The Battalion
OPINION
Thursday, July 27, 1989
Reaction To The News That "The Morton Downey. Je.
'Show Will. Be Going Off The f\iR. Soon ... i
Exxon has failed
to clean up its ac
New license plates no friends of mine
Texans have always taken heat from
people in other states for having such
big egos. We have always been proud
and rugged individuals, continually
striving for the betterment of our state’s
reputation nationally as well as abroad.
The people of Texas are individualistic
and proud of it. Almost every Texan is
proud to be a member of the Lone Star
State.
But LBJ would turn over in his grave
if he knew that the three-member Texas
Highway Commission has plans to
change our state’s motto to “The
Friendship State” on future license
plates. The new red, white and blue de
sign would include the Texas flag, the
name of the state and the new motto
across the bottom. Our stylish black-on-
white license plates will become a thing
of the past if the commission has its way.
This isn’t the first time our friendly
Highway Commission has tried to de
face our state’s license plates. In 1985,
we almost became “The Wildflower
State” but were saved from that awful
fate because of angry citizen protests.
(Thank goodness for angry citizens.)
Can you imagine a giant bouquet of
flowers right in the middle of your li
cense plate?
And now the commission wants to
make Texans “friendly.” We already are
friendly, or at least most of us are. I sup
pose they want us to start paying atten
tion to those “drive friendly” signs that
Damon
Arhos
Columnist
line Texas’ highways. Next thing you
know they will want to put a big smiley
face in the middle of our plates.
What is the purpose of a license plate
anyway? It was my impression that a li
cense plate is a method of vehicle identi
fication. If there is ever a robbery or a
hit-and-run accident, the license plate
number of the vehicle in question is the
first thing a policeman will ask for. But
the Texas Highway Commission has de
cided to play Picasso with our plates,
and eventually we may not even be able
to read them. So if you get robbed or
have a collision with a Texan’s vehicle
that leaves the scene of the crime, just
tell the policeman that whoever it was,
they sure were friendly.
Even many politicians have come out
against the changing of our plates. Ann
Richards, our current state Treasurer
and a Democratic gubernatorial candi
date, said Tuesday that the proposed “f-
riendly” slogan is “wimpy” and that the
“Lone Star slogan” has served Texans
well. Senator Carlos Truan of Corpus
Christi said Monday in a letter to Robert
Dedman, the commission chairman,
that no other action by any state agency
has stirred up so much negative feed
back. Dedman has conveniently been
out of the country since the controversy
began.
Texans should not allow a commis
sion composed of three individuals to
decide the design and motto of our
state’s license plates. The current design
of our license plates is simple and attrac
tive. If any slogan at all should be added
to our plates it should definitely be “The
Lone Star State,” a motto all Texans can
be proud of.
Hopefully, public outcry against the
new project will be enough to stop the
commission’s endeavor, just as it did
when the “Wildflower State” proposal
was defeated. “The Friendship State”
motto is definitely wimpy and works
against the spirit of individuality and
character that most Texans have
worked to promote. And as Ann Rich
ards said, we Texans have an image that
“we’re great, we’re wonderful, and we
think we are.” And the “friendship”
motto just isn’t appropriate.
And I have only one message for the
Texas Highway Commission: don’t
mess with Texas’ license plates.
Damon Arhos is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for The Battal
ion.
NEWS FLASH: Exxon has now de
cided that Alaska can get along fine
without its cleanup help four months af
ter one of its oil liners rammed into a
reef off the Alaskan coast, ravishing the
virginal environment.
While various condemnations and ac
cusations have been hurled at Captain
Joseph Hazelwood, perhaps deservedly
so, perhaps not, the undeniably talented
seaman with an unfortunate fondness
for alcohol has not been the sole man on
the whipping post. Exxon itself has been
harshly criticized for its disorganized
and half-hearted attempts to clean up
Prince William Sound and restore the
spoiled environment to a semblance of
what it was before the fateful night of
March 24.
Chairman L.G. Rawl, hardly what
one would call a master of public rela
tions, has done little to improve Exxon’s
negative image with an angry public
that is demanding answers.
But a recent investigation by Time
magazine has uncovered subtler and
more disturbing charges concerning the
company’s inconsistency in internal op
erations.
While many have condemned Exxon
for its cleanup efforts, others have
jumped to the company’s rescue, citing
its past record and present market posi
tion as proof of Exxon being above re
proach. But the fact is that while Exxon
forbids drinking on its ships, it nonethe
less provides low-alcohol beer for all of
its sailors. Even though the infamous
Captain Hazelwood had consumed two
of the bottles of beer before the colli
sion, the low-alcohol beer was available
to him because Exxon itself made it
readily available, knowing full well his
past history of alcoholism.
Furthermore, the investigation dis
covered that Exxon has drastically re
duced crew size on its operating ships,
including the Valdez. As a result, sea
men were working up to 14 hour shifts.
Pam
Mooman
Guest Columnist
pound your losses and keep throfl
money down a bottomless pit?Ail
are trying to do is clean up theeni!
ment — nothing very import
pressing. Why worry about theen®
ment at all? If it is nature, thenii
just grow another one, can’t it?
On the other hand, if you a:: ]
state of Alaska, you would mostliki
dismayed at Exxon’s declaration
dependence from further respoM
ity. This declaration conies afterpki
from Exxon to undo all damageq;
its power to Prince William Sound S
But there’s the key phrase: "witiitl
power.” While workers may beaki
scoop up some of the 11 millionp.
of goo choking the Alaskan coasL®
they can’t bring back the thousanc 1
birds, hundreds of otters and the
iad of other plants and animals ;|
have died as a result of the oil spill ';
Prince William Sound, despitererfl
ranees from optimistic politicians,■
never be the same — its purityandoS
stillness can never be fully recovt*
even if Exxon had made legitimait l
forts to clean up its massive boo-boo |
Exxon’s top management has : .
died this situation poorly, and A:
will have to forever pay for E»:
careless handling of its operations.
Exxon’s past record, while it ma;
perceived by most people as pos:%
does not justify abandonment ofitsd
toward Alaska. Perhaps Exxon’s m
agement has not yet outgrown itsdfl
hood and learned an important Its*
in maturity: If you make a mistake,if |
responsibility for your actions andtrH
take care of the problems you have ill
ated.
Exxon claimed that computer tech
nology aboard the ships allowed the
ships to safely maintain smaller crews.
But this claim will not change the fact
that Second Mate Lloyd LeCain, possi
bly more technically competent to oper
ate the ship than Third Mate Gregory
Cousins, was in bed, exhausted and un
able to work when the Cousins steered
the Valdez into the reef.
And now, after investing $6 million
and four months in a seemingly futile
Exxon has not clearly done eitheil
these things and is seated right no*
that big safety zone we call “a grayartj
Exxon looks like it is doing quite)
and sounds like it is saying impoi
things, but in reality Exxon is i
ent in its actions and unintellijij
throughout its speeches.
While Joseph Hazelwood maybe: |
most convenient of beings — these)!*
goat — for Exxon, the problemstbatB
to the tragic Valdez accident go farlj
yond an allegedly drunken captains
Name your child after me, please
cleanup effort, Exxon has announced it judgment. They reach all the wayhif
ic r^iillinrr /'ll 11 t Aloclzo ir~> /=» f m U r- t/'x \ r r t rA
I don’t have any children. There are
many reasons why not, one being I’m
afraid if I had a son, he would come
home one day wearing an earring and I
would have to strangle him.
But that’s not what this about. This is
about the fact that a number of my over-
40 friends suddenly are having babies
and, with no children of my own in
sight, I have tried to convince each of
them to name their newborns after me.
I think it would be a wonderful ges
ture of kindness and friendship.
At least tw r o of these new dads have
already turned me down. They both
had girls.
“What kind of name is Lewisanna?”
one said to me.
“It’s a fine name,” I said. “It’s a very
American name, too.”
My suggestion to the other friend,
who also had a baby daughter, was to
name her Leweez.
It’s even misspelled,” he said. “I can’t
name my child a misspelled word.”
Lewis
Grizzard
Columnist
“Look,” I said, “the clock is ticking on
me here. I’m not going to say there’s no
chance whatsoever I’ll ever have any
children of my own, but just in case I
don’t, I would like to at least have one
named after me.”
I could see the concern come over my
friend’s faces when I put a little guilt on
them.
“Lewzandria?”
“Now that sounds interesting,” said
my friend.
“Are you out of your mind?” said his
wife.
I .was running out of time and ideas
for names. I got desperate.
“Lewalsindra. She might grow up to
be a basketball player.”
“No.”
Now I was past desperate.
“Grizzinda?”
They both laughed uncontrollably.
Anybody out there with a new baby
daughter? “Grizzenthia” is such a lovely
name, don’t you think?
Copyright 1989, Cowles Syndicate
is pulling out of Alaska in September,
lock, stock and barrel.
Now wait a minute. Isn’t there a small
problem inherent in Exxon’s latest ef
fort at brainstorming? “Why, no,” you
might say. “Of course there’s not a prob
lem.”
No, no, of course there’s not a prob
lem — if your name is Exxon. Why com-
to Exxon’s very own top officers)
their twisted philosophy of how topi
executive and run a company.
Pam Mooman is a senior jourmh
major. As with all columns, opiiii
expressed by Guest Columnists itti
necessarily those of The Battalion, f
sons interested in submittingguesU
umns should contact the Opinion fi-
Editor at 845-3314.
MAsRdW'ISS
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
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Ellen Hobbs,
Editor
Juliette Rizzo,
Opinion Page Editor
Fiona Soltes,
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Drew Leder, Chuck Squatriglia,
News Editors
Steven Merritt,
Sports Editor
Katny Haveman,
Art Director
Hal Hammons,
Makeup Editor
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66
Please hold ovr l^ace 3 till we get hack, OK ?..