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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1973)
Let your pages do the walking . . . Twenty-four young adults will be spending up to 20 hours a week running errands, getting coffee and taking telephone messages this semester. An odd diversion? Not really. Those 24 students will be serving as pages for the 1973 Unicameral. All but four of the 24 pages are students, with most enrolled for classes at the UNL. Others attend Nebraska Wesleyan. Page Mike Dill of Valentine said senators need pages to perform odd jobs. "I assume the theory is they shouldn't take time from their job," he said. One of the tasks given a male page each day the Legislature meets is to raise the state flag when the day begins and lower it again when the day's business is completed. State law requires that the state flag be flown over the chambers while the Legislature is conducting business. But raising the flag is not as simple as it sounds. To reach the flag pole, the page must walk up a stairway, climb out a window, cross a catwalk and climb two ladders. On windy or icy days flag-raising can be a slippery chore. Not all errand requests from senators are simply to place a phone call, check mail or get a cup of coffee. Kent Fillman of York, was asked by Sen. John DeCamp to get a container of warm water so that he could unthaw his frozen contact lenses. Fillman said one of his more difficult jobs has been trying to remember the senators' names and where they sit in the chamber. Once, after making a telephone call to the president of Chadron State College, it took him several minutes to remember which senator had requested the call. Last year, Tom Terpstra of York was asked to help Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh complete his registration papers for graduate courses at UNL. On another occasion former Sen. Fern Orme of Lincoln asked him to return a pair of shoes to a local retailer. One crisis which occurs during each session is the accidental spilling of coffee on a senator or his desk by a page. Thus far, it has not happened this year, although one senator collided with a page carrying a trav full of filled coffee cups. Approximately 250 cups of coffee are delivered each day. All pages except Terpstra and Kitty Simpson are serving their first year in the position. Except Simpson, who serves as "page in charge," all pages are paid a flat $1.90 per hour. Four pages work full 40-hour weeks with the other 20 paired into teams, each working 20 hours per week. In the past, several pages have earned independent study credit for their work through the UNL political science department. After serving as a page for three years, Terpstra says he has gained a insight into how legislators work and muster support for bills. "A lot of my time is spent on pretty menial tasks," Terpstra said. "But other times I keep my eyes and ears open to discussion and activities." J 4 ., $ y j . ' : ' , V i " Ik I ' 'X MP n . , if fx iiJ Between errands. Leg- t i ( u islature pages watch v fix --ff the action. d 'iSw.,,, - i,r,lr.i,ilil1i,r . 1 . " '' j e ' , ' ... j f. '