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Wednesday, December 12, 1984
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 84 No. 76
Weather: Cloudy and cold today with snow flur
ries possible in tho morning and a high of 36 (2C).
Wednesday night, cloudy and windy with a low of
24 (-4C). Thursday, cloudy and warmer with a
slight chance of showers and a high in the lower
403 (5C). Bob BrubachsrDsSly Nsbrstkan
Us orf hm...Someone's
got to losc.Page 13
to is parts...
or are they?...Pagei2
By Ad Hudlcr
DtUy Nebraskaa 8laff Reporter
UNL's one-year-old Student Watch
Program is now history.
Citing apathy and poor leadership as
problems, the campus patrol group has
decided to declare inactive status, David
Decoster, dean of students and the group's
adviser, said. By declaring inactive status,
the group has not permanently disbanded,
but has temporarily "shut down," Decos
ter said.
Problems first emerged for the group
last summer when Student Watch
founder-president Troy Lair quit the group
to concentrate more on academics dur
ing his senior year. Mike Wozny replaced
Lair.
"He (Wozny) reneged on his agreement
to be president when he returned to
school in the fall," Lair said. The program
needs someone at the top to give it energy
and ambition, and he didn't organize it
over the summer."
Decoster said Wozny "came to the real
ization that he didnt have the time to give .
to the group." Soon after the semester
began, Wozny submitted a letter of resig
nation, leaving the letter in the group's
Nebraska Union office where it went
unnoticed for four to five week3.
"And by the time we found it, it was
really too late to get thing3 started again,"
Decoster said. "So Troy and I decided that
becoming inactive seemed like the best
thing to do."
Wozny said he attributes the club's
inactive status to many things. He said
there weren't enough members who
actively participated in the watch pro
gram, and those involved were tired of
doing all of the work. He said the watch
program was too demanding, and it took
too much of students' time.
"Everybody got tired of it," Wozny said,
"and it just got to be a real drag."
A decrease in sexual assaults on cam
pus also was responsible for the declining
interest in the watch program, Decoster
said. When the group organized more
than a year ago, there were more reported
sexual assaults on campus. UNL police
have investigated one first-degree sexual
. assault this year, Lair said.
Continued on Page 3
Director says new policies
improve UNL's Dead Week
By Lisa Nisttiiig
Daily Nebrask&n Etaflf Reporter
Twas the week before finals, and all
through UNL, not a creature was stirring,
not even Mueller Tower belL
That's because this week is Dead Week.
Dead Week, the week before finals week,
traditionally is set aside as a time for stu
dents and professors to prepare for their
semester finals. Dead Week has been a
part of UNL's calendar for about the last
1 5 years, said Ted Pfeifer, director of Reg
istration and Records at UNL.
"It is a period of time when major
exams or major papers are to be avoided,"
Pfeifer said. "Social activities are to be
avoided, too."
Dead Week rules were not set up until
about two years ago, Pfeifer said. Before
that time, Dead Week was considered a
"wide and varied issue," Pfeifer said. "That
(Dead Week) meant different things to
different people."
So, the Calendar Committee made an
effort to define Dead Week. Through
ASUN proposals, Dead Week rules were
made more precise, Pfeifer said.
Continued si Page 7
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Joel SartoreDaSSy Nebrstkan
'The one that got away 9
Bill Jochum, a junior in bresdecstisg, tries to catch a misawsy basketball
on an East Carapms basketball cort Jochnsn and many Lincoln residents
were octsid Tuesday enjeyins ths unseasonably warm weather.
Lincoln merchants battle Christmas shoplifting
By Bosmm Skson article in a Ove-part eeriss on
Daily Nebraska Staff Eeporter ttw fa&t festMties, CCCnossies
and headaches of t&.e holiday
Editors note: This is the third semson.
--T tfl.."wri..n '-- I III , , , , i , i.i 9 tVjV f
With the increase of holiday
shoppers, the Christmas season
undoubtedly is one of the most
profitable for Lincoln merchants.
While merchants are preparing
to do business with holiday
shoppers, they also are preparing
to do battle with holiday shop
lifters. Because of large crowds in
stores, there is an increase in shop
lifting although the increase
isnt very large, said Lt. Jerry
Smith, records supervisor for the
Lincoln Police Department.
In 10S3, 137 cases of shoplift
ing were reported in November,
the highest number of reported
incidents in one month. There
was an average of 103 incidents
per month during 1933.
A total of $43,616 was lost to
shoplifters in 1 9S3, with the grea
test loss, $7,1 78, occuring in Novem
ber, Smith said.
It is possible that the figures
underestimate the problem be
cause police figures only account
for cases that have been reported.
Many cases go unreported or just
show up as an inventory shor
tage, Smith said.
Smith said nothing describes
the typical shoplifter. The person
could be of any age or ethnic
group, he said.
Most often when people shop
lift, they have the money to pay
for the item at the time, Smith
said.
To combat potential rises in
shoplifting, merchants generally
increase their security during the
holidays by hiring extra officers,
extending the hours for security
personnel and educating em
ployees to protect against shop-lilting.
Stores begin to request employee
training sessions as early as Oct
ober and November, said Lt. Vern
Campbell, a Lincoln police crime
prevention officer. The main thing
they advise clerks to do is acknow
ledge every customer that comes
into the store, he said.
Another program helping to
stop shoplifters is the downtown
Business Watch program. Similar
to the Neighborhood Watch, Bus
iness Watch is composed of busi
nesses helping each other by look
ing out for possible crimes and
suspicious people, said Regina
Thompson, chairwoman of the
program.
Through the program, down
town merchants were able to
identify a person who had been
arrested the day before for shop
lifting at Gateway Shopping
Center, Thompson said. All down
town merchants were notified
and were able to keep an eye on
him as he went from store to
store.
Although he didnt do anything
wrong while he was downtown,
he was being watched, Thomp
son said. That's what Business
Watch is about, prevention
through information, she said.
Continued cn Pafe 6
Leu Anna ZscekDslty MebrssRsci
