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Opinion
Tuesday, September 14,1993
The Battalion Editorial Board
CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief
|ULI PHILLIPS, managing editor MARK EVANS, city editor
DAVE THOMAS, night news editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Aggietife editor
BELINDA BLANCARTE, night news editor MICHAEL PLUMER, sports editor
MACK HARRISON, opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, sports editor
KYLE BURNETT, photo editor
The Battalion
Page 9
.. $0bH '\fS6
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EDITORIAL
Nuclear benefits
Reactor fee exemption needed
Congress recently imposed
anew $62,100 licensing fee
upon all university-run nu
clear reactors effective Nov. 17.
As a result, the Nuclear Regu
latory Commission is in the
process of rewriting the licens
ing guidelines under which
commercial and non-profit or
ganizations would operate,
fhese guidelines would also
indude any exemptions.
While the final pieces are
not yet in place, many in the
academic community fear that
these annually-assessed fees
would ultimately affect the de
commissioning of many of
these all-important educational
facilities, including the two
f/iat Texas A&M opefate.
These fees must not be al
lowed to pass. Many educa
tional institutions exist on a
shoestring budget as it is, and
these fees would simply render
most nuclear engineering pro
grams financially non-viable,
resulting in program downsiz
ing or complete cancellation,
he government must not
sight of the fact that these
facilities are not for profit, but
for education and technologi
cal advancement.
Time and again our elected
representatives preach on the
irtue and necessity of educa-
ion. It is only natural then
hat they rethink this new
mandate, for it is clearly incon
sistent with the supposed lofty,
invaluable role of education.
The educational import of
these precious few facilities can
not be overstated. These reac
tors afford the opportunity for
study in not only nuclear engi
neering, but also in medicine,
oceanography, anthropology,
and many other applications.
The University of Texas has
shut down its nuclear facility.
This void now leaves Texas
A&M in the position of having
to host an ever-growing num
ber of students and educators
from other schools who de
pend to a great degree upon
visits to our facility.
Currently, the A&M reactors
serve as many as 13 other insti
tutions throughout this part of
the country. As such, ours is a
nuclear engineering department
ranked nationally in the top ten.
Faculty members agree,
however, that without our two
reactors, A&M's standing will
drop significantly. University-
run nuclear facilities provide
an extremely necessary techno
logical asset to academia and
society alike.
Congress must rethink this
policy of predatory, destruc
tive operating fees for research
reactors. These are fees which
truly are much too expensive
to justify.
Parking officers deserve cooperation
PTTS employees endure verbal abuse, vehicular assault
*// rji|
ROBERT
VASQUEZ
Columnist
Ihey are the
enemy.
Trick them
when you can." You
learn the rules from
day one. "Do every
thing possible to un
dermine their authori
ty. They live to get
you."
They circle like
sharks waiting to at
tack ... pum, pum ....
And don't you dare let
them know you're
scared ... pum, PUM ....
They only attack when
they smell fear.
Or blood.
Just when you thought it was safe to go
back into the parking lot — PUM, PUM,
PUM, PUM -
PTTS!!! They're baaack!
For as long as there have been parking vi
olations, there have been parking tickets.
Walking to my car from class one day, I
noticed one of them lurking in the parking
lot where my poor little vehicle lie helpless,
unaware of the menacing danger that threat
ened to snuff out its imported existence with
the slap of a computer-generated ticket.
"Run!" was my first instinct. Call 911!
Alert the authorities! Wait a minute, I
thought. They are the authorities.
And what was I afraid of? I wasn't doing
anything wrong. My car was parked in the
right parking lot. I had a valid parking per
mit hung so that the expiration date showed
clearly through my regulation-tinted wind
shield. They couldn't touch me.
Too many students feel the same way I
did when they see those blue uniforms pa
trolling the parking lots.
"They look at us like we're the enemy,"
says Belender Wells, a PTTS officer who is
also studying to earn her degree in nutrition.
"Most students just don't understand that
we're here to provide a service that really
helps them."
Any of the 40,000 students who have tried
to park on this campus — which, at last
count, had a total of, oh, 22 parking spaces —
know that such spaces are a rare and pre
cious commodity around here. And, very of
ten, students who have not paid for a park
ing permit are more than happy to take the
last parking space when the other 21 are full.
Now, where does that leave you — one who
presumably has paid the $2,500 parking fee?
One PTTS officer remembers walking onto
a parking lot when a member of the Corps of
Cadets ran up to her saying, "Get him! Get
him."
"Tm so glad you're here," the cadet told
her. "Give this man a ticket. I've been dri
ving around for thirty minutes looking for a
parking space, and this idiot doesn't even
have a parking permit."
That person realized what most students
don't: If it weren't for the fear that most peo
ple feel for PTTS, parking on this campus
would be total chaos.
Instead of recognizing the service that
PTTS provides, students blindly resent them
for doing their job. And many students are all
too quick to display their displeasure, as if it
were the officer's job to console the offender.
Some students simply refuse to accept the
ticket. One officer was pushed and then hit
by a car door as a student scrambled to get
into her car and drive away — while the
woman was placing the ticket on the wind
shield.
Now, given that this IS college, and most
of the salmon who make it this far up the
academic stream are presumed to employ a
modicum of rational thought and behavior,
one must ask: Who is the idiot? Who is be
ing unreasonable? The officer was merely
doing her job.
Too many students park where they know
they shouldn't. In case you're not sure, vou
should look carefully. Any sign or large slab
of asphalt with big, yellow or white letters
stating such ambiguous messages as "NO
PARKING" or "24 HOUR TOW AWAY
ZONE" are usually a good indication that,
well, you probably just shouldn't park there.
Granted, they may not all have the de
meanor of a mama patrol officer or a girl
scout leader, but many of these people are,
well, people. Some are nice, some are not
Some are grouchy, or just plain hot. Most of
ficers are amazingly friendly, despite their
working conditions. The fact that they don't
lose it and blow everyone to oblivion — in
grand disgruntled U.S. Postal employee tra
dition — is a testament to their patience.
By the way, the lady who was hit by the
car door has not been able to return to work.
The student didn't escape unscathed, either
Students who show too much zeal in voicing
their displeasure can be suspended from
school and arrested, depending upon their
actions. If you ever have a question or com
plaint about parking or PTTS, call 862-PARK.
There, you can talk to someone who can help
you with your problem. And you have the
added bonus of not being able to incriminate
yourself by physically assaulting someone.
The people who work for PTTS aren't evil.
They don't deserve your wrath. They're just
doing their job. Give them a break. Give
them a chance. Give 'em a little respect
They don't want your blood. They just want
you to park where you're supposed to.
Robert Vasquez is a senior journalism major
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Editorials appearing in The
Battalion reflect the views of
the editorial board. They do
not necessarily reflect the
opinions of other Battalion
staff members, the Texas
A&M student body, regents,
administration, /acuity or
staff.
Columns, guest columns
and letters express the
opinions of the authors.
The Battalion encourages
letters to the editor and will
print as many as space
allows. Letters must be 300
words or less and include the
author’s name, class, and
phone number.
We reserve the right to edit
letters and guest columns for
length/style, and accuracy.
Contact the opinion editor
for information on submitting
guest columns.
/: Address letters to:
The Battalion - Mail Cali
013 Reed McDonald
Mall idopl Ilf c/- •
Texas A&M University
College StatidiS/TX 7:7843
Some people wander through life with no sense of direction
H i, my name
is Jenny
Magee, and
.have no
sense of direction.
Hiere, it's out.
I have decided
to face the fact that
itany given time I
Jm almost certain
to have absolutely
no idea where I
sin, how 1 got there
or how to get back
to where I am sup
posed to be.
No, I am not a
blonde. My prob
lem is rooted more deeply than hair folli-
tles. But I know I am not alone. I know
out there in every corner of this far reach
ing earth, there are millions of others who
live the silent embarrassing life of the di
rectionally impaired. I, of course, have no
idea how to find you.
Inspired by this era of common causes
and group support, I have decided to
come forth — no holds barred — and tell
JENNY
MAGEE
Columnist
my story. I was going to check some
specifics with my inner child, but I have
forgotten the way to her house.
It all began in elementary school, sur
rounded by plastic globes and colorful
maps, where I was introduced to the very
basic concept of right and left. With a
keenly sadistic smile, my teacher instruct
ed us to hold up our hands, point our in
dex fingers upward and our thumbs in
ward. "Now children (hee-hee), the one
that makes the L is left, and the other is
right."
Is it me? Am I crazy? What is going on
here? They both make Ls.
In the 13 years of my life that have
passed since this experience, I can vouch
for the fact that at least one other person
was thrown asunder by this right / left
instructional demonstration.
And as if that were not enough to en
sure a life of misery, they slapped us with
the Never Wear Sweaty Earmuffs theory.
Otherwise known as the concept of north,
west, south and east.
This is a very handy little idea if you
are the type of person who is inclined to
strap a compass to the front of your face.
But to the directionally challenged — not
to mention normal people — it is not ex
actly the most efficient navigational tool
for everyday life.
Okay, so there are probably a good
amount of people out there who could
find the sun and tell me which way is
Forget the fact that I knew
how to stop for a full
blown three seconds at a
stop sign; somebody should
have figured out that after
three seconds I had no idea
where I was going.
north. But, "turn right, then left, then left
again and right one more time" in the
middle of the night .... Now how many
people can tell me which way you're go
ing?
Backed by this extremely shaky foun
dation of directional ability, I managed to
flounder through life and eventually
make it from point A to point B.
Then I turned 16, and I found myself
driving straight into fiery hell — located
somewhere between my house and 30
minutes in the opposite direction of my
best friend's house.
When I took my driving test, they for
got to test for a very important driving
skill — a sense of direction. Forget the
fact that I knew how to stop for a full
blown three seconds at a stop sign; some
body should have figured out that after
three seconds I had no idea where I was
going.
I really shutter to think of the many
cars I have almost made postcards out of
when I discovered in mid-intersection
that I had turned right instead of left. The
Texas State Highway Department has
tried in all their sympathy to make life a
little easier for the directionally impaired
by installing WRONG WAY signs period
ically on state roads. However, by the
time you read a sign that indicates that
you're driving on the wrong side of the
road, there is not much a 12" by 15" red
sign can do for you.
Now, for those of you feeling smug in
your great sense of directional ability, al
low me to explain. Just as a color blind
person does not intentionally mean to
wear a red-check shirt and purple pants,
the directionally impaired are not lost be
cause they are stupid.
Quite honestly, we are most often far
too preoccupied with absorbing atmos
phere than with connecting it to all the
other familiar dots in the pattern of our
lives. We see the world as a great impres
sionistic painting — time, space and lo
cale are abstract.
I have learned that there is a way to
find good in every one of life's hardships.
Had I been blessed with a sense of direc
tion, I probably would not be at A&M
right now. The first time I came to A&M
as a high school senior, I was wandering
around campus with a friend with no clue
where I was. All of a sudden, a guy ap
peared out of nowhere. "Howdy! Are you
lost? Do you need some help finding your
way?" That's all it took; I knew this was
the school for me.
Jenny Magee is a sophomore English and
journalism major
Clearing up some
myths about rabies
In response to the Sept. 1, Mail Call let
ter entitled "Reader bit by dog worried
about rabies," we would like to clear up
misunderstandings about the transmis
sion of rabies to humans through animal
bites and inform the public about the risks
of contracting rabies and the importance
of vaccinating your pets.
Despite what the Sept. 1 letter stated,
rabies is not always fatal. In every case in
which a bite victim has received the
complete post-exposure treatment from
a physician before symptoms of rabies
appeared, the patient has survived.
In order to protect yourself, if you do
receive a scratch or bite wound from an
unfamiliar animal, wash the area thor
oughly with soap and water immediately.
If the animal is a dog or a cat, find out
if it has received its annual rabies vac
cine, keep the animal isolated, and notify
your physician and your local veterinari
an. The animal may need to be quaran
tined or euthanized in order to deter
mine if the animal was indeed infected.
If you are bitten by a wild animal and it
is possible to catch the offender without
further harm to yourself, do so, and im
mediately contact animal control officers
in your area.
In the United States rabies probably
poses more of a threat to peace of mind
than to human life; however, it is impor
tant to know the proper procedures to
take in the case of an animal bite.
Animals do not always show symp
toms of rabies, so it is better to be safe
than sorry. In places where rabies has
been carefully managed by laws requir
ing ayiimals to receive a yearly rabies
vaccination by a licensed veterinarian,
the prevalence of the rabies virus in do
mesticated animals is extremely low.
Therefore, as a responsible pet owner,
it is extremely important that you keep
your pets current on their rabies vaccina
tions. Let us work together to keep our an
imals and our loved ones safe from this
virus.
Loren Reynolds
Second year veterinary student
Dara Fariss
Third year veterinary student
On behalf of the members of the Omega
Tau Sigma veterinary school service fra
ternity