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."
