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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2000)
Monday, July;; :hrow a lot of ground balls”! ivantages to getting hitters ne with the Express, whidi of the firsthalf of theTexasLt d. ssel did in his last start onh •t Captains, the AA ?1 pitched seven strong im'; 1-2 at the plate in a 54™ ttom of the seventh inning ' Carter put the game outof loaded. tish Open Continued from hi oods now goes to the pionship with a chancet: logan as the only players ta majors in one year, While GTE, Cox reap profits from their monopolies, customer support suffers A : mong the many chores to be done when mov ing off campus is set ting up accounts with local ca- also set a record —the: big and telephone companies, to finish second in at majors. He now has been o to Woods six times, more: her player, shot a 69, while Bjorn do : 71 to finish at 277. t the real challenge cameli: , No. 2 in the world ranking Voods. It was the first timet paired together in the of a final round — in ami honship, no less, val went out in 32 and was® strokes back until Woods, sensing history slipping a» d it on with birdies on xt four holes, anwhile, Duval crumbled, laying for second until hiti ie notorious Road Holeburi . 17 and taking fourshotsto; e finished with a 75. s good as everything turned ant nine was as bad as evtr urned on the back,” Duvalsa e simply didn't makemistah e capitalized on the holes to capitalize on. It was a r performance, to say the s set out for what figured to: /londay, July 24,2000 Page 5 A_ THE BATTALION Maroon monopolies Fewer cable, telephone service providers benefits B-CS customers, local businesses One might think this process would be a selective one where a decision is made after con- jsulting with friends and stu has rights to almost all underground cables in a Tk ATany students have seen particular location, the company's response to cus- /I the game Aggieopoly Hr tomer inquiries is significantly _L V JLfor sale in book stores JH . «r|| m slowed. Ay" and toy stores across Texas. Ag- bI l j|$| ft One has only to wit- gieopoly is a fun ness the hysteria in f nP xIiTV 'Jr and entertain- LUKE GTE offices in mid- N/V N\\jI j \ i MA ymUtt, It wf ingspinon ERIC McMAHAN August, when most j J 111 Lis® the popular DICKENS dents already using these services. "Who has the lowest prices?" "Who has the best deals/" and "Who provides the best customer service?" are all questions one might ask in order to decide. For Texas A&M students, however, the question is "Do Cox Communications and GTE accept credit cards?" This limited questioning is a result of the handcuffs these two monopolies hpve on the popu lation of Bryan-College Station. With the recent outcome of the anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft, the mere mentioning of the word "monopoly" has had companies putting on hard hats and running for cover. The general population has had the same reaction to the case, and now everyone seems to agree that a monopoly is a great evil. When a com pany has a monopoly, it is said to have exclusive ownership through legal privilege and / or com mand of supply. If one examines the nature of the cable and telephone companies in B-CS, one will find that Cox and GTE both fit the definition. In certain industries, monopolies benefit con sumers. This argument was used by the persuasive Microsoft attorneys. They claimed that Microsoft's th the claret jug on a wo J mono P ol y enabled the company to reach its peak rext to the first tee, shining performance level, resulting in the lowest possible ight sunlight over Scotlat prices for the consumer. Most people following the case agreed that Microsoft's monopoly might be breeze along the coast of c good for business. The means by which Microsoft acquired its monopoly was the real transgression. GTE and Cox Communications acquired their stranglehold on B-CS residents through legal means. But the benefits to residents, if not com- ngnexisfep^^^cept^yyly, Qutweighed by the negative consequences for consumers. 1 - >; ; America has always prided itself on being the founder of working capitalism. If a company is not providing competitive products or services, it will be outsold. Likewise, if a corporation is overpricing mediocre goods, then its sales will dwindle. There is no reason why this should not be the case with telephone and cable services in B-CS. Consumers should have the opportunity to make decisions based on criteria such as price and ser vice quality. Without competition, companies have no incentive to provide services at competitive prices. With the ab sence of competition, their profits could be inflated by unfair pricing via their stranglehold on consumers. /a i made the Old Course 14 Many students feel the same as A&M senior GA West in the Califont | Adam Riley, who said, "I think that the absence of Sea. He simply didn't ike mistakes, and e capitalized m ? holes you expect capitalize on, It as a spectacular formance, to saf the least" — David Duwi professional gofe where he shot the only ffe 59 in history. After a nicek )m 70 feet on the first, Duval' :o 2 and 5 feet on the next It' or birdies. ods, in his trademark cbii' r and black slacks, looked 1 table from the start, shifting: er his first two birdie putts a' g both from inside 10 (* he finally made one on No i feet, he showed moreemoti e had all week by raising- with his left hand and purs air with his right. r al and Woods were schedm >n the same charter plane — along with the claretjnf other players to win the GrJ vere Gene Sarazen in in 1953, Gary Player in B :klaus in '66 at MuirfieldJ ?nt on to win the GrqndSk ire times. only is Woods the young 1 :o win all four majors, he I his 93rd sanctioned to# ampared with 125 for Nickb >ds won $759,150 from - purse at the British Open sixth victory this year, 21st A Tour and 25th worldwid 1 J competition for Cox and GTE is a bad thing. Stu dents have no say so in the matter. I grew up in Plano, Texas, and my family's cable bills are consid erably cheaper than those I pay, and they have a more comprehensive package than I do in college." Customer service is one area where monopoliz ing companies often exercise little effort. It is gen eral knowledge that the communications industry experiences technical difficulties like dropped calls, accidental disconnects and service discon nects during blackouts.When a company like GTE are moving into their new homes to see GTE's lax customer support. Masses of people set up services with GTE at the same time. As a result, there are often two- week waits during which stu dents must find other ways to make phone calls. One would think that af ter many years of experiencing the same problem, GTE would have implemented a solution, but GTE wait times can still last as long as 15 days in some cases. A&M senior and GTE cus tomer Jason Reeves voiced his dissatisfaction with GTE's poor service when he said, "I've been with GTE since my sophomore year and have probably spent over 10 hours on the phone with their service representatives getting to the bottom of issues. On a recent occa sion, I had submitted both written and oral re quests to discontinue one of my optional services packages. The charges for these services re mained on my bill for two months af ter my requests had been filed." GTE and Cox pro vide decent service to B- CS. However, with cable and telephone compa nies, a good product is only part of the equa tion. Competitive pricing and prompt response to service complaints complete the recipe for a good tele phone or cable company. With their current mo nopoly status, GTE and Cox have no incentive to change their ways. Luke McMahan is a senior industrial engineering major. JEFF SMITH/I'm; Battalion board game Monopoly, but not every body finds humor in real maroon- colored monopolies like GTE and Cox Communications. In Bryan-College Sta- , having the option of only one cable or phone company frustrates many students and resi dents. Recently, that gen eral irritation has turned into a serious concern as the federal government's anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft has opened the na tion's eyes to the dangers of monopolies. Many B-CS residents fear that a lack of local competition for GTE and Cox creates an environment for dramatic, unchecked price increases and makes the companies less respon sive to customers' needs. But holding a grudge against the two communications com panies for their domi nant presence in B-CS overlooks a number of benefits associat ed with having one main service provider. There are three areas where the com panies are ac cused of having monopolies: Cox in cable televi sion, GTE in tele phone services and both in In ternet services. However, in all three arenas, there are few problems with having only two main service providers. Likewise, having Cox and GTE as the only game in town does, in fact, ben efit the town. B-CS resi dents, especially students, usually look for the cable com pany that will give them the lowest amount of hassle for their money. In a perfect world, every consumer would hunt down the best prices, bargain shopping for everything from telecommunications to peanut butter. But in reality, people buy the peanut butter they grew up with, and customers like having only one Gay marriage ban ignores other sides of union company to call, pay and hold accountable when things go wrong. Cox cable is a bureaucracy. It handles all facets of cable service and takes responsibility for the en tire hierarchy. Local merchants benefit from having only one cable company in the area. In advertising, to reach the most people, businesses would run their commercials with whichever company has the largest audience. If there were multiple local ca ble companies, the one with the largest viewer base would still have only a fraction of total viewers. Local businesses that place their advertisement with Cox are assured that all B-CS cable viewers will get the chance to see them. Sure, lots of people wish they did not have to see Pedro and the Allred Motor bunch quite so often, but Pedro is probably happy to have the total available viewing audience asking, "Why doesn't he just turn his hat around?" Also, while GTE is the dominant player in the B-CS phone market, there are still a variety of oth er companies that offer services to area residents. Many A&M students use GTE for their basic local calls, but use cellular phones, 10-10 numbers or national companies for their long distance calls. In this way, residents can trim their long-distance costs by using other phone companies. While all these companies use GTE's local phone line net work, users are still able to tweak their phone plans to match their needs while retaining the benefits of having GTE as the backbone telephone service provider. The security, reliability and clarity of telephone conversations are standardized when only one company handles the call. Transferring information through one phone company's wire to another's creates potential for the connection's quality to de crease. Simply put, the fewer companies involved with carrying telephone signals, the better. Finally, when it comes to Internet connectivity, creating a monopoly is even more difficult than in other fields. The Internet evolves so quickly it is hard for one company to get on top and stay there for long - just ask Microsoft, which could never dominate competitors like Netscape and AOL. In B-CS, Cox's cable modems and GTE's dial-up and digital subscriber line (DSL) connections are not ac tually monopolies, as they are fighting it out with one another and each has had to keep up with each other's prices. For example, GTE came into the DSL game late and was forced to catch up to Cox's cable modems. Once that happened, Cox lowered its monthly fees to compete with GTE. While Cox has lowered its prices and worked to satisfy cable modem users, GTE as the sole dial up/DSL company has the same advantages GTE does in its phone market dominance. With Internet connections, the importance of having the security and reliability of a single carrier is even greater than with phone lines. With phone conversations, lapses in quality mean static during a call home to Mom. With Internet connections, those lapses could mean lost credit card numbers. When Judge Pinfield Jackson handed down his ruling in the Microsoft case, some people de nounced it, saying society would not really benefit from free-for-all software competition. The same holds true in B-CS as residents and students daily reap the benefits of having GTE and Cox as the pri mary service providers in their respective fields. Eric Dickens is a senior English major. Mail Call \RS, TRUCKS & ‘ORT UTILITIES HASSLE FREE from VARSITY FORD www.varsityfordcstx.com /PER SUMMER SAVINGS College Grad Program (also qualified if you graduate within 6 months) Questions? - e-mail us at ewcar@varsityfordcstx.com I n its endless pursuit of instilling the fear of God into the rest of society, the religious initiative has gathered enough signatures to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in Nebraska this November. As it stands, the amendment would not allow the recognition of gay marriages, unions or any other "domestic partnership." The amendment is a wonder in modern government. It has serious practical, ethical and constitutional er rors. However, the public seems to be supporting it thus far, as it wants to protect marriage, a "fundamental building-block" of society. That heterosexual families form an essential mortar to this pseudo-capital ist, mostly democratic society cannot be denied. But ban supporters claim this mortar needs to be defended — that the work of gays and straight allies to give to gay couples rights that straight couples take for granted is a di rect assault on traditional marriage. True, allowing gays to marry in civil ceremonies will redefine the public's perception of what civil marriage really is — but it does not change the facts. Ban supporters who claim that the gay minority is trying to redefine mar riage for the majority do not acknowl edge that there are two dimensions to marriage — the civil and the religious. Often melded together in ceremonies, these dimensions are still distinct. The claim against ac knowledging homosexual unions rises primarily from religious argu ments — and if a particular re ligion wishes , not to acknowl edge such unions, that is its right. No one can, or should, force that religion to change its position. However, the civil dimension of marriage — which includes not only tax adjustments, but hospital visitation rights, inheritance procedures, and sick leave to care for an ill spouse, among others — is based neither on religion nor on the desire to promote the reli gious dimension of marriage. It is sim ply an acknowledgment that married Ban supporters may claim the right to legislate moral behavior, but this should not be misidentified by voters as a valid claim. couples often act a certain way, and there are certain privileges that seem only natural for a long-term, commit ted relationship. And since some gays have the de sire for such relationships and will do so with or without the support of the state, why should society deny them? Is it ethical to use the state to separate a couple of dedicated part ners simply be cause the. society's majority thinks it is wrong for the two to be together? That the ban is little more than an official statement of anti-homosexuali ty, forging an indelible blemish on the state constitution, should be enough for the signatories to reconsider. But there is a further issue to be addressed: the separation of church and state. Article I, Section 4 of the Nebraska Constitution states that "no preference shall be given by law to any religious society." The proposed amendment does not explicitly grant favor to any particular religious establishment. The homophobic movement, how ever, claims none other than the Bible as its chief guide. By trying'to instill the constitution with morals drawn from a subjectively interpreted religious text, ban supporters are not establishing their religion. But they are granting preference to their religious views. Ban-supporters may claim the right to legislate moral behavior, but this should not be misidentified by voters as a valid claim. Whatever a person's moral views are, the proper protector of those views, and the proper forum for their debate, is not in state law, much less in the constitution. The proper place is the church. The day society allows the govern ment to enforce the moral beliefs of a majority over a minority — moral be- . liefs that have nothing to do with rights of person or property, but with one or two quotations of a religious text — that is the day society slips tragically toward theocracy. jacob Glazeski is a columnist for the Daily Nebraskan at the U. of Nebraska. Suicide humor column callous, makes light of serious issue In response to Jason Behny- hoff’s July 20 column. It is nice to know that after all the change that A&M has gone through, it seems like The Battalion always finds a way to hire staff who can write outrageous pidces that can infuriate many readers. The big issue here is men tal illness and many people’s feelings of hopelessness. No one should ever make light of serious issues like this one. I would be willing to bet that a large portion of the student body at A&M has been personally affect ed or has seen the effects of suicide. I do not doubt that there was a lot of thought put into the piece, but some of the thought should have gone to ward those who could be hurt, or would hurt them selves because of it. I am sure that one of Ben- nyhoff’s journalism professors told him that as a journalist he has the ability to affect many. He should remember that. And besides, satire is easy. Bennyhoff should use his education to help the common good, not hurt it. Keep serious issues just that — serious. James Hemenes Class of ’96 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accu racy. Letters may be submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid stu dent ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 014 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com
