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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1987)
WEATHER: It will be partly cloudy through Saturday. High Friday will be in the middle 50s to middle 60s. 1 Friday night, low will be in the 30s to | lower 40s November 13, 1987 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Inside: | News Digest.Page 2 | Editorial.Page 4 Sports.Page 6 1 Entertainment.Page 5 Classified.Page 6 Vol.87 No.57 Retirement plan holds little stock for employees By Lee Kooa Senior Reporter Now is not the best time for Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln employees to retire, say university finance pro fessors. “Black Monday” and more recent drops in the Dow Jones have reduced the value of some UNL professors’ and administrators’ retirement plans. Because retirement plans at UNL consist of a percentage of an employ ees’ gross income divided between stocks and bonds, some employees lost more tnan oiners. How much of that retirement money, contributed by UNL and the employee, is put toward stocks or the bond fund is up to the individual employee. According to Greg Clayton, direc tor of insurance and benefits at UNL, some employees lost more money than others because they had invested a higher percentage of their money in the stock fund, called the College Retirement Equity Fund. While some professors may have iosi up 10 ju percent oi tne money tney have earned in recent years, they arc still ahead of the game from what they started out with, said Leonard Bcrckson, UNL finance professor. Berekson said employees who have been investing their retirement money for any length of lime should be doing fairly well despite the current bear market. “It’s not as bad as it looks for a faculty member who has been here a long time, as long as they are not going to retire tomorrow,” he said. iviost iacuity manners wm ne anie to ride out their losses because their stock is “on paper” until they retire, Berckson said. “Unless there is a really great de pression,” Berckson said, “In that case, all bets arc off.” Most faculty members split their retirement investment equally be tween the equity fund and the bond fund,Teachers Insuranceand Annuity Association, to prevent losing too much money in the changing market, Berckson said. mcnaru ucrusco, anuuici ui'il finance professor, said he and other faculty members have switched some of their bond investment to stocks recently because stocks arc cheap now. In the future, if the market does all right, employees will make more money for retirement, he said. “Since I’m young, I’m hopefully going to ride this out,” DeFusco said. Berekson said he keeps his invest mentsplitcvenly, because he iscloser * to retirement. “I did it for safety,” he said. Hey, wait a minute, Mr. rostman! By Anne Mohri Staff Reporter KersiPajnigar, director of business affairs at the Wick Alumni Center, said w hen he goes to hisoffice he often mails his letters at the mailbox on the comer of 16th and R streets. But early this week he and many others could not. “On thatparticularday 1 had a letter to mail and the box was gone,” Pajni gar said. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a $200 reward for informa tion leading to the arrest of whoever is responsible for stealing the mailbox earlier this week. Doug Emery, manager of the De livery' and Collection Office in Lin coln, said the mailbox was reported missing at 9 a.in. Tuesday. Emery said the mailbox will be replaced by Monday. Steve Hix, an Omaha postal in spector, said with a mailbox theft “potentially there are six felonies that could be involved.” Penalties for the felony include up to a $10,(XX) fine and 10 years in prison. Hix said crimes like this arc either pranks or professional crimes, and because of die location of the stolen mailbox, the post office suspects this one to be a prank. “We want to make people aware it is serious,” Hix said. Lt. Frank Rowe of the Lincoln Police Department said police have no suspects yet. Emery said w hen mailboxes gel stolen, they are usually found the next d.iy, sometimes in yards or on the street. Postal officials talked to mem bers of nearby fraternities and sorori ties about the theft, Emery said. Hix said he would like to speak to anyone who used the mailbox be tween 5:30 Monday afternoon and 9 a.m. Tuesday. “I’d like to find out if they have any information, if they noticed anyone around the box,” Hix said. He said there is a good chance the mail is still inside the mailbox. Emery said each leg of the mailbox is boiled to a concrete slab. The bolts were found broken off. “It lcx)kcd like somebody just rocked it off,” Emery said. The mailbox is valued at $ 135, but :hc price is not important, Mix said. “Our primary concern is to get the nailbox back and any mail inside it,” le said. Hix said penalties for stealing a nailbox could be one or more of the following: •theftof properly used by the Postal Service could have a maximum fine of SI ,000 or three years in jail or both. •if there is mail in the mailbox, theft or possession of stolen mail could have a fine of S2.000 or five years in jail or both. •if two or more people are in volved, conspiracy could have a fine of $10,000or f ive years in jail or both. •if mail is inside, obstruction of correspondence could have a fine of $2,000 or five years in jail or both. •if the mailbox is destroyed, there could be a fine of $ 1,0(X) or three years in jail or both. •ifkcysor locksare stolen or repro duced, there could be a fine of $500 or 10 years in jail or both. Employees bid for salary hike By Brandon Loomis Staff Reporter University of Ncbraska-Lincoln administrators and employees voiced concern not only for faculty salaries but for salaries of all university em ployees at an open forum in the East Union Thursday. Vi Schroeder, UNL director of publications and mail services, said at the University Association for Ad ministrative Development forum that a good faculty is essential to a good university, but the loyalty of all uni versity employees is equally impor tant. Current legislation deals only with faculty salaries, she said, not with the bulk of the university’s employ ees. “I don’t know why people work here and arc loyal,” she said. A panel including UNL Chancellor Martin Massengale, Regent John Payne of Kearney, and Sens. Shirley Marsh and James McFarland, both of Lincoln, commented on the financial situation of the university and state, and answered questions before a crowd of about 80 people. Massengale said employees stay at the university despite low salaries because they are able to make the best of conditions. “That’s the kind of people we are in this state,” he said. But university employees deserve pay increases because they are 12 to 14 percent behind state workers doing similar jobs, Massengale said. Payne said in each of the past three fiscal years ihe University of Ne braska Board of Regents has asked the Legislature for about a 10 percent increase in faculty salaries and has only received increases of about 3 percent. Since 1982, he said, the uni versity has taken more than $14 mil lion in midyear reductions because of “limited state dollars.” But Marsh said revenue projec tions indicate more money may be available this year. “I’d like to see some of those dol lars spent, not all put on hold,” she said. Marsh said students and employees who are concerned about faculty sal ary increases should talk to their sena tors. See UAAD on 3 Doug Carroll/Dally Nabraafcan He does do windows Daryl Bell reaches high for a spot while cleaning win dows Wednesday afternoon. Bell, owner and operator of Clearview Window Service, was cleaning the bottom row of plate-glass windows at the NBC Building down town. Bell said his company cleans the windows once a week, even during the winter Mif it isn’t too cold.” Latvians suffer under Soviet rule, dissident says By Kip Fry Stiff Reporter A Latvian dissident told the press Thursday there is no comparison be tween Soviet-ruled Latvia and the United States because Latvia lacks human rights. Rolands Silaraups spoke at a press conference through an interpreter at the Nebraska Union Thursday to ex plain what he and his country have endured under the Soviets. Silaraups, who was imprisoned for distributing literature promoting in dependence of Latvia from Soviet rule, said the Soviet Constitution is not even recognized by the Soviets. Latvia also has what is called “free medicine," hut if you have to rely on it “you will perish,” he said. Silaraups could no longer sit back and watch his native Latvia be ruled oppressively by the Soviet regime, so he participated in several protests that led to his imprisonment. Latvia, once an independent nation on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939. Silaraups, 22, was recently re leased from what he called a concen tration camp. Although he was ini tially sentenced to five years in prison and two years of exile for distributing literature promoting freedom for I .at via, he was released unexpectedly after only four months with a number of other prisoners of conscience. “He can only thank President Re agan and the American government for his release,” his interpreter said. Many prisoners w ho have to spend longer terms in Latvian prisons are often broken both physically and emotionally, he said. “It is very difficult for Americans never having experienced anything like that tocomprehcnd what a terrible horror it was.” lie said. People sent there have to give a great deal of their lives, he said. I lesaid the camp was much like the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. While in prison, he met Linards Grantins, the leader of “Helsinki '86,“ the opposition group responsible for many of the demonstrations in Riga. After his release, Silaraups partici pated in another demonstration this June and took over leadership of “Helsinki ’86.” Authorities then ex pelled him from the country, he said. Silaraups’ mother and sister are still in Latvia, although he said they are in no immediate danger as long as he is in the United Stales. F.fforts have begun to gel them out of the country, he said. Silaraups said that eventually he would like to live in Washington, D.C., where he would be able lo work for the Latvian cause. He would not give any specific plans so the KGB would not find out. Silaraups is now louring the United Stales until the end of the year to tell his story. In the United States, he said, some one can work and be paid adequately 4 for it. Latvian workers work many hours a day and barely get enough money to pay their bills, he added. Silaraups said any changes in the Soviet-ruled territory brought about by Mikhail Gorbachev are not from the heart, but are just a show lor the See LATVIA on 3
