Weather: Partly cloudy and breezy today. High of 80. Partly cloudy again tonight with a 20 percent chance of thunder storms. Expect a low of 56. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with a high near 85. Barb BrandaDaily Nebraskan Bowie's enigmatic life captured in biography Arts and Entertainment, paga 9 .J 1 Husker women take 1st in cross country meet Sports, page 6 O.T ally r 7 i-.,-S t- w September 16, 1885 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 85 No. 15 TH1 JJl JMiLlUL 9 By Todd von Kampen Senior Reporter State senators are demanding that NU cut its budget because they believe Nebraskans no longer consider higher education the state's top priority, said Lincoln Sen. David Landis. Landis on Saturday urged delegates at the Nebraska Association of Residence Halls Fall Leadership Conference to support his plan to reallocat ing university spending from weaker to stronger programs.. About 100 residence hall leaders from six Nebraska colleges and universities, Iowa State University and Kansas State University attended the two-day conference. Times have changed from the days when Nebraskans gave NU unqualified support, Landis said. Because more people can afford a college education than could 40 years ago, he said, citi zens and government officials have been "de mystified" about its value. People are more con cerned today about property tax relief and helping the poor than they are about higher education, he said. . "Oddly enough," he said, "if I have to choose between a higher education and ADC (Aid to Dependent Children) payments to mothers in poverty with children, 1 would spend it for income-maintenance payments for those in great need. Landis is a graduate of the NU College of Law. A continuing "brain drain" of college gradu ates from Nebraska to other states is convincing some people that NU is not a wise investment in Nebraska's future, Landis said. Because of this, he said, some state senators believe NU cannot justify demanding "a greater share of state resources for esoteric (course) offerings that can't be tied to the well-being of the state." Landis said senators also think NU manages its money wastefully. Under his plan, NU can give its best programs the equivalent of "new money" through realloca tion, Landis said. The plan calls for NU to transfer $10 million over five years to its "more valuable" programs. In return, the Legislature would allow NU to keep the money in its budget, continue to grant NU salary increases and infla tion adjustments and set up an "excellence fund" for NlFs use as it reallocates. t ' - A'- David CreamerDaily Nebraskan Always a fan... UNL Athletic Director Bob Devaney takes a short break from walking stairs Saturday afternoon in Memorial Stadium to watch the Huskers prepare for next Saturday's game against Illinois. 1985 graduates' clock plan still ticks By Deb Hooker Staff Reporter The 1985 graduates' plan to buy clocks as senior gifts for UNL is still ticking. Tom Ash, NU Foundation adviser to the Stu dent Foundation, said 395 May graduates pledged $25,872 to support the project. "We were very satisfied with the results," Ash said. . The original goal was $50,000. But that figure was picked arbitrarily because 1985 was the first year Student Foundation organized a class gift project. The members modeled the program after Iowa State University's past projects. Iowa State raised $175,000 for its 1984 class gift. "We had to start someplace," Ash said. "We thought the $50,000 was a fairly modest starting point compared to Iowa State's." Last spring, Student Foundation members called students who had applied for May 1985 bachelor's degrees. The names were taken from a list compiled by the Records and Registration office. Those students were asked to contribute clock pledges. However, Ash said the program was going through "growing pains," and members didn't think to include students applying for August and December degrees. The group thought the list was a fairly accurate account of all 1985 graduates, Ash said. Ash said he plans at the next Student Founda tion meeting to bring up the fact that August and December graduates were left out. Plans for a follow-up telephone campaign may be consi dered. Last year, the Student Foundation recom mended using what it called the "85 for '85 system," Ash said. With this system, students pay $10 during the first year and $25 each of the three following years. However, Ash said, the Student Foundation only asked graduates to give what they felt comfortable contributing. But students tend to "scatter to the wind after they graduate," Ash said, the University Founda tion will send out reminders when the pledges are due. Even with the reminders, Student Foundation eventually will collect only 50 to 60 percent of the promised money. In four years, when all the pledges are in, the Student Foundation will buy the clocks, Ash said. One clock will go in each of the student unions. The Student Foundation will reunite the class of 1985 in 1990 to unveil the clocks. When the Student Foundation first announced the class gift would be two clocks, there was some opposition. The main argument against the clocks was that there were better ways the money could be spent. Ash said Student Foundation did not decide to buy the clocks. A senior gift committee that included representatives from student groups, alumni, adminstration and the NU Foundation narrowed the choices down to visitors' centers on both campuses, a computer-based career infor mation system and the clocks. The class then voted on its choice. "The purpose of the clocks was an expression of a commitment to the university," he said. "It's something visable and tangible." Senior gifts will be annual projects for the Student Foundation, he said. Ash said he doesn't know what the next gift will be, but this spring, graduates can expect a phone call from the Student Foundation. Milk crate thefts add up to $100,000 yearly loss to dairies By Diana Johnson Staff Reporter Used as bookcases, storage crates or makeshift entertainment centers, those bulky, sturdy milk cases taken from neighborhood grocery stores add up to about $100,000 in stolen company property a year, according to some Lincoln dairies. "Our cases are dingy gray. They're ugly, but that doesn't stop people from taking them," said Daryl Brown, general manager of Beatrice Dairy Products. "We have tried using every color we could think of to detract from their appeal, but that hasn't stopped them (theives)." Accounts of milk cases frequently moving in and out of grocery stores each week are kept; by dairy com panies, but not by the store itself. The number of cases deposited and returned are recorded by the deliv ery person. Grocery stores don't pay for the stolen cases. To decrease milk case theft, gro cery stores put them in closed stor age rooms. Others that lack inside storage space must leave them on outside docks. Bob Ryan, dairy manager at Super Saver grocery store, said the store doesn't have a problem because crates are stored inside. "If we did catch someone steal ing a milk crate, it would be consi dered the same as shoplifting," Ryan said. UNL food services have virtually no milk crate theft problem, said Hanna Hess, Selleck Quadrangle food service manager. Almost all milk cases are stored inside the res idence halls, she said. Brown said Beatrice Dairy Pro ducts never sells crates. "Every crate you see with our name on it has been stolen," he said. Each case either plastic or wire, is worth anywhere from $2 to $7, said Jerry Huber, sales manager for Gillette Dairy. At $6 a case, 22,000 stolen cases a year adds up to a $132,000 loss to the company. "We don't know how to control it," Huber said. "People get hostile when you try to tell them that milk crate is not theirs. It is theft." He said thefts aren't limited to college students. "It's everybody. It's easy to carry things in the milk crates. They're very handy," Huber said. Shoplifting warnings to potential thieves are now printed on each mild case, he said. Although most people steal one or two milk crates at a time, 1 5 to 20 crates recently were stolen from B&R IGA at 17th and Washington streets, said Bob Frank, branch manager for Roberts Dairy. Milk case costs continue to rise, increasing dairy products' costs, Frank said. If and when milk cases are returned to dairy companies, their condition usually requires costly cleaning. Since the cases were used for storage, he said, they are sometimes too misshapen to use again. Frank said he doesn't know how to solve the problem. "It looks to me as if it's growing and growing," he said. All three dairy companies sug gested requiring grocery stores to deposit $2 for each case delivered. They also suggested state and fed eral legislation that would allow dairy companies to prosecute thieves more directly for milk case theft.