Mayor speaks on Constitution
By Adam T. Branting
Staff Reporter
The U.S. Constitution requires
Americans to stay informed about the
government so the best decisions can
be made for the future, Lincoln Mayor
Bill Harris told a crowd of about 30 at
the County-City Building Thursday.
“It has changed our history and will
shape our future,” Harris said. “Its
lasting nature gives usour flexibility.”
In conjunction with other celebra
tions around the nation, Harris and
University of Nebraska-Lincoln po
litical-science professor A.B. Winter
gave the presentation celebrating the
bicentennial of the signing of the
Constitution.
Winter said the founding fathers
were asked to simply amend the Ar
ticles of Confederation, but found
them “too ambiguous.”
He said the Constitution has not
only been changed by amendments,
but by “custom and usage,” meaning
that presidents, Congress and the
Supreme Court all have their hand in
writing the “unwritten constitution.”
In the early development of political
parties, Winter said, many of the
founding fathers opposed their use.
“Washington was vigorously op
posed, saying that they were a sedi
tious element,” said Winter.
At the end of the ceremony, the
official Constitution commemorative
flag was raised in front of the Coutity
City Building, designating Lincoln as
a bicentennial community.
Shorts
City police plan
‘extensive ’security
Lincoln Police will provide “fairly
extensive” security for the FarmAid
III celebrities this weekend, said Lin
coln Police Chief Dean Lightncr.
Lightncr said about 20 celebrities
have requested escorts to the concert.
Most stars will arrive at the Omaha
airport and then drive to Lincoln in
limousines or vans, Lightncr said.
Lincoln Police will meet the stars on
r"..
the outskirts of Lincoln and escort
them into the city, or transfer them to
police vehicles.
Lincoln Police will also provide
security at the Haymarkel Harvest
Festival and the FarmAid concert,
Lightncr said.
Businessman gives
UNL $100,000 gift
Uses of a S100,000gi ft gi ven to the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln by
Omaha businessman Willy Theisen
will be announced Saturday at the
benefit concert.
Theiscn offered the gift to UNL
when negotiations between the uni
versity and FarmAid officials broke
down in June.
In earlier statements Theiscn re
ported that he and UNL Chancellor
Martin Masscngalc had narrowed the
potential uses to a scholarship fund or
developing a program through the
Collcgcof Business Administration to
offer franchising courses.
Prairies celebrated
By Michael Hooper
Senior Editor
Nine- Mile Prairie—once a part
of the endless sea of tall grass that
shaped Nebraska culture during
the 1800s — will part its grasses
Sunday for a festival celebrating
Prairie Appreciation Week.
Located on West Fletcher Road,
about two miles off Route 34, the
230-acre prairie is one of a few
patches of tall grass that have never
been plowed, said Kathleen Kee
ler, associate professor of biologi
cal sciences at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
Sunday’s festival, which runs
from 10a.m. to4p.m., will include
exhibits, music, muzzleloaders,
blacksmiths, woodcarvers and
readings of Nebraska author Willa
Cathcr’s work.
This is the fifth consecutive
year a festival has been scheduled
to celebrate Prairie Appreciation
Week, said an organizer, Ernest
Rousck, a member of the Washiska
Audubon Society, which is spon
soring the event.
The festival also includes ex
hibits of the natural history of
Nebraska’s tail-grass prairies,
walking tours and buggy and
wagon rides on the prairie.
The prairie’s grass — now as
high as six feel in places — in
cludes big blue stem, Indian and
little blue stem grasses. Pocket
gophers, coyotes, deer, badgers,
owls and hawks live on or near the
prairie. Their presence can be seen
in the gopher holes, nests and deer
beds in the tall grass.
John Janovy Jr., UNL professor
of biological sciences, said the
most unique aspect of Nine-Mile
Prairie is that it has never been
plowed.
“This means it’s a symbol of the
way prairies were before agricul
ture moved in,” Janovy said. “It’s
an important symbol that reminds
us that we in this region are inex
plicitly tied to the prairie ecosys
tem.”
Nine-Mile Prairie was pre
served in 1982 after an act of the
Nebraska Legislature that allowed
its previous owner, the Lincoln
Municipal Airport, to sell it to the
University of Nebraska at a re
duced price, Rousek said. The NU
Foundation purchased the land for
$6(X) an acre, Rousek said.
Interest in the prairie began in
the 1920s, Rousek said, when the
late UNL Professor John E.
Weaver and his students studied
plant ecology there. v 'eaver con
ducted field trips on the prairie,
In the early ’50s, however,
Nine-Mile Prairie was shut off
from the university because the
federal government took over the
land and had the Strategic Air
Command build bunkers and store
bombs there, Rousek said.
In 1968, the airport authority
bought the land as surplus govern
ment property, Rousek said.
Environmentalists and biolo
gists continued to study the prairie,
but many of them, hke Rousek,
wanted the area preserved. Be
tween 1920 and 1979, more than
500 acres of surrounding virgin
prairie was transformed into culti
vated land, Rousek said.
Rousek said the Wachiska
Audubon Society leased the land in
1979 for $4,600 a year, which was
raised by cutting the hay on the
land.
After a long struggle and both
legislative and university ap
proval, the prairie was purchased
for $138,000, Rousek said.
Research continues on the prai
rie, home to about 395 kinds of
plants, Keeler said. Also, more
than 80 kinds of birds have been
spotted there. Keeler said the 300
or more insects there are most
prevalent as adults this time of
ye.'ir.
Tickets for Sunday’s festival
are $1 in advance and $ 1.50 at the
gate. Children under 12 will be
admitted free.
Residences ‘batten down hatches’
By Lee Rood
Staff Reporter
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
residence halls, fraternities and so
rorities will be secured all weekend to
prevent trouble from any of the thou
sands of visitors expected in Lincoln
this weekend for the Farm Aid 111
concert.
Douglas Zatechka, director of uni
versity housing, said the halls will be
locked Friday at 5:45 p.m. until Sun
day morning after the concert. Resi
dents will be allowed to enter only if
they have their room keys with them.
Entrance will be restricted to resi
dents and their registered guests, Zat
echka said.
Extra staff and security personnel
will be provided to make sure every
thing runs smoothly, he said.
Rick Gestring, Interfraternity
Council president, said IFC recom
mended that fraternities lock their
doors, monitor whom they let in this
weekend and make sure all guests
enter with a house member.
Council members also advised
fraternities to have no parties or social
luneuons mis wecitenu
members will most likely be partici
pating in FarmAid,Gcsiring said. The
precaution could prevent strangers
from entering the houses, he said.
Doreen Davis, president of the
Panhellcnic Association, said mem
bers suggested that UNL sororities set
up rotation monitor systems at their
doors to prevent strangers from enter
ing houses.
Zatechka also suggested that all
students lock their doors this week
end. An unlocked door “is just inviting
trouble,” he said.
Hispanic heritage at Haymarket
By Joeth Zucco
Staff Reporter
Although Mexican Independence
day was Wednesday, Mcxican
Amcrican students will celebrate their
culture Saturday during the Lincoln
Hispanic Center’s Heritage Festival at
the Haymarkct Heritage Festival.
Dan Pae/., public relations official
at the Culture Center, sai> I members of
the Mexican American Student Asso
ciation are volunteering at the festi
val.
Mexico won its independence
Sept. 16,1810, at the hands of Miguel
Hidalgo y Costilla, known to his
people as the ‘‘Father of Mexican
Independence,” Paez said.
Ana Gonzales of the Hispanic
Ccnlcr said Hispanic Heritage Week,
Sept. 14 to 21, was proclaimed by
former Mayor Roland Lucdlkc last
year. Other countries celebrating their
independence are Chile, Brazil, Gua
temala and Costa Rica.
This is the Haymarket Heritage
Festival’s first year. The center hopes
to make it an annual event.
Events include singing, dancing,
poetry readings, displays and infor
mation booths.
Food from Argentina, Costa Rica,
Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru,
Puerto Rico and Spain will be served.
Other countries that will be repre
sented include Chile, Colombia, the
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Gua
temala and Venezuela.
A mariachi band, America of Jesus
Diaz, originally from Mexico, will
perform from noon to 6 p.m.
A presentation of the Patriot
Queen, a traditional event, will begin
with a parade of the contestants, who
have been chosen to represent every
community.
The festival will be on Eighth
Street between O and Q streets from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The displays will
start at 10a.m.,and the bands and food
will start at noon.
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