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University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 87 No. 39
Reasons for stock market drop unknown
By James M. Lillis
Senior Reporter
Monday’s panic selling caused the
Dow Jones industrial average to plum
met 508 points to 1,738.74, the causes
and effects of which are hard to pin
point, said two University of Ne
braska-Lincoln professors.
The plunge followed the heaviest
day of trading in the history of the New
York Stock Exchange. The point drop
represented a one-day loss of 22.4
percent.
The great crash of Oct. 28,1929 —
Black Monday — was a drop of 12.8
percent. The closing figures for the
year 1929 was 248.48 on the Dow
Jones industrial average. The 1959
year-end average was 679.36. In 1979,
it was 838.74.
Keith Broman, a finance professor,
said the 22.4 percent drop is “stupen
dous.” He said the figure translates
into “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
The drop erased $503.18 billion in
stock maifcet value, according to
Wilshire Associates’ index, which
closed at $2.31 trillion.
“I’m puzzled,” Broman said. “I’m
one of those who thought the market
would go higher.”
Broman said it is difficult to pin
point any event that could have trig
gered the fall.
“Obviously, this will shake confi
dence in the market,” he said.
Wallace Peterson, professor of
economics, said the effects of the drop
are hard to predict: “How much this
will spill into the economy is
anybody’s guess.”
Peterson said many people arc
scared right now, given the highly
speculative nature of the market. He
said ihc rumor lhal ihc market was
going down caught on and investors
started selling.
“The wheelers and dealers here are
young people who have known noth
ing but a rising stock market, have a lot
of money and little experience,” Peter
son said.
The Associated Press reported that
Suresh Bhirud, an analyst at Oppen
heimer & Co. in New York, said he
didn’t “have words to describe this.”
“Unless you can make a case for a
major recession or World War III, we
cannot really justify such a severe
decline,” Bhirud said.
According to The Associated Press,
not long after the close, the White
House issued a statement saying that
President Reagan watched the market
decline “with concern.”
Reagan watched the market fall
with advisers, and the administration
emphasized that the U.S. economy is
healthy.
“I think everyone is a little puzzled
because—I don’t know what meaning
it might have — because all business
invoices are up,” Reagan said. “There
is nothing wrong with the economy.”
Goebel: NU Police respond
positively to investigation
By Mary Nell Westbrook
Staff Reporter
John Goebel, University of Nebraska-Lin
coln vice chancellor of business and finance,
said he agrees with the report about the short
comings of the UNL Police Department that
was submitted to his office earlier this semes
ter.
The report, from the Nebraska Office of the
Public Counsel/Ombudsman, addressed pos
sible changes to be made in the department’s
policy.
The investigation began last June because of
complaints made by several officers in the
department. Because of restructuring in the
department about every nine months, the offi
cers said, ordinary complaints had com
pounded to “crisis proportions.”
The immediate problems addressed were
related to foot patrol and the accidental firing of
a gun in the police station.
“We consider the response (to the UNL
Police Department problems) positive and
helpful,” Goebel said.
Examinations like this are useful, he said,
because they give a department a chance to
discuss any problems it may have with an
objective party.
The police department will review its policy
as a result of the report, Goebel said.
Goebel said he will try to “maximize the
efficiency of the foot patrol.” He said this was
one of the report’s positive actions.
The accidental firing of a weapon in the
station was one of the personnel matters that
Goebel said he couldn’t comment on.
“As far as I’m concerned, the personnel
matters have been resolved,” he said.
In a response to the investigation earlier this
month, Goebel said that after reviewing the
policy on the discharge of weapons, the policy
may have to be rewritten if warranted.
Goebel said all lines of communication have
been open and those involved have cooperated
with the investigation.
State film office draws
movie crew to Nebraska
By Terie Clement
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska Slate Film Office has suc
ceeded once again in bringing a piece of Holly
wood to the state with the movie “Bom to
Lose.”
Dawn Novacek, one of two employees at the
film office and a senior broadcasting major at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said she is
helping to draw income to Nebraska through
the state’s broadcasting market.
Novacek recently set up the itinerary for a
visit to UNL by Don Schain, co-producer of the
motion picture tentatively titled “Bom to
Lose.”
The company wants to shoot some scenes in
Morrill Hall, she said.
Novacek and her supervisor, Janet Traub,
spent several months working to lure the com
pany, Focus on Nebraska, Inc., to the state.
Novacek said the film’s possible economic
impact is $750,000.
Her work with the company, which started
shooting in Fremont earlier this month, is on
going.
“I just got the company visitor parking per
mits for the shoot at Morrill Hall sometime in
late October.”
Novacek says the film office, which opened
Clarification
The Daily Nebraskan reported Monday that
anti-gay-rights activist Paul Cameron said
everyone who had previously pulled out of a
debate with him was a homosexual. Cameron
was not referring to people who had pulled out
of Tuesday’s AIDS panel discussion, but to a
previous debate.
in 1984, “sells” Nebraska to film companies
looking for locations for their productions. The
office has been involved with such productions
as “Terms of Endearment” and the TV movies
“Miracle of the Heart: a Boys Town Story” and
“Amerika.”
“Producers need information about the
state’s resources, climate, film and work laws,
and on specific locations,” Novacek said.
The film office has created “Nebraska Film
Locations,” a color portfolio of picturesque
areas and cities in the state, and “The Nebraska
Film Resource Directory,” a reference guide
for producers. The directory contains informa
tion on locations, colleges and universities,
Nebraska laws pertaining to out-of-state com
Kanies, and Nebraska businesses that could
elp the companies in preproduclion, produc
tion and postproduction.
A producer calls tne office, Novacek said,
and asks for information on certain locations,
or he may describe the type of site he wants.
“When we geta request, the first thing we do
is a prospect analysis to sec what kind of a
production it will be,” she said. “Directors
usually request photos on a certain area. We
research and send them in-depth material and
contacts that can give them further informa
tion.”
Novacek said the office tries to do this in a
48-hour “turn-around.”
Novacek said her work at the film office is
an “extended internship” that started last Janu
ary. Her initial project was to design a resource
data base to give the office quick reference to
the information on areas and cities in the state.
Novacek said many people are interested in
Nebraska.
“We’re getting calls every day,” she said.
Andrea Hoy/Dally Nebraskan
Beverly Schaefer, co-owner of the Roca Berry Farm just south of Roca,
arranges pumpkins for weekend sales. Her husband, Jeff, said 7,000 to
8,000 pumpkins were sold this season.
Nebraska is poppin' pumpkins
By Sharon Miller
Staff Reporter
Despite poor pumpkin seasons in other
states, Nebraska’s having its best crop ever,
according to some Nebraska jack-o'-lantern
raisers.
Pumpkins in Iowa and Illinois ripened
early and are now rotting in the fields, said
Ed Schaeffer, a pumpkin grower in
Bellevue. But conditions in Nebraska have
been good.
Although the Agriculture Statistics Divi
sion of the Nebraska Departmentof Agricul
ture doesn’t keep statistics on the pumpkin
crop, farmers like Schaeffer have raised one
of tneir better crops this season.
“Some farmers put their crop in earlier
this year, but we haven’t seen a lack of
pumpkins,’’ said Don Janssen, a Lancaster
County extension agent
“Best I’ve seen in years,” Ed’s brother
Jeff Schaeffer said.
Jeff Schaeffer runs the Roca Berry Farm
near Roca, 10 miles south of Lincoln. De
spite insect problems and an early freeze, he
said his crop this year was belter than previ
ous ones.
Ed Schaeffer, who owns the Bellevue
Berry Farm, said he also had an excellent
season. His only complaint was that the
amount of early rain created smaller pump
kins than normal. The Schaeffers said more
people than ever arc coming out to the farm
to pick their own.
Despite rumors of a shortage, most Lin
coln stores have as many pumpkins as they
have had in the past.
A Lincoln merchant said pumpkins sell
for between 8 and 11 cents a pound. A large
pumpkin is between 5 and 10 pounds.
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