Poverty panel disagrees
on politics of poor
Three panel , members began the three-day Wesley
Foundation's Conference on Poverty by refusing to agree
whether poverty is political.
Bruce Hamilton, director of the Lincoln Legal Aid Society,
said: "The government is not elected by poor people, and they
(government officials) respond to those people who put them
in office."
He also said the only welfare payments reduced last year
were Aid to Dependent Children (ADC).
'The children got pro-rated but the aged, blind and
disabled did not," he said. "ADC children don't vote. The
aged, blind and disabled do."
Newman Grove Senator Thomas Kennedy said, "I don't
think you have to have money to get to your senator."
Citizens should go directly o their representatives,
Kennedy said, adding, "I hate lobbyists."
"My main problem is getting my people to come to me," he
said.
Kennedy also said he found the rising welfare
budget-which he said is disporportionate to the population
growth-alarming, and blamed it largely on skyrocketing
doctor and hospital costs.
Carol Yokum, of the Lancaster County Welfare
Department, said the "welfare Cadillac" image is a myth. A
state welfare investigation last year showed a 1.5-3 percent
error rate in welfare payments, she said, "the bulk of which
were agency error, not client fraud."
She said this compares favorably to the Internal Revenue
Service's estimate that 29 per cent of all Americans cheat on
their income tax,returns.Hamiltoh said the biggest problem for
Lincoln's low income people is housing.
Yokum agreed, saying Lincoln now has a 3 per cent
vacancy fate and that nationally, anything less than 5 per cent
is considered an "emergency." ......
The approximate 1,100 units of low-income housing, where
residents pay what they can afford and the Lincoln Housing
Authority uses federal funds to pay the landlord the difference
of the rent, are simply not enough for Lincoln's need, she said.
But the severe housing shortage has caused rents to rise
above what the federal government will allow in their program,
so fewer landlords are letting low-income people rent from
them since they can get more on the open market.
Hamilton said the University's "indifference" about their
students flooding the housing market, and their refusal to
liberalize dormitory policies to keep students on campus has
made the University a "large contributor to the problem."
Conference signs speakers
The main goal of the World
in Revolution Conference,
March 6-13 is to examine as
broadly as possible the theme
"Justice in America" by
listening to people from all
over the country with all
points of view, according to
Dennis Berkheim, chairman.
' Final contracts have been
received from the following
speakers:
Flavel Wright - UNL lawyer
Gail Gade - UNL chief of
campus security
Nebraska State Sen. ' Dave
Stahmer
James Jackson Kilpa trick
journalist from the Washington
Star Syndicate
Elizabeth Pittman -
municipal court judge
Thomas C. Clark
ex-associate justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court
Vincent Hallinan
California reformist lawyer
Florynce Kennedy black
feminist lawyer from New
York
Caroline Bird feminist
author
William Kunstler - civil
libertarian lawyer; defense
lawyer to the Chicago 8
Russel Means president of
the American Indian
Movement, from Cleveland,
Ohio
Ernest van den Haag -
psychoanalyst and professor of
social philosophy at New York
University
Nebraska State Sen. John
DaCamp
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Xj'S
Pines will yield
to paving project
Despite student protest, the 34 Austrian
pine trees between 45th and 48th St. on
Holdrege St. will be destroyed by a project to
widen Holdrege St.
This conclusion came at a meeting of
students, faculty and other persons Wednesday.
Lincoln Director of Public Works Bob
Obering said that any of the proposals that
would save the trees would be "confusing to
drivers". He said the corner at 48th and
Holdrege St. has the highest accident rate in the
city and the proposed projects for saving the
trees might increase accidents there.
Sue Torgerson, UNL student, suggested it
would be appropriate to promote a mass transit
system to curb traffic increases that mean
continuous street expansion.
Obering noted the public was hypocritical
about using mass transit systems and planting
trees. Lincoln's public buses lost $32,000 last
month because there were not enough riders,
according to Obering. He added that a
city-initiated tree-planting campaign received
little public response.
A representative from the Isaac Walton
League said the group , would prefer the trees
to remain unharmed. If that is impossible,
they offered to supply pine trees to replace the
removed ones and construct a shelter on the
League's land with the lumber made from the
torndown trees.
When the destruction of the 34 pine trees
was first announced, several proposals were
offered to save them. Mike Kane, who operates
Mead
Continued from Page 1
Exactly because the problems are so urgent.
Mead said she sees hope for the world. If people
had 300 years to work things out nothing
would be done for 299 of them, she said. But
when faced by danger, human societies can
mobilize and do incredible thing .
"People learn rapidly. In New Guinea, little
boys write essays saying 'My father was a
cannibal. I'm going to be a doctor.' I have seen
peoples move from the Stone Age to the
present in one generation."
This world can be completely different in 20
years, she said, providing everybody from
grandparents on down changes.
"But you can't put your faith and action
into trivia. You'll have to focus on the
world-not on the evils of Dow Chemical."
a landscaping and planting service, told the city
council the pines could be safely moved with
the proper equipment. A UNL associate
professor of horticulture suggested that the
trees could be left as an island.
The idea of building a retaining wall around
the trees was considered, but it was feared that
a large portion of the root system would be
destroyed and the trees would die anyway.
The value of the trees has been estimated
from $16,000 to $68,000.
The University has been committed since
1967 to landscaping the area on the north
side of Holdrege St west of 48th and the entire
perimeter of East Campus.
Specific plans for landscaping the area along
the north side of Holdrege St. west of 48th St.
were developed last summer in connection with
negotiations with the city of Lincoln for
widening the 48th and Holdrege St.
intersection, according to Ronald Wright, UNL
assistant director of business and finance.
The plan calls for a 60-foot band of
planting north of the University's new
property line. Plantings in this area would
include large trees, flowering trees and shrubs.
The University plans to transplant 15-20 foot
trees from its nursery.
doily
editor in chief barry pilger
managing editor I'm gray
news editor bart backer
a1 manager bill carver
coordinator jerrl hautsler
The Daily Nebraskan is written, edited and
managed by students at the University of
Nebraska Lincoln and is editorially independent of
the University faculty, administration and student
body.
The Daily Nebraskan is published by the CSL
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Wednesday, Thursday and Friday throughout the
school year, except holidays and vacations.
Second class postage paid at Lincoln, Nebraska
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