Daily
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thursday, April a, 1982
Vol. 109 No. 58
Lincoln, Nebraska
Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan
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Photo by Dave Bentz
James Keck
State's Army Guard nears full force
The Nebraska Army National Guard is more popular
than ever, especially with college students, according to
State Recruiting and Retention Manager Maj. Robert B.
Robeson.
As of last week 4,422 people are assigned to various
Guard units across the state. This represents 95.6 percent
of the Guard's authorized strength of 4,626 people.
Robeson said this is the highest total since the draft
ended. The previous high was recorded on Dec. 26, 1974,
when 4,385 people were in the Guard.
Robeson said the Guard's strength has increased 27
percent since 1978.
He said that one out of every 3 5 Army and Air Nat
ional Guard members is a college student. One of the main
reasons college students join is because of the 75 percent
tuition bonus, he said. With the bonus the Guard pays 75
percent of tuition for the student's four years of college.
Robeson said many students join the Guard to learn
job skills and gain additional bonuses. He said the current
generation of students doesn't remember Vietnam and
therefore has less animosity toward the military.
Robeson said he thinks the Guard will be "pretty
close" to 100 percent authorized strength by the end of
the year.
'Unknown candidate'
Keck runs for Senate
with Republican Party
By Jim Wcgman
"I'm an unknown challenger facing an incumbent,"
said Omahan Jim Keck, Republican candidate for U.S.
Senate. Keck spoke to about 60 people Wednesday as
part of UPC's Talks and Topics Afternoon Speakers Fo
rum. Keck served 37 years in the U.S. Air Force and recent
ly retired as a three-star general. He was vice commander-in-chief
of the Strategic Air Command, and is the senior
vice-president of Bozell and Jacobs, Inc. of Omaha.
Keck described himself as being "very familiar with the
legislative process." During one of his tours in the Air
Force, Keck was responsible for taking national defense
legislation through Congress.
"I know more about bureaucracy than anybody here,
and I don't like it," Keck said.
In 1979, Keck was asked to run for the Senate but re
fused because of government over-spending and his feeling
that "one more person wouldn't make much difference."
In 1980 that feeling began to change, Keck said.
The mandate of the people was to reduce the size and
scope of government, Keck said. He was now assured that
one person could make a difference because there were
people who agreed with him.
Just returning from a 12-day trip across the state, Keck
said Nebraskans are concerned about the economy and
agriculture.
There is too much excess spending in government, and
some things could be done much more efficiently and
effectively at a lower level of government, Keck said.
"The key to the economy is a balanced budget. But we
have to move towards it. It can't happen overnight."
Keck said much more emphasis is needed on agricul
tural policies because agriculture "is clearly the backbone
of the state and national economy." He would work to
ward the elimination of tariffs and excise taxes, and he
also would oppose the use of embargoes as foreign policy
instruments.
After the speech, Keck said he would support the B-l
bomber along with MX and Trident missile systems
because the U.S. can only negotiate with the Soviet Union
on an equal level. The Soviets must be in a position to
gain from arms reduction. The United States went from a
position of "total superiority" to one of "essential equiv
alence" in the early 1970s and lost it in 1977. Now the
Soviets have a 2,700 to 2,100 nuclear systems advantage
over the United States, Keck said.
These systems represent only about 6H percent of the
entire defense budget, Keck said.
Keck supports Ronald Reagan's proposals to cut stu
dent financial aid.
"I am very in favor of public education, but I feel very
strongly that we have to support this from .a national
level."
Central American tour changes speaker's views
By Pat Higgins
The Sandinista government in Nicaragua wants to deal
with the United States as an equal, said Suzy Prenger,
Human Rights Coordinator for Nebraskans for Peace.
Prenger, who spoke Tuesday night at Commonplace,
has just returned from a two-week study tour to Central
America and the Caribbean. The tour participants met
with government, business and religious leaders. Meetings
with Sandinista representatives totally changed Prenger's
perceptions of Nicaragua, she said.
'The general sentiment there is high tension and fear
about what the United States is going to do. The people
of Nicaragua want normalcy, but they don't trust our
government," Prenger said.
The United States is spending $5 million in economic
aid to Nicaragua and $19 million to de -stabilize the
country's regime. Nicaragua wants to maintain a mixed
economy because the private sector makes up 60 per
cent of the economy today, Prenger said.
"Their economy was in a shambles when they took
over from (former Nicaraguan President Anastasio)
Somoza's government. Managua still hasn't been rebuilt
in the 10 years since its devastating earthquake, despite all
the aid that was sent to Somoza," Prenger said.
The Sandinistas have admitted they have made
mistakes, particularly in relocating the Miskito Indians,
she said. The Miskitos had been used as a base by loyalists
of the Somoza government, Prenger said. The Sandinistas
also erred by increasing the number of government jobs
without increasing productivity.
"Despite any mistakes, they have a tremendous sense
of dedication to make the revolution succeed," Prenger
said.
La Prensa, the newspaper opposing Sandinistas, has
been shut down five times since the revolution two years
ago. Prenger said the Sandinistas believe in freedom of the
press but do not believe that it is a free press when certain
economic sectors are free to publish what they want.
"The CIA doesn't buy papers in Latin America, but
they provide technical assistance to them which should be
looked into," Prenger said. "We should also look and see
if the information we receive from the media in the U.S. is
controlled by certain economic interests."
The Cuban presence in Nicaragua is strong, as about
1,000 health and literacy workers are there from Cuba.
The Sandinista government denied being gun runners to El
Salvador, Prenger said.
The recent election in El Salvador should be seen as a
battle between the center and the right, as moderate left
ists did not participate, Prenger said. Salvadoran President
Jose Napolean Duarte does not control the Army in El
Salvador, she said.
The deaths of four Dutch journalists in El Salvador is
seen as a plot by Major Bob D'Aubisson to discredit the
Duarte government, Prenger said. She spoke with one of
the last people to see the journalists alive. Since journal
ists' physical safety is not guaranteed, they tend to do
their stories in San Salvador from government press re
leases, she said.
Prenger said she gained greater understanding of Presi
dent Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative plan while in
Jamaica. The CBI proposal is to increase investment which
has never worked before, Prenger said. The Ethiopian
Orthodox Church has been brought to Jamaica to dilute
the influence of the Rastafarians, she said.
The attitude of UJS. embassy officials in Jamaica is
intolerable, Prenger said.
"We left a clinic for undernourished children to speak
with a U.S. embassy official, and he told us that Jamaica
is a paradise because the people could always find a
thatched hut to live in and they could eat mangoes."
