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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1985)
Friday, November 1, 1935 Page 2 Daily Nebraskan Ry The Associated Press N Digest .it eaMaii makes new arms control offer to Soviets ev WASHINGTON - President Reagan announced Thursday he was making a new nuclear weapons limitation prop osal to the Soviet Union and would request the current round of negotia tions in Geneva be extended to con sider it. The proposal will build on the recent Soviet proposal and emphasize reductions in "destabilizing" nuclear arms systems, he said. In a nationally televised statement, Reagan said the latest Soviet offer "unfortunately fell considerably short" in certain areas. But, he said, there also were positive "seeds" for an agreement and that he had built on them with the new U.S. offer. Significantly, he called both sides' proposals "milestones" in the quest for reductions of nuclear weapons. "I believe progress is indeed possible if the Soviet leadership is willing to match our own commitment to a better relationship," Reagan said. Just before his announcement, Rea gan told four Soviet journalists in an interview that he would accept some of the figures proposed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who called last month for a reduction of about 50 per cent in missiles and bombers carrying nuclear warheads. Reagan said the U.S. offer calls for "deep cuts" in offensive weapons, re search on defensive systems and "no cheating." But the president said he would divulge no further details. He said the American proposal would be offered in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday. "It is my hope that our new proposal would enable both our nations to start moving away from ever-larger arsenals," the president said. The Soviet proposal, in a letter to Reagan from Gorbachev last month, and the U.S. response are designed to make headway in the slow-moving negotiations before the two leaders meet at the summit in the Swiss city Nov. 19-20. "Arms control is a result," Reagan said. "First you've got to eliminate the suspicious and paranoia between us." He called the U.S. proposal serious and detailed. Life after farming Transition program helps farmers find new careers, ways of life LINCOLN Whether they like it or not, some former farmers are discover ing there is life after farming. The depressed agricultural economy is forcing them into that realization as they leave the farm at a near-record pace. For most, the transition wasn't easy. Accustomed to self-sufficiency and working outdoors, many farmers don't quicYdy' embrace the prospect of punching time clocks at factories or stores. For many, working off the farm is a new experience. Gov. Bob Kerrey has predicted 15,000 Nebraskans will lose their jobs in the next year because of the sagging farm economy. Officials say hundreds, per haps thousands, have lost their jobs this past year. Dave Anderson, coordinator of the Nebraska Farmers in Transition pro gram, said the situation has caused tremendous upheaval in rural Ne braska. "There are some really hellish times in farm families before a decision (to leave the farm) is made," he said. The transition can be accompanied by depression, alcoholism, suicide and domestic abuse, all of which are on the rise in rural areas. And, officials say, guilt often is the biggest problem of all. "When a guy loses his farm, he not only feels he failed his parents and grandparents who farmed it before him, he knows his children and grand children now won't be able to farm," Anderson said. Donna Saathoff of Diller, a psychi atric health nurse, likened the process to that of dealing with a death in the family. Murdockfamily readjusts after giving up farm By Dan Looker 1 he Lincoin Star M11DOCK - Fifty-three years ago Vern Lau was born "upstairs in the north bedroom" of the brick farmhouse that his father and grandfather built. Yet, not until recently has he been able to savor rural living. One of a growing number of former farmers, he now commutes to Lincoln, where he works as a mechanic. The two-year battle in bankruptcy court, the struggle against falling crop prices, the viral disease in his hog herd, the sale of lis farm machinery last December are over. The Lau family has emerged from what state officials euphemistically call a "transitioa" Today, while Vern feels more relaxed in his new role, his wife, Dorothy, recalls the depression and bitterness that the family suffered last winter. Their youngest son, Doug, feels frustrated, shut out from a dream of carrying on a farming tradition. On a warm October Saturday, as their neighbors were preparing to climb into combines for long days of harvesting, Vern and Dorothy could spend part of a morning reflecting on the changes in their lives. The couple feels lucky to have left farming last year. They were able to settle their largest debt $172,000 to the South Omaha Pro duction Credit Association by signing over their remaining crops and 70 acres of the last 80 acres they owned. They had once farmed about 600 acres of land they were renting or buying. "Everything has deteriorated so much more, even since we sold the machinery," Dorothy says, referring to falling land and machinery pri ces. Her family's machinery sale last December brought in $59,000, with the 6-year-old combine going for $27,000. Before the machinery sale, Vern answered a newspaper ad for a mechanic at Lincoln's Snyder In dustries, a company that makes fiberglass tanks. Vern started the job a week after the machinery sale. Like farming, it offered variety building mainte nance, making electrical repairs on the mold ovens, repairing vehicles and machinery. His 30-mile com mute began at 6:15 a.m. and he was home by 4 p.m. Last summer Vern realized that in the afternoons "I had five hours of daylight and the rest of the farmers were out working." Both Dorothy and Vern planted gardens. "It took the hog lot; we had his and hers," Vern recalls. Vern began to feel a sense of relief. He told his friend, American Agriculture Movement leader Corky Jones of Brownville, that farmers didn't realize the pressure they were under until they'd quit. "My workload going into the city was a heck of a lot easier than farm ing," Vern recalls now. "I had more time to look around and I realized one day the grass was greener, the trees were taller and the sky was bluer." "They actually go through a grieving process of losing something dear," she said. "They have a lost of self-image. You are seeing more domestic abuse, marital discord and alcoholism. Schools are reporting an increase in attempted suicide by students." And like any grieving process, Saa thoff said, adjustments can take a year or more. The Farmers in Transition program is trying to help farmers ease into new careers and ways of life. Administered by the Greater Nebraska Job Training Program and state Department of Labor, Farmers in Transition started about a year ago. Before depleting its first-year funds in mid-summer, the program had placed 177 farmers, ranchers and spouses in on-the-job training positions and 39 in classroom training at community col leges. The program recently received a $1 million federal grant to help 600 of the displaced farmers, ranchers and other workers who will lose their jobs this year because of the depressed farm economy. Mollie Anderson, director of the Greater Nebraska Job Training Pro gram, said "Farmers in Transition" most likely will be changed to "Agri culture in Transition," which would apply to ranchers and agribusiness workers, as well as farmers. The $1 million will be used to set up six centers in connection with com munity colleges in Scottsbluff, North Platte, Grand Island, Beatrice, Norfolk and Fremont. The centers should open in December, she said. The center will assess applicants' job skills and financial needs. In some cases, it will provide individual and family counseling and will direct fami lies to other agencies. She said farmers don't turn to the program until they feel they have ex hausted all other options. "They almost have to reach rock-bottom before they decide they need a new job." Farmers are placed in jobs where the program shares the training cost with the employer, who eventually as sumes full financial responsibility. Some return to the classroom for up to a year, although there is less interest in that. "On-the-job training is what farmers like to get because they need that cash income," said Anderson. "The drop-out rate is very low. The people need the jobs and are glad to have them. And they are very good workers." So far, the program has placed farmers as truck drivers, machinists, mechanics, clerks, school bus drivers and nurses aides. The program tries to match people with jobs near their present communi ties, although long-distance commut ing often is necessary. n bin- Radioactive gas could threaten millions ATLANTA Federal health officials said Thursday that millions of Americans may be exposed to higher-than-recommended levels of radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas blamed for as many as 30,000 lung cancer deaths each year. The radon problem attracted national attention last December when an engineer with a company building the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant near Philadelphia was found to have been exposed to very high levels of radiation not from his work, but from the air in his home, which sat on an area of natural uranium deposits. A subsequent survey of more than 2,000 nearby houses found more than 40 percent had radon levels above the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended guidelines for indoor exposure, and about 7 percent had levels above the higher, stricter levels for people regularly exposed on the job, the CDC said. ' "A sizable percentage of houses across the United States maybe a couple of percent or so - could be above the (indoor) guidelines," said Matthew Zack, a researcher with the Atlanta-based CDC. "That doesn't mean people should panic," but as many as six million Americans may live In homes where radon levels may be of concern, he said. Hostages' fate linked to Kuwait BAALBEK, Lebanon The leader of a radical Shi'ite Moslem group says there's no hope of five Americans and four Frenchmen kidnapped in Lebanon being released until Kuwait frees 17 extremists convicted of bombings, "I wish the demands of the kidnappers could be met and all the Americans freed," said Hussein Musawi, leader of the pro-Iranian Islamic Amal, a splinter group of the main Amal movement. But he said Islamic Jihad, or Islamic Holy War, the group of Shi'ite fundamentalists believed to hold the U.S. and French hostages, "will not release them until the 17 people held prisoner in Kuwait are freed." Release of the 17, most of them Shi'ites, has been Islamic Jihad's main demand since it began kidnapping westerners in January 1984. Kuwait refuses to release the men, jailed for bombing the U.S. and French embassies in December 1983. Islamic Jihad claimed on Oct. 4 that it had killed a sixth American hostage, U.S. diplomat William Buckley, in revenge for Israel's air strike against Palestinian guerrillas in Tunis. But Buckley's body has not been found, and American officials have said they cannot confirm the claim. 3 more announce bid for governor OMAHA Three more names have been thrown into the hat of Former state Sen. Jack Milles of Lincoln, former Douglas County Commissioner P. J. Morgan and former Lincoln Mayor Helen Boosalis join a group of at least 14 possible candidates to succeed Gov. Bob Kerrey, who has announced he will not seek re-election next year. Mills, a Democrat turned Republican, is executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, He said he has almost reached a decision about whether to become a candidate for the GOP nomination for governor. Morgan, a former state senator and unsuccessful candidate for the Republican 2nd District nomination in 1976, said running for governor is "something I have to give consideration to." Boosalis, director of the State Commission on Aging, said she has not given serious thought to running for the Democratic nomination but did not rule out seeking the nomination for governor or lieutenant governor. Universities aid apartheid battle NEW YORK U.S. colleges and universities are opening another front in the battle against apartheid besides just selling off South African related stock holdings: providing scholarships to South African blacks wishing to attend multiracial universities. That is among the ideas being discussed by leaders of 13 top U.S. universities and five foundations who are exploring ways to form partner ships with non-discriminatory South African universities to provide edu cational opportunities for that country's blacks. The group, which includes the presidents of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford and Brown universities as well as the heads of the Ford Founda tion, the Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation, met here on Oct. 16 to hear ideas from leaders of South African universities on how American universities and foundations might help ease the plight of that nation's blacks. Stuart Saunders, vice chancellor and principal of the University of Cape Town, told the presidents in remarks made available to The Associated Press that "funds are needed to ensure a steady increase in the number of black South Africans attending South African universities as undergradu ates and postgraduates." " He said each student would need abcut $2,500 to attend the university in 1986. Actors to be notified of kissing scenes LOS ANGELES Fueled by fear that AIDS can be spread by open mouth kissing, the Screen Actors Guild has asked movie producers and agents to notify performers if any film scenes include such intimate contact. Notification of such scenes must come before an actor signs for a role, the talent union said Wednesday. Since it was disclosed in July that actor Rock Hudson was suffering jrom AIDS, questions have been raised about the safety of open-mouth kissing for movie and television scenes. Hudson, who died Oct. 2 of complications from the acquired immune fhl1 CaSS7 ?n.drome had a hissing scene last year with Linda Fvans on the ABC televison series "Dynasty." Evans has refused to comment on wnetner she was concerned or had medical tests because of her contact with Hudson. fn.fnlc!?- ha?l.sai? that while the suspected AIDS virus has been Sit if ey do not beIieve the disease can be transmitted by w57 say the concentration of the virus in saliva is too low. hvSSaVrWarned that il conceivable the disease might be spread cli 11 X? itf a cont,aining virus comes into contact with an open cm m the otnpr nprcnn'o r,.v. - , ruviiQ iiivuui.