editorial
opmm peg
Of pranks
and politics
v.
The monstrous rigmarole caused by a harmless
prank performed on the card section at Saturday's
game makes one wonder if there isn't actually more
to the Big City Press' coverage of the incident than
appears on the surface.
The activities involved seem innocuous enough.
Agreed, the switching of card flashes may have left
the University administration, the band and the spirit
organizations with reddened faces.
And perhaps the "Screw Mizzou" flash was not in
the best of taste, considering that Missouri was being
trounced 21-0 at halftime.
But the charge that the card section flashes were
obscene is completely ridiculous. Worse things can be
read on the front page of any of the state's daily
newspapers.
When the press coverage of the incident appeared
Monday morning, several questions became
immediately apparent. Why should a harmless prank
be given front page coverage in the Big City? And
why should that coverage overshadow important local
governmental stories? Could the Big City Press be
trying to get back at the University? Or is the media
using the incident as a source of political pressure by
blowing it all out of proportion?
Having been exploited as such, the story is
mainr rnnrern-not onlv tO Students," but
to the whole state.
Panicking when the state and its press hopped on
the issue, the administration began a witch hunt to
find the persons responsible for the prank. After all,
when the Big City Press says there is a story, there is a
story.
But the administration didn't stop to think about
the individuals involved. Or to question need for such
private eye tactics.
And so, true to form, the Big City Press has
managed to make hay with the image of the radical
University. And the University bought it.
Trying to avoid the political pressures of an
election year, the administration naturally will
attempt to find a scapegoat on which to place the
blame. If it finds one, God help him.
If not, God help us. For the administration will
most likely crack down on other innocuous freedoms
of expression and put us another step back into the
dark ages. And once again politics will triumph over
individual rights.
So, here's a great big raspberry to the Big City
Press. And to the administration, a snort of
indignation.
Jim Gray
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Carpenter's comical quest to can Curtis
Terrence McGovern Carpenter (named after
Terrence McGovern, the boxer and not George
Stanley, the would-be President), who once told a
television audience that he had "had a belly full" of
young people (Lincoln Journal, 11-2-68), today seeks
the votes of these same young people in his comical
quest for the United States Senate seat currently held
by incumbent Senator Carl T. Curtis.
Carpenter made this comment in announcing that
he was opposed to a then-pending constitutional
amendment to lower the voting age, an amendment
that he had previously favored.
The 72-year-old state senator from Scottsbluff is
probably the most inconsistent and unprincipled
politician in Nebraska's history. In April, 1965, he
urged NU students to demonstrate on the steps of
the capitol against proposed tuition increases,
magnanimously offering to lead the protest himself;
in April, 1968, he asserted that students went to the
University "to learn, not to run the University"
(Journal, 4-28-68).
His alterations in party allegiance are due not to
conviction or ideology, but to shifts in the prevailing
political winds, coupled with an instinct for selfish
opportunism. In 1930, ho was defeated for mayor of
Scottsbluff as a Republican. Sensing that 1932 would
be a Democratic year, he switched his registration and
was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a
member of President Roosevelt's party. In 1950,
when Republican sttength was increasing both
nationally and in Nebraska, Terry became a
Republican again.
After the Johnson landslide of 1964, our local
vicar of vacillation switched to the Democrats. But, as
LBJ and the Vietnam War became unpopular, Terry
thought better of things and came back to the GOP
three years later.
In 1971, Terry once again became a Democrat
declaring that since he probably could not defeat
Curtis in the GOP primary (he tried and failed
dismally back in 1954), he had better shoot for the
general election. Rumor has it that after his probable
defeat this year he will rush back to the Republicans.
The man has been rejected by Nebraska's voters
for statewide office eight times previously. Terry ran
unsuccesfully for lieutenant governor in 1938, and
for the governorship four times, being defeated twice
in the Democratic primary (1934 and 1950), once in
the Republican primary (1960), and once in the
general election (1940). This is his fourth try for the
Senate, having run as a Democrat in 1936 and 1948,
wd as a Republican in 1954.
Terry was born in Iowa on March 28, 1900. The
child of a broken home, he received only an
eighth-grade education. He claims this is why he so
vigorously champions higher education in the
legislature.
john
vinstod
II r
druffiffior
His political career began when he landed a job
with the city auditor in Long Beach, Calif. When
Carpenter took it upon himself to sign some bonds to
finance a new harbor while the boss was out of town,
he was fired in short order. As soon as the auditor
returned she sent the sheriff out after Terry, and
Carpenter skedaddled back to Nebraska. Back in the
Cornhusker state in the late 1920's, he began building
a multi-million dollar family enterprise out in the
panhandle, most of which is located in his very own
village of Terry town (pop. 749), sandwiched between
Scottsbluff and Gering. His store sells everything
from rubber baby pants to liquor, and the family has
interest in such diverse items as dog racing and
gasoline.
To continue with Carpenter's inconsistencies, he
considers himself a crusader for tax reform, yet paid
not a dime in state or federal income taxes in 1968.
When asked to defend himself, he explained that he
was living off of his late mother's estate, and was
sorry that everyone did not have a mother who was
so well off. He attacks the affluent while living in a
mansion filled with rare and costly art objects and a
bomb shelter complete with its own power supply.
He has introduced bills in the unicameral and then
voted against them.
In 1952 he supported Eisenhower, in 1956, still a
Republican, he told voters to go for Stevenson. To
the embarassment of one and a half million
Nebraskans, he nominated a fictional character, one
Joe Smith, for Vice President against Richard Nixon
at the 1956 Republican National Convention. In
1967 Carpenter was sure that Nobby Tiemann would
wind up as the greatest governor Nebraska would ever
have. Two years later Tiemann was labeled a "lousy"
governor, and a "slap-happy hippie (Lincoln Journal ,
12-17-69)."
He endorsed Clifton Batchelder for governor in
1970, "even though we are politically about as far
apart as the North and South Poles (Lincoln Journal,
3 20-70)." As soon as Batch lost the GOP primary to
the Governor, Terrible Terry threw his support to J.J.
Exon, whom he previously said would be a "worse
governor than the one we've got," back in 1969
(Lincoln Journal, 1 2-1 7-69).
Although a self-proclaimed "spender" in the
legislature, Terry is not sure that our educational
dollar is always well spent. He once told a group of
students, "The people of this state spend millions of
dollars to send you students to this university, and
you concern yourself with immaterial things like civil
rights and personal liberties (Lincoln Journal,
11-21-67)."
And the final irony: Terry Carpenter strongly
endorsed Carl Curtis for the Senate in 1966. Today,
he runs against him.
This is a glimpse at the man who wants to
represent us in Washington. And these are some of
the reasons why we will not let him.
page 4
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, October 18, 1972
