Pago 10" Daily Nebraskan v Friday, December 14, 1934
UML 'keeping eltoi tabs9 6b PCU desiraLip
By Kevin Dug&n
Dally Nebr&sk&n StailEeporter
Weather permitting, work crews
will finish cleaning up PCB con
tamination at the UNL field labor
atories near Mead before semes
ter break, the director of the UNL
environmental health and safety
division said.
Earl Brown said PCB is a syn
thetic oil that is an excellent insu
lator used to cool electrical trans
formers. The spills at the Mead site are,
he said, "historical spills," that
happened "before the university
took over the land."
Brown said spills occurred
because transformer casings
cracked when dropped or struck
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by lightening. Also, seals have
deteriorated over the years and
leaked the coolant onto the
ground, he said.
The transformers initially were
used for powering the ammuni
tion manufacturing and storage
depot that were on the grounds
before UNL acquired the prop
erty. Brown said the ground at the
base of transformers, which are
near buildings, was tested for
contamination. He said crews dir
ected by Biological Safety Engi
neer Del Week are following all
Environmental Protection Agency
safety guidelines for the removal,
storage in barrels and eventual
disposal of the tainted soil at
approved sites outside the state.
UNL already has spent about
$150,000 on the cleanup, Brown
said.
UNL previous had contracted
the General Electric Co. to remove
the oil from unserviceable trans-
Notifying
formers to be burned at an
approved incinerator "back East,"
brown said. The transformers
were rinsed and removed, he said.
EPA spokesman John Horton
in Kansas City said PCB, or
polychlorinated biphenyls, is
known to cause skin lesions,
swollen limbs, eye and liver prob
lems and is suspected of causing
cancer and birth defects. Horton
said production of PCB is banned
in the United States, but that
installations where the electrical
coolant was used before the ban
may legally continue using the
substance.
Brown said it will not be too
dangerous to remove the low con
centrations of PCB left at the
Mead site. Workers wear protec
tive clothing because contact with
the soil "might cause a skin rash
on certain individuals who may
be sensitive to it," Brown said.
"Only when PCB is burned to
the point of decomposition do we
landlor
get dangerous by-products"
Brown said. This danger was first
discovered when the oil was used
in Japan for cooking, he said A
hazardous dioxin-like compound
also i3 released when PCB is
heated, Horton said.
Horton also said the EPA takes
PCB spills seriously because the
chemical does not readily decom
pose in the environment and
because it moves up through the
food chain.
Brown said the contaminated
areas near Mead are isolated by
fences, not near crops or livestock.
Transformers in which the oil
still is used as a coolant are in
many buildings at UNL and on
many sites around the state
Brown said. But where they are
owned by the university, the UNL
environmental health and safety
division has tested them follow
ing EPA guidelines, he said.
"We are keeping very close tabs
on them " Brown said.
expense oj ovecLKi
d lessens
ng lease
By Shelley Stdl
Student Legal Services Lawyer
Question: Last August I signed
a one-year lease on my apart
ment. I just got offered a job in
Dallas and have to be there Feb.
1. Is there anyway I can get out of
my lease? Signed, L-J.
Answer: Dear LJ.: You may
not be able to "get out of your
lease, but there are steps you can
take to minimize the cost of break
ing it, if that is what you decide to
do. You should have an attorney
look at the particular lease you
signed. He or she may find some
thing important that can help
you. In the meantime, here is
some basic information.
Give written notice to your
landlord of the date you will be
vacating ASAP. Keep a copy of
the notice. Receipt of your notice
triggers the landlord's legal obli
gation to try and rent the apart
ment to a new tenant.
Once the landlord rents the
apartment to new tenants, you
are relieved of your obligations
under the lease in most cases. A
landlord cannot collect double
rent because you signed a lease.
It's a good idea, however, to have
the landlord void your lease.
If the landlord rents the
apartment for Feb. 1 and does
not lose any rent because of your
breach of the lease agreement,
the only money you may have to
pay are the reasonable costs of
re-renting the apartment, such
as advertising.
Clauses in the lease that say
you automatically forfeit your
damage deposit or incur a fine if
you move out early are probably
not enforceable in court if the
landlord sues you for breach of
the lease.
If the landlord makes a
reasonable effort to rent the apart
ment but is unable to do so, you
can be sued on the lease, but only
as rent becomes due. For exam
ple, you can't be sued for Febru
ary rent until it becomes due on
Feb. 1 and you fail to pay, or
March rent until March rent is
due.
iAsk Your
hfti Attorney
The worst thing a tenant can
usually do is ignore the problem
and hope it will go away. In many
cases, with adequate notice and
the cooperation of the landlord,
the tenant can break a lease at
little expense.
Question: About two years ago
I had to have some dental work
done costing about $700. After I
made a few payments on the bill,
I lost my job and I couldn't con-
Miller & Paine
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tinue making the payments. I was
contacted by a collection agency
a few times, but then I moved and
didn't hear from them. Last week
a sheriffs deputy came to where I
work and served me with legal
papers. I guess I'm being sued for
$500 on the dental bill I know I
owe the money, but I don't have
$500. Signed: ILS.
Answer: Dear U.S.: Don't put
off dealing with this matter any
longer. If you ignore the lawsuit
that has been filed against you,
the attorney representing the col
lection agency can set a trial date
and possibly get a default judg
ment against you. Once a judg
ment is entered, it is possible for
your creditor to take steps to
garnish your wages or bank
accounts or attach your property.
It i3 a good idea to discuss this
matter with an attorney. Bring
the legal papers to the attorney's
office as soon as possible. The
paper labeled "summons" will have
a clause saying that an appro
priate written response or answer
must be filed with the court by a
certain date. You should contact
an attorney well in advance of
this date so the attorney has time
to look into your case before the
answer has to be filed.
Look at your finances before
your meeting with the attorney
and figure out how much you can
afford to pay on the bill each
month. It may be possible for
your attorney to negotiate a set
tlement with the collection agen
cy's attorney, whereby you pay
small monthly payments until the
bill is completely paid. If an agree
ment is reached, you will be asked
to sign a stipulation, which will be
filed with the court. A stipulation
in a collection case usually con
tains: 1) An admission by you
that you are indebted to the cred
itor in a certain amount. 2) The
details of the payment plan that
has been agreed on. 3) That the
lawsuit will be dismissed when
the payments are completed. 4)
That if a payment is missed, the
creditor will take a judgment for
the amount still due plus court
costs and attorney fees.
If you really cant afford to
make any payments at all, it's not
the end of the world. There b no
debtor's prison in the United
States yet It you have no
money, job or property, you are
what we call "judgment proof,
and there b not much the credi
tor can do until you acquir e those
things. However, in the interest of
preserving oras semblance of a
credit rating you should try to
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