Weather:
Friday, mild, mostly sunny with a high of
55-60. Friday night, partly cloudy, low in
the upper 20s. Saturday, mostly sunny,
high of 50-55.
A&E: Up and away, but
not over the hill.
—Page 8.
Sports: NU women's bas
ketball team to face Colo
rado Saturday.
—Page 6.
Air Force cancels UNL ROTC program
By Victoria Ayotte
Staff Reporter
The closing of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Air Force ROTC
detachment will force about 70 fresh
man and sophomore cadets to explore
other options, said Col. John Vick of
the UNL Air Force ROTC unit.
The U.S. Air Force announced
Wednesday it will close or consoli
date 37 of its 151 college ROTC units,
including UNL’s.
Vick said he received the news
Wednesday and announced it to a
meeting of all the cadets that after
noon.
“We had no prior knowledge,”
said Maj. Thomas Fauth, Air Force
ROTC instructor.
Air Force ROTC cadets were sur
prised and upset by the announce
ment.
“I felt like somebody kicked me in
the shins,”said Rich Sheldon, a senior
cadet.
Crystal Jennings, a freshman ca
det, said she was upset when she heard
the news. *
“I don’t think it should have hap
pened the way it did,” she said.
Junior and senior cadets will be
allowed to finish the ROTC program
at UNL, buffrcshman and sophomore
cadets will not, Vick said.
The last UNL ROTC class will
graduate in 1989, he said.
UNL’s ROTC teaching staff will
be cut in half during the 1988-89
school year, leaving two officers and
one enlisted man, Fauth said.
Faulh said the freshman and
sophomore cadets have seven op
lions:
• transfer to another school offer
ing Air Force ROTC and continue or
scholarship if the student is on schol
arship.
•continue under scholarship
through this semester for credit and
not transfer to another school, bu
instead request release from the Air
Force ROTC program in May 1988.
• request release from Air Force
ROTC and scholarship effective
immediately.
• continue as a non-scholarship
cadet at another school offering Air
Force ROTC in fail 1988.
• leave as a non-scholarship cadet
without prejudice.
• apply to another armed forces
ROTC program at UNL and transfer if
accepted.
Cadets’ choices so far are varied.
“Everybody’s got to figure out
what’s best for them,” said cadet 1st
t Sgt. Paul Vetter.
Jim Ulrich, a sophomore cadet,
said he will probably drop the ROTC
program.
Jennings said she wasn’t sure what
she will do.
“Since we’ve started, we should
have been able to finish,” she said.
Brad McDonald, a freshman cadet,
said he plans to apply for a different
ROTC program at UNL.
Vick said he is encouraging cadets
to continue the program at another
university.
“I encourage them to stay the
semester and keep their options
See AIR FORCE on 3
No hike for community colleges
I
By Ryan Steeves
Staff Reporter
Although community colleges
will not get more money in Gov. Kay
Orr’s proposed 1989-90 budget, she
has said they will receive more sup
port in future budgets, said acommu
1 nity college representative.
Thomas Johnston, executive di
• rector of the Nebraska Technical
; Community College Association,
said Orr told him during a meeting
Thursday, the community colleges
will get high priority in her next
budget proposal.
Johnston said Orr recognizes the
need for increased funds for commu
nity colleges. He said he thinks her
' efforts to help the colleges are sin
cere.
“We’re very pleased that the gov
; emor has responded so positively,”
i Johnston said, “and that her staff has
seen some of the resources that the
community colleges need.”
Johnston has proposed a $3(H),(XX)
increase for Nebraska technical and
community colleges. The increase
would finance advanced equipment
needed to keep the colleges in step
with businesses, Johnston said.
Orr has said she will not support
the increase in the 1989-90 budget.
But Johnston said he still plans to
propose the increase to the allocations
committee.
In recent years, stale budget cuts
have hurt the community and techni
cal colleges, Johnston said. Recently
a dispute between railroad companies
and the state also has hurt, he said.
The railroads have filed suit
against the state, charging the state
collected too much in property taxes.
Because of the suit, revenue from
property taxes has been tied up,
Johnston said.
For immediate money needs, Orr’s
staff and state departments will work
with the colleges to promote training
programs, he said.
Training for asbestos removal is
one such program, he said. The State
Department of Health will allot
money to community colleges, he
See COLLEGES on 10
■
Ward Williama/Daily Nebraskan
Battiato
Memory man recalls hobby
By Nick Tonkin
.Staff Reporter
For Dean Battiato, what began
as a childhood hobby has grown
into an obsession.
Battiato, 28, of 4244 L Si., has
memorized between 4,000 and
5,000 peoples’ birthdays, more
than 100 phone numbers, 100 ad
dresses, and about 30 license plate
numbers.
He credits baseball cards for his
accomplishment.
At the age of 3, Battiato started
collecting baseball cards with his
older brother. Three years later,
they owned about 2,000 cards, he
said. Given any two statistics, he
could figure out whose card it is and
other relevant information, he said.
Al that time, a cereal company
gave away miniature statues of U.S.
presidents. By the time the last one
came out, he had memorized the
presidents and their birthdays.
Battiato said memorizing as a
hobby helped him earn top grades in
school.
“I always got A’ s in spelling,” he
said.
The gift had its onerous side,
however. Battiato said he has about
60 immediate family members.
When his mother realized his ca
pacity for remembering dates, he
said, she did away with her date
book.
Battiato, a 1981 University of
Nebraska-Lincoln broadcasting
graduate, does not use any method
to remember information.
“That’s what’s the weird thing,”
he said, “I never really did have a
system. There was a guy called
Jerry West who learned the New
York phone book. He wrote a book
called ‘The Memory Book,’ but
that was way too complicated for
**
me.
Seeing things written down does
help, he said, but most of the time he
just remembers what he hears. This,
too, can get him in trouble.
“Sometimes I get really pissed
off when someone denies they said
something,” he said, “when I know
they did.
In the break room at National
Research Corp., whore Battiato
works as a telephone interviewer,
people constantly come up to him
and ask him: “What’s my birthday?
What’s my brother’s birthday?”
Though they may have told him
only once, a year ago, he reels off
the dates, along with, the names of
any celebrities who share the same
birthday.
Battiato said he has had offers to
put his memory skills to profes
sional use.
“A couple of guys in college
wanted me to go to Las Vegas and
play the blackjack tables for them,
but 1 never did.”
Memorizing has only been a
hobby for Battiato instead of a job.
“I never really wanted to sit
behind a desk and work with num
bers all day,” he said.
Board rejects plan to end
Malone land controversy
By Natalie Weinstein
Staff Reporter
A plan that could help end the
Malone neighborhood land contro
versy was rejected Wednesday by the
Malone Center Board.
The plan would allow the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln to buy and
develop property in the Malone area
throughout a 15-year period.
Although the Malone Center
Board rejected the plan, two other
groups have yet to consider the plan.
The Malone Neighborhood Associa
tion and the NU Board of Regents will
review the plan in mid-February.
The Malonc-area land has been an
issue for almost 30 years.
Last spring, former mayor Roland
Lucdlkc formed the Malone Redevel
opment Study Committee to speed up
progress. The eight-member task
force is comprised of two members
each from the city, UNL, the Malone
Neighborhood Association and the
Malone Community Center.
Christina Godfrey, director of the
Malone Community Center, repre
sents the Malone Center Board in the
Malone Redevelopment Study Com
mittee.
Godfrey said the Malone Center
Board rejected the plan because it is
not detailed enough.
The board needs more detail about
what will happen to the people cur
rently living in the area to be redevel
oped and more about what will be
included in a proposed park, Godfrey
said.
The plan involves three phases.
Phase I would take five years, Phase II
10 years and Phase III 15 years.
Phase I calls for UNL to acquire
and develop land mostly from Vine to
S streets between 19th and 20th
streets. The university already owns
most of the land considered in Phase
I.
In Phase II, UNL would buy and
develop land from S to R streets be
tween 19th and 20th streets and land
from R to Q streets between 19th and
22th streets. More than half the land in
Phase II is privately owned.
In Phase III, the university would
get the land from S to R streets be
tween 20th and 22lh streets. The city
owns most of the land in this final
phase.
The block, located between 21st
and 22nd streets and U to Vine street,
will be left untouched. The block
includes the Malone Community
Center and the Malone Manor. The
Malone neighborhood would also
receive a five-acre park south of the
Malone Center. A landscaped buffer
between the university and the ncigh
See MALONE on 5
ft,