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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1976)
page 10 thursday, january 22. 1978 daily nebraskan O By Joe Hudson The target opening date for the regional veterinary col lege which might be built in LincdifTwas "a bit too opti mistic" and has been rolled back two years to 1981 an official of the Old West Regional Commission (QVRC), said last week. Phil Brooks, senior economist at the OWRC's Rapid City, S. D. office, said the original timetable did not allow time for such things as legislative tie-ups in approving funds for the school. OWRC, a committee of governors from Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, plus a president-appointed co-chairman, will meet next month, Brooks said. Then they might consider a more de tailed school feasability. If the study is approved, OWRC must finance addition al planning. Approval of planning funds then must come from the various state legislatures, Brooks said. In a study released last month, Lincoln was the only site recommended. If the school is built in Lincoln, the If gf "m - : . i f t - :---. y- ' ! I ' '-Li i S3 3. ,aJ. J- Photo by Tad Kirk Those students who had hoped someday to attend the proposed regional veterinary college may have to wait longer than they expected. The projected opening date for the college has been delayed until 198I. Nebraska Legislature would appropriate its share of the total $14 million bill, about $2.6 million to $32 million under the plan now being considered, said Howard Otto son, acting UNL vicfrchancellor of the Institute or Agri culture, and Natural Resources. Studerts from the other four states would have to pay an additional $2,000 annual fee, from which Nebraskans would be exempt. Estimated tuition for nonresidents wiH be $6,000 a year. ' Cost below Kansas State s Officials assume that federal sources will supply 40 to 50 per cent of the school's cost, Ottoson said. The cost is far below that of Kansas State's new veter inary college, which has a $27 million price tag. Ottoson said the regional school is more economical because stu dents would spend their freshmen and senior years in their home states. Students would study 2 years and 9 months at the cen tral campus, Ottoson said. Currently, Nebraskans must attend out-of-state veterin ary schools on a contract basis, with the state paying the $4,000 to $11,000 difference between the non-resident and resident tuition rates, Ottoson said. About 20 of the SO to 60 students who apply to out-of-state schools are accepted annually. The regional school would admit 37 Nebraskans each year, Ottoson said. Exon approves Bill Hoppner, administrative assistant to Gov. J. James Exon, said Exon favors the regional college so that stu dents will not be dependent on what he 'called other schools whims. Contracts are always subject to change, he said. He said the governor favors expanding contracting agreements with other schools until the new one is built. Ottoson said he is not certain the school is needed. "We need to look at the demand for and supply of veterinarians," he said. "If it is decided that a vet facility is needed the regional plan is better than one state doing it." He also said the school will not guarantee a supply of veterinarians in rural areas, but "hopefully it will keep the students' roots in their home state." If approved, the college probably will be built on the UNL East Campus, Ottoson said. The commission listed "39 or 40 reasons" for a Lincoln location, he added, in cluding proximity of agriculture, medical and graduate schools, transportation, available land and population. Debate needed He said he doesn't think the school will get immediate legislative approval. Under plans being considered, Lincoln may be asked to sell bonds to finance building the college. City Finance Director Jim Mallon said no one from the commission has told him about that idea. Newgrads see small-town vet practice as ldog' The proposed $14 million veterinary college may grad uate a lot of animal doctors, but it will do little to solve the shortage of veterinarians in small towns and rural areas, according to the president of the Nebraska Vet erinary Medical Association. Everett Stencel of Curtis said the school cannot change the fact that running a small-town individual veterinary practice is tedious and low-paying. College graduates simply do not want to work as a one-man clinic, "and I don't blame them one bit," Stencel said. For seven yean, Stencel ran a one-man clinic in his Curtis home. Burning three tanks of gas a day, driving his pickup truck to ranches up to 60 miles away and making 20 to 25 calls daily left him exhausted with no time for his family, Stencel said. Panel to present Stencel, now head of an eight-man clinic, said, "There's no way I'd go back" to a one-man practice. "People don't think a one-man practice is worth it. . . and it isn't," Stencel said. The small-town vet must sacri fice his family life to make ends meet, and there comes a time when "you've got to examine your priorities." Because of the training received in most veterinary schools, most small towns cannot support today's gradu ates, Stencel said. "Today's graduate has far better training than before," he said. He explained that the student is trained to use more sophisticated techniques requiring a larger invest ment in equipment which cannot be made profitable in a small town. VIC? WO Ul I GUUI UkJl I As in all fields, Stencel said, the trend in veterinary medicine is toward specialization, another feature that a smaller community cannot support. He said general prac titioners who can handle any type of case are needed. It's "tough for a small town to get a general practi tioner because they (the graduates) are all specialists," Stencel said. Although he could offer no immediate solution to draw veterinarians into rural areas, he said the regional veterinary school fa not the answer. However, he did offer the planners a few words of advice. "I hope if the vet school is developed that we turn out general practitioners that the out-state area needs," he said. Legal, medical and social aspects of abortion will be 6 resented in a panel discussion at 7 pjm. in the Nebraska Won today; the third anniversary of the Supreme Court decision on abortion. The public discussion, sponsored by Concerned Pro Life Students, will offer insight into problems concern ing abortion, said Dennis Hunt, a senior business admin istration major from Lincoln and president of the Concerned Pro-Life Students. Panelists will include State Sen. Donald Dworak, a' Columbus lawyer; the Rev. Alfred Ernst of Lincoln's Trinity Lutheran Church; Dr. Eugene Schwenke of Lincoln; and Betty Evans, a Lincoln social worker. Dworak will discuss the legal aspects of abortion, in cluding Nebraska abortion laws, the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision and the abortion issue in Congress. Schwenke will discuss medical aspects, including de velopment of life, effects of pregnancy on women and possible heal tli complications caused by pregnancy. Ernst will talk about the pro-life philosophy, in the Bible, and Evans topic will be social effects of pregnancy on a woman and alternatives to abortion. Panelists will present a broad view of abortion issues and try to answer questions from the audience, Hunt said. V i - Duner STuay release soon A task force report on future use of the hollow point bullet by the Lincoln Police Dept. (LPD) has been received by Police Chief George Hansen, but will not be released until early next week. The report was prepared by police officers assigned Oct. 1 to evaluate the use of the hollow-point bullet and other LPD weapons, says Capt. Gene Arm stead, task force member. Armstead said that the task force report made a recom mendation on weapons use to Hansen, but he said Hansen will make his own decision. . Hansfn. who is leaving Lincoln Thurs day and returning Friday, w21 not re lease the report or his decision until Monday at the earliest, Armstead said. '.FhotobyTtdKlrii
