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January 29, 1986
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 85 No. 90
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Photos courtesy of CBS News
Sequence photos show the destruction of the Space Shuttle
Challenger, 75 seconds into the mission from Kennedy
Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday.
Orr: current budget
sufficient to sustain NU
By Kent Endacott
Senior Reporter
Gubernatorial candidate Kay Orr,
calling for fairness to all Nebraskans,
said Monday that Gov. Bob Kerrey's
current budget is sufficient to main
tain UNL as a "good university."
"As governor," Orr said, "it's impor
tant to represent the whole state, not
just the university. It's not just the
money."
Kerrey's 1986-87 budget calls for
$165.6 million in NU's state support
and $841 million overall.
Speaking at a Collegians for Kay Orr
rally held in the Nebraska Union, Orr
said the university should consider
cutting some programs in order to
increase faculty salaries.
Orr said she would work to improve
communication between the executive
branch, the legislative and the NU
Board of Regents if elected governor.
She also said Nebraska needs to
conduct a tax study and raise taxes if
necessary.
"If you need to jack up taxes, then
do so," she said.
However, she said, the basic income
tax structure should be maintained.
The Nebraska state income tax is cur
rently set at 19 percent of the federal
income tax liability.
She said she favors abolishing Initi
ative 300 to encourage a more diversi
fied agricultural economy in the state.
"Initiative 300 is supposed to save
the family farm and limit corporate
ownership of farms," she said. "But
how many family farms has it saved?"
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Students watch as the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger is replayed on the Nebraska
Union's large-screen TV.
UNL students gather around TVs
in shock, disbelief at news of shuttle
Shock and disbelief spread through
out campus Tuesday as students and
faculty members rushed to TVs and
radios for reports of the Space Shuttle
Challenger's in-flight explosion.
Story compiled by staff reporters
Diana Johnson, Kent Enda
cott, Jeff Apel, and Todd
von Kampen.
The explosion killed seven crew
members, including the first private
citizen, schoolteacher Christa McAu
liffe. Challenger's destruction was the
first time U.S. astronauts have died in
flight.
Soon after the mid-morning explo
sion, about 100 students clustered
around TVs in the Nebraska Union to
watch news reports of the tragedy.
The reusable NASA craft, speeding
toward orbit at 1,977 mph, exploded
about 75 seconds after liftoff, accord
ing to The Associated Press. The shut
tle was 19.35 miles above the earth and
8.05 miles downrange from the launch
pad in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Gasps echoed through the union's
lounge as students watched TV footage
of the shuttle exploding in midair and
plummeting into the ocean.
As ABC news anchorman Peter Jen
nings described the catastrophe, stu
dents listened to reports in astonish
ment, tears flowing down some of their
faces.
"I didn't believe it," said David Nel
son, a sophomore computer science
major. "When they came in (to class)
and said the shuttle crashed, I thought
they were joking."
Mark Janda, a senior philosophy
major, said his first thoughts were of
McAuliffe and her students. The child
ren saw their teacher die, he said.
"Imagine how they feel."
Tony Coe, a sophomore business
major, also said he sympathized with
McAuliffe and her family.
"Astronauts know what they're get
ting into. It's in their contracts," Coe
said. "But a teacher...this isn't sup
posed to happen to a teacher."
Brian Harrison, an undeclared fresh
man, said he thinks the event will bring
"much-needed attention" to the space
program.
"I think it will make us appreciate
the next missions a hell of a lot more,"
Harrison said.
Harrison said the regularity of space
shuttle flights had begun to seem
monotonous.
"We never knew when they were
going up or coming down," he said. "In
our highly mobile world, we forget little
things like that."
Harrison said he noted the change
from the 1960s "when people were
glued to their TVs watching the rockets
take off."
Harrison and other students said
they think future space shuttle flights
will be delayed. They also said improved
security checks would lessen the pos
sibility that similar incidents would
occur.
See REACTION on 6
Seec3s f yew wim
Rest of plant bitter but not lethal, says horticulturalist
By Jonathan Taylor
Senior Reporter
The yew plant is no more poison
ous than many common plants, said
a university horticulturist.
Eut authorities say the plant
could be the possible cause of death
of Robert A. Hcgendorn, a UNL agri
culture student who died early
Friday.
Bill Gustafson Jr., an associate
professor of horticulture and exten
sion research agent at UNL, said the
bad reputation that the small,
shrublike plant has quickly ob
tained is unwarranted.
Only the seed of the plant is poi
sonous to humans, he said. The red
fruit around the seed and the dark
green foilage of the plant are not
harmful. But livestock, especially
horses, can become sick and die
after eating the plant, he said.
For a person to become ill or die
from the plant, he said, one would
have to digest the contents of a yew
fruit seed. Swallowing the seed
whole may not be dangerous, Gus
tafson said. Even rhubarb, he said,
which has poisonous leaves, is more
dangerous than the yew. Leaves of
tomato and potato plants are also
toxic, although their fruit is edible.
There is m, proof that the leaves
of the yew are poisonous, Gustafson
said, and there have been no known
deaths caused by the plant.
Gustafson, who ate part of a yew
plant leaf Monday, said the foliage
"tasted so bitter . . ,that a person
would have to be forced toat it
If a person could eat more than a
small part of the plant, he said, the
person probably would become
nauseated and vomit.
Gustafson said he and another
horticulture student tasted the
plant so they could describe it to
reporters and other people who had
inquired about the plant.
There are between 500 and 1,000
yew plants on the UNL campus, said
Bud Dasenbrock, director of UNL's
grounds department. Most of the
plants are small shrubs, he said, but
there are several forms, varying from
2-foot-tall shrubs to 12-foot-tall
evergreen-like trees.
See YEW on 3
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