. And at about 11 p.m., the pain
would hit.
Ah, the pleasures of childhood in the
country.
Yes, I ache to return, even though, I
won’t be able to feed the chickens, stuff
myself with berries or quarrel and laugh
with my brothers in the open air for
these things are no longer there. But I’ll
go back because although the reality of
what I had isn’t as wonderful as my
memories, it’s still worth going home
for.
Cathie Anderson is a senior journalism
major and editor for The Battalion.
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What do we say about Syria?,
Richard Cohen
The queen says
Syria supplied the
explosive with
which a Jordanian
attempted to blow
an El A1 jumbo jet,
not to metion his
pregnant fiance,
to kingdom come.
The queen also
says that Syria
gave Nezar Hin-
dawi $12,000, a ■—
passport and trained him in the use of
explosives. The queen says all this. Her
first minister, though, says nothing.
The queen, of course, is represented
by the prosecutor in the trial of Hindawi
in London. Her first (or prime) minister
is Margaret Thatcher, the so-called Iron
Lady who gave the Argentines a proper
bashing over the •FnHdat.td* ■ and;- fights,,
trade unions with equal fury. OtlTer
than Ronald Reagan and the Israelis, no
one is a more militant foe of terrorism
— state-sponsored or.otherwise — than
she.
And yet the charges of Syria’s role in
the attempted bombing of the El A1 jet
have produced not a peep out of
Thatcher. The government that was
willing to lend its NATO airfields to the
U.S. bombing of Libya continues to
maintain diplomatic relations with Syria
and accords it the same landing rights
revoked from the Libyans because of
their terrorist activities. Maybe this in
consistency is yet another clever attempt
to drive Moammar Gadhafi over the
edge.
The allegations concerning Syria
came from Hindawi himself and con
ceivably could be fabricated. But various
Mail Call
intelligence services, doing their own
appraisals and investigations, have rea
son to believe him and, besides, they
come as no surprise to the experts
Along with Iran and Libya, Svria is one
of the countries mentioned when the
term “state-sponsored terrorism" is
used.
That being the case, what stops the
Thatcher government from treating
Syria as it does Libya? In fact, what stops
the United States from doing the same?
The El A1 flight originated in New York
and, had the bomb not been detected,
the number of Americans killed would
have far exceeded the ones lost in the
bombing of West Berlin’s La Belle disco
theque — the incident that triggered the
April 16 bombing of Libya.
For some time now, as Thatcher and
Reagan have been yelling “Libya, Li-
byiy; v - -the - Tmeiligencu' roiTmumitvhas-
been whispering “Syria,* Syria. ,r By no
means does this signify that Libya is in
nocent of terrorist activity. But even at
the time of the La Belle bombing, there
were suggestions that Syria played a role
— maybe just a supporting one, but a
role nonetheless. To this day, some
within the intelligence community con
sider the La Belle bombing a joint Lv-
bian-Syrian operation. Only one coun
try was bombed, though.
For the West, Syria represents put up
or shut up time. Syria is no Libya, an oil-
rich but-everything-else-poor sandbox
of a nation that can be bombed with im
punity. And Hafez Assad, the Syrian
leader, is no mercurial megalomaniac,
but a twinkly-eyed mass murderer in his
own country. Syria is a formidable Mid
dle East power, an ally of the Soviet
Union, which supplies it with all sorts of
u< ‘apons, including SS-21 missies
I’It* of reaching Israeli population cei
'ms. i t j s h os t to terroristtrainingcani[
* n »t, j us t to complicate matters, itli
^ ‘con occasionally helpf ul to the Una
States. If there is any chance ofgettiii
|he American hostages out of Lebano
11 'vould have to be with ihecooperats
°f Assad.
But il terrorism is going to bede
Ns 'th. then Syria has to be dealt with it
1 his does not necessarily mean a bon
"'g since, to say the least, the Russc
•Bight not approve and Assad might
s P<>nd not by sulking in the desert,
bv unleashing more terrorism. ltd
mean, though, that elemental steps
be taken — at the least expressionsoi
dignation and, say, the revocation
landing rights.
Instead Britain does nothing.!
W-esi j<-nxiUifc.iuostly..lupin and-uJ
pei verselv, ocrnsinriallv praisesoVraj
being a middle man with Arab exit
ists, including those holding Amelia]
hostages in Lebanon. As whenajuvei
delinquent is made a hall monitor
school, this is the cynical rewarding
thuggery.
The El A1 incident was an attempt
mass murder and while the target!
an airliner of a Syrian enemy,|n
that is a mere technicality. The pa.«
gets were noncombatants, innocent-
most of them not Israelis anyway.In
ligence services, not to mention the
fendant himself, implicate Syria inbl
aborted operation. They say ititaw
the accused terrorist, supplied the*
plosives, provided his funds andi®
him a bogus passport. So saystheijtw
What — for crying out loud —save
Copyright 1986, Washington Post Wrilersfoy
Reason for 'running'
EDITOR:
As participants in the Oct. 3 yell practice incident, we would
like to clarify a few issues.
Alex Mabry calls into doubt both the motivation and
shrewdness of our actions. He depicts the motivation to get beaten
with helmets and fists as selfish, the actual running on Kyle Field
as disruptive and questions the necessity of the incidents.
As for disrupting a University f unction. I hope people will
consider the underlying reason w/ty stepping onto the field did
cause such a conflict. The junior cadets would have contentedly
continued their push-ups for the benefit of the spectators, had
they not felt the desire to attack the group moving onto the field.
The animosity and violence with which we were met was
unmistakable to anyone present. This tradition of “enforcement,”
not the validity of keeping people off t he field was the object of
our demonstration.
Mabry also questions our motive for running. He asks if we had
the objective of ensuring that “future violators will be removed
from the field more gently” or just to attract attention. Our
response is: attract attention. Past “runners” had failed to do so,
yet the Corps had (and has) shown their inability to enforce the
tradition in a “gentle,” responsible manner. Without bringing
attention to the fact, no changes in policy would ever occur.
Regardless of the motives of anyone who “ran,” the actions of
the Corps speak for themselves. Perhaps if the Corps is restrained
and individuals ignored, the need or the will to enter the field will
diminish. Personally, we hope it is not necessary for any
individuals to sustain “civilian-cadet friction” in future yell prac
tices.
David Kohel
Andy Vann
Jeff Newberry
Boycott RHAolloween
EDITOR:
I believe the Resident Hall Association’s decision not to
sponsor trick-or-treating among the dorms this year is a big
mistake. The dorms should have Halloween exactly the way they
did last year — with or without the off icial blessings of the RH A.
RHA’s alternative program at the Grove can never be argued
as an equal substitution for the trick-or-treating, only a weak
replacement which will have a far smaller turnout and will not be
nearly as much fun.
In response to the problem of cleaning up debris and trash
around campus, I believe that RH A could partially fund the
additional money (in cooperation with all the dorms to contribute
also) to pay the University personnel for the extra clean up. RHA
receives a sizeable amount of money each year, (in the
neighborhood of $8,000), raised by RHA Casino Night through
the hard work of more than 500 residents of dorms. This money is
used for the support of RHA programs. The chief purpose of
RHA programs should be to enhance dorm life for the residents
and coordinate interaction among dorms.
In reponse to the “alcohol problem,” it is clear that only a small
percentage of the residents on campus are of legal age, therefore
the ability for underclassmen to get liquor is much more difficult.
How, then, could the residents who do get the alcohol be expected
to be serving it so freely when it is so hard to get?
I was a member of RHA for three years, was president of a
dorm and co-chairman of Casino Night. I always thought that
RH Alloween was one of the best programs going and all the
residents of our dorm really looked f orward to it every year. This
decision is a major mistake for RHA, but the people who stand to
lose the most will be the residents — the very people RHA should
be serving! More importantly — where will these people go when
they can’t find anything fun to do on campus?
The dorms should have Halloween (without the RHA in it)
and boycott the Grove to show their disgust!
James Gehan ’85
Graduate student
RHAlloween not banned
EDITOR:
On Oct. 7 a letter was printed chastising the Residence Hall
Association for altering the format of RHAlloween. It is important
to know why we changed the program and why the Oct. 7 letter
was inaccurate.
The RHA modified RHAlloween for one reason — safety. In
the past two years at RHAlloween, there were people arrested for
assault and battery, numerous fights, one individual attempted to
scale down Hart Hall, starting on the third floor. The damage and
cleanup costs were enormous, and the time-honored traditionof
handing out shots of alcohol instead of candy during trick-or-
treating was well revered.
RHA felt it would be highly unprofessional if we stuck with tit
same format that caused so many problems two years in a row.
Events over the past two I lalloweens made us aware that we were
fostering an environment conducive to tragedy, and themerefact
that one has yet to occurr does not guarantee one will not occur
Also obvious is that all of our difficulties stem from alcohol.
The program we are sponsoring this year will not only be safe j
but more enjoyable. RHAlloween kicks off at the Grove on Oct!
at 7 p.m. with yell practice for the SMU game.
The Residence Hall Association has not banned trick-or-
treating as the Oct. 7 letter stated, we simply are not sponsoringa
massive one as we have done in previous years.
T he author of the Oct. 7 letter also mistakenly noted thatoiii
decision was made “without representation” of the residents.Firsi
all on-campus residents are members of RHA; the author
apparently has never exercised his membership. Second,eachlial
has a president and delegates that serve directly on RHA’s genera I
assembly who are kept informed. Furthermore, each hall
president was specifically asked for input on the subject.Third,
the author decided to go to The Battalion with his concerns,riot
RHA.
In the final analysis, we are extremely excited about this year!
program, and are confident that all those who attend willhavelM
best Halloween ever.
David McDowell, RHA President
Carla Carey, RHA Vice President
So little
EDITOR:
In response to all the comments about our running on Kyle
Field at midnight yell practice Oct. 3, I will simply paraphraseih
man who said: Nevef have so few received so much attentionf#
so many for so little.
Chahriar Assad ’87
Letters to the editor should not exceed 3,00 words in length. J lie
serves the right to edit letters for style'and length, but will make even ffc
maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must includeik
(kation, address and telephone number of the writer. ,