The Battalion
OPINION
Friday, April 20,1990
Recycling will help
save our environment
The College of Science Dean’s
Forum is composed of a small group
of science majors who meet regularly
with Dean John Fackler to discuss
current issues related to the sciences.
As can be easily understood,
environmental concern has been a
Tim Lotze
and
Christie Gunter
Reader’s Opinion
wimply turning off the water
while you shave or brush your
teeth could save you up to five
gallons of water.
major topic at the meeting.
With the continuously depleting
resources and the increasing
pollution of our environment, now is
the time for students to express their
overall concern for current world
conditions.
One of the easiest ways to achieve a
better state of the environment is
through
recycling.
The
potential of
recycling is
incredible;
all we have to
do is take
advantage of
reminders, recycling can easily
become a habit in your office or
home.
Many students have already
recognized the immediate need for
increased recycling. Along with this,
several other steps toward
conservation could be taken.
Simply turning off the water while
you shave or brush your teeth could
save you up to five gallons of water.
Avoiding styrofoam cups down on
chloroform that damages the ozone
layer.
Taking your name off of large
mailing lists would save paper and
decrease your “junk mail” by 75
percent. You
On our
campus and
in our
homes, large
amounts of
recyclable
materials are
available to
us. Coca-
Cola alone
brings over
two million
cans to A&M each year. Paper, glass
and cardboard refuse increase the
amount of recyclable material
several-fold.
The Texas Environment Action
Coalition will provide any dorm or
department on campus with a
recycling container for aluminum
cans. We urge you to contact the
TEAC and obtain your free recycling
container by calling Mark Evans at
847-1728.
The TEAC also has paper
collection bins behind Peterson
Building and the Soil and Crop
Sciences Building. Through constant
can do that
by writing to:
Mail
Preference
Service,
Direct
Marketing
Association,
11 West
42nd St.,
P.O. Box
3861, New
York, NY
10163-3861.
If you are
interested in
helping
preserve our
environment,
begin
recycling or
find out what
other concerns exist and how you can
get involved to produce change.
Join a group like TEAC or read a
book like^SO Tilings You Can Do to
Save the Earth” to find out more. We
encourage you to think about your
behavior and do what you can to be
more considerate of our planet.
Tim Lotze is a junior physics major
and Christie Gunter is a senior
chemistry major. Both are members of
the College of Science Dean’s Forum.
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I exas needs new taxes to survive
George Bush was right when he said
“no new taxes” for the United States,
but Clayton Williams is wrong when he
says the same thing about Texas.
The biggest problem facing the
United States right now is the budget
deficit. The main reasons we have the
budget deficit are fiscal
mismanagement and our inability to
make tough choices like slashing social
security and foreign aid to countries like
Israel.
Scot O.
Walker
Editor
theories about how taxes inhibitgi
and investment. I believe all those
theories, but 1 also believe that thereis
minimal level of contribution thatthe
state just has to get from citizens and
businesses, and Texas just isn’t getdn
it.
We certainly have mismanagement
and waste in our state budget, but if all
the state programs were 100 percent
efficient, they still would be way
underfunded. A good local example is
our own Evans Library. The money
allocated by the state amounts to about
50 percent (some estimates say as low as
40 percent) of what the library actually
needs to operate at minimal levels.
education, and the only way to do
anything about it is through taxes.
Everyone hates to hear that, and
politicians absolutely refuse to say it, but
sooner or later everyone must realize
that on a state level, the time has come.
In every area, Texas spends less per
capita than the rest of the 10 most
populous states. Less on public
education, less on higher education, less
on public health and hospitals, less on
social programs.
The state simply needs more money.
Everything is underfunded, especially
Jim Mattox was fond of offering the
lottery as a panacea for what ails us. But,
as Jim “Just Call Me Jesus” Mattox knew
well, the lottery would raise only $600
million in a good year. Sounds like a lot
of money, but it would not pay for the
public school reforms mandated by the
courts, much less make up the
disparities in funding of other
programs. And considering our most
recent experiment with legalized
gambling — the horse racing debacle
that is costing us more money than we
are making — it’s obvious we can’t put
all our hopes on a lottery.
When you can’t balance a budget,w
have two choices: cut spendingorraist
income. Spending in Texas is already
below accpetable levels, and the only
way to increase income is throughneit
taxes. Texans are not presently
staggering under the load of our tax
burden, and I’m not suggesting thatw
tax ourselves into a recession.
But Texas needs new taxes. Texans
need new taxes, and Texas A&Mand
the other schools all need new taxes.
But, if you are still are opposed to
new' taxes for Texas, don’t worry.Thu
is no aspiring politician anywhere
state who will stand up and say we
new' taxes. And the saddest partisthat
we are damaging the future ofourstai
by underfunding education, and it will
cost us even more later to make up for
all the damage we are doing.
Yes, I’ve he;ard all the economic
Scot Walker is a senior journalism
major.
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Xenophobe fears other opinions
EDITOR.
I am writing in response to Mr. Gary M. Gaither’s letter in
the April 27 issue. What ever happened to “The land of the
free” and “All men are created equal”? Would you have ho
mosexuals drinking from separate water fountains now as
well? You represent the classic xenophobe. You are terrified
of those who have different opinions or values than your own
and seek to repress them.
Your own example of “The Decline and Fall of the Ro
man Empire” should tell you this. Who was throwing who to
the lions? You are attempting to make common cause with
other of your ilk around the world, but by no means do you
represent a majority, and even so, a majority is not always in
the right.
Your use of the word “perversity” to describe these opin
ions clearly shows your fear of the other. In short, sir, your
bigoted remarks are closed-minded and ill justified, and your
feeble attempt to link your opinion to history is comptempti-
ble.
I believe South Africa would be a better climate for your
opinions. Don’t get me all wrong: I believe that you should
have the right to express your opinions, no matter how much
I disagree with them, but you should always remember that
everyone else does as well. Or is that also a “perversity” in
your book?
Paul J. Bounds ’92
Is the Dream alive?
EDITOR:
My friends say that if it is in The Battalion it is the truth,
but Martin is dead and Bobby went, too. So I ask you, is the
Dream alive? Jesse said “Yes!” The University of Texas said
“Yes!” Public Enemy and NWA both said “Yes!” Demetra said
“Yes!” They all said “Yes, the Dream is alive!”
But it is 1990. Where is the Dream? Is it in the snide looks,
the less than subtle innuendoes, the separate but equal treat
ment, the freedom not to associate? Is it in the racial jokes? Is
it in the blatant, obvious and painful embarrassment of the
Delta Tau Delta and Phi Gamma Delta organization as UT? Is
it in South Africa? Is it in the destroyed apartheid shanty on
the Texas A&M campus?
George Bush said a new breeze would blow. All I feel is
the same hot air we had for the last eight years. It sounds like
the same tune with just a new' voice singing the harmony, but
harmony is not what I see and hear.
The comments at work are not kind. “ They” should do
for themselves. “They” are causing too much dissent. How
can the Dream survive the mentality of “they” and “them"
versus “us” and “we”? Tell me “Is the Dream alive?”
Paul Normandin ’84
Have an opinion? Express it!
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The Battalipn Editorial Board
Scot Walker, Editor
Monique Threadgill,
Managing Editor
Ellen Hobbs, Opinion Page Editor
Melissa Naumann, City Editor
Cindy McMillian,
Lisa Robertson,
News Editors
Richard Tijerina,
Sports Editor
Fredrick D. Joe, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice,
Lifestyles Editor
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thor, and do not necessarily represent the
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faculty or the Board of Regents.
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Adventures In Cartooning by Don Atkinson Jr.