Wednesday, january 28, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 106, no.13
uu
Bill would require creationism taught in schools
By Kim Hachiya
Amidst references made to the Scopes Monkey trials of
the 1920s, in which the court said it was not illegal to
teach evolutionary theory in the public schools, testimony
was heard Tuesday afternoon in the Nebraska Legisla
ure's Education Committee hearing to require the teach
ing of creationism theory in public schools.
LB 182, introduced by Grand Island Sen. Howard Pet
erson, would require creation-science theory of man's
origins to be taught concurrently with an evolutionary
theory.
Peterson testified that the proposal would "foster bal
ance of fairness and not advocate religious teaching" on
the origin of man.
He added that he believed the bill would "save our
public schools" and prevent the weakening of the public
school system by slowing down the number of parents
who are removing their children from public schools to
avoid teaching contrary to their religious beliefs.
Peterson disputed a Nebraska Attorney General's opin
ion which says the constitutionality of the bill is doubtful,
citing a statement released by Neligh Sen. John DeCamp,
who said he thought the bill was constitutional and offer
ed his support.
Peterson also disputed the theory of evolution, by say
ing that if evolution was valid, it would be unnecessary to
try to preserve whooping cranes because under an evolut
ionary concept, if the rare birds die out, they will simply
re-evolve and reappear from another species.
Tom Kolb, a tutor from Franklin, Nebr. spoke for
nearly an hour in favor of LB182.
"This bill is morally troubling," he said. "On one hand
you have the right of the schools to be allowed to deter
mine the appropriate curriculum, on the other, there is
the right of the student to be given both sides of a contro
versial issue."
Kolb argued for a "balanced approach," saying that his
experience as a teacher showed him that students
are often troubled by evolution theory which "goes
against" their religious upbringing.
He said teaching both methods would allow
students to make their own choices as to whether to ac
cept either theory.
Several committee members expressed reservations
about the Legislature interfering with local school board's
curriculum choices.
Sen. Chris Beutler of Lincoln, said, "Rarely, if ever,
have we interfered with curriculum on the local levels.
If the legislature is to interfere, who is to decide which
theories are appropriate and balanced?"
Committee chairman Gerald Koch told Kolb that
curriculum changes should be made on the local level,
not at the Legislature.
Charles Nichols, a faculty member of the Grace Col
lege of the Bible in Omaha, said the bill was necessary
because school boards are unresponsive to the requests
of citizens to include creationism theory.
According to Sen. Ernie Chambers, "LB182 is ridi
culous." Chambers said it would be impossible to se
parate religious Biblical doctrine from the teachings."
Chambers cited 12 states where similar bills have been
introduced but killed.
"The trend is clear. The education committee would
do a disservice to the state, to teachers and to religion if
this thing is put into the public schools," Chambers said.
Dick Kurtenbach of the Nebraska Civil Liberties Union
also voiced opposition to the bill, saying it was designed
"purely and simply to promote one religious point of
view in the public schools.
Anne Campbell, State. Commissioner of Education,
said the State Department of Education and the State
Board of Education both oppose the bill because it
would mandate curriculum on the state level.
"Teaching techniques and curriculum should be the
local school board's perogative," Campbell said.
Campbell estimated the cost of implementing the bill
would be more than $3 million dollars in textbook pur
chases, library books and teacher training.
The committee will decide the fate of the bill later
in the session.
SURE party announces candidacy forASUN
By Tom Prentiss
Sen. Kick Mockler announced his can
didacy for ASUN president Tuesday.
Mockler, the current ASUN speaker,
heads the ticket of Students United for
Responsible Education, which is the first
party to declare for the March 4 election.
Mockler, a junior political science
from Omaha, said students should be view
ed as consumers of education. He said
students should research the "product of
education more closely, so that education
will indeed be responsible."
Dan VVedekind, an agricultural engineer
ing major from Newman Grove, is the
party's first vice-presidential candidate.
Sophomore Doran Matzke of Sidney, an
undeclared student in the College of Arts
and Sciences is the second vice -presidential
candidate.
In his roles as ASUN senator and past
vice president of the Residence Hall As
sociation, Mockler said, he gained a
"good sense of how to deal with administ
rators effectively and diplomatically."
Mockler said he would like teacher eval
uations to be published so students could
use them as a "consumer report on teach
ers." Matzke said SURE would like the
Health Center to be more accountable
for its use of student fees. The Health
Center receives $32.62 per semester from
each student's fees, she added.
"The Health Center receives the largest
portion of our student fees. Yet the Health
Center submitted to the student Commit
tee for Fees Allocations merely a three
page budget summary," Matzke said.
Mockler said the Daily Nebraskan,
which receives 70 cents from each student
per semester, submits an "elaborate detail
ed budget" to the CFA committee.
More student involvement in forming
the Five-Year Plan could have made a dif
ference in the decision to raise laboratory
class fees last semester, Wedekind said.
"Changes are brought about by repre
senting the feelings of an informed stud
ent body, having a working knowledge
of the university system, and having an
approach to working with people that only
comes from experience," Wedekind said.
Mockler said the SURE party has about
one -third to half of their candidate select
ion completed.
The filing deadline for the March 4
election is Feb. 18. Filing can be complet
ed through the ASUN office and the Elect
oral Commission.
i r
'fiftiii'V " m
Photo by Mitch Hrdlicka
Rick Mockler
City Council proposes waste-burning energy plant
By Abby Maahs
A proposal by the Lincoln City Council
to build a plant to convert Lincoln's trash
to useable steam energy and which names
UNL as a potential customer docs not leave
UNL holding their breath over the deal.
The waste-burning steam plant would
produce more than enough energy to serve
both UNL's City and Last campuses
according to a feasibility study conducted
for the council by Gibbs & Hill of Omaha,
the State Energy Office and Lincoln
Electric System.
Dr. Ronald Wright, UNL vice chancellor
for business and finance, said the real prob
lem is finding a location for the plant.
"It takes a largesied property to
handle the volume of garbage trucks with
out disrupting the surrounding neighbor
hood," he said.
Archer Daniels Midlans, another potent
ial recipient of the energy, has alfeady
offered to locate the plant on its property.
The plant would not generate enough
power to serve both UNL and an industry
such as ADM, which is a Lincoln soybean
processing industry.
Wright said UNL's Christmas and sum
mer vacations create a pcak-and-valley de
mand which would create inefficient
energy use compared with the year-round
demands of industries like Goodyear and
ADM.
"Likewise, we depend on a constant
availability of energy. We can't afford to
have the plant call up and say 'sorry,
there's not enough garbage today,' "Wright
said.
"I personally believe that solid waste is
a source of energy we must explore. We
don't have unlimited resources and much
of what we throw away has petrol deriva
tions. But the cost of solid-waste energy is
about twice that of natural gas or electric
ity. Right now it's just not economically
feasible."
Gibbs & Hill representative Lee Snyder
estimated the cost of the plant at $52
million and said it could be as high at $7
million by the time contractors begin
planning.
"If the City Council decides to go ahead
with the plant, their next step is to look
over potential customers and negotiate
steam contracts," Snyder said. "They will
have to implement a garbage haulers agree
ment and, most importantly, apply for
state and federal grants for funding."
Lincoln's garbage is currently taken to
Arrow-Airport East landfill. According to
the feasibility study, the plant would have
an ash residue which will be disposed at the
landfill. Water for operation would be
"graywater" from Lincoln's municipal sew
age treatment system.
The study cited pollution control and
the creation of 50 employment positions as
positive effects of the plant. Snyder said
the cost of the plant would be the major
deterrent for the council.
Soviet Speaks: Igor Glagolcv, who defected
from the USSR in 1976 and was a
member of the Soviet Strategic Amis
Limitation Treaty negotiating teams,
spoke at UNL Tuesday Page 3
Making of a Regent: Humor columnist
Jamie Krutz gives students a tongue-in-cheek
guide to campus politics . . Page 6
On The Road Again: UNL Basketball
Coach Moe Iba says the liuskers need to
build up their confidence for road
games Page 7