t y' . n Daily
(T3
Thursday, May 2, 1985
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 84 No. 153
Veathcr: Mostly sunny, warm and humid today
with a high of 77 (25C). Clear tonight with a low of
50 (10C). Sunny and warm Friday with a high of
84(29C). a
Bob BrubacherDaily Nebraskan
Pedestrian injured at
controversial crossing
By Lauri Hopple
Campus Editor
Crossing 10th Street near UNL's 501
Building is dangerous, say several peo
ple at the university including one
student who was hit by a car as she
crossed Tuesday.
However, a Lincoln engineering offi
cial said preliminary reports from a
study by the city indicate it is not a
high-risk area.
Fusun Sayood, a graduate chemistry
student at UNL, was hit by a car travel
ing north on 10th Street on Tuesday as
she crossed there. Sayood, who was
inside the crosswalk when the car hit
her, according to a Lincoln police
report, was taken to Lincoln General
Hospital for minor injuries to her left
thigh.
Linda Masser, a representative on
the Campus Safety Committee who
works for the Nebraska Office of Per
sonnel, said the group decided earlier
this year to request a study of 10th
Street by the city of Lincoln because
group members think the crossing is
dangerous.
The committee acted cn a motion
from Laura Brix, a former AS UN senator
and a representative on the committee.
Brix was concerned about the "hazard
ous crossing," Masser said, and sug
gested the city install a traffic light or
pedestrian walk signal.
Masser said the bright yellow signs
that mark the crossing are not enough.
"If you're a pedestrian you know that
those signs don't mean cars will slow
down or even stop," she said.
Kahlid Sayood, Fusun's husband,
also said he thinks the crossing is dan
gerous. Mrs. Sayood was under medica
tion Wednesday at home and dedined
to comment.
Mrs. Sayood works in the chemistry
department and uses Parking Area 10
on the west side of 10th Street. Thus,
she must cross the street at least two
times a day, said Sayood, who is an
assistant professor of electrical engi
neering at UNL
Other faculty members who use that
lot and cross there also are concerned
about the danger and have been com
plaining about it for years.
Sheldon Schuster, an associate pro
fessor of chemistry, said the depart
Students face home farm crises
By Gene Gentrup
Senior Reporter
UNL freshman Karen Graybill said
she "doesn't know what to expect"
when she returns to her family's Clark
son farm this summer.
Late last year Graybill's grandfather
died shortly after he filed for bank
ruptcy on his farm. Now the bank is
threatening to take away even more
from her grandmother, on a farm where
her unemployed mother and disabled
father live.
"I felt helpless down here," said
Graybill, a dietetics major. "I didn't
know what was going on at home. I'd go
home every weekend."
Every weekend Graybill's mother
and an aunt and uncle from Columbus
would join her, and they would all help
out with the chores at her grandmoth
er's house.
The only income for Graybill's family
ment is "really upset about Fusun get
ting hit."
Because of the split to Interstate-80,
cars that go by the 501 Building often
speed up instead of slowing down for
pedestrians, Schuster said. Even police
don't stop, he said.
"It's absurd," he said.
The report by the city's Traffic Engi
neering Department shows there are
between 2,500 to 3,500 pedestrian
crossings every day on 10th Street from
the 501 Building to Avery Avenue.
John Tobin, a city traffic engineer,
said the department is studying the
area at the request of Ray Coffey, UNL's
business and finance director.
According to Massey, Coffey wrote a
letter to the traffic department at the
request of the Campus Safety Commit
tee. Tobin said the department has been
studying the area since the director
received the letter March 25.
The study includes the pedestrian
count and a traffic gap analysis, in
which the department estimated how
much time people have to cross between
cars. The cars travel at about 35 mph,
he said.
"Generally speaking, it's not a high
accident area," Tobin said.
The department's research shows
that in the last three years, one pedes
trian has been hit, he said. Other acci
dents involving motor vehicles only
also have occurred there, but not many,
he said.
Considering the number of crossings
each day, the number of accidents is
low, he said.
Tobin attributes the low rate to the
area's openness. No curbside parking
is allowed there except for one lane on
the street's west side in front of the 501
Building, so cars and pedestrians usu
ally can see each other well, he said.
Although the department won't take
any recommendations for another week
or two, Tobin said, the department will
be cautious about putting in pedes
trian crossing lights. The lights are
expensive and usually are unused, he
said.
He said a similar situation caused
the department to put in a pedestrian
light at the intersection of 17th and S
streets, but pedestrians rarely use it
now.
is her father's disability checks, which
are paying for her college education.
Before her grandfather died, Gray
bill's Uncle Leonard, who worked with
her late grandfather, had incurred debts
7 felt helpless
down here. I
didn t know what
was going on at
home. Fd go home
every weekend. 1
on machinery and other farm items.
The local bank now is claiming that
even though the farm was willed to
GrsytiU's grandmother, Leonard should
be the rightful owner because he runs
it. Graybill said she thinks the only
reason the bank claims this is because
it wants to claim the goods willed to
In your ear lyith
cockroach.. .Page
Joel SartoreOaily Nebraskan
Gifford displays a divining rod in front of his Banner County farm.
Witcher 's craft
Farmers divine water sources
By Brad Gifford
Staff Reporter
Some people in Nebraska still
practice witcher's craft.
That's not a typographical
error.
Witcher's craft.
Not witchcraft.
Wipe that vision of a woman
wearing a pointed black hat, hunch
ing over a bubbling black kettle.
Witcher's don't believe in witch
craft. But they do believe they can
find underground water by walking
through fields and pastures with
sticks in their hands. When the
stick, called a divining rod, pulls
down or inward, the witcher marks
the spot as a drilling site.
Writchers and geologists alike are
baffled by the force that pulls the
her grandmother.
"Grandma's trying to fight for it,"
she said.
Farm experts say Graybill's family
farm situation is a familiar one in
Nebraska
Debra Schroeder, a Cuming County
home economics extension agent in
West Point, said many farm families
there are "tightening the belt" during
the current agricultural crisis. .
"Families are making their money
do more," she said. And they're making
more of their churches and family
communication, Schroeder said.
She said farm students returning
home for the summer should expect to
see better communication in their fam
ilies and should try to communicate
better themselves.
"Depending on the amount of com
munication, it could make or break-up
" Schroeder said.
CoEtiiiEed en F3 2
a
2
Huskersidp Shockers
in Grain Boi7l...Page 14
rods, out witchers truly believe they
mind, are finding something water
related. Geologists aren't so sure.
The American Heritage diction
ary defines divining rods and sticks
or branches that "allegedly indicate
subterranean water or minerals by
bending downward when held over a
source."
The word "allegedly" appearing
in something as definite as a dic
tionary shows just how hard-pressed
science is to explain the pheno
menon. Witchers should take heart
since the book at least acknowl
edges that the rods do bend down
ward. Two UNL geology professors say
only human manipulation either
conscious or subconsious, moves
the rods.
"There are several physical prop
Legislature approves
arms control resolution
By Jonathan Taylor
Staff Reporter
The state Legislature on Wed
nesday adopted a resolution that
pledges the senators' support of the
Geneva arms control talks and urges
negotiations for a bilateral freeze
between the United States and the
Soviet Union, "as the first 'step
towards mutual reductions in nuclear
weapons."
According to the resolution, the
Legislature suggests that the freeze
cover testing, production and further
deployment of all nuclear weapons.
An amendment that was proposed
by Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln and
passed Wednesday also recommends
the freeze be monitored and verified
by "on sight" inspections.
The 27-16 vote to adopt LESS also
requires Nebraska Secretary of State
1 1
erties elecricity, magnetism,
gravity but changes in them are
so subtle that even the most sensi
tive instruments could not detect
them," said Daryll Pederson, a
hydrologist at the Conservation and
Survey division.
Pederson reasons that witchers
pick up topographical cues like
peaks, valleys and naturally carved
ditches all things that indicate
prime drilling sites. Either the
witcher knows geology and that cer
tain physical characteristics are
associated with underground water,
or he has had some success in areas
with like characteristics and there
fore expects to find water.
Wherever a witcher expects the
rods to go down, they usually do, he
said.
Continued on Page 3
Allen Beermann to send copies of
the resolution to President Reagan,
Secretary of State George Shultz,
Secretary of Defense Caspar Wein
berger, Congress and the Chairman
of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet.
Sen. Tom Vickers of Farnam, one
of the nine senators who sponsored
LESS, said the resolution simply
conveys a statement to Washington
that "Nebraskans are concerned
about the arms race." It will have
the same effect on the federal govern
ment, Vickers said, "as if a village
board notified us of a similar
decisioa"
In the resolution, the Legislature
acknowledged that "current plans
of the United States and the Soviet
Union together call for the produc
tion of at least 20,000 additional
nuclear warheads."
