doily
thursday, february 3, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 95, no. 62
v
r
Officials
to meet
with
Housing
Coalition
How
terribly
strange
to be 70
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Richmond (right). . .at a meeting last Friday with Interim Executive
Dean of Students Ely Meyerson.
by Michael (O. J.) Nelson
University officials will be meeting
with representatives of low-income
groups this Friday at 10 a.m. The meeting
is in response to a request made by the
Poorhouse Coalition last Wednesday at a
rally held in the Nebraska Union.
Four of the five officials originally
invited to the meeting have agreed to
attend. They are Dean of Faculties C.
Peter Magrath, Harry Allen, director of
institutional research and planning, James
Lake, president of the Faculty Senate
and ASUN President Steve Fowler.
President D. B. Varner's office said that he
has scheduled the meeting. However,
Varner is also to spend the day with U.S.
Sen. I Roman Hruska.
Of those invited to the meeting, only
Fowler has agreed to sign the
"Declaration of Responsibility" which
the coalition presented to the office of
then Interim Chancellor Magrath.
Signing the document was to be a
prerequisite to the meeting, but this
requirement will be overlooked according
to Bea Richmond, president of the
City-wide Tenants Association.
"We'll sit down nd find out why they
don't want to,sign it," she said, "and if
we reach some conclusion we won't meet
again until it's signed."
The document called for low-income
input into University planning and a
promise from the University to build
enough housing to keep students from
competing with low-income families. The
declaration also called upon the
University to liberalize dormitory
regulations in order to make that sort of
housing more attractive to students.
Allen' said that he could agree with
many things in the document, but could
net sign it "at this time."
"There are just too many things I
don't agree with," he said. One of the
things he said he could not agree with is
the request that the University
immediately begin to build housing.
"We can't get the federal funds we
need without a study," he said. "Right
now we don't know what the specific
problems are. We don't even know why
people move out of University housing."
Allen said that he didn't believe that
loosening housing regulations would,
encourage people to stay in the residence
halls.
"As I see it," he added, "the problem
is mainly the cost. We just can't compete
(with off-campus housing) price-wire. We
haven't dealt with the question of
liberalizing the regulations."
Regent Ed Schwartzkopf said "the
University is doing those people a favor
by tearing down some of that housing."
He charged that "the Tenants'
Association is using good housing for
office space. A low-income family could
live where they have that office."
Richmond claimed however, that the
house being used for the Poorhouse office
is not fit for people to live in.
He said that homes that were torn down
down in the past were substandard.
Turn to Page 7
Editor's note - This is the third in a
series of articles concerning themselves
with the way the problems of aging are
dealt with in society.
by Mary Voboril
"How terribly strange to be seventy,"
wrote lyricist Paul Simon.
What is it like to reach the age of
retirement? Does one's life suddenly end?
Are people thrust into a social vacuum? Is
retirement a synonym for idleness,
loneliness, alienation?
It certainly does not have to be, as
evidenced by two retired Lincoln couples.
"You only have one time to liv, and
that's when you're alive, "said ' James
M. Reinhardt, 78, of Lincoln. A 32-year
member of the' UNL sociology
department, including a stint as head of
the department, Reinhardt retired in
1963.
Since then, he has published six
articles and is working on others. Of the
12 books he has written, two were
completed during his eight years of
jetirement. One, Nothing Left But
Murder, is a study of teenage murders.
The other. The Final Echo, is a collection
of his short stories.
Although he says he "never thinks
about looking back" to his younger days,
Resnhardt's activity was "sharply reduced"
when he retired. The lessened activity
that retirement brings, said Reinhardt,
"wouldn't have been such a blow to me rf
I had slowed down before I retired. I
wouldn't have noticed it so much then."
Despite the lessened activity,
Reinhardt says he and his wife Cora Lee,
72, never get bored. Both read quite a lot,
then discuss with each other what they
read. Sometimes they watch television,
especially news programs, and they enjoy
visiting with Reinhardt's former students.
Because of financial reasons and
doctor's orders, the Reinhardts were
forced to sell their car. This move
handicapped them quite a bit, Reinhardt
said, but they rely on the city buses to
get around town.
About three days a week, Reinhardt
boards the Vet's Hospital bus and heads
for the UNL campus, where he does
research at Love library.
A specialist in criminology, Reinhardt
also lectures at conventions and
universities. For short times during his
retirement, he taught at Midland College,
John F. Kennedy College and the former
University of Omaha.
Reinhardt says he is "content" in his
retirement, especially since it gives him
more time to meditate.
"I'm a pessimist at heart," he said. "I
worry about the world situation and
human tragedy." He said he has always
felt badly about wars such as Vietnam.
"When you drop a bomb, you kill not
only grown men, you kill babies and little
children," he said.
Like the Reinhardts, Mr. and Mrs. Gail
McDonald also of Lincoln have not let
retirement get them down. McDonald, 78
a former rural, mail carrier who in the
1920's sometimes delivered mail by
horsoback, has been retired 17 years.
He and his wife who was born in 1899
in a sod house near O'Neill, moved from
Elmwood to Lincoln two years ago.
About three days a week, the
McDonalds take advantage of the Senior
Citizens centers in Lincoln. At the centers
they "mostly play cards" (bridge,
canasta, pinochle), and McDonald
sometimes bowls.
Tn season McDonald plays an
occasional nine holes of gold with his
brothers, one of whom is in his 80's. On a
good day he shoots a 45 or a 48.
One of the most productive activities
of Mrs. McDonald, who looks like
anybody's grandmother, is sewing. In her
72 years, she has made about 51 quilts.
Although they wintered the past few
years in Phoenix, where they lived close
to their married son, the McDonalds
decided to stay in Lincoln this year.
"We have all our friends here," Mrs.
McDonald said.
They do not plan to move to a rest
home or Senior Citizen's community for
the same reason. Nor do they want to live
with their children.
"No house is big enough for two
families," Mrs. McDonald said.
The McDonalds save their money
because they "might get sick someday"
and for vacations. They now are planning
a trip South with the Senior Citizens
tours.
As Reinhardt said, "You only have
one life to live, and that's when you're
alive." With careful plans, lively interests
and good health, there is no reason why
the years of retirement should not be as
rewarding as the years prior to it.