Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, December 16, 1986
Opinion
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Loren Steffy, Editor
Marybeth Rohsner, Managing Editor
Mike Sullivan, Opinion Page Editor
Jens Koepke, City Editor
Jeanne Isenberg, Sue Krenek, News Editors
Homer Jacobs, Sports Editor
ated
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
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periods.
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O-press-ive behavior
hat man, o
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hell - pan
The South African government recently slammed its door on the
world by barring the press from reporting on security-force actions,
treatment of detainees and various anti-apartheid activities — but its
reasoning doesn’t justify its means.
The Citizen, a Johannesburg daily newspaper that supports the
government, said the decision to cut off all communication with the
press is the result of an imminent revolutionary uprising in South
Africa.
President P.W. Botha said the measures were taken in hopes of
countering a planned campaign of terrorism by the outlawed Afri
can National Congress and its supporters.
But Botha’s unconvincing warning, which can hardly be called le
gitimate, does not justify censorship of the public’s right to know.
The public’s eye is the greatest check of political power, and
when the public is uninformed, its eye blinded by oppression, the op
portunity for corruption is unlimited.
The less the people are made aware of a problem through the
media, the more potential there is for atrocities to be committed,
unopposed by the unknowing.
Indeed, the people — of South Africa and the world — have a
right to know exactly why the press has been stripped of its responsi-
bilties in South Africa. Taking away even more freedoms from an al
ready deprived majority only allows unrest to fester. If Botha is try
ing to quell uprisings in his country, he should start by easing
restrictions on human rights, not strengthening them.
Botha’s explanation for the crackdown is little more than a fa
cade. A more likely explanation for banning the press is that he
doesn’t have any intention of moving South Africa toward equality.
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Mail Call
A basic right
EDITOR:
I am angry about not being able to obtain a copy of The Battalion each
day. Because a portion of my mandatory “student service fee” is expended on
the newspaper, I feel I have the right to complain.
Today I was in the Commons at 1 p.m., and there were no copies of the
paper in sight. I thought that possibly the paper was a little late in getting
published. After getting out of class at 4:30 p.m., I dropped back by and
again found nothing. I checked the O&M Building and one of the covered
sheds around campus. The only thing I found was another student
wandering around the shed looking tor the newspaper. He told me the
Memorial Student Center did not have any copies either.
Because this has occurred repeatedly, I am led to believe The Battalion is
being distributed very poorly. If 36,000 students are paying for the paper,
there should be plenty of issues available because every student does not read
the newspaper.
Charles Burnett ’90
Editor’s note: About $1 for each student goes to The Battalion, or about
.00625 cents per issue. Nonetheless, you are entitled to a copy.
Refuge reality
EDITOR:
Loren Steffy’s opinion of oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge in Alaska leads one to believe that any form of oil development in the
Arctic refuge would result in irreparable damage to the environment,
decimating thousands of caribou, polar bears, wolves and a vast variety of
other wildlife; all because of our lust for oil.
This notion flies in the face of reality. These same arguments were made
in opposition to the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The wildlife
catastrophe that was predicted by the environmental extremists did not
occur. If Steffy had ever been to Prudhoe Bay, as I have many times, he
would note the abundance of caribou, arctic foxes and a whole host of other
wildlife peacefully coexisting with drilling rigs and other oil field
development. Caribou cross under elevated pipelines just as easily as they
cross dry river beds. It is hard for some people to believe, but oil field
development and wildlife can coexist.
The key to successful development of environmentally sensitive areas is
proper guidelines and regulations. On their own, the oil companies in Alaska
probably would not have developed those fields the way they did. With
reasonable restrictions on their activities, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
can be a producing oil field and a wildlife refuge. To view the wildlife refuge
and oil development issue as an either/or situation is too simplistic and
irrational. It is possible to have your cake and eat it too.
James A. White
Editor’s note: The column acknowledged the accomplishments at Prudhoe
Bay. However, those involved with planning the oil field in the Arctic refuge
— including oil developers. Interior Department officials and environmen
talists — agree that the situation could not be duplicated in the refuge. As the
column pointed out, initial studies have found that the narrower coastal plain
and larger wildlife population would make it impossible for even exploratory
wells to be drilled without irreparable damage to the environment.
Have faith
EDITOR:
I agree with most of Mike Sullivan’s column on December 10, entitled,
“Why do donations make people feel satisfied?” One concept I drew from the
cloumn is that you can get to heaven by doing good works — in other words,
helping and giving to others.
It is obvious you believe in God, but you need to correct a misconception
too many people have today. Please read Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you
have been saved through faith . . . not as a result of works, that no one should
boast.”
The good-works part of life you are talking about will come naturally and
willingly after you accept God in your life.
Vincent Scalercio
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters
for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and
must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
Don’t bother the graduate:
with reality, give ’em cliche
ie new tow
ition that
i— so the
[in the teni
|lab"!. Jud
das judge (
pncouragen
g plans lie
Despite the
cliches about them
being “one of the
most important
days of our lives,”
graduation cere
monies are little
more than a bor
ing waste of time.
It is a show for the
parents, not a day
of exaltation for
the graduates. It is
ness. But more than likely, it was be
cause Pierre said the one word A&M
students don’t like to hear — minorities.
Loren
Steffy
A dull rumble filled G. Rollie White
Coliseum as Pierre pointed out the im
portance of minority education in
Texas. After the ceremony, I overheard
several people saying that the speech
was not “appropriate” for a graduation
address.
a day when parents can see their chil
dren dressed in one of the silliest outfits
known to man, which is supposed to
symbolize the completion of an educa
tion. No educated person would dress
like this willingly.
Likewise, graduation speeches, while
masquerading as some great statement
on the role of education in our society,
tend to be dull reiterations of what to
look forward to in the “Real World.”
It is, apparently, more appropriate
that a graduation speaker spout some
meaningless drivel about how hard stu
dents worked to attain their degrees and
how wonderful it is that we are all Ag
gies. We were there to be launched into
the Real World, but it wasn’t appropri
ate to discuss a Real-World problem af
fecting the school we were leaving.
I expected a similar fare at Saturday’s
commencement address by Dr. Percy A.
Pierre, the president of Prarie View
A&M University. But rather than the
traditional speech that goes something
like: “Today you take a part of Texas
A&M with you into the Real World.
Don’t forget to send a part of your Real
World income back to Texas A&M,”
Pierre actually said something worth lis
tening to. Naturally, few people did.
What was even more inappropriate
was that on what was supposed to be a
praise-the-school-and-pass-the-plat ter
event, the few who were listening were
forced to come to terms with a dark spot
— black, brown, pick your color — in
the future of A&M. We aspire to and
desire the much-ballyhooed “world-
class university” status, yet we hope to
overlook the role minorities must play
in attaining such status.
What was inappropnaiei
Pierre’s speech was the audieral
spouse. By denying him theoxj
courtesy of listening — or evens
ignoring — what he had to srS
graduates-to-be proved Pient'i|B
When it comes to hearing akB|j te rece
poor quality of minority ed.:. ring, neithei
our state, we don’t care. ited latal act
Bion of th
Pierre’s speech wasn't rivetintBff" re( * u
was revealing. And the audiffiH 11 ' 1 ' say,s
sponse supersedes any effortb) Hie resean
other universities to recruit r 138 franspr
students. The programs desrBr'P 111111(1
lure minorities to our institution:*! (
so much the problem as ouraffli-Ry alcoho
ward them once they get here j
there are incidents of discri
between students, between
and students — but the real)
stems more from apathy thanani
Pierre wasn’t oblivious to
sponse his speech got. He
knew it was a lost cause evenW
started. Discussing minority
attracts A&M students as efft
quiche does Clint Eastwood.His
labeled inappropriate becauseii
the usual graduation-day pepiall
Perhaps it was because everyone sim
ply wanted to get out of their ridiculous
attire and get on with dinner. Perhaps it
was the plush seating that caused grad
uates to shift from one buttock to the
other every five minutes to avoid numb-
At this summer’s graduation ceremo
nies, Board of Regents Chairman David
Eller lashed out at the State Legislature
for proposing cuts in higher education.
The unofficial reviews of Saturday’s cer
emony deemed Pierre’s lashing out at
lawmakers for proposing to merge seve
ral state universities “inappropriate.” El
ler’s complaints at the end of the sum
mer were called “courageous.”
But after all, it was gradual®
had just completed fouryeanofs
expanding education andpt 1
growth. We didn’t want tobej
candid view of the Real tfob
didn’t want to confront and
terms with reality asour
watched. A little mindless drivel
cliches was all we wanted tohear
Loren Steffy is a journalism
and editor for The Battalion.
Pink flamingos and tires ad
a humble touch of class
I have a little get
away place here in
this North
Georgia mountain
resort. It’s nothing
spectacular, but it
fits my needs.
There’s a cou
ple of bedrooms, a
loft where I have a
typewriter, a
screened-in porch
and a deck where
Lewis
Grizzard
I can stand and watch the magnificence
of a thunderstorm rolling over the
peaks as it makes its way from North
Carolina.
Somebody, one of my neighbors, I
would guess, further added to my
mountain home by putting two plastic,
pink flamingos in my front yard, along
with a tire that had been painted white.
A harmless prank, and one I appre
ciated.
I am certain there are those who are
not aware of the significance of having
pink, plastic flamingos and a white tire
in one’s yard.
Allow me to elaborate:
Plastic, pink flamingos and painted
tires are the ultimate in what may now
be referred to as “Southern tackiness.”
And in case there are those who do
not know what the term “tacky” means,
well, it means “tacky,” as in polyester lei
sure suits, watching professional wres
tling matches and believing they are not
fake, and wearing white cowgirl boots
with a short, red-leather skirt while pop
ping chewing gum.
Yet, as tacky as plastic, pink flamingos
and painted tires might be, a lot of poor
Southerners once decorated their yards
with the same, and they were good and
honest and hard working people doing
their best with the resources available to
them.
I can hear them now: “Grifi 2
pink flamingos and tires in b 1
There goes the neighborhood
I probably would have m
objects from my front yard c |:
without somebody insisting
Now, however, this thing hash
matter of pride.
L
■
They bought the flamingos from
Sears and Roebuck and then painted
old tires white and used them as flower
pots, and the people would ride past
and say, “Lord, don’t Ruby Ann Kilgore
know how to make a place look like
somebody lives there.”
Growing up, I had relatives who put
flamingos and tires in their yards, and I
had friends who did the same thing.
And I love them and they loved me, and
that is why I am taking it personally that
the people who run Big Canoe have
asked I remove the flamingos and the
tire in my yard.
They consider it “unbecoming.”
What they really mean is they don’t
want anything “tacky” on their moun
tain.
If I remove my flamingos 3
am I not turning my back out
tage? Am I not spitting in tb
those who reared meandlovttl
fed me?
I am, indeed, andhere'sa
those who are looking down W
at a major part of my culture:
Push me too far, and notq
leave the flamingos and tire in J
I’ll put a ’53 Chevy on cemenj
front of my house and ha't
painted with those imtnor®
held sacred by many a So^]
“See Rock City.”
I am not a man to be trifled 1 '
Copyright 1986, Cowles Syndicite