Cary Grant dies at 82.
The event that created the
loudest roar in College Station,
and had a profound effect on
three-fourths of the college
population, was the raising of
the drinking age to 21.
The new age went into effect
Sept. 1, the first day of the
semester, spawning a rash of
last-minute drinking on Aug.
31. Now local clubs either don’t
allow anyone under 21 into the
club, or stamp people who are
old enough to drink.
At the same time, the
Supreme Court has ruled that
establishments that sell alcohol
to patrons can be held
responsible if those patrons
become overly intoxicated and
end up hurting someone else.
The justices have the right
idea — something has to be
done to keep drunk drivers off
the roads — but placing the
burden on bartenders and
waiters and waitresses (who
may or may not be able to tell
when a customer has had too
much to drink) is a bad
decision.
Another bad decision came
at the hands of Texas legislators
who opted to cut funds to
higher education in an effort to
reduce the state’s $3.5 billion
deficit.
The lawmakers in Austin,
under the dubious guidance of
Governor Mark White, finally
agreed to a temporary increase
in the state sales tax as an
alternative to drastically cutting
universities’ budgets, but higher
education was still dealt a
sizable cut. While the damage
could have been much worse,
any cut to higher education is
definitely a step in the wrong
direction.
While Austin was dealing out
losses, the rest of the country
was dealing with a loss of its
own. Cary Grant died of a
stroke at the age of 82.
The actor, whose movie
career began in 1932 and
produced such hits as “The
Philadelphia Story,” “North By
Northwest,” and “Bringing Up
Baby, ” died in Iowa where he
was in the midst of filming a 90-
minute program about his life.
Grant, whose real name is
Archibald Leach, accumulated
a fortune of about $40 million
during his illustrious career.
If you are one of the unlucky
students who waited in three-
hour lines in the library, phone
registration was a sore spot this
semester — especially since the
new system was supposed to
alleviate the line problem. The
same goes for people who
spent the day dialing, but
continuously encountered a
busy signal.
Republicans were ruffled by
the Democratic upset in the
Senate. Add to that their foreign
diplomacy woes and the
President’s declining popularity.
Let’s face it, the last three
months have been less than
ideal for those of the
conservative persuasion.
For those who have
experienced the dorm-to-dorm
liquor-treating of Halloweens
past, a definite low point was
moving RHAlloween to the
Grove. Pizza and punch just
can’t compare to the festivites
enjoyed in past years.
photo by Greg Bailey
A Northgate patron buys a final bucket of beer before the drinking age was raised to 21.
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