Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 9, 1977 Page: 4 of 16
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UNIVERSITY ttfeM'^teinWV.'ittlii''
Lamar has bumper crop
Lamar is growing a healthy
crop of weeds. Weeds seem to
have had a perfect growing
season and Lamar has taken
full advantage, producing a
bumper crop that could bring a
windfall profit — if we could find
a buyer.
Weeds are not much in
demand this season, so the
possibility of harvesting our
bumper crop to sell is remote.
Perhaps we could trade it to the
Soviets for some snow. Maybe
we could even get the govern-
ment to subsidize us for not
growing the native grasses next
season, but we already have
them, plenty of them, this year.
One of the healthiest-looking
weed patches is in the weed
garden, built to beautify the
campus, between the Science
Auditorium, the Chemistry
Building and the Music-Speech
Building. The grasses in that
garden spot not only serve to
hide the less desirable plants
that must have been put there
for ground cover until the
weeds could take over. They
also provide a perfect haven for
all those crawly little animals
that might not hang around if
we didn’t provide a place for
them to live.
Although the weeds growing
in this location seem to be the
healthiest on campus, there are
other magnificent growths of
weeds as well. One of the weed
patches that Lamar is proudest
of -- at least they are on display
for all visitors to see -- is along
the new sidewalk running
smack through the middle of
the quadrangle. These weeds
are not as tall and thick as the
ones growing by the Science
Auditorium, but perhaps with
cultivation they will grow to
cover the trash cans. Think of
the possibilities this raises —
not only could we raise world-
record weeds, we could
produce a big-money crop of lit-
ter as well.
If we are not careful, the
maintenance department
might harvest our weed crop
before it has fully matured, and
they would expect to be paid for
doing it. Or, perhaps one of the
service organizations might
take it upon themselves to reap
the benefits of a full summer’s
growth of weeds and send
pledges out to pillage the gar-
dens. Maybe even (a more
remote possibility) a single
Lamar student will break down
and begin uncontrollably
pulling our precious weeds on
his own initiative. Be sure to
notice the weeds as you walk by
them. Observe the people lined
up at attention watching over
the blowing grasses with their
hands over their hearts softly
singing: “O beautiful, for
spacious skies and great tall
growths of weeds?”
THE
UNIVERSITY
PRESS
Serving Lamar
for 54 Years
|U
Roger Cowles...............................EDITOR
Carolyn Martinez................ MANAGING EDITOR
Tara Shockley....................... NEWS EDITORS
Tim Kranse
Karen Nichols ................... FINE ARTS EDITOR
Helen Sohlinger....................STAFF WRITERS
Donna Barranger
Larry Bonin
Phyllis Henry
Karen McLane
Manuel Moreno Jr..................SPORTS EDITOR
Chuck Cason..........ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Janet Mims................ADVERTISING MANAGER
Don Young.........ASSISTANT ADVERTISING MGR
David Campbell............... GRAPHICS MANAGER
Robert Wade ...................... PHOTOGRAPHER
Sidney Kulcak.......ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHERS
Isabel Nart
Katherine Streetman.................TYPESETTERS
Valerie Daniels
Lillie Jones
Howard Perkins.........PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR
Lamar University is an equal opportunity affirmative action educational institution and employer.
Students, faculty and staff members are selected without regard to their race, color, creed, sex. or
national origin, consistent with the Assurance of Complicance with Title VI of 'he Civil Rights Act of 1964;
Executive Order 11246 as issued and amended. Inquiries concerning application of Title IX may be
referred to the Vice President for Administration.
Offices located in
the Activities Area of the
Richard W. Sctzer Center
Mailing address Bos 10055
Lamar University Station
Beaamont, Tesas 77710
Telephone: (713) 838-7628. 838-7629
Why here?
David
O.
Block
I may be in the wrong place - it hap-
pens to me quite often - but then, “Why
not (I ask myself) in the Pecker U.
Press ?” And that’s no reflection upon
this publication. Although the
publication is indeed indicative of the
quantity and extent of the foregoing
contemporary adjectival reference to
Lamar University . . .
It seems that I’ve learned more about
where I’ve gone by having arrived
without bearings, and then finding my
direction by simply rambling around,
intent upon enjoying myself. However,
some settings are by far more con-
fusing than others - as my reader
probably understands already - and
usually these same settings are less
agreeable and gratifying to the
pedestrian who seeks to learn
something about where he or she is in
relation to the surroundings.
Nevertheless, the two of us have
discovered one another in this par-
ticular place, and with some patience
liberally applied, we may figure out
where to go from here. Just one
suggestion to the newfledged ex-
cursionist: ignore the distractions as
much as possible, concentrating upon
the encounters, and perhaps we both will
learn something about our literal and
figurative locale.
★ W Hr
Strolling around the Lamar campus
in the sunset hours of one evening last
week, I decided to make a pit-stop in the
Setzer Terminal, and entered the down-
stairs men’s room. I stopped cold at the
sight of a young man stooping over one
of the urinals just ahead of me.
He was an ordinary enough fellow of
about nineteen, clad in everyday faded
denims, old tenny shoes, a working
western shirt with sleeves rolled up
above the elbows, and wearing a bat-
tered old straw hat on top of a head
sprouting average length but rowdy
blonde hair. At first glance he seemed
to be making a grimace, but then I
realized that his eyes were narrowed
because he was only opening them just
enough to see. His lips were clamped
together as if he were angry, but the
slight bulge of a temporal vessel told
me he was holding his breath.
I didn’t understand what was hap-
Opinion
• • •
pening for the first second or two, but
then he reached into the urinal and very
gingerly - with left thumb and
forefinger - removed a soggy and drip-
ping ghastly brown cigarette butt, and -
plutt - dropped it, in what seemed to be
semi-slow motion (a thing like that is
far too disgusting to move quickly), into
a bucket at his feet. I knew the answer
but asked anyway, startling him, “How
much do you get paid for that?”
He unbuckled slowly upward, sighed,
and smiled in a way that made his face
appear to be returning to normal, and
replied, “Two thirty.” ,
It turned out that he had two year’s
experience in a Golden T hospital doing
janitorial work, but of a less demeaning
ilk owing, no doubt, to the professional
environment. I really could not
honestly say that I would ever do that,
regardless of how desperate my
situation should become. The
work/study program - with all its good
intentions of providing jobs for
necessitous students - had, in my mind,
an over-the-barrel bargain in this
fellow if ever it had one.
After we talked, I introduced myself
to him, listened to his name and noted
it, and wished him all the luck I could
induce into the word as we shook hands.
I left the Center in that strange time
of day when the place takes on an un-
canny resemblance to a dusky Gladys
City. As I opened the door a waft of
wind stirred half a copy of that day’s
University Press enough to send it
sliding back into a corner where the
rest of the copies and a few coke cups
had collected.
My mind went back to that morning,
when I had walked these same steps,
and I recalled the throngs of idlers, and
the uninhibited pandemonium of pre-
class pageantry. And of a sudden, that
bothersome frame of mind left me,
along with those nagging wisps of
thought about crusading exposition for
the sake of the underdog. Our man,
dear reader, didn’t really need the luck
I had to offer - he’s already begun an
education in how to generate his own.
The writer invites and welcomes
mature correspondences to P.O. Box
1983, Beaumont, TX 77704.
across the nation
Elvis’ dad respects fans
The Atlanta Journal was deeply hurt over such incidents as
Elvis Presley’s father has agreed to
release the results of the ahtopsy on his
son’s body, whatever the forthcoming
report may contain.
Normally, a report would be made
public only if a person died of unnatural
causes. Otherwise it would remain
private unless the family choses to
reveal it, so Vernon Presley had the full
discretion to decide what to do.
We do not think it was easy for him to
decide to make it public. He has guar-
ded his son’s privacy in the past, and he
a photograph taken of his son in his cof-
fin. But evidently Vernon Presley feels
an obligation to the public in the autop-
sy matter, perhaps because the death
was so unexpected, perhaps because of
rumors about drugs.
Thus one more claim upon his
privacy is made because of Elvis’
unique appeal. Vernon Presley deser-
ves praise for his understanding of the
public’s need for explanation. It may be
the last thing he can give to those fans
with whom he shared his son’s life.
‘Soap’ pressure ‘interesting’
Scranton Pa. Tribune
A New York Times article citing the
manner in which pressure against
“Soap” TV ads “dismays agency and
ABC aides” is interesting only because
of what it fails to reveal. There is much
handwringing about the effectiveness
of recent campaigns by pressure
groups “to prevent companies from ad-
vertising on television programs.”
“Soap” is heralded as the type of
comedy series offensive to everybody,
particularly members of organized
religious groups.
Why then the “horror’ that a group
dedicated to Catholic ideals might
bring its weight to bear in this manner?
The U.S. Catholic Conference,
Protestant evangelical groups and
organizations of the order of B’nai
B’rith have a right to cry out against
abominations hurled in their direction.
They would be remiss if they remained
silent.
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Cowles, Roger. Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 9, 1977, newspaper, September 9, 1977; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499682/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.