monday, april 6, 1981
lincoln, nebraska vol. 106, no. 56
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Last event sews up pressure-packed competition
By Kim Hachiya
In a word, the 1981 NCAA Gymnastics
Championships could be described as pressure-packed.
Although it seemed like the Huskers
breezed along the way to winning their
third straight NCAA crown by 2.65 points
over runner-up Oklahoma, the outcome of
the meet wasn't sewn up until the last
event Saturday afternoon.
"I wasn't totally confident (that we'd
won the meet) until they handed me that
trophy," head coach Francis Allen joking
ly told reporters. "We were really solid
after the first three events and I guess I
knew we had it then."
Allen said the turning point in the meet
probably was the near perfect 9.9 perform
ance by Steve Elliott on the floor exercise.
Elliott's routine brought the crowd of
8,500 to its feet.
Allen said he deliberately placed Elliott
third in the line-up knowing he would hit
well and give the team momentum.
"If you've got a guy who's a stud and
will do what you ask him to do all the
time, it helps set up the rest of the team
too," Allen said.
Elliott said he didn't think he was the
biggest motivating factor, however.
"With the kind of team I have behind
me, it's not too hard," he said. "Plus the
crowd was great. I don't know if we could
have done it without the crowd.
"They get you going and keep you up.
Now I know how the football players do
it a big crowd is really something."
Phil Cahoy said a costly slip-up on the
parallel bars Saturday afternoon was de
pressing, but he knew he had to come back
and hit in his next event, the high bar, to
ice the meet.
Cahoy hit a 9.85 on the high bar, put
ting the championship out of reach of
Oklahoma and UCLA.
UCLA Coach Art Shurlock said Satur
day was a great day for UCLA gymnastics.
UCLA was hampered by the loss of all
aro under Tim Daggett, who dislocated his
ankle in Friday's floor exercise and was out
for Saturday's competition.
UCLA and Oklahoma traded the
second-place position all afternoon, until a
low parallel bars score for UCLA sent them
to third place.
Shurlock predicted UCLA would be
back even stronger next year because they
will be returning every gymnast on their
team.
Oklahoma Coach Paul Ziert said he was
proud of his team's performances in light
of the length of the meet.
"We are not a team that doesn't make
mistakes, we do make them," Ziert said.
"Our younger guys had more trouble try
ing to gage their energy through such a
long grueling meet."
Friday night's team optionals competi
tion featured the continuing battle royal
for all-around competitor between OU's
Bart Conner and Jim Hartung of Nebraska.
Hartung set a new NCAA record of 1 1 5.90
edging Conner by .05 of a point.
Saturday night's competition deter
mined individual champions in each event,
with the top six competitors winning
medals and achieving all-American status.
James Yuhashi of Oregon brought the
crowd to its feet with a spectacular 9.9
floor exercise routine that won him the
floor exercise crown.
Hartung placed second in the floor
exercise individual competition with a 9.8
and third in the pommel horse with a 9.8.
Frank Hibbitts of Nebraska placed sixth
in the pommel horse with a 9.3.
Hartung won the rings crown for the
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Photo by Mitch Hrdlicka
The 1981 NCAA National Gymnastics champions, the UNL Cornhuskers, salute a
record crowd Saturday afternoon. From left: Jim Mikus, Jim Hartung, Chuck
Chmelka, Phil Cahoy, Scott Johnson, Steve Elliott and Brandon Hull.
second year in a row with a 9.9. Scott
Johnson placed second with a 9.75.
Iowa State's Ron Galimore won the
vault with a perfect 10, edging Peter
Shields of Cortland State, who had a 9.9.
No Nebraskans were medal winners in the
vault, although Hartung and Jim Mikus
qualified for the competition.
Cahoy, Hartung and UCLA's Peter
Vidmar shared the parallel bars title with
9.7s.
Cahoy won the horizontal bar for the
second year in a row with a 9.9. Hartung
tied for second with Conner and Southern
Illinois' Brian Babcock with 9.8s. Johnson
placed sixth in the competition with a
9.7.
Uranium find raises legal and safety questions
By Reid Warren
Editor's Note: This is the first in a
three-part series of stories on proposed
uranium mining in northwestern Nebr
aska. After world-class uranium deposits
were uncovered in northwestern Nebraska
in January, another fact was also quickly
uncovered-that Nebraska had no real
applicable mining laws to deal with the
uranium find.
This is mostly because Nebraska has
had little mining in its history, but now
officials from all affected parties, including
state and local governments, oil and gas
companies and environmental groups, are
ready to stake claims in the mining situ
ation to control uranium's future in
Nebraska.
All parties agree Nebraska needs laws
to control the siuation, but the question
is how to go about it.
There are many legal aspects which
need to be cleared up before the actual
mining, if there is any, begins.
Questions arise on who will control
the mining operation, to what degree
and what the impact of local, state and
federal laws will be on Nebraska.
Will the mining be allowed to take place
on state land as well as on private land,
and most important, what kind of mining
will be allowed and what protective meas
ures will be taken?
Protect drinking water
Hemingford Sen. Sam Cullan, whose
district includes rhe site of the heaviest
drilling, near Crawford and the surround
ing area, has introduced a bill that would
establish a state mining code and would
impose a severance tax on uranium.
Besides the tax, the bill would include
a system of permits and fees that administ
ered by the Nebraska Oil and Gas Commis
sion, based at Sidney, and would contain
provisions to protect underground water.
"The main objective is to protect
drinking water sources." Cullan said.
The water situation is critical because
the Crawford area relies almost entirely on
surface water for its drinking supply,
and pure underground water is a scarce
commodity there.
The method most likely to be used
to extract uranium would be "in-situ"
mining, in which water and chemical
elements are funneled into the ground
through injection wells to dissolve the
uranium, and then pumps the uranium
up through production wells.
But a Westinghouse subsidiary, Wyom
ing Minerals Co., has had contamination
problems using the "in-situ" method
in mining near Buffalo, Wyo.
The company used ammonium bicar
bonate and then sodium bicarbonate
to dissolve the uranium, but apparently
some of the chemicals have spread beyond
the mining site.
The mining operation was temporarily
shut down, but later allowed to continue
on a limited basis after the problem was
corrected and the underground water was
cleansed.
Well -drilling control
Both Cullan and the State Department
of Environmental Control are confident
that regulations will be in effect before
any actual mining takes place, but some
conservationists feeel that Gov. Charles
Thone will have to alter his stance before
the laws are adopted.
Thone said last fall he would not ap
prove any expansion of environmental
rules until seeing how the Reagan adminis
tration deals with cutting back environ
mental control.
It will be at least two or three years
before there is any actual mining, but there
Series explores mining
On Jan. 9, 1981 , Wyoming Fuel Co.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Kansas
Nebraska Natural Gas Co. of Hastings,
announced its discovery of a world
dass uranium deposit near the town of
Crawford, about 50 miles west of
Chadron, Neb. Wyoming Fuel has been
conducting drilling tests for uranium on
private land leased from area farmers for
about three years.
Following the announcement, several
other mining companies rushed to the
area and began leasing mineral rights
from bndowners, conducting drilling
tests and, in the case of Amoco Minerals
Co. and Dalco of Colorado, even staked
claims on the 22,000 acres at Fort
Robinson State Park.
In mid-February, the state attorney
general's office ordered that the stakes
could be legally removed. Park workers
pulled them out. Meanwhile, questions
were being raised as to whether drilling
could contaminate or seriously deplete
local water supplies. Questions also were
raised on the effects of commercial
mining, admitted by all companies to be
several years in the future, to the
economy of the area.
Since then, Amoco has withdrawn
claims at Fort Robinson, reportedly be
cause of public opposition to the move.
The state has said it may file a lawsuit
against Dalco.
State Sen. Sam Cullan of Hemingford
has proposed mining laws during this
legislative session to prevent the federal
government from stepping in to regulate
Nebraska mining-a situation some
Nebraskans, including Gov. Charles
Thone, oppose.
This series is about the feelings of
ordinary citizens, as well as state and
company officials, about Nebraska's
uranium find.
already have been nearly 1,500 explor
atory wells commissioned for private land.
The biggest concern is adequate control
of exploratory drillings according to
Haberman Clark, DEC chief of program
plans.
"We have to know where we are now so
we can appreciate what happens in the
future," Clark said.
Both Clark and Cullan said it is import
ant to pass regulations as soon as possible,
but that there was no immediate danger
of contamination.
"I think we're controlling the situat
ion," Cullan said. "I don't see any prob
lems." "The state will have laws before there
will be any actual mining," Cullan said.
Clark also said the situation was under
control.
But both men conceded that the most
pressing problem was to make sure that
any test-drilling wells were properly
plugged and supervised.
Cullan has said that both the Game and
Parks Commission and the Crawford
City Council have told him that some test
wells have been left open, raising concerns
about water contamination.
Continued on Page S
01
n
monday
Leadership laurels: UNL students Kent
Warneke and Doreen Charles have been
selected as this year's outstanding stu
dent leaders Page 2
Gean Sweep: Jim Hartung made it a per
fect weekend for Nebraska as he won
the all-around title, defeating Okla
homa's Bart Conner Page 9
Rockabilly from the North Country:
Minnesota-based band Safety Last excels
in what members view as honest Ameri
can music Page 10