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The Battalion
The
OPINION
Friday, August 11,1989
Columnist need;
lesson in history
Mail Call
Organizations beware
EDITOR:
We are writing concerning the article that appeared in
the August 9, 1989 issue about the confiscated Cotton Bowl
T-shirts. The man in question, John Tate, is not the
unfortunate victim that The Battalion article makes him out
to be. It just so happens that last year, the student
organization we represent had dealings with John Tate (then
named J. T. Enterprises, and not Hullabaloo Custom Screen
Printing). We had a contract with Mr. Tate to sell his T-shirts
in the MSC for a donation of $500 to our organization. The
T-shirts were sold during several football weekends over a
two month period. At the end of this time, he was to pay us
the $500. Unfortunately, we never received the money from
him. We felt like he was willing to work with us when
dif ficulties arose, making it seem that his only concern was to
make a profit when he represented himself as also caring
about us as an organization.
If nothing else is accomplished by writing this letter, we
would at least like to caution other organizations from
entering into business arrangements with Mr. Tate. A quick
review of his p^i&t business dealings with us, Campbell
Services, Texas State Fairgrounds officials, not to mention
the fact that in the past two years his company name has
changed three times (Aggie Beach Club, J.T. Enterprises,
and now Hullabaloo Custom Screen Printing) should make
any organization weary of doing business with this man.
LaRay McKay ’90
Keith Powell ’91
Off Campus Aggies
Corps is just fine
EDITOR:
I came to this fine university in the fall of 1984. I came
here primarily because I wanted an Army commission, and I
believed that A&M was the best place to get it.
This has not changed; Aggies are still held in high regard
in the military. The reason is simple— ROTC at A&M must
be augmented by membership in the Corps. It is this
extracurricular training that separates Aggie officers from
graduates of “Wednesday Warrior” schools.
Ms. Hobbs, would you sacrifice the historical quality of an
A&M commission, along with the good reputation of Aggie
officers, simply because you think non-regs should be
allowed financial aid like ROTC scholarships and contracts?
I read Jeff Osborne’s column in
Tuesday’s Battalion, or should I say sub
jected myself to the torture of trying to
read it while trying to think. His column
has little to do with the latter. Fifteen
paragraphs on “What America Should
Do,” but I found not one proposal for a
course of action! Mr. Osborne seems to
be guilty of the same crime that he ac
cuses America’s leaders of: being all
fuse and no bang.
One also wonders what Mr. Os
borne’s grades were in history and cul
tural geography. His conception of both
seems to be somewhat limited. His ex
amples of former American fortitude
need some clarification. Although the
sinking of the Maine was a catalyst to the
Spanish-American War, it must be
noted that William Randolph Hearst’s
newspaper organization had stirred up
war hysteria before the Maine incident.
Also, Cuba had been a prime target for
American jingoes since the early 19th
century, particularly so at the close of
the last century.
MitchcS
Todd
Guest Coli«!
“V
Osborne also does not fail to mention
the sinking of the Lusitania as the event
that brought the United States into
World War I. Perhaps, upon reading a
general history text, Mr. Osborne might
find that a surprising amount of time
separates the Lusitania’s sinking and the
American entry of the war, a period
punctuated by several other German-
U.S. crises.
I have nothing against non-regs— a year ago I became
one myself. But if one is going to join the military just so he
can be eligible for financial aid, then I dare say he has joined
for the wrong reason.
Ray Kornhoff ’88
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 inteyit. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address
and telephone number of the writer.
In fact, Mr. Osborne might be as
tounded to find out that it often took
years of these sorts of incidents to in
duce America into open conflict. Na
tions rarely go to war at the drop of a
hat, and thank God for that! America
has let slide many of the sorts of inci
dents that Mr. Osborne brings up. The
Panay incident comes to mind. Only
when there is a consistent pattern of
these aggressions, and these events be
come more serious, does U.S. military
action come into play as an option. War,
and acts of war, must be carefully
weiglmd by good judgment before they
ar carried out.
As for the comparison of Nazi Ger
many and Imperial Japan to the Shiite
fundamentalists of today, Mr. Osborne
may well recognize that the two former
nations were mighty world powers, eco
nomically and militarily, while
the nations that Osborne met
dangerous are either, or even»
I hese groups are just not as dan;*;
to the nation as a whole — thtfe
nothing like America’s World™
foes. They have no significantind™
base to forge the iron of'war. Thei®
no great legions of men and mactfe
wage war on land. They havetl
mada of aircraft to rain bombsal
cities. That is exactly why theyrM
terrorism as the instrument of the T
icy.
But what stand should we
combat these outrages? We canmiH
at the root causes of the problenK
cause the 1 lezbollah in Lebanon.K/
result of years of Shiite disenfranj
ment and civil war. There is nothin®
United States can do about that.
various types of military raids, the||
do little good and mu ch bad.Till
raelis have bombed P.L.O. install:®
for years, but the P.L.O. is far
cowed, and the only thing these a:
have gotten for Israel is a great do
bad press. The only useful apecti
raids and such is that they shon
manly the raiding nation is. Itissoit
national chest beating. T hat leave
country with two options: war
ing.
War, of course, is the last
tion, to be used when the action
these groups have become entireh
bearable. Also, war cannot be cot
ered as an option until thereisenc
support from the U.S. populatio:
make such an undertaking feasible
one wants another Vietnam.Thatle
us with one option: to be patient,
the fundamentalists go awayorun
continuing violence done to thisnal
and its people impels us into a i
there is little else we can dotoend
than to just wait. It is notaneasycoi
of action, but this is a grow'n-upnas
and one of the qualities ascribe:
grown-ups is patience.
Mitchell Todd is a junior bk
neering major and a guest colw
for The Battalion.
My philosophy: once a bozo always a bozo
Ted Turner’s in trouble again. All be
cause he called a bozo a bozo.
Not many people do that anymore,
because they’re afraid of offending
somebody.
Call a bozo a bozo today, and you will
be covered up in bozo wrath.
Ted Turner called female anti-abor
tionists bozos. So outraged were these
bozos, Turner’s Atlanta offices had to
put on extra operators to handle all the
outraged callers.
Remember the Supreme Court ruling
about the flag? The Supreme Court said
if some bozo wants to go out and burn
the American flag, it’s OK because such
an action falls under freedom of speech.
So what was Ted Turner doing? He
was exercising his right of free speech.
You might not agree with what the man
said, but if flag burning is protected un
der free speech, then Ted Turner
ought to be able to say what he pleases,
regardless of whom he offends.
In fact, I believe that so strongly. I’ve
decided to make public my own list of
bozos, and I frankly don’t care who it of-
Lewis
Grizzard
Columnist
fends, and I don’t have to answer the
phone around here, so call all you want.
If Gail Godfrey of Delta Airlines can
handle an entire army platoon calling
her for reservations (so go the commer
cials) my secretary, the lovely Miss
Wanda Fribish, can handle all the bozos
smart enough to dial a telephone.
The Grizzard Bozo Hall of Fame in
cludes:
— Gun nuts. May they all shoot their
toes off.
— The Rev. A1 Sharpton.
— Newt Gingrich. You can look at
him and tell he’s a bozo.
— People who think Elvis is still alive.
He’s as dead as Pete Rose.
— Morton Downey, Jr. Did you read
where he’s launching a singing career?
Get the bozo hook.
— Richard Nixon. He was already a
bozo and then he made that statement
about Congress spending too much time
on ethics. Now, he’s a double-bozo.
— Mike Tyson. A rich bozo, but still a
bozo.
— His ex-wife.
— Anybody who sends money to tele
vision evangelists, bozos all.
— The two guys who took Siskel and
Ebert’s place reviewing movies on public
televison. Their mothers dress them
funny, too.
— Members of the Ku Klux Klan.
They even wear official bozo pointed
hats.
— The entire nation of Iran.
— Geraldo Rivera.
— Religious fanatics who think the
devil is behind the annual Sports Illus
trated issue.
— Them and anybody who claims to
talk to God.
— Anybody who begs for money at
an airport.
— Automobile dealers who do their
own commercials.
— Zsa Zsa Gabor.
— Anybody who still doesn’t realize
professional wrestling is fake. Thisi
ticular brand of bozo can be dangei
— Not all anti-abortionists, butsfl
The loud ones who show up
vision being dragged away from
abortion clinic by police.
— Ted Turner, of course,
bozo, but at least he’s a bozo withfl
Which is more than you can say:
most of the others.
Miss Fribish is standing by for
calls. Fire when ready.
Copyright 1989, Cowles Syndicate
He:
Lets eliminate drug death
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
SouthWestJournalism 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
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
editprial 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, ediung 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.
In recent years a startling epidemic
has caught the attention of America.
This epidemic has caused death and de
struction of families and even the dev
astation of neighborhoods, towns and
cities.
Many people have been plagued by
drug abuse. It has claimed the lives of
thousands of individuals both guilty and
innocent. Actions have been taken to
discourage the abuse of illegal sub
stances and campaigns have flooded the
media to repress the growing problem
that has entered into the mainstream of
American life. Has this country been
faced wath an undefeatable foe, or will
we be able to regain what has been lost
in the crossfire of a society gone mad?
Many incidents of violence have
claimed the lives of many children and
adolescents across the nation. Suburbs
and city housing projects of low'er in
come have been transformed into war
zones with many innocent people being
driven by fear and violence to remain si
lent about the drug-related events tak
ing place. The w ide use of drugs in our
communities has given a new r and broad
definition to the word addict.
Curtis
Franks
Guest Columnist
Different forms of drugs have come
and gone in the last decade, but as time
progresses more drugs surface for ille
gal sale. The recent problem, a form of
cocaine known as “crack,” has enabled
more people to become involved in
drug abuse. Crack sells from $5 to $20
per rock on the street. Drug abuse in
our society isn’t restricted to urban com
munities, but has spread to the far
reaches of America’s countryside.
The efforts to control the rate of
drug flow' into the country have been
partially successful, but the rate of the
flow is too widespread for law enforce
ment officers to keep up with. Tough
penalities have been imposed on those
convicted of drug trafficking, but
usually the full sentence is not served in
jail due to overcrowding.
Have w'e really strayed away from our
priorities in life? People sometimes de
fine the drug problem as a dilem’
only suffered by the underclass, bu
reality it takes on a meaning that
eludes all races and social classes- 1
and poor. The effects may be diffet'
economically, but the final outconit
still the same.
The America we live in has faced
many challenges, but none as power 1
and destructive as drug abuse. This
lemma has had a grip on our countrf
a terrible way —ways that later in 11
ence a younger generation of thep ri
lems in our world, ways that add a
our or fame to selling drugs as if it’s
right to be a part of the illegal gambit
This plague of despair has broken 1
hearts and homes of many. Dealing
drugs in our times can sometimes
hard because of peer pressure,
avoiding problems by using drugs®
adds to one’s troubles. Drug abuse
fects us all. By dealing with it direct
maybe w'e can help another to gro"
resistance to a lifestyle of certain <
Curtis Franks is a freshman getf
studies major and a clerk for The f
talion.
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