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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1972)
OCT 2 1972 OQIIU monday, October 2, 1972 lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 17 Tattoo artist mixes flowers, daggers, taxes by Michael (0 J.) Nelson "If they've got the money, I've got the time," Fred Luellman says. The time to do what? To tattoo, of course. Luellman, 72, is one of two known Nebraska tattoo artists. He's been illustrating arms, hands, legs and other parts of the body for more than 50 years. His own arms are covered with tattoos of flowers and daggers. He said one of them, a rose, is being put on by his 12-year-old grandson, to whom he has been teaching the art. After a 30-minute tirade against the Social Security system, taxes ('They're trying to take everything I own."), Communists and the President, Luellman talked about his work. He's "run into all kinds of people" since he started tattooing. And from the stories he told (most of them unprintable), his jobs have been as varied as his customers. He said he's worked on every kind of person from motorcyclists to ministers. 'This preacher came and said he wanted two tattoos taken off his arms. They were nudes, and he said he'd gotten them while he was in the service. He told me he hated to take them off because they looked so nice when he gestured." The tattoo artist said he will work on anybody but drunks and dope addicts. "I got a glue-sniffer in here once," he said as he lit another in a seemingly endless chain of cigarettes. 'The guy wandered around and looked at the designs. He didn't even know what he wanted." It's understandable how a person might not be able to decide. The walls of Luellman's shop, a converted underground garage beneath his Omaha home, are covered with hundreds of more than 6,000 ; f AM A . , , ? A. Luellman . . . will work on anyone but drunks and dope addicts available designs. They range from nudes, flowers and names to the more elaborate eagles and sailing ships. He said prices range from $8 to more than $200. The price of a tatoo, he said, depends on the amount of detail in It. Nudes, once his most asked-for design, are loosing their popularity, he said. Daggers, roses, sentimental tattoos such as "Mother" and women's names now are the most requested. His clientele, as well as its preferences, is changing. "I'm opttina more women in here." he said, "and they're asking for the darndest things. One came in here and I put a I'rd on the inside of her thigh. Others have asked for 'hot' and 'cold' put on their breasts." The women, he said, seem to be braver than men while being tattoed. Insisting that 99 per cent of the pain in getting a tattoo is psychological, he explained the process. The tattoo is put under the skin by using a machine similar to a hand drill. The machine has a needle where the drill bit should be. The needle, he said, pierces the skin about one-sixteenth of an inch and then injects the ink under it. But before he can use the needle, he said, the area to be tattoed must be shaved and coated with Vaseline. The tattoo outline is put on the area by rubbing carbon dust on a plastic sheet which has been etched with the illustration. "I can't do all the work at one time," he said. "I have to fill in the colored places piecemeal. If I did it all at one time it would hurt too much." He said he uses six color of ink. He refuses to use low-quality products and has to pay $35 a pound for ink, which he orders from New York City ("I can't get anything in this cow town"). With the mention of the cost of the ink, he once again began to harangue the country's economy and the treatment of senior citizens. "There was an article on me in the Omaha World Herald," he said. "The government thought J was making so much money they tried to cut my social security payments the next day. I wish my business would get so good I could tell them to go to hell." His business varies, ha said. Occasionally he goes for several days without a customer, he said. At other times, he added, "they come in by the carload." But whether business is good or bad, he plans to keep on working, he said. "I've worked all my life," he said. "If I quit now I 'd go nuts. After all, I m 72 years old. for environmental institute bv Sara Schwieder Nebraska sits quietly between both steaming, spewing coasts, somewhat innocent of the industrial pollution infesting both edges of the nation. But because Nebraska's largest industry-agriculture-relies so heavily on the state's resources, environmental concerns have a special significance here. Recognizing that, University President O.B. Varner last year commissioned a study of the University's environmental activities. The report entitled "Environment and the University of Nebraska," devises a plan for an environmental institute to coordinate University efforts to help solve Nebraska's environmental problems. The report was authored by Dean Howard W. Ottoson of the College of Agriculture in conjunction with an ad hoc Committee on Environment. The report, released in August, envisions an environmental institute to: -promote research on environmental problems. "The emphasis here should be on problems not being adequately covered in the University rather than duplicating efforts presently underway," the report states. The report also recommened that the institute stimulate interdisciplinary study and maintain an inventory of environmental research now. underway at the University. -develop environmental study in undergraduate and graduate teaching programs. Ottoson said in the report that he recognized that msny courses already have been revised to include environmental impact, but that the institute should, over lime, examine courses available and consider the needs for new courses. The institute also would overhaul major, minor and possible graduate degree prc irssns in environmental areas. f ha institute Drobablv would not offer degrees independent of regular colleges, but would help coordinate special interdisciplinary courses within present colleges and schools, according to the report. -develop and promote off-campus extension programs in the environmental resources area. The report reads: ". . .considerable effort is already being devoted to environmental quality by current projects which should not be disturbed by the institute, (but that) '. . . the institute should identify important problem areas not being serviced by present projects." -serve as an intelligence center for environmental quality for the University. The report foresees the Institute as a center for environmental information open to University researchers as well as state, federal and lay groups needing the information. It also might stimulate staff interest and communication on environmental research, teaching and extension by organizing workshops, symposia and conferences. Funding seems to b "he most important variable in bringing the environmental institute into operation. The report suggests that permanent funding, even modest funding, is essential to the institute's success. "An institute should not be considered without assurance of at least minimum permanent funding from state sources," the report says. "Such a minimum level might be $200,000 or $250,000, exclusive of any support for the Nebrasksa Water Resources Institute. "With permanent funding, the institute could develop in a rational way without unduly dissipating its energies for fund raising and being subjected to the goals and objectives of outside agencies. Ottoson said the institute would bsv the best chance for real achievement if "it first datermirjsi lis areas of priority and then seeks funds to carry on Jtt work, rather than being led in on direction or another simply in response to svsl&blt funds." Colleges list 'ecological' cours WW by Sara Schwieder and Vicki Horton Prominent capital letters leap from the page, asking "WHAT IS THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA DOING IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL AREA?" A healthy section of the "Environment and tha University of Nebraska" report delves into the specifics of that question. The report lists each course that has "ecological content," but acknowledged that some courses listed stretch the meaning of the word. Some do not mest the report's definition of ecology, so the report sat id the list "undoubtedly gives an inflated picture of environmental teaching activity in the University." As of spring, 1972, the report says the VUL tna rf Arte and Sciences offered .73 I V MV W rw ' ' Col Mr'arinat rnurses: tha Cj'' ' ' ": J environmental health v.- U science or trc'rlcr cf et t; C The Co'icj cf P-'j' -'to I J graduate n-J t: 'Tr v ' consign C.ff"i r ' I" Cc'.i - Ct ' : eco'cV! rt!vr:r'-i, v lu C, fit? ?:l h c- 'O.i'" ft Cc!'' 'J tr . , vU,:i I. t! t f ' ! Dei't J C2 cci'i" ( i' tc-p;c3 c.r Ti ,C.;'' ,i vf Lcvc!t . s : sor.'-i ccoi:. ts5 1 " ' C::t C ,; '. ' r..z:t cf v 1 .'i v-s : ' t ! ... undergraduate courses with ecological content and 23 ..... A A