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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1993)
1993 n? i be- in or y as r the i will day, tside i re- dis- I his- 3 en- f 12 was ipri- knew nney lling, team- ering final ictors sen- dan- only s my t my reac- I had irt of Plus, ■ first head lilita- lajor, oint- ghest men- :ame days s ex- that A’ith, ; the ’rent ? ini- ams Iters him pted out d fo- 12-0 lely N\r\- was vest jbli- nes icks icat- stir ? he •ked was re," ^as -ove d to •veil ]iab 'ere and vas the ary, _en- ac- he aot- re- ;t," vill ills lly, /be na to aey ers .de ng be Opinion Tuesday, March 2,1993 The Battalion Editorials Tragedy in New York Precautions could 7 ve saved lives Perhaps the greatest tragedy in Friday's explosion of the World Trade Center is that at least some of the five deaths and more than 1,000 injuries could have been avoided. As early as six years ago, the Port Authority of New York and New Jer sey was warned by its terrorism task force that it needed to take steps to protect the World Trade Center from a car bomb explosion. The task force report not only warned of the poten tial for bomb blasts, but issued sever al recommendations to guard against such tragedies as well. Unfortunately, only one of the rec ommendations was implemented — and that involved beefing up security on the 67th floor, where the executive director's office is located and where the board members meet. Sadly, the other recommendations - which were rather easy and rela tively inexpensive to implement — were never enacted. These sugges tions included: removing public parking from the center's garage, moving the main and back-up elec trical systems farther apart so one blast could not knock out both power supplies, moving the police station and emergency command center far ther apart, and installing battery- powered emergency lighting in the stairwells of the 110-story buildings. When compared to the grave con sequences of Friday's explosion, the security measures that building ad ministrators failed to implement were not that costly. In fact, such measures could have saved lives and reduced injury to those involved. Granted, building administrators do not have control over bomb threats and explosions, but they do have control over precautionary measures designed to guard against such tragedy. Although it would not be feasible to stop and search every car entering the parking garage of the World Trade Center, at least some of these task force recommendations are more feasible indeed. The fact that the administrators failed to implement these relatively simple and inexpensive recommen dations, however, is both incompre hensible and unexcusable. Compared to other countries, the United States has been very fortunate for the most part by managing to avoid terrorist attacks in the past. However, as evi denced by Friday's explosion, this country is not immune to terrorism. These simple recommendations must be implemented in government buildings and major international fa cilities throughout the country not only to improve building security, but more importantly, to save lives. It's off the record Now you see it, now you don't On Friday, the Houston Chronicle reported that state Rep. Harold Dut ton, D-Houston, has introduced a bill enabling for the erasure of probation from court records. Under this pro posal, cases where the charges had been dismissed or the accused had been acquitted would be wiped from court records. However, the possible result of changing the way Texas deals with court records make this proposal a bad idea. Current state laws contain strict guidelines for the erasure of acquit tals and dismissals from court records. The procedure involves pe titioning the court to have the arrest record or acquittal removed from the record. If Dutton's bill passes, such records would be cleared automati cally. Officials in the Harris County dis trict attorney's office criticized the proposal, saying that erasures would make it very difficult to track repeat offenders when dealing with such common crimes as drunken driving and theft. The officials characterized the bill as an attempt to “rewrite his tory," and noted that it would take important events off of public record. The general counsel for the district attorney's office. Bill Delmore, point ed out that record erasure would al low offenders receiving probation for their first offense to escape more se vere penalties with subsequent crimes. Delmore raised the prospect of a criminal committing several of fenses, such as drunken driving, and never graduating beyond probation as a punishment. In Rep. Dutton's own case, the particulars of the bill raise suspicion. Dutton has been charged with reck less conduct, which is a Class B mis demeanor. The charge involves a 1992 incident in which Dutton's wife accused him of threatening her with a gun. If his bill passes, Dutton's case could be affected in several ways. If he were to receive probation, which the district attorney has already of fered, and the term of the probation is extended beyond Sept. 1, all records would be erased. If his case were to be dismissed, the record would be deleted automatically. Whether Dutton will gain person ally from this legislation, the auto matic deletion of court records is a bad idea. The state already has strong rules concerning the erasure of acquittals and dismissals. The precedent of erasing proba tion records is extremely dangerous, because criminals that would other wise be incarcerated might be al lowed to walk free. The current criminal justice system certainly has its flaws, but expanding the ability to erase public records won't help fix them. Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorial board only They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, and Mail Call items express the opinions of the authors only. The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and will print as many as space allows In the Mall Call section. Letters must be 300 words or less and indude the author's name, class, and phone number. Due to space restnctions, guest columns will not be accepted unless the author contacts the opinion page for prior approval before submitting columns. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters should be addressed to; The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald /Mail stop 1111 Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843 Page 7 Good news can be so sickening Town's attempt to remove racial barriers not genuine JULIE POLSTON Asst. Opinion Editor They say hey little boy you can' t go Where the others go 'Cause you don't look like they do Said hey old man how can you stand To think that way Did you really think about it Before you made the rules? That's just the way it is Some things will never change That's just the way it is But don't you believe them - Bruce Hornsby, "The Way It Is" P erhaps there is nothing more ironic than the sick-to-your- stomach feeling you get from certain kinds of good news. Ever have one of those feelings? As I sat here in The Battalion newsroom reading the Sunday paper, I came across an article that left me with mixed emotions. As I read, it happened: My stomach began to turn as this cruel twist of irony surrounding what is essentially good news took off down a windy path. The article discussed the racial tensions and problems that still exist in the small Texas town of Vidor. And despite this town's snail-paced efforts to make some positive changes, most people tend to remember the Vidor of old — and with good reason. Vidor is, or at least was, a Klan town infamous for its hostility towards African-Americans — it is even rumored that a sign is posted warning African-Americans not to let the sun set down on them in Vidor. Last week, the first African-American resident moved to Vidor as a result of a federal court's integration order. His name is John DecQuir, and he is a brave man. Though it is wonderful that Vidor is trying to change its ways, I think it is pitiful that this town is being forced to do so. And here's where the confusion and the ironic sick-to- my-stomach feeling began to set in. Am I supposed to feel glad that Vidor is finally attempting to integrate, or am I supposed to feel just a tad disheartened that it took a federal court order to do so? Frankly, I'm feeling quite a bit of both. Naturally, I think it is great — and long past due — that this Texas town infamous for its pride in racial tensions and KKK rallies is, ever-so-slowly, being pulled into the real world where whites really aren't any better than anybody else. On the other hand, I am very disappointed to learn that nearly 30 years after the official "Civil Rights Movement," Vidor is being forced to take such "noble" action. When I read that this integration was the result of a court order, my mind immediately shot back to 1963, when President Kennedy had to call on the national guard to escort two African-American college ^tudents to the University of Alabama. I mean, is this 1963 or 1993? I thought all of that "separate but equal" nonsense was supposed to have ended in the late '60s. In theory apparently, but that's all. The fact that this country still needs a federal court order nearly 30 years after such an intense, long overdue movement is pathetic, to say the least. It was pathetic then, and it's pathetic now. In fact, it's pitiful that this country had such a segregated society that it even needed a Civil Rights Movement in the first place. As I continued to read the article, the knots in my stomach began to tighten. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to learn that the lone man boldly going where no African-American has gone before feels that he doesn't "have anything to be afraid of." But if this is true, why are there two Vidor policemen keeping post at the 74-unit housing project where DecQuir is now permitted to reside? More irony, and once again I am confused as the knots in my stomach grew stronger. Granted, I'm happy for this man and am glad that he is finally able to live in the town's public housing project. But at the same time, I think it is a shame that policemen must be on guard in order to ensure DecQuir survives in his new hometown. After all, why should he — or anyone for that matter — be afraid to live anywhere? This is America, and in theory, we are supposed to be able to live, work, study, eat, shop and so forth anywhere we want — regardless of one's race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or anything else you can think of. We are supposed to be able to do these things without being afraid. We are supposed to be able to do these things without needing "permission." Sadly, that isn't the case. And apparently, this country has quite a ways to go on the roller coaster ride to racial equality. I hope you can stomach the ride. Polston is a senior journalism and political science major. i0 » Tax hike, budget cuts needed to slash deficit This letter is in response to Gary Gaither's letter printed in Feb. 22 edition of the Battalion. In this letter he stated that President Clinton's supporters have "fallen victim" to his "smooth talking" and now will be forced to pay higher taxes due to the unkept promises he made in the 1992 campaign. He feels we now have fallen victim to Democratic "tax-and- spend" schemes in an economy that appears to be improving. I agree that President Clinton has gone back on his word by proposing to tax the middle-class through broad-based energy taxes, but I believe this is necessary in order to start reducing the skyrocketing deficit. He also wants to tax the rich who did not pay their fair share during twelve years of trickle-down economics that tended not to trickle. At the same the new administration plans to make large budget cuts in the military and cut the government bureaucracy through attrition. As far as spending the President wants to provide jobs by improving infrastructure and retrain displaced defense workers while investing in education. It is true the economy is improving but at a very slow rate. Hopefully, this plan will provide jobs while giving and added boost to the economy. The sheer fact is something must be done towards reducing the deficit and improving the economy at a faster pace. Something other than bickering over what will be done. It will take "sacrifice," as Ross Perot says, "shared sacrifice," so that our children and grand-children will not bear the total burden. Unfortunately, with Democrats in control, the steps taken to do this will not make Republicans or Rush Limbaugh fans very happy. Charles Ewings Class of'93 Bad bus system leaves student frustrated Because I needed to get to school early Thursday morning, I was at my stop at 6:50 a.m. I was surprised to watch the first bus skip my stop altogether. By the time the second one arrived it was already 7:10 a.m. I could not believe what happened next. When this bus reached the "outermost point," the driver just stopped and waited. He claimed to have left early, and said he needed to wait to get back on schedule. When he finally decided to go to school, I noticed two other Elephant Walk busses were ahead of us. This means that even though I was at the stop before 7:00 a.m., I was riding the "fourth" bus of the day. It was after 7:30 a.m. when we arrived in front of the MSC! This is not an isolated incident - only the most outrageous...so far! JeffNoblin Class of '93