tuesday, february 12, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 104. no. 22
L
UNL student pushes for open adoption records
By Julie Bird
and Gordon Johnson
Amy can't find her mother. She's not lost, she's
adopted.
Amy Gunderson's one hope of finding her mother,
short of hiring a private detective, lies with passage of
LB483, which would open up adoption records to allow
adopted children to locate their biological parents. The
bill was introduced by Omaha Sen . Dave Newell .
LB483 Monday was returned from final reading to the
second stage of advancement so that a technical amend
ment offered by Lincoln Sen. Shirley Marsh could be
added. The final vote should be late this week or some
time next week observers said .
The proposal would allow adoptees access to their
adoption records when they reach age 25 if the biological
parent or parents consent. It would also provide full
medical histories of the biological mother arid father, if
available, to the adopting parents.
Gunderson, a sophomore 'advertising student from
Gretna, was adopted when she was a couple of months
old. She said she woult like to meet her biological mother
to find her roots.
i
Help lobby
Gunderson advertised Thursday in the Daily Nebraskan
asking other adoptees to meet with, her to help lobby for
the bill. She was the only one to show up.
"I can't really understand why others don't want to
know," she said.
Gunderson said she wants to find her mother to learn
about her medical background and to learn where some of
her traits came from. .
"I would just like to talk to my mother," she said. "It's
just a weird feeling. I feel that I don't have any roots,
biologically. It's real strange not knowing where I came
from,"
Opponents to LB483 claimed that one reason to stop
passage would be the pain it might cause the adoptive
parents. Gunderson says she disagrees'
"My mom told me she would like to meet my
biological parents and thank them," she said.
Gunderson said if meeting her biological mother would
APU: coins sale
is not a solution
Accepting the cash value of a donation to the NU
Foundation in place of 1 ,300 Krugerrands would "not be
enough," according to a member of the UNL African
People's Union.
Hodari Sababu, national and international coordinator ,
of APU, said in preview of a group statement, "I would
believe they (APU) would say it's not, enough."
Sababu said that APU will issue an official statement
today about the Krugerrands donor's statement that he is
willing to take back the coins and donate their cash value
to the foundation.
James Coe of Arizona, an NU alumnus, donated
1 ,300 South African gold coins worth nearly $1 million to
the NU Foundation last week. The donation met
opposition from APU, which referred to the coins as
"blood money," and representative of South African
racism.
ASUN passed a resolution last week advocating return
of the coins.
D.B. Vamer, chairman of the NU Foundation, said the
Krugerrands are 'now legal property of NU, and are non
returnable. "We are not going to return the coins," Vamer said,
Vamer added that NU will not contact the Coes
concerning their proposed cash-in, but said that if the
' donors should contact NU requesting the Krugerrands to
be liquidated, 'we'd undoubtedly comply with them."
Varner said that taxes on the cash-in must also be
considered. The transition from Krugerrands to cash :
would involve a capital gains tax, an expense which
Varner said would have to be covered by the Coes.
"Coe might not have realized the tax consequences
involved in cashing the Krugerrands himself" he said.
APU issued a news release on Feb. 6, written by
Sababu, opposing the donation. The statement is printed
m page 10.
80((3 fccGy
Triple option: For students who wish to join a group
supporting a presidential candidate, three choices are
available Page 6
Love on the rocks: Cupid appears in a bar to columnist,
expresses fear that romance is dying out .... page 12
How will we do? A review of United States hopes for the
1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid . . Page 14
cause her any pain she would not press the issue.
Mother's family
Her biological mother could conceivably have a family
who does not know that Gunderson exists, she said. If
that were the case she said she would not push for a
meeting.
She also said that personal questions such as "why did
you leave me?" and questions about her biological
mother's family would not be asked.
A long-lasting relationship with her biological mother
is out of the question, she said.
"I don't consider her my mother," she said. "The
person who brought me up is my mother. I certainly
wouldn't send her (biological mother) a mother's day
card."
She said she also is curious about possible brothers and
sisters, but again she would not push if if her mother did
not want her to.
Gunderson has sought legal advice on how to find her
mother, but was told the only way would be to hire a
detective.
"I think possibly this bill could open a lot of doors for
a lot of people," Gunderson said.
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" Photo by Mark Billingsley
Lloyd Moore, working the craft that makes him invaluable to the UNL Chemistry Dept. says that it is easy to
spend eight hours on a single glass project.
UNL employee lives, eats' glass
By Mary Kay Wayman
Sitting at his desk crowded with dusty glass tubes,
pipes, flasks and beakers, UNL's scientific glassblower is
at home in the crowded environment of the basement of
Hamilton Hall.
He forms a new neck on a glass flask as easily as a child
might with play-dough. His work, however, involves
rotating melting-glass over an extremely hot oxygen
natural gas flame, and seeing that it never loses the desired
shape. He seems to have a child-like enjoyment of his
work.
"I live and eat it," Lloyd Moore said, smiling.
Glassblowing has been his occupation and hobby for
the last 27 years. Moore has worked at UNL since 1958.
When he's not in the basement of Hamilton Hall during
working hours, he's often working in the basement of
his home.
Scientific glassblowing involves careful use of the
glass to make instruments with precise measurements.
Process difficult
"It's difficult to make, allowing for cooling, and ex
pect it to hold its measurement," he said. "With time and
work you can hold it fairly precise."
Moore said he doesn't make all the test tubes for the
chemistry department, but what he does make saves the
department money.
Moore estimated that there are from 375 to 475
scientific glassblowers in the United States and more who
do creative work.
Moore makes parts for UNL's mass spectrometer, one
of three of four in the United States. When a part
becomes plugged up, Moore said he takes it out and makes
a new one of special high-temperature glass.
If UNL didn't have its own scientific glassblower,
Moore said the university would probably have. to send
to Denver or Chicago for someone to do the repairs.
Show at Pershing
When he isn't doing scientific work with the precise,
specially made apparatus in the chemistry department.
Moore does creative work. He said he often shows off
his work and it will be a part of an art show at Pershing
Municipal Auditorium in April.
"As far as I know I'm the only one who makes glass
blown pipes in one piece," he said. Moore said the pipes
smoke cooler than wooden pipes and can be cleaned in
a dishwasher.
"Pipe smokers freak out" over the glass pipes which
Moore said he makes when asked.
But it is in scientific glassblowing that his work "hits
every facet" from working with metal to locking metal
inside glass. '
Moore said he first attended the College of Emporia
in Kansas to study to be a minister. He transferred to the
University of Kansas to major in chemistry. It was while
working part time in the chemistry storeroom that he
became familiar with the craft of glassblowing.
No formal instruction
He received no formal classroom instruction. Instead,
Moore said he was taught by 'probably one of the most
outstanding glassblowers around," Walter Logan, who was
working at KU at the time. Moore expressed his interest in
glassblowing only to be told by Logan, "I don't think you
can learn it , but go ahead and try
That challenge gave Moore the incentive to learn.
"When somebody says you cant do something you
work a little harder," he said.
Moore now teaches classes in glassblowing with the
Parks and Recreation Dept. He has taught both begin
ning and advanced classes for ten years. He teaches the
classes because he enjoys teaching others his craft, he said.
"I promised myself to teach people glassblowing,"
Moore said. .
Students in beginning classes learn only the basics
glass rotation, flame temperature and glass gathering
before they work with glass. The advanced classes branch
into creative glassblowing of such things as swans, bird
baths and cocktail glasses, he said.