Tuesday, April 10, 1C3-1
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JLCd
Tolerance needed
to help prevent
foolish accidents
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nvA r - fern
The number of close calls between cars and
pedestrians on and around the UNL campus has
never ceased to amaze me.
Fortunately no one has been injured in a car
pedestrian accident within memory, according to
UNL Police Information Officer Bob Fey.
Hardly a day goes by that students cannot be seen
blindly crossing R street in front of a driver who
often yells obscenities at the dazed walker. Some
times it's a group phenomenon. A small herd of
students, absorbed in themselves, will blithely cross
in front a car that barely has time to stop.
Lincoln's ordinances regarding pedestrians say a
car should yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk. But,
a pedestrian should only walk in front of a car if it
has sufficient time to slow down or stop before run
ning into them.
Pedestrians break the law and the confines of
common sense when they cross outside the cross
walk. It's illegal for a pedestrian to cross a street any
way except at a right angle at an intersection or a
crosswalk.
Sometimes drivers don't think they have to yield
because there is no sign.
Two of the worst places for car-pedestrian run
ins are the intersections of 14th and Vine streets
and 14th and U streets. "
Cars going south on 14th street rarely yield to the
pedestrians crossing at the crosswalk, with the
"walk" light at U or Vine streets I've only seen a car
yield at those intersections a few times.
About two'weeks ago a young man crossing Vine
was nearly struck by a car that turned left. The
driver rudely turned in front of him as he crossed
Vine with the light. He gave the car a good boot on"
the rear quarter-panel. Vigilante justice done.
Cars should yield at those intersections they
are breaking the law if they don't, according to UNL
traffic officer Lt. Ken Cauble. He said cars legally
must yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.
That is, when the pedestrian Is crossing on a
Valk" light within the bounds of the crosswalk.
What is needed for pedestrians is a trip back to
those first grade classrooms across the state. Walk
ers on campus seem to have forgotten the golden"
words that were again and again drilled into our
under-developed skulls: "Look both ways before you
cross the street."
So simple. Such undeniable good advice is hard to
come by these days. t
The reasoning behind the words is simple. Ulti
mately, law or not, pedestrians are small bundles of
fragile flesh and bone. Cars are large, resilient, high
velocity things driven by fallible flesh and blood. The
logistics make it smart to wait until there aren't any
cars in sight before crossing the street. Although
drivers should be courteous, walkers should be very
cautious. Both parties need some tolerance, and
some compassion.
Chris Velsch
I'm afraid I need your help again.
More and more I have been accused of being
behind the-times in matters of social custom and
so-called "lifestyles"; modern America marches bold
ly on, and sometimes I feel as if I am straggling at the
back of the parade.
Bob
; Greene
So when I started hearing r umors of a health club
in Pennsylvania that allegedly- featured one com
munal locker room for both men and women, I
automatically figured that this was just one more
example of how I really don't belong to the '80s.
According to the rumors, the health club in ques
tion asked its male and female members to slTare ,
locker, shower and toilet facilities; according to the
rumors, the male and femala members willingly
went along with this. ' '
I remember when the Equal Rights Amendment
was being widely debated; opponents of the ERA
always charged that if it became Jaw, then men and
women would be forced to share public bathrooms.
U. S. : c an' i j us tiiy Latin p olicie
n
Catch phrases like communist aggression and lef
tist insurgents raise hair on the nape of just about
every red-blooded American's neck and enable those
who spew such spittle to slide even the least plausi- ,
ble arguments past the logic guards of their adoring ,
public.
Administration officials are relying on narrow-
C- Cliris'ioplier
V'K Bnrbach
mindedness and stupidity from a nation of National
Enquirer readers to win public approval of their
military package for Central America
JThe truth is the United States is the bad guy in
Central America.
Even a quick took at readily available facts suffi
ces to sink three major administration justifications ,
for American military activity in Nicaragua and El
Salvador. '
Supporters of that activity claim K:carc..7ia h
spreading communist rebellion via arms and troops
throughout Central America, and to El Salvador in
particular. They are very quiet about a Central Intel
ligence Agency study last year which revealed no
arms traffic between Nicaragua and El Salvador
and about the fact that most of the weapons
wielded by Salvador&n rebels are American arms
taken from El Salvador army troops.
Another attempt at justification claims American
intervention in Central America supports freedom.
That is false on both the Nicarc.'uan and Salvado
ran fronts. The rebels the United States supports in
Nicaragua are, for the most part, remnants of the
deposed Somoza regime who are interested not in
freedom, but in regaining their lost properties and
power. ' - - ;""""w!7'"
In El Salvador, less than 10 percent of the popula
tion owns more than 90 percent of that country's
wealth. Most Salvadorans are not free they are
serfs. They struggle against starvation in a feudal
system in which those who do not own land are
virtual slaves to those who do. : "
The most laughable of ailattcTrila at justification
., is the claim that the rebeIllcn'Li.r:Ivador consti- '
.... tutes communist aggression.. ;Thr;t'.rey6lt is a violent ..
."reaction to hunger;-Th'a'-TcL!T"Tir;;ly' illiterate
serfs, have no ideology. Their .reunion is left wing
only because the government L; rrht wing..If they
turn to Soviet aid, it is net becC'i'Vthsy embrace or
even know anything about Uztxxzfpnt is because
the United States b their enzxyfy
The message which American ;rjiilltary activity in '
El Salvador and Nicaregua scr.Ci to the people of
those nations and other Central Arrericans is cleur
We are not concerned with ycux"wclfare or your .
freedom if they come at the espinsa clour inter '
'esis." Americans who fail. to cee,!:th.t are bein.'-.
; duped.;.; , '. : . ":
Proponents of the amendment heatedly argued
that this was ridiculous; such a thought was a red
herring designed to turn people against the EUA.
But now . . . if this health club rumor was true,
then perhaps the ERA opponents had gasp!
been right after all. Perhaps we really were entering
the era of unisex restrooms and locker rooms.
This is one of those rumors I didn't want to look
into too closely if it was true, it would threaten to
ruin my year. But I could not ignore it, and thus I
made some phone calls and located the health club
in question.
Alas, it is true.
The facility is called the 21st Century Health Club,
and it is located in Springfield, Pa. '
. I talked to two employees of the club, neither of
whom was overly eager to discuss the policy. But
they gave me thebasic details of how the club works.
It's not as racy as the rumors would have you believe
but it's still enough to make you wonder.
The 21st Century 'Health Club is one of those
exercise places designed for the new generation of
Americans who are obsessed with the idea of stay
ing fit. On Mondays and Wednesdays, and on Fri
days up until 3 p.m.," only women members are
allowed to use the club, on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
only men members are allowed.
But on Fridays after 3 p.m., and all day Saturdays
and Sundays, the club is open to both men and
women. And during those hours, the locker room.
. facilities are indeed coed.
- Continued cn Pas 5
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