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Off -The Wire
From the Renter News Report
ST. PAUL, Minn. Democrat Walter Mondale today
named Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his
Vice Presidential running-mate in e historic move
that broke a major sex barrier in American politics.
Mondale, expected to be named the Democratic
presidential candidate next week in San Francisco,
announced that he had chosen the 48-year-old con
gresswoman at a joint news conference here in the
capital of his home state, Minnesota.
"I looked for the best Vice-President and I found
her," Mondale said.
Ferraro, a three-term congresswoman from a
working-class New York City district, mother of
three and daughter of an Italian immigrant, thus
became the first American woman ever placed on a
major party presidential ticket.
The choice says a lot about him (Mondale), about
how far the country has come and where we want to
lead it," Ferraro said.
Of her historic selection, Ferraro said, "American
history is about doors being opened. There's an elec
tricity in the air."
While women have had their names put in nomi
nation as a symbolic gesture at some conventions,
none has ever been the choice of any party's presi
dential nominee.
Democrats hoped it would help them win the
lion's share of the women's vote, which is about 53
percent of the electorate, although polling data on
that issue has been mixed.
President Reagan currently leads Mondale by
margins ranging from sevtn to 19 points in opinion
polls.
Asked whether he considered Mondale's running
mate choice historic, Reagan told reporters during a
visit to Kentucky, "Yes, like (my) appointing Sandra
Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court."
" O'Connor is the first woman on the high court.
As to whether it might encourage women to vote
Democratic, Reagan declined comment.
Mondale said the choice had been "difficult at
first." But after he had interviewed seven prospec
tive candidates, including three women and two
blacks, he said, The choice became clear."
He said his campaign would stress basic Ameri
can values such as equality, adding, "We must go
into the future together as one indivisible community.
Mondale said Ferraro has proven an excellent
and effective member of Congress, has won tough
elections and knows law-and-ordei issues first
hand as a former prosecutor.
Besides her appeal to the female vote, Ferraro
adds to Mondale's ticket ethnic appeal to Italian
Catholics, a considerable voting force;
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David TroubaDaily Nebraskan
Frozen .
This eagle isn't the only thing that is frozen at State Securities Savings, 14th and N. All of the
firm's 5,000 to 6,000 depositors' assets were frozen when the company temporarily closed its doors
last Monday afternoon.
While still solvent, with an estimated $4 million in capital and surplus accounts, State Securities,
the state's second largest industrial bank, has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 1 1
of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. Commonwealth Savings Co., which was taken over by the state
Nov. 1 of Ikst year, is the state's largest industrial bank.
Between the two closings, about $102 million of Lincoln's depositor's savings have been frozen.
Science equipment in short supply
By Jsma Dafalman Eoimta
Shortages in research and laboratory equipment
are a problem in science and engineering depart
ments across the country, according to UNL profes
sor Alexander Peters.
A report by the National Science Foundation
estimates that one-fourth of the equipment in engi
neering, computer science and physical science
department in major research universities is out
dated. Peters, chairman of the UNL mechanical
engineering department, said at least one-fourth of
UNL's mechanical engineering equipment is proba
bly obsolete. '
Oldest equipment
The department's oldest equipment dates back to
1950, he said.
"When anything gets more than ten or fifteen
years old, it isn't worth much" because of changes in
technology and instrumentation, Peters said.
Peters said modern equipment is important to
engineering departments because "students need to
be exposed to instrumentation and apparatus that's
available to them when they go out in the field."
Besearcii fc&iapered
Also, Peters said, faculty members gain promo
tions by performing research. But that research is
often hampered by a lack of modern equipment.
Increasing numbers of engineering departments
have failed to gain . accreditation . in recent years,
Peters said. One of the major reasons for the decline
has been a lack of adequate equipment, he said.
Most UNL departments do not receive funds for
undergraduate equipment purchases in their per
manent budgets, Peters said. Instead, money comes
from special funds, such as energy savings and
excess tuition payments.
Funding front outside grants
Funds for faculty research equipment come from
outside grants which support a specific research
"When any thing gets more
than ten or fifteen years
old, it isn ' worth much. .. "
project, he said.
Peters said the mechanical engineering depart
ment received $80,000 in special funds this year. The
department, he said, is purchasing lab equipment
and replacing many of its classroom televisions,
which date back to 1972.
Richard Gilbert, a chemical engineering profes
sor, said his department received $39,000 to buy a
sophisticated chemical reactor for their under
graduate labs. To completely upgrade the labs, how
ever, would take four or five'times that amount, he
National and international news
from the Reuter News Report
Nine people Iiilied
in plane crasli
CATANIA, Sicily A U.S. Air Force cargo
plane crashed and burst into flames shortly
after takeoff from a NATO air base Thursday,
killing all nine people on board. A U.S. military
spokesman said eight crew members and one
passenger were killed in the crash, which
occurred after the C-141 Starlifter lift the
Sigonella Base. The spokesman said the plane
had been on a "routine airlift mission" when it
crashed. He said the aircraft had refueled at
Sigonella after arriving from Torrejon in Spain
and was bound for the British Indian Ocean
Island of Diego Garcia, site of a British-U.S.
military base. Italian Air Force sources said
the pilot had radioed that one of his engines
was on fire and tried to turn back, but the
maneuver failed and the plane crashed into
farmland. It exploded and burst into flames.
One Italian fireman said: "When we arrived,
there wasn't much to do. We worked to stop
the flames spreading to cultivated areas near
by." Rescue workers sealed off the crash site.
Judge drops one charge
LOS ANGELES A federal judge Thursday
dropped one of nine drug charges against
carmaker John De Lorean reducing his pos
sible maximum prison sentence from 72 to 67
years but refused a defense request to dis
miss the case. Defense lawyer Donald Re de
clared it a "great victory" after Judge Robert
Takasugi announced his decision. De Lorean is
accused of conspiring to import 220 pounds of
cocaine, estimated by the prosecution to have
a street value of $24 million. The prosecution
alleges De Lorean, who was arrested in Los
Angeles on October 19, 1982, was trying to
finance a drug deal to save his sports car fac
tory in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The factory
was eventually taken over by a British receiver.
The defense called for the dismissal of all
counts against De Lorean after the prosecu
tion had completed a 47-day presentation of
its case. In a 14-page motion, the defense said
the prosecution had failed miserably to prove
its case. The main charges against De Lorean
remain, but' Takasugi dismissed the count
alleging that on or about July 11, 1982, De
Lorean travelled between New York and Orange
County, Calif., "with intent to promote, man
age, establish, carry on and facilitate an unlaw
ful activity, namely narcotics trafficking."
Thatcher faces crisis
LONDON Prime Minister Margaret Thatch
er faced a rapidly worsening crisis today as
trade unions tightened a blockade of seaports
and coal miners' leaders voted unanimously to
continue a four-month-old national strike.
Thatcher told Parliament the strikes had
caused a rise in interest rates from 10 to 12
percent Wednesday. The Transport Workers'
Union called out its 35,000 dockers on Monday
because contract workers are handling iron
ore that its own men, in sympathy with the
miners, will not load. Thatcher has refused to
mediate in the dispute over pit closures, but
businessmen view the dock strike with more
alarm. The strike at first involved only ports
registered in a national dock labor plan, but
meetings Thursday and Friday at about 80
others, mostly small, were spreading the stop
page. In the first votes, at Shoreham and Poole,
both in southern England, dockers decided
today to join the strike. About 4,000 members
of the National Union of Raihvaymen were ref
using today to cross dockers' picket lines at
ports, and 1,500 men of a third union were
under orders to walk off the job. Dockers at
Southampton announced they would prevent
the luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2, arriving
from New York, from docking Friday and the
liner Canberra from docking Sunday, forcing
both to divert to Cherbourg, France. The Nation
al Union of Seamen appeared to cut off the
main escape route for exporters when it an
nouned last night that, in a separate dispute
with the government, it would ban all freight
trucks from ferries for mainland Europe from
midnight tomorrow.
In the miners' dispute, a special delegate
conference endorsed the strike by a unanim
ous vote, including all delegates from non
striking areas. About 20 percent of Britain's
180,000 miners have refused to strike, and
Arthur Scargill, militant leader of the I lational
Union of Mineworkcrs, described today's vote
.as remarkable.
Pago 2
Dally Nebraskan
Friday. July 13, 198