Che Ba
The Battalion
OPINION
Thursday, July 13,1989
Forget flag-burning law
Flag-burning fever has struck in Austin. Not the kind that de
stroys national emblems — the kind that clogs legislative agendas.
With all the problems facing the state of Texas these days, you
would think the Legislature would find things more worthy of
their time than giving their support to a non-existent Constitu
tional amendment. Nevertheless, our representatives are going
great guns to try to prevent a form of expression that is only used
because it attracts precisely this kind of attention.
Even worse, it is President Bush who is leading the pack.
Bush’s call for the flag-burning amendment started the whole
mess. It sounded then — and sounds now — like an easy way to
attract public sympathy, much like his campaign that focused
largely on the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. After all, who
is in favor of burning flags?
Fortunately the president is now in Europe, drawing attention
to the recent upsurges against the communist systems in Poland
and Hungary. Let’s hope our local representatives take Bush’s lead
again and start paying attention to some real issues.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Horse racing legislatioi
in endless final stretch
WAS
gressmt
Bcpaye
two yes
Wtdne;
Whil<
most o'
Participants in charity
chili cookoff left with
warm feeling inside
Ah hah! I have found the secret.
Although this discovery ranks some
where below working out a cure for the
common cold or figuring out the mean
ing of life. I’m proud of the practical
knowledge I managed to pick up a cou
ple of weekends ago.
Remember how the people of Texas
were SUPPOSED to get pari-mutuel
betting this year? Well, our lawmakers
in Austin have been dragging their feet
(or should I say hooves) on the issue,
and it looks like an October premiere of
horse racing in Texas could be post
poned. Again.
A spokesperson for Republican Sen
ator O.H. “Ike” Harris of Dallas, the
sponsor of many horse and dog racing
bills, said that Harris will not file his
horse racing “clean-up bill” during the
current special session. The bill contains
an amendment that would reduce the
state’s share of wagering takeout on
horse races, which Harris adamantly
supports.
But Gov. Clements has decided that
he wants the state’s share to remain the
same. So rather than rushing to the gov
ernor’s mansion to settle this dispute
with Clements, Harris has decided to
file his bill in November. Without this
bill, the racing panel said the horses will
probably never leave the gates in Octo
ber.
So why should Harris press things
anyway? There is the ever-so-important
worker’s compensation bill that the
House and Senate have been fighting
about during the entire session. And no
one is in dire need of all that bother-
Rep. Sc
of the 2
taining the “clean-up” amendmemlnlmbei
the other containing the contra:' l he ;
takeout structure. Thus, problems®' 6 ^
the racing act could be amencied(kjS n
Damon
Arhos
Columnist
some extra income that racing may im
mediately bring into state, right?
Who needs it? We do.
Until the tracks are in operation,
Texans will never realize the benefits of
pari-mutuel horse racing. The Texas
Racing Act must therefore be cleaned
up in order for the operation of pari
mutuel tracks to occur. Not only are
there flaws in the bill, but certain finan
cial loose-ends still haven’t been taken
care of. Because the racing commission
must turn over $500,000 to the comp
troller’s office by Sept. 1, a shortage of
funds could occur and prevent many
track officials from being paid. Finan
cial flaws like these should be taken care
of now so that racing can begin in Octo
ber.
An easy solution to the dispute be
tween Clements and Harris would be to
split the current bill in two: one bill con-
lessme
. , „ nne vvl
the current session so that racesi I)e j a
begin in October. The current tat tr j eS) re
structure could remain in effectBportei
then be amended in the November seven u
cial session. c . 0 ' ! ol
The Texas Legislature should i,
lesson from the legislatures of
with legalized pari-mutuel betting
cently went to Delta Downs in Loin
and was impressed by the orgam
of the system they have. It is uc
standable that the development
state pari-mutuel betting system ti
time, but the citizens of Texas
waited far too long for the start.
There is no better time than the
ur
Con
inue f
Texas
ervict
^lannii
• Rc
Con
sent for the Legislature to makemoi
cations to the racing act. However,!
possible that changes to the racitij
may not be implemented until the!
regular session, further prolonging E n g'
acquisition of “first-class horse rac: ro ‘5
in the state. How long will thecitra
T exas have to go to Louisiana tobei
eur
>y Dec
oads \
walkwi
horses? As long as the legislaturecor; try Bu
ues to be horse — oops, I meanji
headed.
Damon Arhos is a junior journals
major and a columnist for The Bats
ion.
Theoretically, the first guinea pigs
root out all the worst efforts and leave
only the cream of the crop.
Anyone who has heard the dreaded
words, “We’d like you to judge a chili
cookoff,” can relate to the wisdom ac
quired through tried and true methods.
Until this very cookoff, the prospect
of rating pots of chili made my stomach
churn — figuratively at the anticipation
and literally after the fact. Plus which,
I’d just spent much of the previous
weekend on tli£.disabled list with severe
tummy unrest.
This process also leaves a lot of free
time for other pursuits. For instance,
myself and fellow finals judge Jim Man
tel of KNFM Radio put in a little prac
tice time at the horseshoe pit. Never can
tell when an invite will arrive from the
White House.
All-Star Ronnie strikes oul
He’s been everything from Mr. Presi
dent to the Gipper to the guy next to
Bonzo. On Tuesday night, he was Dutch
again.
I’ve been known to make excuses to
escape the curse of the jalapeno. “Sorry,
can’t judge this time. Have to be in Af
rica on a safari to study the habits of the
gnu.” Actually, I have a pretty good rea
son in that spicy foods tend to aggravate
my gout.
Previous to finding the horseshoes,
we judges were confined to leaning
against pickups arid trying to figure out
the occupations of various crusty-look
ing characters who inevitably show up at
cookoffs. We were impressed to be in
the company of so many investment
bankers.
Ronald Reagan, admitting afterward
that he was “uptight” and “self-con
scious” worked..the All-Star GameTor
one inning Tuesday, mixing humor
with an occasional gaffe as a color com
mentator in the NBC broadcast booth.
American League shortstop to stafl;
six straight All-Star Ciames.”
peated
later.
information
seconds
Mitchell’s appearance at the phi
however, prompted a bit more bio. 1
Reagan also was unsure about how to
pronounce Julio Franco’s name, and
said so.
But when Roy Strube phoned well in
advance to line me up for the Black
Gold Chili Pod’s cookoff (all the group’s
competitions raise money for charity,
but this one was for an especially good
cause, Special Olympics), I didn’t have
the heart to beg off.
After finding that we were woefully
inadequate at pitching (perhaps if we
had bothered to turn loose of our bever
age of choice, the results would have
been better), the time arrived to judge.
At times, he was obviously reading
from prepared notes, bandying the sta
tistics of Tony Gwynn and Kevin Mitch
ell.
“I’m glad you said that first. I didn’t
know if you call him Joo-lee-oh or Hoo-
lee-oh,” he said with a chuckle.
“He was tied up with the gangswlifj
he was young and ui.school. Hisbrot
was killed in a gang fight. He started
for vengeance. But a remarkable pc
son, his grandmother, took charge,a.'
understand it, and saw to it thathegoii
good education, and here he is, aw
from the gangs,” he said.
Some of his observations:
Sports broadcasting is
for the former president.
nothing
That was my good fortune. Maybe I’ll
patent the information. Better yet, I’ll
share it in hopes of winning a Nobel
Prize for saving stomach linings.
And, eureka! Only a dozen cups of
chili had survived the discriminating
folks. I can taste 12 styles of chili stand
ing on my head. In fact, I’ve considered
that position in hopes of improving the
digestive process.
When the National League’s leadoff
hitter Ozzie Smith fouled off an 0-1
pitch, Reagan cut into play-by-play man
Vin Scully:
• On Gwynn: “He played basketball
in college and was drafted by the Los
Angeles Clippers and the San Diego
Padres.”
In the 1930s, “Dutch” Reagan,as
was known, recreated major leap
games from wire service teletype if
ports on WHO Radio in Des Moines.
“Whoops. Somebody has a souvenir,”
he said.
First of all, the Chili Appreciation So
ciety International makes it a lot easier
by outlawing foreign substances in its
competitive chili. If you’ve never known
the pleasure of tasting samples and run
ning across little chunks in a cup that
turned out to be raisins, you wouldn’t
understand why that rule is so impor
tant.
I can honestly say that not one of the
samples was inedible or even mildly bad.
Several were excellent. I never gagged
once. Not only did I not turn green, I
never even developed a case of indiges
tion. What could be better? I did my
part for a good cause, and didn’t have to
bust a gut in the process.
When Wade Boggs followed Bo Jack-
son for consecutive home runs in the
American League’s half of the first,
Reagan seized the moment:
• Will Clark: “He’s the only National
League player to play every game last
year and was a member of the 1984
Olympic team. He’s got a batting aver
age of .3.^2; that’s pretty good for a
young man.”
He said those reports were muchei*
ier than the one he did for the nation;
All-Star audience.
“That looks like it’s going, too. You
know, those two home runs —you didn’t
have to wait for them. Even the outfield
ers knew they were home runs.”
• Howard Johnson: “36 home runs”
Johnson has hit 22 homers this season.
Still, the real discovery came by acci
dent. Strube did me a favor by getting
me assigned to the final table.
Final table means just what it sounds
like. The field of competitors is nar
rowed by another set of judges, then
turned over to the final table.
Winners of the Black Gold cookoff
earned points toward the Chili Appre
ciation Society’s showcase event in Ter-
lingua. But more importantly, it raised
some needed cash for Special Olympics
and even presented the opportunity for
several of the Special Olympians to cook
chili for a competition of their own.
Strube said that contest ended in a tie,
with all being declared winners.
His most apparent slip was when
boothmate Scully noted that San Fran
cisco’s Mitchell led the major leagues in
home runs and RBIs, and Reagan re-
• NL pitcher Rick Reuschel: “He’s 6-
feet-3 and weighs, what, 240 pounds.
He’s got 12 wins. After the back-to-back
homers: “Big Daddy, that’s what the
players call him ... a little upset.”
“I can’t get used to it this way. Iha«
to say I was a little uptight. When
sitting up here in a place like this,1^
to tell people what was happeningwliei
they couldn’t see. Now I get a little self
conscious when people can see it,"Ik
said.
Still, he added, “This has taken UK
dow n a very nostalgic lane.”
• Cal Ripken Jr. : “He’s played in
1,173 straight games and he’s the first
Ron Blum is a sports writer for tl*
Associated Press.
That means I was able to enjoy the
luxury of watching carefully to make
sure none of the preliminary judges was
carted off in an ambulance or had to be
revived.
Not surprisingly, Strube and his fel
low club members left with a warm feel
ing inside — and not just from the chili.
Ken Brodnax is a writer for the The
Odessa American
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Ellen Hobbs,
Editor
Juliette Rizzo,
Opinion Page Editor
Fiona Soltes,
City Editor
Drew Leder, Chuck Squatriglia,
News Editors
Steven Merritt,
Sports Editor
Katny Haveman,
Art Director
Hal Hammons,
Makeup Editor
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