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Wednesday, September 1 8, 1 974
lincoln, nebraska vol. 98, no. 1 4
frD
I
WOW-TV
objects to
Sunrise
licensing
By Greg Wees
Sunrise Communications may
start broadcasting as a non-profit
FM radio station by November if
the Federal Communications Com
mission (FCC) licenses the station
over stiff objections from the
Meredith Corp., according to Ron
Kurtenbach, Sunrise board mem
ber. The Meredith Corp. owns WOW
TV, which broadcasts from Omaha,
and has asked the FCC to deny
licensing of the new FM station.
in a petition filed with the FCC,
Meredith attorneys say the fre
quencies of the two stations are
close enough so that "electrical
interference will be caused by the
proposed FM signal and the signal
of WOW-TV."
The proposed station would be
located at FM 89.5 megacycles and
would have 10 watts of broad
casting power compared with
WOW's 200,000 watts, Kurtenbach
added. WOW operates on channel
six between frequencies of 82 and
88 megacycles.
The radio transmitter will bo
located at the Yellow Cab tower on
Cornhusker Highway, Kurtenbach
said.
WOW charges that the trans
mitter slgnai will Interfere with TV
reception over a two-mile radius.
Brandon Nelson, a Sunrise vol
unteer, admitted there might be
some Interference near the tower.
But he said it would be negligible.
Ho cited similar cases where the
Fr.n has ruled in fav&r, of the
applicant. Omaha attorney James
McShane presently is drafting a
response to WOW's charges.
McShane said reports from
engineers who helped complete
Sunrise's application for license
indicate that there will not be
interference with WOW's broadcast
signal.
Kurtenbach said the FM station
will not broadcast commercials but
will feature educational program
ming and "alternatives to the
commercial rock music heard on
AM stations.
See Sunrise, pg. 9
Operation POM relays runaways' messages
By Mark Hoffman
The discovery last year of 27 murdered
youths in the Houston area, many of them
listed as runaways, sparked the development
of a program enabling parents of runaways to
hear:
"Your daughter called and said she is alive
and well."
Operation Peace of Mind (POM) is a
national toll-free telephone number that
enables runaway youths to leave a message
for their parents that they are alive.
Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe began the
program 34 days after Elmer Wayne Henley
told police Aug. 8 he had killed Dean Corll,
whom he named as mastermind of the
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Operation Peace of Mind, a national
program for runaways has been using
the services of a Lincoln based
organization, CONtact, Inc. to help
find food and shelter for runaways.
murder ring. Henley then led them to the
first of various gravesites where the bodies
were found.
Some of the slain youths had been missing
for as long as two years, prompting parents
of suspected victims to call Houston police
and ask why they hadn't done something
before.
POM is attempting to give parents,
relatives or friends peace of mind by relaying
a message for a youth, said Gary Hill,
president of CONtact, Inc., here. CONtact, a
community services referral agency, works
with POM. CONtact's office is on the second
floor of the Northwestern Metal Company,
North 27 Industrial Park.
POM is located In a conference room of a
Houston Holiday Inn. Privately funded and
manned by volunteers, the center provides a
24-hour answering service for youths.
Runaways can contact POM through a
toll-free nation-wide WATS line number
-800-231-6946).
Oberators act as a liaison between the
runaway and the person ha or she wants to
contact, Hill said. The youth is assured that
hie cr her location wi!! not be traced and is
asked if he needs help.
That is where CONtact comes in, Hill said.
If a vouth asks for helo. CONtact is one of the
few agencies in the country that can give the
POM operator a number the youth can
contact for shelter, food, a job or other
services within two hours, Hill said.
"For a kid who is broke, hungry and
without a place to stay at 3:30 in the morning,
two hours can be an awful long time," he
added.
POM has handled more than 4,000 calls
since it was started and has called CONtact
about 25 times asking for assistance in
locating individuals or agencies that can help
the youths in any part of the country.
Only if the youth asks for help, is it
necessary for the youth to give his location.
"Our aim is to not leave the kid standing
on the edge of a read with nothing going for
him," Hiil explained.
He said programs such as POM are part of
the growing recognition of the number of
American youths who have left home. More
than one million and possibly as many as two
million youths are runaways on any given
day, he said.
Statistics indicate most, more than 70,
are gone for no more than three nights and
about 70 go to a friend or relative's house.
But the relatively high number of
runaways has caused some states to get
involved in programs dealing with the
runaway, Hill said. The Florida legislature
appropriated $20,000 to help publicize the
POM number, Hill noted and added other
states are showing interest in the program.
The present problem POM faces now is
publicity, Hill said. "What good is the
number if nobody knows it?" he asked.
Babcock appointed 1
as ombudsman
Col. Dan Babcock will take over as
temporary ombudsman for UNL beginn
ing Oct. 1, according to Vice Chancellor
of Student Affairs Ken Bader. Babcock
retired Sept. 1 as piufessor of aerospace
studies in the Air Force ROTC program.
Babcock will fill the position left
empty when James Suter resigned last
spring to become comprehensive plan
ning director of the State Health Dept.
His job will include helping students,
faculty and staff who have complaints
about the way they are being treated or
who are having trouble working through
the system at UNL.
The job will be filled on a permanent
basis sometime this year but is unlikely
to be filled before the beginning of next
semester, since only tenured faculty,
currently teaching, are being considered
for the job, Bader said.
There have been 11 applications for
the job so far, according to Larry
Braskamp, chairman of the student
faculty administration committee. The
deadline is Sept. 27, after which the
committee will interview applicants and
prepare recommendations for UNL
Chancellor James Zumberge, Braskamp
said.