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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1976)
thursday, february 5, 1976 vol. 99 no. 75 i f A " . 5. ... - a g j -r -- UNO Downtown campus: The Nebraska Legislature's Appropriations Committee hears public testimony p.2 Free meals: FAB suggests that free meals for Union Advisory Board members be discontinued p. 1 1 New coach: Robert Spousta takes over as head crew coach , . . p.10 n fit Photo by Stmm Boornar This house at 132S R St. is one of two buildings being torn down. The other house at 1319 R St. used to house Inglenook, a 10-person student coop. If the city permits rezoning, McDonald's golden arches may rise from the debris. ioard votes bank space study By Anita Stork The Union Advisory Board passed a resolution Wednes day night calling for student input on alternative uses for space now occupied by Gateway Bank if the bank or the Nebraska Union terminates the lease. Representatives of six Lincoln banks, including Gate way Bank, were present at the meeting. The motion, made by Dean Kirby, a senior political science major from Lincoln, provides for a student refer endum to place the issue on the ASUN spring ballot. A board subcommittee will discuss recommendations with Union staff and create alternatives for use of the bank space, Kirby said. Board member Ricky Cunningham, a junior business major from Omaha, said the resolution "provides alterna tives in case the bank pulls out of the Union." Gateway Bank president Karl Dickinson said the bank lost $43,000 during operation of the Union location last year. "Checking accounts are less profitable than savings accounts," Dickinson said. "The Union location has more checking than savings accounts. The average balance in the 2,600 checking accounts open at the Union is less than $125 compared to a city average balance of $205 250. You just can't turn a profit with small accounts like these." , , Dickinson also blamed the loss on the bank s inability to negotiate loans. State law prohibits the branch from making loans. "We had to instigate service charges or else cut bank hours and staff," Dickinson said. . Representatives from other banks said they have "no present plans to institute a service charge" similar to Gateways. Gateway was the only bank to submit a bid for the space when it was leased 18 months ago. None of the bank executives present indicated an interest in the space should Gateway terminate the lease. By Sandy Mohr UNL students soon may see golden arches rising near campus, including eight students who had to move from their home to make room for them. McDonald's Restaurants Inc. currently is making a "plot plan" of a site where two houses owned by Nebraska Bookstore Co. are being razed, according to the McDonald's regional real estate coordinator in St. Louis. The coordinator, who declined to be identified, said McDonald's will submit the plan to the Lincoln City Council and file an application for a rezoning change on two lots at 1319 R St. and 1325 R St. Currently, the lot at 1325 R St. and part of the other lot are zoned strictly for residential and office space and cannot be used for business. Both buildings previously were used for housing UNL students. No one has lived in the house at 1325 R St. since July 1975 according to Dale Schmitz, Nebraska Bookstore real estate manager. But students living in a 10-person coop called Ingle nook occupied the structure at 1319 R St. until Jan. 24, Schmitz said. Hearings on the rezoning for business are required be fore any contract can be signed for a restaurant, the Mc Donald's coordinator said. She also said she did not know when the application would be made to the city. The Inglenook co-op has since moved to 716 Charles ton St., according to Dave Deyloff, a senior music major from Laurel. Eight persons, including seven students, were living at the house on R street when they were given "about a week's notice" to move, he said. The co-op had not paid rent since November, accord ing to Schmitz. He said the bookstore company sent the co-op an eviction notice Dec. 15 telling them to leave by New Year's Day. The eviction later was extended until Jan. 24, he said. Deyloff said Inglenook had not paid rent for January. The buildings involved are two of four structures owned by the bookstore that now are being torn down, and the other two (at 1 1 18 Q St. and on 13 th street) will be razed to provide parking for bookstore employes, Schmitz said. He said the 13th street building was condemned by the Lincoln Fire Dept. more than a year ago, and has been a storage area for Nebraska Bookstore supplies and equip ment. The Q street structure also contained bookstore materials, said Darrel Jensen, Nebraska Bookstore main tenance engineer. Is it Pied Piper? Lab ponders vanishing rats By Nancy Oark Where have all the rodents gone? That is a mystery the manager of the small animal cen ter in the animal science dept. has been trying to solve for ten years. Rat thievery at Baker Hall on East Campus was "heavy" during January, Mary Mutz said, when about 300 baby rats disappeared. But she said rats have been disap pearing for at Icait lOycaii. "It's really crazy," she said. "Rat feed, cages (currently priced at about $75 apiece), rats-every thing needed to set up a rat colony-have disappeared." The lab rats, mixed and pure breeds, are used by ad vanced nutrition classes. The young, but never the mature rats are stolen, Mutz said. But in January the thief "goofed." Fifteen litters (about 150 rats) of the Long Evans variety, a pure strain, were stolen. The rats, however, were not weaned, she said. Either the thief found a milk-bearing mother or "he wound up with a bunch of dead rats," Mutz said. Theories explaining the rats' disappearance vary. Some guess they are used as bait for ice-fishing; others say they are used as snake food. Some, considering trie value of pure-bred strains, believe the rats might be sold to pet shops. A 1973 price list valued mature Long Evans female rats at $3.25, and male rats at $4.25 apiece. According to Mutz, the most popular theory says the rats are used for private lab experiments. . Those close to the case believe the rat stealing is "an in sida job." The center's loc). system has been changed twice in at tempt to hinder potential thieves, she said. A lock system, in which nine keys are issued to professors, was installed recently, she said. v "Surprisingly," Mutz said, "the stealing has never inter fered with any research projects."