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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1977)
page 4 daily ncbreskcn monday, march 7, 1977 Boosalis should study city, county labyrinth Last Friday it was reported that City Councilman Bob Sikyta was being removed from the Community Develop ment Task Force because of his attendance record. You may recall that last week I wrote about some problems caused by Sikyta's membership to the Task Force. My point last week was that giving Federal Community Development Grant money to Havelock was like going to a store and giving a salesclerk money without telling him what you want. Sikyta supported funding Havelock a hefty $350,000. Sikyta is a Havelock businessman. I thought that it was a shame Sikyta, a fiscal conservative, didn't allow his fiscal philosophy to conflict with his self interest. Y 1 dredge this muck up again simply to suggest that Mayor Helen Boosalis should not reappoint Sikyta to the Task Force. In fact, Mayor Boosalis probably would be wise to consider not appointing any member of the City Council to the Task Force. If Sikyta took advantage of his position to get his way, might not another member of the council do likewise? Probably not, but this question raises a point I would like to make. Long, careful look I think it is time Mayor Boosalis took a long, careful, and complete look at the labyrinth of boards, commis sions and committees associated with Lincoln and lan caster County government. There are 48 such groups, according to a December 1975 bulletin from the Govern mental Research Institute. Approximately 500 positions are open to citizens to serve on these groups. Almost all of these positions are filled by appointments from the mayor, the City Council, or both. These groups exist to facilitate broader citizen involvement in the local governmental decision-making processes. Some of these groups have great power, others have almost none. I favor involving citizens in governmental decision making processes, but some serious questions should be raised about the membership, power, and accountability of this multitude of citizen advisory and administrative boards. Questions to be answered Should members of the City Council be allowed to serve on any of these groups? Are the citizens who serve on these groups a cross-representation of the citizens of Lincoln? Is membership on these groups dominated by a small group of people who share a community of in terests? What is the performance of the citizens who serve on the . groups? Do they attend? Do they do their home work? Di they have a conflict of interest? Should the concept of a conflict of interest be broadened so as to better serve the public interest? Does the existence of so many groups decentralize decision-making so that Lin coln is run by a government of commissions and commit tees? I can see it now. The formation of an Advisory Com mittee to Investigate Advisory Committees. Oh Well. Another issue which more directly involves students is a problem that has pinched many a student's pocketbook. Where is our BEOG money? BEOG is the Basic Edu cational Opportunity Grant, a federal student aid pro gram. Don Macke, and some fellow students, raised this issue. . According to Macke, in the last part of December, the US. Department of Health, Education and Welfare trans fers to state treasurers, funds for the BEOG program. In early January the state treasurer transfers the appropriate funds to universities and colleges in the state. Two or three weeks after receiving the funds from the state treasurer, a college or university distributes BEOG money to the student recipients. That would be in late January. That, supposedly, is the way the BEOG program operates. That is how the BEOG program worked this year at Kearney State. That is not how the BEOG program worked this year at UNL. UNL students still have not received their BEOG money this semester. That is a delay of well over a month. Where is our BEOG money? Students have been put in a bad financial situation be cause of this delay. Some students have been delinquent on paying their rent, others have had to borrow money, from roommates to pay their bills. At 1 1 30 this Wed nesday in the Nebraska Union Colonial Room there will , be a meeting to discuss this problem. Stop by if you have been 'asking yourself, where is our BEOG money? It's time we got some answers. Watar Jl50 Coffe .... Z50 (refill? n25) . Nevj-r steak.. credit terms UJ- Wi 0ml ( V y X Arthur Hooso m Water, water everywhere for a price Out here in the West where men are men and persons are persons we have been grimly enduring shortages of not only energy and coffee, but water as well. It was only a question of time before we began to crack. The first to go was Milton Haberdash. For 27 days in a row, Haberdash arose in his frigid house to face another chilly day without benefit of a cup of coffee or a hot shower. After listening to the usual news on the radio while riding to work in his five-man car pool at 6 a.m., he sat down at the office and with a strange look in his eye composed the following letter: Dear President Carter: As you know, the big utilities companies are sitting on vast deposits of natural water innocent bystander waiting for the price to climb sky-high so they can make a killing off the thirst of little children. Water stored I personally have been told that our local water company has more than 323 billion gallons of water stored behind the Leona B. Fritchee Dam in the high Sierra which it refuses in its greed to put on the market. (This is enough to fuel an average-sized steam iron for 23,242 miles!) Oh, I've heard the flimsy excuses given by officials of the Water Producing and Exporting Counties (WPEC) cartel for this shortage that's driving prices up. But nobody's falling for the patently bogus story that a big freeze at the higher elevations has made their current crop of mountain-grown water undeliverable. And I've watched dozens of those slick television commercials in which the big corporations show off their giant new million-dollar dowsing rods and tell me they're doing their utmost to discover new sources of water for me. Hogwash! But what bothers me most, Mr. President, is that I've done everything a good citizen should in this crisis. I turned down the thermostat on my hot water heater to 65 degrees; I stopped every drip coffee pot in the house from dripping; I bought a new compact washing machine that gets 24 socks to the gallon; and in the evening I boycott water in favor of an alternative supply of liquid which, I must say, makes me feel much better. Self-sufficient - I don't even ask what happened to "Project Independ ence." Remember that? Mr. Nixon vowed to make America self-sufficient when it came to water so that we'd never have to knuckle under to a bunch of bearded heathen. Hah! And now, after all my sacrifices, I find the grasping water, barons have been holding back vast reservoirs of natural water to put the squeeze on us consumers. And what did you have to say about that, Mr. President? You told a press conference that this was certainly "under standable." - Well, all I can say is. . is. . is. . . Haberdash's letter tapers off at this point. Doctors at The Daffodil Dell Happy Farm say he should recover fully in a warm room after a cup of coffee and a hot shower. We jly piay that some day this cure will be found. (Copyright Chronic! Publishing Co. 1377) UJ SEGNO THOUGHT... J iff ( The Daily Nebraskm welcomes letters to the editor and guest opinions. 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