frlday, march 9, 1079
pag3 4
daily nebraskan
5)BQDIjO fft
9-
I
Unsafe Temple
Building
hould be budget priority
It does not take a team of renown
experts on safety to conclude that
the Temple Building is a mess. A
child, taking a 1 5-minute tour of the
building, would probably concede
that there are enough fire hazards
alone to give a fire marchall enough
nightmares to last a year.
All of the adjectives used by
supporters of LB385, a bill to restore
the building, are sufficiently explicit.
Temple is "deplorable, crowded,
antiquated, detrimental, unsafe and
inadequate."
The building certainly is not a
high selling point for prospective
teachers and students interested in
theatre arts at UNL. Neither is it
conducive to a feeling of general
well-being for those students who
must use it in their daily studies.
The safety and well-being of those
students should be one of the highest
priorities on any list, whether that
list be that of the theatre arts
faculty, the university administration
or the NU Board of Regents.
The regents have ranked improve
ments on the building 21st on their
list of capital construction priorities
for next year. There are those who
wish it were higher And there are
those who pray, out of sheef concern
for the students, that something does
not happen irt that place. Tragedy is
the crudest teacher
LB385 would allocate $6.6 mil
lion during four years for complete
restoration of Temple and an addit
ion south of the building. Consider
ing what is at stake the price is not
too high. How do you put a dollar
sign on students lives?
Bullfrog flies the friendly skies, finds trip a real roast
As a youngster I was intrigued by any
thing which when ignited, flew or made
loud noises. So it was only natural that
when amateur rocketry became a fad, I be
came a full time participant.
mm
o
SUSHI
In the late SOs and early 60s there were
ompanies which specialized in rocketry
quipment. They sold little wooden nose
oues, tail fins, exhaust nozzles and rocket
bodies. They sold them, through the mails,
to kids like me who took great delight in
risking fingers, eyes and other important
appendages for one good "wjjoosh" or
"ka-boom."
The companies did not sell the rocket
fuel. You had to make that yourself. Any
child can make rocket fuel. All he has to
do is go to the local pharmacy, buy a hefty
supply of powdered sulphur, powdered
charcoal, potassium nitrate (better known
as salt peter) and some zinc oxide.
Another, more common name for this type
of rocket fuel is gunpowder.
Public launch
In those days I was president of the high
school rocketry club. Our first public
launch was held in the school parking lot.
There were eight spectators. When our first
three rockets fizzled there were only two.
It was not a particularly thrilling exhibition
of our pyrotechnical prowess.
We decided that the only way to attract
attention was to go big time. No more of
those little foot-long jobs, we snid. And so
we. began planning the greatest launch in
the history of amateur rockstiy.
We managed to finagle $200 from the .
all-student fund. With the money we pur
chased hollow metal nose cones, metal
fins and nozzles and about 30 feet of alum
inum tubing in various diameters.
Late into the night we cut and fitted
the tubes, welded on the fins and fitted the
cones and nozzles. When we were finished
we had three 6-foot-tall rockets. One was a
single-stage, one was a dual-stage and the
other, our pride and joy, was a three-stage
wonder which, in theory, would reach
the theretofore unimaginable altitude of
8.000 feet.
We began advertising the event. DON'T
MISS THE LAUNCH OF THE CENTURY!
THREE GIANT ROCKETS, EACH OVER
SIX FEET LONG WILL BE LAUNCHED
ON THE SOCCER FIELD FRIDAY AF
TERNOON AT 4 P.M.! TWO OF THE
ROCKETS WILL CARRY LIVE ANI
MALS IN THEIR NOSE CONES WHICH
WILL BE JETTISONED AT MAXIMUM
ALTITUDE AND SAFELY RETRIEVED
BY MEANS OF A SPECIAL PARACHUTE
SYSTEM. COME OflE, COME ALL! IF
YOU MISS THIS ONE YOU'LL BE
SORRY FOR THE REST OF YOUR
LIVES!
On Friday at 4 pjn. there were over 400
people on the soccer field. Our three silver
beauties sat on their launch pads, gleaming
testimonies to our dedication and
expertise. We walked into the middle of
the field, inspected the launch guides one
last time, measured the wind speed and sig
nalled the crowd to be quiet.
Frog entrance
"Bring out the frogs," 1 shouted author
itatively to my treasurer. He raced out
onto the field carrying two massive bull
frogs we had captured the day before.
Holding each frog high in the air I announ
ced to the spectators that they had nothing
to worry about.
"These frogs are safer here today than
they were at Campbell's Pond yesterday,"
I intoned. "Their safety is our prime con
cern." With that I placed one frog in the single
stage rocket and the other in the three
stage wonder. I double checked the para
chute system in each and screwed down
the nose cones. The rocket fuel was to be
ignited by electricity, with the help of two
car batteries. We went to our command
post and set the switches.
. First countdown
The vice president began the count
down on the first rocket, the single-stage
one carrying the first frog. We estimated
the rocket would go up about 3,500 feet
before the ejection charge went off,
jettisoning the capsule in which was con
tained Frog One.
". . . FIVE; FOUR, THREE, TWO,
ONE-IGNITION!"
4We have ignition!"
"We have lift-off!"
"We have.. JCABOOM!
The single-stage rocket exploded on the
pad. It rained frog for a full 30 seconds.
Big husky varsity letter men fell to their
knees. Girls wept. Some . clown ran to
get the principal.
Following concussion
The concussion that followed the explo
sion of three pounds of gunpowder
knocked us on our cans. The treasurer fell
back on the other two switches, jamming
them both into the "on" position, The
two-stage rocket leaped off the pad arid
screamed into the sky. At about 1,500
feet it made a 180-degree turn and began
hurtling back toward the crowd. No one
moved. Everyone stood gazing upward,
mouths agape.
At 100 feet above the ground the
second stage kicked in. The rocket turned
abruptly and sped toward the main
building. It disappeared through an open
window in the faculty lounge. There
followed an explosion. Mrs Pratt, the
school librarian dived out of the lounge
window, executed a perfect two and a
half with a twisty and landed on her feet
like a cat.
Just as the three-stage rocket was lift
ing from the launch pad, Mr. Casey,
the principal, came running through the
parking lot toward the field.
"Stop the launch! Stop the launch!" he
yelled.
The three-stage wonder seemed to hear
the principal because it rose slowly, turned,
hesitated a moment in mid-air and began
cartwheeling in Mr. Casey's general direc
tion. The principal froze in his tracks, scream
ed once, and dived under a parked car.
The rocket zipped across the parking
lot inches above the cartops. At the edge of
the woods it rose and headed in a north
westerly direction. A Vermont paper ran a
story a few days later about a little boy
who saw something parachute into his
back yard. Upon inspecting the curiosity
he found an aluminum container in which
was what appeared to be a small roasted
animal. Experts later identified the
creature as a frog.
Kelly shirts capture attention
By Randy Essex
Why would Ralph Kelly wear a "Down
one for Kelly" T-shirt?
Well, the Grand Island senator could
have been seeking publicity, and if that is
the reason, he certainly was successful. His
picture ran on front pages of the Omaha
World-Herald, the Lincoln Journal and the
Daily Nebraskan. Associated ress also sent
a photo of the senator and his shirt across
the wires, so he may have garnered even
more publicity than I am aware of.
Anselmo Sen. Howard Lamb quipped,
"Some senators bring their grandchildren
to the Legislature to get publicity, and
others wear T-shirts."
Kelly admitted he didn't mind the
publicity, but he said it helps his oppon
ents who sell the T-shirts as much as it
helps him.
"I don't take it personally," Kelly said.
Political gimmick
Kelly said he wanted to make it clear to
the people of the state that he understands
why the shirts are being printed.
"It's a political gimmick to get students
involved in the political process. This is
what they intend, and I don't want people
to think it's intended as a personal attack
on me."
, Thursday the day after KeUy wore the
shirt, Omaha Sen. Neil Simon asked Kelly
if it would Be intimidating if the senators
on the Miscellaneous Subjects Committee
who intend to vote against his bill all wear
anti-Kelly shirts to the committee hearing
next Thursday j ;
On the otier hand, tincoul Sen. Steve
Fowler told -student! it would not be a
good idea for them to wear such shirts to
the hearing.
Fowler also said it Would be a bad idea
to stop by the downtown bars before
coming to the hearing.
Nostalgia illness
Bellevue Sen. Frank Lewis mentioned
that he stopped by the Zoo Bar recently
to "gain some first-hand experience on the
drinking age issue. Lewis pointed out that
he was the only person wearing a tie.
Lewis, in arguing against the bills Kelly
has introduced to raise the drinking age to
21, said society-or at feast some of its
members-suffer from a social illness called
nostalgia, and would like the drinking age
to be where it was when they were young.
At any rate, the committee hearing on
LB221 is Thursday.
It seems to me that this particular com
mittee hearing is something of a formality.
I seriously doubt that many minds on the
committee or in the Legislature can be
changed on such a highly emotional issue.
But both sides seem to be afraid they
are behind right now, so it should be
interesting to watch them try to change
minds which may already be made up.
Right or wrong, I must express my ad
miration for . a person with the pure, un
adulterated guts of Vince Power.
Free speech
John Janovy, Jr.
Since 1943 Palestinians have hid diffi
culty in getting themselves recognized A
United Nations resolution of 1947 divided
the Und in which they had been living in
two, specifying ens part for the establish
ment of Israel, mother to be kept by the
Arabs. ' . :
The subsequent war that ensued over
the partition, resulted in Israel's extending
the boundaries agreed upon by the UN
resolution. Wars followed, Israel expanded
and for purposes of speaking, Palestine
ceased to exist. Palestine was left in ob
scurity. At most we heard of terrorists in
refugee camps, whose terrorism was fanatic
and brutal.
Palestinians as people, as with their
country, ceased to exist. At -first a
displaced people, followed by 'a non
existent people, until the emergence of the
Palestinian Liberation Organization, Pales
tine had become something biblical, an
image from the time of Christ.
But in 1975, the PLO was recognized
by the United Nations as the representative
of the people of Palestine. After 25 years a
people again existed out of nothing, only
unlike the Jews that created Israel, the
Palestinians had never gone. They were
there ail along, a silenced, suffering people
collapsed into itself.
Then Rabin appears at UNL, a guest
speaker of Talks and Topics to talk of
peace In the Mideast. Arabs studying in
Lincoln saw in this mans presence an ad
vertisement for Israel's position, a descrip
tion of UraeTs politics stated at length
without contradiction. His talk was not ar
ranged as a debate and no provision was
made to bring an opposing speaker to ex
plain the situation in which Palestinians
live.
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