ustxtxb_obs_1981_02_27_50_00023-00000_000.pdf

Page 5

by

8 \\c. $N.,.; ” s. a good motet porter, and a good persOn. He has brought to his work on the Observer his moral passion and his special gift of prose. During his period, mounds of pod journalism have been run in the Observer; it’s been lively and imaginative. Obviously here I am emphasizing areas of agreement. Rod’s statement speaks to our areas of disagreement. used p ndannoye ad failed to sit Ail But n my intention: to provok: ‘anger, and jostle you, to dislodge dowdy, frumpy intellectual complacen concern the Observer’s basic direction and identity, over the publisher I of course have cise control. These serious diftitiikes became, as Rod says, irreconeiIable. However, I want to make it clear, and I am sure Rod will agree, that he has been perfectly free to publish whatever he has wanted to publish, and he has freely printed whatever he wanted to from his first issue to this one, with no intervention from me. I will be handling the editor’s role for a period while surveying and in some cases renewing the Obrefv, editorial resources a writers, preparatory to new staff. The readers’ letter in November has be ‘4t Aiil\\ I have taken the first formal sups lawyers to incorporate the Observer, I’ll be reporting to youer as and related matters As Rod goes on to his next t glad to say that there is no peg, culty between him and me, an 111111111111111111. friends still. Ronnie Du Advance . . . from page 2 I have visited the graves at Arlington and seen the white crosses lined up row on row in the morning sun. I have seen the eternal flame. I have walked across empty, shell-pocked mountains in Korea and looked across a bridge at men who would have shot me for taking another step. I have held down a friend with the weight of my body to keep him from running into walls head first to drive out the nightmares of a fire fight near Cambodia that broke his eardrums. I have heard the stories and gone to the funerals and seen the marches. Like anyone who has been in the military, I have a sense of kinship with those who also have worn uniforms and yes, I support the rights of veterans. But there is no pride in it, and nothing is worth the maimed lives hidden away in the VA hospitals and the tract homes bought on the GI bill. Tramontane . . . from page 14 majority of humanity, who are not white. The return of the hostages was a blessing America did nothing to merit. America did not accept it with gratitude and thanksgiving. Nor did the nation recognize that it was being offered an opportunity to do penance for its sins. When a person or a nation fail to do what it should do at the moment when it should be done, it merely insures that the price of redemption will be raised until retribution is inevitable and just. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23 .,”t1t.e.0 4,*.