The Battalion
Opinion
2
Friday, March 31,1989
Mail Call
Exxon must clean up oil spill
EDITOR:
The recent oil spill near Valdez, Alaska marks
the worst ever on the North American continent.
This news alone is frightening, but the events that
have followed make me sick to my stomach.
In one of the Houston papers, the shipping
president for Exxon was quoted as saying that
cleanup has gotten off to a “slow start.”
When 10 million gallons of crude oil are dumped
into the ocean it can’t simply be cleaned up even if
you get off to a good start.
Exxon seems to be checking to see how much the
cleanup efforts would cost them. I don’t often ask for
government intervention, but I believe it is
mandatory in this case.
Exxon should be held in full responsibility and
should be devoting much of its manpower to lessen
the damage of such a spill. The crew of the ship was
at fault in running aground. I feel the government in
the future should give stiff penalties to the
companies that cause such disastrous environmental
blunders.
This might keep the crews a little more on their
toes. The responsibility they have to the
environment is a great one and should not be taken
lightly.
There are times in the world today when money
should run a distant second in priority.
Mike Allen ’89
Don’t hold your breath
EDITOR.
Three cheers for the editor and her column on
the City Council’s request that record stores not
sell certain rap albums to minors! I’m not going to
insult everyone’s intelligence and preach about the
evils of censorship, but there are two subjects I’d
like to address.
First, Steve Tunnell, who do you think you
are? I don’t care if you think these minors are
“impressionable” or not. T hey still have the right
to listen to music without your “guidance.”
I’m also really disappointed in Mayor Ringer
and the College Station Censorship Committee
(oh, I mean City Council). Let’s examine this
carefully. What happened to the Last Temptation
of Christ when the Christians “outlawed” it? What
happened a month ago when a bounty was put on
the head of an author for the obscure book
“Satanic Verses”?
Both the movie and the book made a lot more
money and received a lot more attention because
of the attempt to censor them.
I’m really disgusted with the disk jockey Steve
Tunnell and our good politicians up the street.
Please don’t hold your breath for me to thank you
for “saving” College Station’s youth.
Greg Martinez ’91
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorialstufj
reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effortti
maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must inclwltlit
classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
New phone technology won’t invade privacy
If someone raps on your door or
I'ings your bell, the sensible resonse is to
ask: “Who’s there?”
There’s nothing impolite about the
question. You have a right to know who
is standing outside your door, and why,
before you open it.
Or if you have a peephole, you can
look out. If a Girl Scout is standing
there with boxes of cookies, you can
safely slide the bolt. On the other hand,
if you see a man with a ski mask over his
face, it would be wise to grab the phone
and call the cops.
There may be peaceful nooks and
crannies in this country where a person
can open a door and be sure that the
caller is friendly. But in most big cities,
and many of the small ones, it’s a good
idea to find out whether the knock or
ring has come from the big bad wolf.
There is nothing more precious than
your fundamental right to privacy and
security. When you are in your home,
nobody can enter without your consent.
Even a cop has to have a searh warrant
to cross the threshold. If you wish, you
can simply ignore a knock. You’re un
der no obligation to talk to someone
simply because they knock on your
door.
They say your privacy will bevk
because the person you call will knot
the number of the phone you areusinj
And in many cases, by knowing
number they can determine who yoi
are and where you are calling from
Parking situation at A&M is
not good, but it’s improving
I have never been so angry or so close
to crying over such a stupid, stupid
thing.
Parking.
All I wanted was to park my stupid
car in a stupid parking space and go to
my stupid class. But no.
Some moron cut me off as I sat very
politely waiting to get into my parking
spot that I had waited 30 minutes to get.
I was mad. I pulled around and waited a
couple of minutes and someone else
came out. I pulled up to get my new
found space when out of nowhere —like
the devil sent this demon car to swoop
down and cause me misery — another
car cut me off and took my space.
At this point I was yelling at the goon
(my windows were up, though).
When you pull into the parking lot
and see all those people moving their
mouths and you think they’re singing
with the radio — you’re wrong. They
are yelling baaaaaad words at the top of
their lungs as they watch the clock tick
closer to class time.
I know r almost everyone has com
plained at some time about how horrible
the parking situation is on campus.
I am now among the ranks of those
complainers.
I was lucky. In four years here, the
little incident I just described was the
first really bad experience I had with
parking. I am usually more patient (for
parking, at least).
To finish the story, I finally got a
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Becky
Weisenfels
Editor
parking space and I could see, as I got
out of my car, one of the inconsiderate
blobs who took my space.
So I took out after him.
Yes, I was so angry that I was willing
to chase after some stranger to yell
about a block of cement. Fortunately for
him, I did not catch up with the blob. If
I would have, I know I would have
chickened out and asked the time or
something, but it’s the thought that
counts.
By the time I finally got to class, I was
calming down from the parking fiasco,
but images kept flashing through my
brain.
I remembered one of my old suite-
mates who came in bawling one day be
cause she had circled the parking lot for
45 minutes and couldn’t take it any
more.
I remembered living in a dorm and
being afraid to leave during certain
parts of the week,-especially before foot
ball games, because I knew I would
never see another parking space for as
long as I lived.
I sat there and tried to blame every
one in the Texas A&M University sys
tem for my problems finding a parking
space.
I was ready to yell and scream at
somebody — anybody .— because I
couldn’t find a parking space. Then,
and here’s where it gets weird, I realized
there is no one who really deserves to be
yelled at (except the blob in the goon-
mobile).
As long as I have been attending
A&M, there have been people griping
about the lack of parking spaces. Actu
ally, the real gripe people have is not
lack of parking spaces; it’s lack of close
parking spaces. There are vacant spaces
out in the fish lot, but no one wants to
park way out there and then ride the
bus in to the main part of campus. They
want to park right next to the buildings
in which they have their classes.
A&M has enough parking spaces, just
not where students want them. So in the
construction plans, despite a long wait, I
have to give A&M credit because they
are doing something about it.
The University decided to build park
ing garages. One was completed near
Blocker, and two are planned near the
Commons and the MSC.
The point is that we all gripe about
parking, now more than ever. But let’s
give the University a break. They’re tak
ing care of it and, besides, there are big
ger and better things we can gripe about
in the future.
Becky Weisenfels is a senior journa
lism major and editor of The Battalion.
But then we have that most wondrous
and devilish device — the telephone.
Every day, millions of Americans get
phone calls they don’t want or need.
They hear from pitchmen who want
to sell them siding or fences, stock mar
ket peddlers who offer to make them
rich, hustlers of every conceivable prod
uct.
The millions of unwanted calls also
include the old standby — the panter,
heavy breather and obscene talker.
There is little you can do to defend
yourself against the nuisance or ha
rassing call. You can get an unlisted
number, but there’s an extra charge and
many people don’t want to be cut off
from those who have a valid reason to
call them. You can unplug your phone,
but could you risk missing an important
call.
Therefore, their precious right topi>
vacy — phoning you without youknon
ing who they are — will be violated
Huh?
Well, that’s what they say. And the
are making a big fuss in states wheretl
srevice will be offered.
For obvious rasons, my number is un
listed. But a guy once managed to find it
and amused himself by making
drunken, abusive phone calls late at
night. After several nights of this, I
changed numbers. I shed the jerk. But I
had to spend hours phoning friends
and relatives to give them the new num
ber.
So I’ve always thought how nice it
would be if there was some way of
knowing who was on the other end of
the phone when it rang.
And now, through modern technol
ogy, phone companies can provide you
with a little screen that displays the
number of the phone that is being used
to call you.
It hasn’t come into widespread use
yet. But phone companies are planning
to soon offer the device, known as “Cal
ler I.D.,” in several Eastern states and
on the West Coast — if they can get by
the legal hurdles being put up by va
rious consumer advocates.
Maybe my logic is cockeyed, but
seems to me that the person whos
phone rings has a first option on privao
and freedom from jerks.
If a woman’s phone rings, and a
starts panting and sharing his lasclvioia
hopes and dreams, it would be nice
the woman could jot down his phoiK
number and give it to the police. Thet
the caller could discuss his need to pan!
at strangers with a judge.
Sure, a phone creep can find a
around it by going to a public
phone. But in zero weather, he’s less
likely to go trudging out with a podei
full of quarters.
There may be some cases in v
there are valid reasons to notwantyoui
number revealed. Someone phoningii
a tip to the police about a neighbor ped
dling drugs might have good reasonw
remain unknown. A pay phone would
provide that cloak.
The phone company in Pennsylvanit
argues that “Caller I.D.” acts as sortoft
peephole in the door, so you can set
who is knocking.
The critcs say that a caller has tilt
right to put a finger over his peephole.
Well, if someone knocks on mydofl
and puts a finger over the peephoki
they will soon find a cop knocking o»
their back.
It’s not the best solution to nuisance
calls. I’d prefer that there be a buttonon
my phone and when I push it, a piercin|
sound pops the eardrum of the caller,
Through a strange twist of logic, the
new service is being called an invasion of
the privacy of those who make the
phone calls.
But I doubt if something that i
will ever be on the market, although 1
can hope.
Copyright 1989, Tribune Media Services, lac
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The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Becky Weisenfels, Editor
Leslie Guy, Managing Editor
Dean Sueltenfuss, Opinion Page Editor
Anthony Wilson, City Editor
Scot Walker, Wire Editor
Drew Leder, News Editor
Doug Walker, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice, Entertainment Edi-
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