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April 13, 1983
Vol. 82, No. 140
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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By John Koopman
Nebraska's economic future depends
on attracting high technology industries
to replace traditional "smokestack"
industries, State Sen. Chris Abboud of
Ralston said Tuesday.
Speaking to a sparse crowd at a
breakfast sponsored by ASUN's
Government Liaison Committee, Abboud
said that to attract such industries, the
state will need a labor force with a strong
background in math and science.
The Legislature had given first round
approval this week to LB585. The bill
would establish a student loan program
for math and science students enrolled
in teacher training programs who agree
to teach in the state following graduation.
A tremendous growth will occur in
high technology fields such as computers
and telecommunications, he said. Jobs
requiring a college degree will increase
by as much as 50 percent to 80 percent.
In jobs that do not require a college
degree, the big opportunities will be in
servicing and operating computers and
other data processing equipment.
The Joint Economic Committee of
Congress recently did a study titled
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"Location of High Technology Firms
and the Regional Economy, ""addouc!
said. The study points to three major
factors that high technology industries
use when considering a location:
-Availability of a highly skilled work
force.
-Taxes, wluch eat into profits and
affect the ability of the company to
attract skilled workers.
-Accessibility to high quality
universities and technical institutions.
Nebraska should concentrate on keeping
graduates in the state and shifting more
of the state's present college and university
allocation into engineering and computer
related fields of study, he said.
Abboud introduced LB570 in an
attempt to keep college students in
Nebraska after graduation, he said. The
bill, wliich was postponed indefinitely,
offered tax incentives to businesses that
offered part-time on-the-job training for
college students, particularly in the fields
of engineering, computer science and
business.
Abboud encourages students to provide
him with their ideas and views on
legislative matters.
Lawyer requests dismissal
m Autarky's 'pis
At a pre-trial hearing Monday morning,
public defender Gerald Soucie filed a
motion requesting the complaint against
former Conceptual Anarky Party
presidential candidate Joni Jacobs be
dismissed .
Lancaster County Judge Robert Camp
will rule on the motion May 2. At that
time, Camp will review Soucie 's motion
and any additional motions that might
be filed, Soucie said.
The law that Jacobs is charged with
iple fiag' case
breaking is over-broad, Soucie said. She
is charged with defiling the American
flag.
As the law now is written, Soucie said,
it is unclear what exactly constitutes a
flag. He also said it is unclear what
constitutes defiling a flag.
Soucie said the charges against Jacobs
may be in conflict with the First and 14th
Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Continued on Page 6
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Staff photo by Craig Anc'resen
Junior Judy White, left, and sophomore Steve Wilhelm were two of the many runners
competing Tuesday in the Mastofon Marathon, a fund-raiser for Morrill Hall.
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ydDnosoQiig codes emovce
Editor's note: This is the final article in a
three-part series on apartment rentals.
By Lori Sullivan
The phone rings non-stop at the City
Housing Code Office, and it's little wonder
- the office is responsible for ensuring that
more than 20,000 apartments comply with
city codes.
Director Harold Hansel says both the
landlords and the housing available in
Lincoln are getting better. He said he
doesn't mind seeing some of the older
buildings that "were unfit to live in"
bulldozed. In the recent past, he said, he
remembers rooming houses with 10 rooms
sharing the same bathroom.
Some landlords don't like his office, but
repairs that are required are usually in their
best interests, too. Enforcing the codes has
not increased the price of housing
significantly, he said.
"Basically the cost of apartments today
is because of the utilities, taxes and the
insurance rates going up - it's not the
enforcement of codes that drove the price
up."
The Housing Code Office is necessary
because some landlords don't care about
the health and safety of their tenants,
Hansel said. However, most of them are
willing to make any repairs needed, he
said.
"Out of 100 landlords, there are usually
only about two or three that always stand
out as not being as good about making
repairs as the rest of them are," Hansel
said. In Lincoln, about 5 percent of the
landlords are like that, but that 5 percent
keeps his office "running all the time," he
said.
If his office receives a complaint, it sets
up an appointment to inspect the property.
Based on the Title 21 Housing Code,
anything that is in violation is cited in a
repair letter to the owner, he said.
Some common check points are:
plumbing, plaster falling, roof leaks,
missing screens from windows, overfusing
the fuse box, hot water heaters, foundation
caving and broken windows and doors. All
aspects of tenant health and safety are
checked.
When a landlord receives a repair letter,
he has between 20 and 90 days to make
the repairs. The time limit is based on how
critical the violations are, Hansel said.
Any structure with three or more units
must have a license to operate. The
Housing Code Office also ensures that the
landlord's property meets all codes before
the license is granted. After a license is
granted, the property is put on a sliding
scale time schedule for inspection, based
on the condition of the property. Older
buildings are usually inspected once a year,
and newer ones less often, he said.
Usually when a building needs repairs,
the Housing Code office follows up with a
visit in 30 days to check the progress on
the repairs.
If a landlord doesn't make the requested
repairs, the Housing Code Office can
revoke his license and he may no longer
rent out the building in question.
Both landlords and tenants have
responsibilities, Hansel said. If they work
together problems can nearly always be
avoided. Some tenants make unreasonable
requests for improvements that are not
really necessary, after living only a short
while in an apartment. Or, they do not
care for the property or abide by sanitation
rules.
Often student tenants run into problems
when a landlord promises to make
improvements and doesn't follow through.
Tenants need to be educated in that area,
Hansel said.
"If the landlord tells you he's going to
do this and this and this and he's going to
have it done before you move in, then tell
him you're not going to give him a dime
until he in fact does do it," Hansel said.
Another alternative is to put it in
writing and specify that repairs must,be
done by a certain date. If they aren't done,
get a different landlord, he said.
Landlords should be more sensible
about guaranteeing things they will do and
they should also hire maintenance people
who are qualified to make necessary
repairs, he said.
In his 1 1 years in the Housing Code
Office, Hansel has found that people are
not very well educated in housing and the
associated legal matters. Students in
particular are often afraid to make waves
with their landlords.
His experiences with student tenants
have been good, he said, only a few have
not been willing to carry out their
responsibilities as tenants.
"I find that certain landlords don't
want to rent to students - they hate them
with a passion - they've probably had one
bad experience and they just put them all
in the same package, and really, that's
discriminating, the way I see it," he said.
Hansel says he also has seen
discrimination against women who are
single parents.
Most records at the Housing Code
Office are open to the public; people can
call or come in and check to see if a certain
landlord or apartment address has a lot of
complaints listed, Hansel said.
Continued on Page 7