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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 1997)
97 iursday - June 5, 1997 The Battalion >n PINION laying both sides of the field \seball, military rules and regulations apply to both sexes for equality five scitizens of a nation born out of revolution, it is not urprising that Americans ataste for rebellion. They politicians, grumble about rt ^ igtaxesand refuse to drive speed limit. luring the summer interim ofMelissa Raglin and Kelly made news headlines. These and the public’s reaction to expose the disrespect for au- jwhich persists in this coun- lisfailure to follow authority bodes ill United States. roweeksago, 12-year-old Raglin Boca Raton, Florida received her 15 atesoffame. Raglin appeared on [pages of newspapers across the itryafter being benched from her league baseball team for not wear- protective cup. Indeed, the cup re- idtoisthe strategically placed de- whichhas saved many athletically iaedmen the pain of traumatic pro- kontact to the groin. leBoca Youth Baseball League in diRaglin participates, requires boys Igirlsplaying in the infield to wear a dkn league officials discovered acatcher, had not been wearing iifamous device, they gave her an ul- — wear the cup, sit on the orplayin the outfield. Raglin and sat out for two games. She peed to wear the cup, but attend- inextgame with the offending ap- draped around her ankle instead traditional location, the incident received growing me- ittention, the National Organization linen and radio talk show host Limbaugh made statements criti- thebaseball league. Eventually, aughredeemed Raglin by ordering stveralfemale protective cups, tlisheused. Columnist <•. JOHN LEMONS Electrical engineering graduate student I rer It might seem absurd to force a girl to wear a device originally designed to protect an area men consider a most valuable asset, but the rule was deliberately designed to apply to boys and girls by the national Babe Ruth Baseball League which sanctions Raglin’s league. Jimmy Steward, commis sioner for the Babe Ruth Base ball League’s Southeast Re gion, addressed the rule’s intent. “The rules of Babe Ruth Baseball are designed to protect all participants re gardless of gender,” Steward said. The real problem with this in cident is not the application of a silly rule, but the way in which Raglin and her sympa thizers trivialized the authority of the Boca Youth Baseball League to enforce its own rules. The public complaints did not result in a rule change — they only created bad publicity for the baseball league. The recent controversy sur rounding Air Force pilot Kelly Flinn further exposes American’s disrespect for authority. Flinn, the media and even several no table congressmen claimed the Air Force treated Flinn unfairly. This is ironic, considering Flinn was the perpetrator in the case. Flinn clearly violated Air Force regulations. She was lucky to re ceive a general discharge instead of a court martial; perhaps she also should have had a scarlet ‘A’ painted on the nose of her bomber. When called to Capital Hill to testify on the Air Force’s proceedings against Flinn, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman explained the Air Force’s motivation in the case. “The adultery thing ... that’s the thing that has been spun up in the press. That’s not what the Air Force is interest ed in,” Fogleman said. “In the end, this is not an issue of adul tery. This is an issue about an officer en trusted to fly nu clear weapons who disobeyed an order, who lied.” Flinn rebelled against the Air Force’s authority when she violated an order to discontin ue her affair. She then worsened the matter as she sought sympathy for her position through interviews with the press. The military’s authority was fur ther undermined as outside sources such as the media and Sen. Trent Lott began to publicly criticize a process they did not fully understand. Neither the media nor the playing field are appropriate places to change policy. Rules which need to be changed must be altered within the proper ad ministrative channels. When individu als use a sob story to sway public opin ion in their favor, a dangerous precedent begins to discredit institu tion’s authority to enforce rules. Without their authority, police offi cers could not keep streets safe, Texas A&M could not prosecute academic dishonesty and parents could not discipline their children. +** The moral of these strange stories is simple — if individu als don’t like the rules, they must work within them to bring about change, and if they expect to play little league base ball, they’ll have to wear a cup. falue of students ignored by University ed lilents who co-op in industry iam something about how Aisinesses deal with their em- iwesand customers. Businesses iconcerned with their stockhold- iffldcustomers first, employees ®nd.Theydo not treat employees fstraydogs, but they understand 3 Kisno need for employees with- customers. in . fills principle should be applied iieadministration of Texas A&M. file "customers” of any university are ^students. The “stockholders” of a uni- iityare the tax payers — many of mare students. But it seems the last iplethe University is concerned about ihe students. , the University does not treat stu- itslike unwanted strays, but it does not students in their proper place. This is s |?lybecause universities, especially 'I,have somewhat captive audiences: Jearenot as many universities as there fast food restaurants, and it is not as itochange universities as it is to igeparking spaces. Oneofthe most famous abuses this cap- iij iyallows is the state of campus food ce nldwide. In no restaurant which hopes h £ survive will anyone find cold food being eC ( S’ed.No restaurant manager is going to for Columnist m j x Chris Brooks Senior physics major allow an employee to stand around and talk to a friend when customers are waiting to be served. Most importantly, if the food is not good, then business will not survive. Yet all of these in stances are found in campus dining facilities. They survive because freshmen buy meal plans when they register for classes, not knowing what will happen. In a few short months, they stop eating in the cafeteria, and the money spent for uneaten meals is kept by the University. Parking is the bane of the business world. No one has enough parking it seems. When an event occurs which cuts down on the availability of parking spaces, businesses have employees park as far away from the building as possible to al low paying customers the convenience of close parking. At A&M, any loss of parking is felt by the students. A closed staff parking lot means staff will take over student spaces, but there is no al lowance made for the displaced students. In this instance, the customers are actually being treated like employees. Students also feel the sting of inflation. There are limits, however, to what a cus tomer will pay, therefore price increases are relatively small unless a provider is certain people cannot do without the product being sold. This goes back to the captive audience theory. Tuition and fees are a blight on the life of any student, but they are a necessary evil. With the state cutting back on money it gives to schools, fee increases are re quired. However, too little attention is paid to the cliche one can’t get blood from a stone. The administration claims it looks carefully to get money for projects from anywhere else before they pass the bill onto students. But sometimes university officials must re think the necessity of these projects. In busi ness operations, proposals are sometimes met with, “We just do not have the money right now.” Considering most students are on a fixed income, universities should consider giving this answer more often. Universities just do not treat their stu dents as paying customers. Since students at state universities are taxpayers, universi ties need to show students more respect. A&M should lead this movement. By improving the quality of food ser vices, giving students respect with the park ing nightmares and saying “no” to the occa sional fee increase, the administration of A&M could improve the quality of life and the University’s popular image. Government protects through compassion, not of belligerence Len Calloway Columnist, Junior journalism major T oo many times it seems public officials and public workers, elected and employed by the taxpayers are not primarily concerned with the quality or the ramifica tions of service they give to the general public. However, sometimes the role is reversed and the general public fails to recognize the difficult and precar ious positions WHtt 1 KNOW & HoW YOU (SOT THE MBGrteoRS TO OK THE NX>moN Ifclacl that government officials are often in when trying to protect the rights of the citizens. Last Tues day afternoon, the National Weather Ser vice issued a tornado watch for Williamson County. Barely one hour later, a sizable portion of the town of Jarrell, TX, had been destroyed. Twenty seven people died, countless others were injured and an entire neighborhood was wiped out. The process of locating the dead and injured individuals began immediately. Reports were issued indicat ing the weather was better and that people could return to their homes to sort out belongings. CNN showed news clips of people screaming and crying about DPS Troopers being rude and hateful, not allowing them to return to their homes. One man was beaten for test ing the limits of the troopers. The man could not understand why he could not return to his home. There were no answers for him, no explanations — just “no.” From the surface, this seemed to be a standard case of the gov ernment taking over with no re gard for the feelings or suffering of the people involved. The government and its manifestations are employed by people ... to ensure the safety of the public. The government and its mani festations are employed by peo ple to serve and protect in any capacity necessary to ensure the safety of the public. After consulting with John Sneed, the emergency manage ment coordinator for Williamson County, it became apparent that no one really understood what type of mayhem and destruction had actually taken place. Everyone saw the footage, the houses, but no one saw the dead. When asked why troopers were not allowing people to re turn to their homes, Sneed re sponded, “Our primary concern was that if the entire scene was not searched thoroughly, a fami ly member might have found the re mains of a loved one causing all sorts of addi tional trauma.” What a dif ficult position for everyone to deal with. Victims want to know what has happened to their homes and loved ones, and the police cannot let them in because the images are sim ply too haunting to see. Once an event like the torna do in Jarrell occurs, the entire scene must immediately fall under the absolute control of the government. The dead must be located, iden tified and removed before people can be allowed to visit the area. One can never judge the way each individual would react to see ing horrible scenes associated with natural disasters. The proper role of government is to serve as protector of the people — in any capacity. Some things will always be classified and somethings are simply not for the general pub lic to see on open display. The troopers involved with the cleanup operation surrounding this tragedy should be lauded and appreciated for their efforts to protect and exhibit human com passion in the face of intense public scrutiny.