. '.: Wednesday, variable
uouuinoss an(j wmdy with a few
flurriys. High in the mid -30s. Wind
becoming northwest and increas
ing to 20 to 30 miles per hour with
higher gusts, Wednesday night,
partly cloudy and colder with grad
ually decreasing winds and a tew
evening flurries. Low around 10
ahove.
DhIIv
Insida:
News Digest Pago 2
Editorial.... , Page 4
; Entertainment Page 5
Sports Pago 6
Classified Pag.? 8
r
January 21, 1987
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 86 No. 85
Tan law will be felt
"bytlaose
By Libby York
Staff Reporter
There is no free lunch. With recent
changes in tax laws and the availability
of some financial aid, many students
may discover this old saying to be true.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986, which
took effect Jan. 1, has been called the
most sweeping overhaul in the history
of the income tax. The law reduces tax
rates for most individuals, increases
tax rates for corporations, repeals some
deductions and broadens the tax base.
Many students will be significantly
affected by the change in exemption
status. The new tax law allows students
who can claim themselves to be exempt
from withholding of federal taxes from
their paycheck, but exemption credit
will no longer be allowed for taxpayers
who can be claimed as dependents on
their parents' returns. And C.G. Green
land, a tax accountant from H&R Block,
said that the new rules disallow anyone
earning over $2,540 a year to claim
exemption. Before tax reform, indivi
duals earning under $3,560 a year could
claim exemption.
Greenland said that if students are
going to work, they should claim no
allowances, so that some money will be
withheld, but they won't have to pay
taxes at the end of the year.
The new laws also disallow graduate
teaching assistants and research assist
ants to exclude payments from taxable
wages. Scholarships, fellowships and
other educational-assistance grants are
also no longer excludable from taxable
Panel
criticizes
Latins
By Ryan Steeves
Staff Reporter
While the ABC miniseries "Amerika"
depicts American apathy toward polit
ics, the film may also arouse American
prejudice against the Soviets, said the
chairwoman of the Lincoln chapter of
Nebraskans for Peace.
Laurel Erickson, other members of
Nebraskans for Peace and several Lin
coln educators met Monday to address
questions raised by the film that some
said could hurt U.S.-Soviet relations.
"We're concerned that for some view
ers, the movie may raise some senti
ments that will have a harmful effect
on our leaders' ability to decrease the
tensions between the United States
and the U.S.S.R.," Erickson said.
After viewing 35 minutes of excerpts
from the upcoming miniseries depict
ing a Soviet takeover of the United
States, a panel of four Lincoln educa
tors discussed the movie and its possi
ble effects on Americans.
One scene that bothered the educa
tors shows Soviets burning a house
because the owners refuse to give them
the information they want.
Pat Khol, a Lincoln Southeast soci
ology teacher and panel participant,
said such clips will increase anti
Soviet behavior.
"I think that you hear so much that
is anti-Soviet," Khol said. "A film like
this just adds a little fuel to the fire."
Khol said she tries to help her stu
dents differentiate between facts and
fiction when discussing Soviet stereo
types so students can better under
stand the Soviet people. She said she
tries to teach her students that all
people have the same emotions and
needs no matter what their culture.
of local educates
&
income. If the student is employed and
required to fill out a W-4 form, the
amount of scholarship grants in excess
of educational expenses must be con
sidered part of the student's taxable
income.
Awards credited to students' tuition
accounts after Jan. 1 are subject to the
new tax code. Deductions for consumer
interest on education loans will be
phased out over five years: 35 percent
disallowed in 1987, 60 percent in 1988,
80 percent in 1989, 90 percent in 1990
and 100 percent in 1991.
An additional change cuts student
aid significantly. Government statistics
show that some $3 billion in student
loans go into default each year. As a
result, according to a recent article in
the Lincoln Star, up to 3,000 UNL
students may have to do without
Guaranteed Student Loans next year
because of tougher eligibility guidelines
passed last October. Under the new,
stiffer regulations, students from
middle-income families will have more
difficulty qualifying for loans.
Doug Severs, assistant director of
scholarships and financial aid at UNL,
said that nearly 11,000 UNL students
rely on student loans.
Students also will have more diffi
culty declaring themselves financially
independent of their parents to qualify
for aid. Under the new rules, students
must be 24 years old to declare financial
independence unless they are married,
orphans, wards of the court or veterans,
or have dependents of their on. : :
Roger Reinhardt, a Battie School
elementary teacher and member of the
panel also tries to break negative
stereotypical views of the Soviets. Rein
hardt said the media are to blame for a
negative Soviet image. He said the
media constantly portrays the Soviets
as the "bad guys" and the Americans as
the "good guys."
Reinhardt had his students exchange
letters with children of the Soviet
Union so they would learn about Soviet
life. His students found that Soviet
children enjoy French fries, dances and
movies such as "Bambi". and "Mary
Poppins" just like American children.
The Soviet children also expressed a
wish to be friends with Americans and
to avoid war, he said. Reinhardt critic
ized "Amerika" for not including these
and other similarities between the Uni
ted States and the Soviet Union.
But although the panel criticized
the portrayal of the Soviet people in
"Amerika," they agreed with some of
the apathy that was evident in the film
excerpts.
Greg Nelson, a teacher at Pound
Junior High School and another panel
participant, said he thought the movie
showed the balance because it showed
that Americans do view politics with
apathy. But, he added, apathy has been
a problem throughout history, and no
easy solution exists.
Khol said the movie might reduce
apathy because Americans will see
some of their basic rights taken away in
"Amerika." She said they might realize
that these rights should be cherished.
"As Americans," Khol said, ". . . it
makes us say, 'This is something that I
think is important, that I cherish, that
See AMERIKA on 3
'Amerika' for
stereotypes
'a: f
UNL alum
By Natalie Weinstein
Staff Reporter
One afternoon when Bill Rush
was still a child, he was stung by a
bee on the playground.
He screamed in pain, but the
teacher didn'f understand and told
him just to settle down.
One afternoon when Rush was in
college he was told by a pair of
"fanatic fundamentalists" that he
was possessed by the devil and should
let God cast out his demons.
On the first day of Rush's first
journalism class, his professor at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
told him to drop the class and
change his major.
Rush didn't listen to the profes
sor. In 1983, he graduated from
UNL's College of Journalism with
honors.
UNMC transplant
By Colleen Kenney
Staff Reporter
Sometime soon, a potassium-filled,
- frozen heart will be jetted to Omaha to
be the first heart transplanted at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The heart will have been cut from an
irreversibly brain-dead donor with the
same heart size and blood type as the
recipient.
A UNMC team, including heart-transplant
specialist Dr. Anthony Moultron,
will have retrieved the heart from
within a 1,000-mile radius of Omaha,
racing against a 4 12-hour deadline for
the trip home by Lear jet.
"Most of us feel a little uncomforta
ble going much over four hours," Moul
tron said, "because the heart's receiv
ing no blood supply."
At a complete standstill, the heart
will rest in a sterile, ice-filled cooler
beside the UNMC physicians. -:
-And sometime soon, a 57-year-old
man from a small Nebraska town will
receive a call that the frozen heart is on
- its way. He is the first scheduled heart
transplant patient at UNMC.
r
.1
Rush
writes to free spirit
These and other events from Rush's
life are included in his first book
and autobiography, "Journey Out of
Silence."
"Journey Out of Silence," which
was published last December, took
Rush nine years to write. It fa-
aeribea Eush's'We -strugS to be
accepted by other humans as just
another person.
It describes his struggle to be
understood.
Rush, 31, has cerebral palsy. He
does not have the use of his arms,
legs or voice. To write his 217-page
book, Rush used a headstick strapped
around his skull to punch the words,
letter by letter, into his computer.
To "speak" Rush also uses the
headstick to punch letters into the
computer, which are then spelled
aloud by a voice synthesizer.
Rush is scheduled to autograph
books tonight from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
at the Nebraska Center for Continu
ing Education.
program first in Nebraska for children
The transplant could be in a few
days or a few weeks, Moultron said.
UNMC officials are now waiting for a
suitable donor for the waiting patient,
whose name could not be released.
In December UNMC officials received
approval from the state's Certificate of
Need Committee to begin a heart
transplant program. UNMC is Nebras
ka's third authorized heart-transplant
center. Bryan Memorial Hospital and
Omaha's Clarkson Hospital are the
others.
But the UNMC center will be differ
ent: It will be the state's first pediatric
heart-transplant center. Besides per
forming transplants on adult patients,
no longer considered experimental,
UNMC physicians will be part of the
seventh center in the country that will
specialize in heart transplants on new
borns, babies, toddlers and older child
ren, Moultron said.
But the UNMC team is not ready for
that yet.
Before performing a pediatric heart
transplant, the medical team needs
practice on the adult patients, Moul
tron said.
f
Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan
To sign the books, Rush uses his
headstick to stamp on the slogan:
"Disability Cool, Let the Spirit Set
You Free! William L. Rush."
"Disability Cool," said Rush, is
the slogan of the disability move
ment a movement to knock down
barriers like "curbs, stairs and unac-.
rceptmce.":' ' ' . ' '
Electric doors, ramps and spiral
bindings for books, Rush said, are
"disability cool because they don't
care if you have a disability."
The rest of the slogan, "Let the
Spirit Set You Free!," means being
free to look past disabilities, Rush
said.
Some people have called Rush a
"superhero." Others have called him
a "victim." Rush dislikes both terms.
Everyone, he said, has disabilities.
"My disability is more visible,"
he said, "but everybody lives with
limitations. So I don't see why I
should be excluded or granted saint
hood because mine shows."
As the team's primary surgeon,
Moultron will perform about 25 to 30
heart transplants this year about
one every two weeks and later about
50 hearts per year. About half of those
operated on will be children, he said.
Moultron said he plans to work with
pediatric heart-transplant experts at
the Loma Linda Medical Center in
Loma Linda, Calif., in early February.
Loma Linda doctors performed the
"Baby Fae" and "Baby Jessie" heart
transplant operations.
No pediatric transplants will be per
formed at UNMC until enough adult
transplants have been completed that
the team feels prepared, Moultron said.
"We want to make sure first that we
don't have any glitches in the system,"
he said, "and it'll be easier to spot
where those problems are if we do
adults."
About 900 heart-transplant opera
tions were performed in the United
States last year, Moultron said. And if
the trend from the last three months
continues, he said, the number for this
year could be 1,200.
See HEART on 3