Battalion
o PINION
Page 19 ‘Tuesday, September 7, 1999
As the nation enters hurricane season,
preparation is needed to deal with the ramifications of
| \TT- . p|v,
% i JL JtltfJtV
mdatory
aquation laws
'constitutional
he aftermath
Hilrricane
?t,|the saddest
i were not de-
?d liomes or
sdjstreets, but
ts.
) hurricane in
t memory has
HH the devas-
; Galveston
care of 1900, but every life
d cut is still one too many,
end these tragedies, laws au-
zing government officials to or-
landatory evacuations have
put forward as an answer,
le unfortunate truth is that
' laws are not the solution they
lise to be.
rst these laws are unconstitu-
d. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S.
ititution lays out the powers of
'ongress. Nowhere is anything
remotely resembling the power
ve people from the elements, or
and citizens who are a not part
e military do anything,
ongress simply does not have
tower to do any of these. Even
ming that an excuse could be
id to regulate (perhaps using the
rstate Commerce Clause), the
ny problem of the Fifth Amend-
it must be taken into account.
'he Fifth Amendment states: “No
on shall be ... deprived of life,
rty or property without due
:ess of law.”
)ne of the key elements of own-
j property is exercising control
that property.
1 5y forcing individuals to leave
r property and evacuate, the gov-
nent Would be depriving them of
• control over that property,
:h in turn means that the govern-
t(would be depriving those citi-
of their property without due
process, violating the Fifth Amend
ment. Therefore, for two reasons,
these laws would be unconstitution
al. Of course, this problem would be
completely solved by a constitutional
amendment.
However, even assuming one of
those is passed, no small problem in
and of itself, there still remains the
fact that a mandatory evacuation or
der would be impossible to ade
quately enforce.
Imagine for a moment a hypothet
ical situation in which Mrs. Amanda
Mae Eckner is a widow because de
spite a recent mandatory evacuation
order, she and the late Mr. Eckner
stayed behind in their now-destroyed
home. The home was washed away
by a flash flood, and Mr. Eckner was
killed because of his own stupidity.
Mrs. Eckner was fished out of the
river by rescue helicopters. Given the
fact that she broke the law by dis
obeying the mandatory evacuation
order, exactly is going to punish her
by fining her or throwing her in jail?
Absolutely no one.
Nobody is going to heap legal ac
tion on a grieving widow, widower,
child or parent.
Even worse, those who stay be
hind, defying the evacuation order,
and survive the weather unharmed
will feel that they were right and the
government was wrong.
Instead of realizing they were
lucky and a just, non-merciful deity
would have issued a terminal lesson
on obedience, these individuals
would believe that any punishment
inflicted on them was unjust.
Besides, how many politicians (in
cluding sheriffs) would arrest people
who are not only lucky survivors but
are also constituents? Not many. The
laws are simply not enforceable.
Mandatory evacuation is a high
ideal. It is something that, if it were
practical should and would be imple
mented in a heartbeat.
But, like Utopia, mandatory evac
uation simply cannot exist in reality
as it is now known.
Chris Huffines is a senior
speech communication major.
Goodwill, faith
can flourish when
calamity comes
W hen Hurri
cane Bret
threatened
the South Texas
coast, the residents
of Corpus Christi
learned the valuable
lesson that good can
come from even the
most difficult tri
als. Word traveled
quickly through the city that Hurri
cane Bret had almost instantly trans
formed from a Category 1 storm head
ing to Mexico to a Category 4 monster
heading straight toward the city.
Fear does not accurately describe
the residents’ reactions. Hordes of
people gathered around every water
station in the city, waiting sometimes
hours just to fill a few gallons.
Long lines of cars snaked around
every gas station, preparing them
selves in case an evacuation was nec
essary. Customers flocked to grocery
stores, gathering as many batteries
and canned goods as they could af
ford. Some people boarded their
homes and fled the city late that
night, escaping the bottle-necked traf
fic that was to come the next day.
Others gathered in churches, pray
ing the storm would bypass the city. It
is amazing how the greatest good can
come from the toughest struggles.
Many Corpus Christi residents
learned this lesson the weekend of
Hurricane Bret.
An article in the Corpus Christi
Caller-Times quoted Charles Kizzine,
a Salvation Army volunteer, as he
commented on the positive results
that can come from hardship.
“We see it all the time,” he said.
“ [Calamity] brings out the best in peo
ple, people who never came together
before. ”
This was displayed by a man
named Joe Elizondo, who owns a
downtown Corpus Christi store called
Greenwood Door Co. He had 12,000
pieces of wood to sell.
Potential customers were desperate
to board their windows against winds
that could reach 140 mph. He could
have made a small fortune selling the
boards.Instead, he gave the wood
away for free.
Meanwhile, men from a Corpus
Christi church stayed in the city until
almost two hours before the storm hit
so they could help older widows
board their houses.
Other people offered their homes
to those who lost power or had to
evacuate. Fortunately, in the middle of
this frightening situation and thou
sands evacuating to safety, the storm
took a last-minute, westward turn.
The Category 4 hurricane made land
fall in one of the most unpopulated ar
eas in Texas.
A graduate student from Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi was staying with
her parents just outside the city, wait
ing for the storm to hit, when she
heard the news about the hurricane’s
course correction.
The day before, she prayed that
God would move the storm on a west
ward path, away from the city, to a
more unpopulated territory.
. “I was stunned,” she said, recall
ing her reaction when she heard the
danger was past. “I realized Jesus re
ally does answer prayers.”
Some people in smaller towns still
weathered the brunt of the storm. But
the damage could have been much
worse. One church in Corpus Christi
displayed a message on its marquee a
few days after the threat passed: “He
stilled the storm to a whisper; the
waves of the sea were hushed”
(Psalm 107:29).
Great good came from what could
have been a terrible situation. Anyone
who focused on just getting the situa
tion over with missed out on seeing
God at work.
Some Corpus Christi residents,
however, saw that God can do mira
cles in even the toughest situations.
Stephanie Dube is a journalism
graduate student.
MAIL CALL
>h Camp
aches spirit
isponse to Eric Dickens’
t. 6 column.
s a Fish Camp counselor,
i think of about 2003
sons why Dicken’s column
misrepresentation of the
Camp process,
is obvious that Dickens
only experienced one
of Fish Camp because
:ounselors do not spend
months preparing for
pjust to “mislead” our
amen about college life,
ickens says we need to
a grip on what daily life
Igieland is really like.”
ar many of us, daily life in
eland is about embracing
:ime-honored traditions of
school and trying to give
c to our fellow class-
2S. Would Dickens rather
! us promote some other
?cts of daily life, such as
ping classes and getting
ik on weeknights?
erhaps we should turn
Camp into a huge keg
/, to give the freshmen a
3 “realistic view” of col-
life.
ae transition from high
>ol to college is difficult,
ut I do not believe that
school spirit, pride, enthu-
m, and support offered at
camp are obstacles.
Laura Coward
Class of '02
ickens’ column is an ex-
le of the very attitude
h degenerates the Aggie
t.
ow many freshmen come
sf Fish Camp believing
I is going to be exactly
Fish Camp?
'hat if, however unlikely,
e of the incoming fresh-
became convinced that
it A&M was going to be an
)n packed, pre-designed
test with no regard for
y time?
re they going to become
confused, withdrawn or an
gry? Not quite. Freshmen
who come out of Fish Camp
are much more likely to be
spirited, friendly representa
tives of the famous spirit
which embodies Texas A&M
than students who do not at
tend camp at all.
Traditions are shown to
freshmen who attend Fish
Camp as an example of what
A&M could be, not as what it
is. After having experienced
life at Fish Camp, with its Ag
gie Spirit packed with
“howdys” and class pride,
these freshmen become the
very students who keep the
traditions alive.
We do not need to tone
down Fish Camp to protect
freshmen from being disillu
sioned.
Michael Trollan
Class of ’02
Aggies deserve
radio coverage
Texas A&M is defending
its BIG 12 Championship and
pursuing a national title in
1999.
As a former student, I
have been anticipating the
first game of the ’99 cam
paign and was prepared to
listen to the Aggie Radio Net
work here in San Antonio on
680 KKYX-AM.
However, KKYX did not
broadcast the Aggies as they
were contracted to do.
I wanted to make the stu
dent body at A&M aware of
the fact that the Aggies had
no radio coverage in the
eighth largest city in the Unit
ed States just 170 miles
from Aggieland.
Shame on KKYX and
shame on the Aggie Radio
Network if they don’t take
care of business in San Anto
nio and find a station willing
to honor its obligation to Ag
gie sports.
Ben F. Harrison
Class of ’93
Bush's past plagued by more than cocaine
T he clock has finally
struck midnight on
Gov. George W. Bush’s
fairy tale campaign for the
presidency of the United
States.
Until July, only the Fairy
Godmother, herself, would
have been able to create
such a perfect campaign en
vironment — one with no scrutiny concerning
Bush’s platform and no lingering questions
about ethical wrongdoing in his past.
The 2000 presidential election was in the
bag. All Bush had to do was keep smiling for
the cameras and keep crowing about “compas
sionate” conservatism. What could have possi
bly gone wrong?
As strange as it may sound, the upcoming
derailment of his campaign is not limited to
Bush’s alleged use of cocaine during his ’20s.
Instead, the Bush propaganda machine is
quickly unraveling because of other items in
his past, things which are neither unethical or
illegal. The items in question are titles his cam
paign literature proudly displays: a scholar at
Yale, a brave soldier, an experienced business
man and the proud governor of Texas.
As election day draws closer, various media
outlets including Newsweek and The Econo
mist have delved into each of these claims —
claims that have now been exposed as half-
truths. Hopefully, the American public will an
alyze these half-truths and come to the realiza
tion that Bush is not exactly a dynamic,
experienced leader who will revamp the Amer
ican political spectrum.
Instead, they will realize that despite living
a privileged life, Bush is an underachiever who
is frantically trying to live up to his famous
namesake. Riding the coattails of a last name
can only go so far.
Bush’s wild partying binges and frat-boy
pranks were numerous, landing him in the
New Haven, Conn, jail on more than one occa
sion. These poor choices led to his well-docu
mented battle with alcoholism, a battle that,
according to the Rolling Stone, once caused
him to physically threaten his father while in a
drunken stupor.
When he was discovered drunk in the
kitchen one night, George W. sputtered at his fa
ther, “You want to go mano a mano right here?”
After graduation, Bush’s academic defer
ment from military service expired. In order to
avoid serving in the Vietnam War, he was
hastily commissioned as an officer in the 147th
Fighter Group in the Texas Air National Guard.
The interesting fact is that in 1968, the Na
tional Guard had a waiting list of 100,000
names. When Bush applied, he was admitted
right away. At the time, his father was the con
gressman for a nearby district.
After his uneventful term in the National
Guard and an unsuccessful run for Congress,
Bush tried his luck in the booming oil busi
ness. Unfortunately, all of his dealings were
spectacular failures.
In 1984, his Bush Exploration Oil Co. was
saved from going under by merging with Spec
trum Seven, a company owned by a handful of
his father’s largest campaign contributors.
Soon after in 1985, Bush convinced the new
company to invest $1 million into stripper oil
wells. Not surprisingly, this was another im
mense failure.
Spectrum Seven was fast approaching bank
ruptcy until Bush orchestrated a bailout in
1996 with Harkin Oil and Gas, a company that
had the common sense not to offer Bush a
management position.
It is fitting that the only venture Bush ever
received a profit under was made possible
through the sacrifices of taxpayers.
In 1994, after the city of Arlington, Texas ap
proved a sales tax hike in order to finance a
new baseball stadium for the Texas Rangers,
the value of Bush’s share of the team skyrocketed.
After selling the team. Bush’s cut was $14.9
million. This was more than 20 times the value
of his initial investment.
Rolling Stone magazine writer Paul Alexan
der deadpans, “Bush’s business career: if at
first you don’t succeed ... soak the taxpayers.”
During the same period Bush was cashing
in his share of the Texas Rangers, he became
governor of Texas. So far, this has been the one
and only political office he has ever held.
While many are critical of his lack of experi
ence in politics, Bush’s defense has been that
he has been instrumental in guiding Texas
through one of its most prosperous and prof
itable periods ever.
What most people fail to realize is that the
state constitution of Texas essentially makes the
governor a figurehead with very little power.
To fragment the levels of responsibility in
state government, the constitution instead
places the majority of the power with the lieu
tenant governor and the legislative branch.
Basically, the credit Bush takes for the good
times in Texas should go to the state legislature.
George W. Bush is not a bad guy. For all in
tents and purposes, he is a decent man who
has reared a proud and respectable family.
Compared to the misdeeds of other politi
cians, Bush has been able to keep his nose
clean, sort of.
Howdyer, George W. Bush is by no means
the great man his campaign machine makes
him seem to be. Before his recent career in pol
itics, Bush lived a privileged life with very little
success, wallowing away in mediocrity.
Whether or not the public can accept medi
ocrity in a president remains to be seen.
David Lee is a junior economics major.