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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1988)
m — m i i i Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, February 18, 1988 Mail Call But we make contributions EDITOR: I am writing in response to Daniel W. Martillotti’s letter concerning the faculty club. Mr. Martillotti attacked the fraternities and sororities of Texas A&M stating that they should spend less time passing petitions to halt com pletion of the faculty club and spend more time helping our community. Mr Martillotti’s charges are incorrect. The head “petition passer” is Student Body President Mason Hogan. Ma son is not a member of the Greek system at Texas A&M. In the Student Sen ate, only one member has spoken in favor of the faculty club. I am that sen ator, and I am also the vice-president of one of the largest fraternities at A&M. On the issue of community service, fraternities and sororities do more for philanthropies and for our community than any other group at A&M. For example, my fraternity. Kappa Alpha, raises thousands of dollars each year for the Muscular Distrophy Association through a haunted house, football game and volleyball tournament. We are active with the Bryan Boys Club, and we are planning on working with Special Olympics in April. My fraternity is not alone in working to help others. Each fraternity and sorority at A&M makes significant contributions to charities and to our community. Daniel L. Sparks ’89 Watch your back EDITOR: To all of you “leaders” and aspiring officers presently in the Corps of Ca dets and the Aggie Band who believe that it is correct and proper to deal with unproductive surbordinates by “screwing them out” of your unit, remember: Proper and fair treatment of your noncommissioned officers and your enlisted men can, in times of combat, determine whether you end up with copper medals on your chest or copper-jacketed 5.56 mm metal in your back. John Diedenhofen ’90 Far from being female EDITOR: In reference to Wednesday’s “Lacking awareness” letter, first of all, I am very far from being female. I would appreciate a small word or two in Mail Call explaining such. As for Jeff Farmer . . . well. . . Joe Shannon Bower ’90 An example of A&M’s failings EDITOR: Jill Galarneau’s account of her trip to the Rio Grande Valley is a painful reminder of our institutional failings. Somewhere along the way Ms. Galar- neau, a senior, missed lessons on accurate and responsible reporting (“Megan told me . . . Mexican girls love to have babies . . .”), lessons on the nuances of languages (“Swarms of Mexican students . . .”), and lessons on American plu ralism (“I asked ... if we were still in America. Finally, I spotted one white girl . . .”). She seems unaware of the dehumanization inherent in swarms. However, before one recognizes the full implications of a term, he or she must learn that words have connotations. Such an understanding is basic and presumably one of the reasons most universities require students to take liter ature and language courses in which this understanding is achjressed. And what is The Battalion's editorial responsibility? Apparently the edi tors missed these lessons also. Although our newsworthy behavior often suggests otherwise, the fact re mains that we do not live hermetic existences here at Texas A&M. If, as is standard, journalism departments at universities throughout the US receive The Battalion, we have once again sent a message to the nation that this insti tution has not moved beyond the misguided notion of noblesse oblige. That message perpetuates an image that is incompatible with the image of a “world class” educational and research institution. Robert Campbell Department of English Those vampires at Wadley EDITOR: Recently, I gave blood at our Savior’s Lutheran Church. I have O neg ative, and on the news there was a desperate plea for that type. I am a campus minister, and some of my students have also participated. While I was there at the Lutheran Church, I learned that the blood I gave to The Blood Center at Wadley in October for the campus blood drive was used for other pur poses. The Red Cross nurse at Our Savior’s Lutheran informed me that Wad ley sells my blood to cosfrietic companies, research labs and hospitals. I was outraged. No one told me my blood was being sold for profit last October. I certainly did not receive any gratuity nor do I want any. I give blood to bene fit people — in some cases to save their lives. Wadley grossly takes advarttage of the generosity and benevolence of the students at A&M. Like the students, I thought that giving to Wadley was the same as giving to the Red Cross. The Red Cross gives the blood freely to Bra zos County people — A&M students are included. Brazos people do not have to give blood in order to receive it either. The only charge is by the hospitals for handling and administration. Wadley, on the other hand, gets approxi mately $100 per unit from labs, corporations or from patients in the hospital. In a four day blood drive, Wadley may get 300-800 units. That’s big money. In talking with Emily Stiller, the Brazos Red Cross representative, I have learned that it is extremely hard for the Red Cross to get on campus. Why is Wadley allowed on campus? Students get T-shirts and beer coo- zies from Wadley in return for valuable blood that is wasted on cosmetics and profits people who are virtually stealing blood away from an area that could use it to save lives. Someone at A&M needs to be held accountable for this great injustice and misrepresentation. Wadley is draining the life blood away from A&M students and the Brazos Valley residents. Support the Red Cross; they are international and non-profit. The Red Cross saves lives. Boycott Wadley. Melvin G. Brinkley 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. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Sue Krenek, Editor Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor Amy Couvillon, City Editor Robbyn L. Lister and Becky Weisenfels, News Editors Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department 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 year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. Opinion Cultural disagreements can occur with cats, cops C( and dinner reservations 5B-27 ihool In a society as ethnically and ra cially diverse as ours, there are bound to be occa- sional cultural misunderstand- ings. As an example, consider the re cent case of the man, the cat and the cop in Tulsa. The policeman eventually prevailed. He pinned the man down, while the cat, its paw still in the man’s grip, clawed and bit the man’s head. preveniting the consumption of lambs, ducks, rabbits and other little creatures, Finally the cat-holder said: “I let cat go, you let me go.” He released the cat, which streaked away, bounding over a high fence. Mike Royko After handcuffing Mr. Nguyen, the policeman asked: “What were you doing with that cat?” If you think about it, what animalis nicer than a lamb? Has a lamb everbii- ten or clawed a human? Yet, we eai them by the millions. Or cute little ducks? As you eat a duck, do you ever think of Donald? And people not onlt eat deer without regard for Bambis memory, they go out and shoot then for the fun of it. An off-duty policeman was sitting home one day when he got a phone call from a neighbor. Mr. Nguyen calmly answere: “I was going to eat that cat.” The neighbor said that she saw some thing strange — a man walking down the street carrying a cat by its neck. The cat appeared to be unhappy. Horrified, the policeman said: “You were going to eat a cat?” “Yes,” Mr. Nguyen replied, “1 was going to eat that cat.” In contrast, ii the average little cal was the* size of a deer, it might gobbleup its owner, or at least a bor’s children. *w of the neieh- The cop hopped in his car and drove a couple of blocks. Sure enough, there was a man — later identified as one Huy Van Nguyen — with a plump cat. But now he was carrying the cat by its hind legs. Well, even in Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl days, folks didn’t eat their house pets. So the cop took Mr. Nguyen to the sta tion. Since this isn’t the way cats are usually handled, the policeman became suspi cious. So he stopped his car and ran up to the man and asked: “Is that your pet?” At first they weren’t sure what charges to place against him. It is against the law to steal a cat, but since the cat had escaped, they had no evi dence that it was stolen. Mr. Nguyen was just doing wbai comes naturally. 1 le is from a partofibt world where people think there is nolb ing unusual about eating cats, dogs anil anything else that isn’t quick enougbto escape. “Yes,” the man said, continuing to walk. And a glance through the law books showed that it is an Oklahoma crime to work an animal to death, but there’s nothing to prevent anyone from dining on a cat. And in recent years, many Asians have brought this taste with them. Afe» years ago, there were so manydogsand cats being stewed or sauteed on Califor nia that the state legislature passedala» against the eating of house pets. nit, the “This Idmini: The exas Team, omnn id by: at inv Audi inmpre Bruci jcn. de Insorsl I Hyvl 1983 ca ■Tool, - rninistn; |yspe with the I “Stud literally Hyvl lent fr Irought tention. Prior inds ha pund o le urgi [pposite “It is bid the ore yo lot havi |ttle Jol lou cam I h P e Isue, bu lead abc The cop had his doubts, especially since the cat was twisting around to bite and claw the man’s hand. So Mr. Nguyen was finally charged with assault — trying to hit the cop with a cat — and resisting arrest. But nervous politicians with large Asian voting blocs said this would dis- criminate against their constituents,and the bill was defeated. It wasn’t clear what law the man was violating, but the cop was sure he was doing something wrong. That’s the way cops think. Apparently this incident created a bit of a stir in Tulsa. A woman phoned me from there and said: “What is this coun try coming to when we have people eat ing cats? I hope you expose this.” I’m sure the story of Mr. Nguyen a the cat will upset many cat lovers. I find up regnan ithers Tool t hen yo inistrat redican idn’t h pings.” 11 u*\ should n-im-mbri that, eventually. I With i all immigrant groups become assimi- |! tIlrn . un lated and take to our ways. Another gen- ®' lls 1,1 1 So he decided to question the man further. But before he got very far, the man became agitated and swung the an gry cat at the cop like a club. The policeman managed to duck the cat and grab the man and they fell to the pavement, where they wrestled a bit. And a man sent me news stories aboiftfit with a note that said: “My wife is afraid to let our cat out by itself. Why aren’t there laws to prevent this sort of thing.” T he answer to that is if you make laws forbidding the eating of cats, some veg etarians will demand that there be laws eration or so, and the Nguyens wont even Consider eating a cat. TheyTl become true Americans eat something like a veal chop. sNELL, I'LL HANE COFFEE- NO, MM<E lUCT TEN- NO, TWW COFFEE AMP TEX-/vNP PUT StXiNtAW) CREAM IT, MXWOUGH V UKE IT E*>CK tAUCH M4V0HL- AND PUT tAEDONH TORSOAE ORANGE .JUICE- AND GRAPEFRUIT JUVCE-ANUPPUNE JUICE- ANDTOtAATO JUICE— HASH BROWNS? SURE, I WANT HASH BROWNS, BUT I WANTGWrS.TOO- ANT> JUST BECAUSE l MAC/ SAC/TOAST" DOESN'T MEAN THERE'S NOT ROOM AT THtS GREAT TAELE FOR'EASOUtTS" OP. "MUFFINS”- NOW, l DEFINITELY WANT SCRAtABlEDEGGS, UNIESSTHE POACHED EGGS VOOK GOOD- WHICH IS NOT TO REJECT FRIED EGGS OR BOILED EGGS, HARD OR SOFT-AND IFNOW I'VE ASKED F0RSAUSAGE IN THE PAST, AND NAVEE CHANGED TO BACON, BUT A& I'VE MATURED I’VE COME TO SEE THE MERITS OF HAM- MAKE THAT STFfT - ■ s V?" BLOOM COUNTY -merxe wrvntN& FROM ft BOVS S' mv/tcy td HISTORY/ Poes ANYBOPY CAR£ ? mete mu. it ysao /' Heuo-?