Weather: Friday, a few morning flur
ries, partly sunny and warmer, high near
30. Friday night, mostly clear, low in
the upper teens. Saturday, mostly sunny
and warmer, high in the 40s.
A&E: Norwegian direc
tor proud of ‘Miss Julie’.
—rage 5.
Sports: Nebraska will
face Texas A&M in the
1988 Kickoff Classic. —
Page 6.
Legislators urged to approve LB 1042
By Anne Mohri
Senior Reporter
Thirteen supporters spoke before the Appro
priations Committee Thursday, urging legisla
tors to approve LB 1042, which would finance
the Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture
at Curtis.
If LB 1042 is passed, Curtis will operate as a
separate program under the University of
Nebraska Board of Regents, said Sen. William
Barrett, representative of the 39th district and
sponsor of the bill.
The bill calls for an additional $350,000 to
be appropriated for the fiscal year 1987-88 and
$1.4 for 1988-89. No one testified against the
bill.
A scholarship fund is also established in the
bill with $80,000 collected in sales tax from the
Farm Aid III concert tickets.
Barrett said the money appropriated for
Curtis may not be transferred to other univer
sity programs. Also, if the school is not given
enough money, the regents would be prohibited
from transferring money from other programs.
The regents would be authorized to reduce or
discontinue any college programs they con
sider unnecessary.
Gary Rex, director of policy research of the
state of Nebraska, supported the bill on behalf
of Gov. Kay Orr.
“It is the administration’s position that suf
ficient funding is being included within the
bill,” he said.
Irvin Omtvedt, vice chancellor for the Insti
tute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
asked senators to appropriate the money saying
“the $1.4 million appropriated for fiscal year
1988-89 will only maintain programs and fa
cilities at their previous levels of existence.”
Omtvedt said surveys have shown Curtis to
be an effective program.
Sen. Owen Elmer of Indianola said he
wanted to remind the Appropriations Commit
tee of the nationwide support for Curtis.
Two of three Nebraskans interviewed fora
statewide Omaha-World Herald poll approved
Orr’s plan that would allow Curtis to remain
open, Elmer said.
Rob Raun, chairman of Orr’s Curtis task
force, said Curtis offers a curriculum that spe
cializes in agriculture and responds to the needs
of agriculture more effectively than technical
schools.
Gayle Muller, a representative of SRI-Gal
lup of Lincoln, said 70 percent of 198 employ
ers polled had hired agricultural technical
skilled employees in the last five years.
He said 38 percent of the employees got their
education from Curtis, 34 percent from the
UNL’s College of Agriculture.
Those surveyed rated Curtis 3.4 on a scale of
four, “and the vast majority indicated that they
seriously considered Curtis graduates when
ever they made hiring decisions,” Muller said.
Committee members also heard testimony
in favor of LB822.
The bill would appropriate more than SI
million, which would be used to wire residence
hall rooms to enable students to log onto the
UNL computer system. The money would also
be used to purchase 66 microcomputers.
Mark Davis/DaHy Nebraskan
Toon
Past ambassador to Russia
says he’s wary of glasnost
By Brandon Loomis
Staff Reporter
Because Mikhail Gorbachev is
more popular among Westerners
than past Soviet leaders, he is twice
as dangerous, said Malcolm Toon,
former U.S. ambassador to the So
viet Union.
Toon, who was appointed by
former President Gerald Ford in
1976 and retired in 1979, told re
porters Thursday that Gorbachev
only intends for his poiicy of
glasnost, or openness, to create good
public relations with western Eu
rope, not to democratize Russia.
Gorbachev’s policy is unpopular
among Russian blue-collar workers
because it calls for longer produc
tion hours without increased pay,
Toon said at his press conference in
the Comhusker Hotel.
“It may be that he’ll fall flat on
his face one of these days,” Toon
said. “And if that happens, I
couldn’t be happier."
Gorbachev is smarter, more edu
cated and has a better sense of publ ic
relations than past Soviet leaders,
Toon said. His intelligence allows
him to spot points of friction be
tween the United States and other
western countries and capitalize on
them. Toon said.
“This means we have to be
sharper in Washington,” he said.
loon said President Ronald
Reagan was accurate in labeling the
Soviet Union as the “evil empire,”
because of the way it installs and
regulates Eastern European re
gimes.
Vice President George Bush and
Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., have more
experience in foreign relations than
Reagan or the restof the presidential
candidates and could probably do a
better job of dealing with the Sovi
ets, he said.
“They’re (Bush and Dole) pre
pared to do their homework,” he
said, “which Reagan is not prepared
to do .”
Toon said he retired from his
ambassador position partly because
he could not convince former Presi
dent Jimmy Carter that the Soviet
Union, tfien led by Leonid
Brezhnev, was not peace-minded.
Toon said it was not wise for
Carter to embrace Brezhnev after
signing the SALT II Treaty.
“You don’t embrace or be
chummy with a man who is against
everything you stand for,” he said.
Regents to vote on higher hall rates
By Bob Nelson
Senior Kditor
The University of Nebraska
Board of Regents will vote Saturday
on a SI40 increase in residence hall
room and board rates for the 1988-89
school year.
Doug Zatechka, housing director,
said the rate change, a 6.5 percent
increase from 1987-88, is necessary
because of projected staff salary in
creases. If university pay increases
arc approved by the Nebraska Legis
lature, 62 percent of the rate increase
would go for salaries of full-time
residence hall employees, Zatechka
said.
He said the pay raises arc long
overdue.
“I don’t apologize for the pro
posal,” Zatechka said. “I have some
employees that are brushing the fed
eral poverty line.”
Zatechka said the new rates also
must cover a 5 percent phone charge
increase and a possible rise in the
minimum wage.
By the lime those three factors arc
considered, the actual increase for
inflation is about 1.5 percent, Zat
echka said.
Room and board rates increased
1.9 percent during 1983-84. Rales
increased 3.5 percent and 4.4 percent
the next two years. The rate increase
was 1.7 percent for the 1986-87 fiscal
year and 6.1 percent in 1987-88.
Zatechka said if the proposed sal
ary increases are not passed, the extra
money would be used for improve
ment projects in the residence halls.
Russ Johnson, Residence Hall
Association president, said it was
easy to see the higher salaries were
needed, but he wished the rate in
crease could be spread over several
years.
Although RHA approved the in
crease, Johnson did not sign the pro
posal, “because a lot of residents are
unhappy about the increase," he said:
“A lot of people said I should have
vetoed it," he said.
Johnson said if the 6.5 percent
increase is passed, the residents
should receive something in ex
change.
Better food or relaxed rules would
help, Johnson said.
Zatcchka said $100,000 of the
revenue increase would go to food
service improvements.
“I don’t know exactly what en
hancements will be done," he said,
“but they will be done.”
Postmark holiday for Nebraska town
By Adam T. Branting
Staff Reporter
For some, Valentine’s Day is just
another Hallmark holiday.
But for the people of one Nebraska
town, the Feb. 14 holiday is their
postmark.
Postman Rick Bordeaux said
about 10,(XX) to 20,000 extra letters
come through the Valentine post of
fice for its distinctive postmark Bor
deaux, who has worked for the post
office for 18 years, said the
“Valentine’s Rush” has happened
ever since he’s worked there.
He said letters have been coming
in since the beginning of the year from
across the country, and even from
outside the United States.
“People hear about (it) from just
word of mouth, and the media does
some stuff on it,” he said.
Although the rush in this final
week has the post office putting out
about4,(XX) letters per day, Bordeaux
said it wasn’t a big deal to his office.
“We’ve got it to the point where it
takes about two hours’ extra work
each day,” he said.
Judy Roosa, secretary of the Val
entine Chamber of Commerce, said
every organization in town does
something for the annual celebration,
which includes a Valentine’s Eve
dance.
“I think it has a little more special
meaning to us,” she said. “Friend
ship,caring, that’s what it’sall about.
We try to be real friends here, because
we are known as the Heart City.”
Model U.N. in session at union
Delegates discuss rain forest, refugees at 21st annual event
By Mick Dyer
Staff Reporter
The chairman’s voice can be
heard down the hallway: “The com
mittee is now in a vole. All caucusing
will stop. Pages, will you please
secure the doors ... “
The 21st annual Nebraska Model
United Nations has arrived.
Until 5 p.m. Saturday, delegates
will consider resolutions on topics
ranging from stopping the destruc
tion of tropical rain forests to com
pensation for refugees.
This year’s model, being enacted
in five conference rooms on the sec
ond fioor of the Nebraska Union,
consistsof 56 high school and college
student delegations, representing
countries throughout the world.
Lu Ann Krab, senior secondary
education student and conference
services director, said this year’s
delegates are well-prepared and have
researched their countries’ policies
thoroughly.
“Everybody’s really working
hard and getting a lot of good’caucus
ing done,” she said. “We're (the
conference staff) really pleased with
delegate performance.”
Janet Roberts, international af
fairs senior, represents Jordan at her
first conference. She said she heard
the conference was fun.
“But the real reason I’m doing it is
that I’m doing an internship with the
United Nations Association,” she
said. “I’m really getting to know how
the U.N. works.”
Scott Smith, senior at Lincoln
Southeast High School, is a first-year
delegate representing Belize.
“It’s a bit too intellectual. I’m not
up on world affairs enough to make a
contribution,” he said. “I would call
it a learning experience, definitely.
“1 mainly did it to get out of
school,” he said.
Mark Siedband, a ninth-grader in
Lincoln East Junior High, is a page
and first-year participant in the con -
ference. He said his involvement
with the conference is his contribu
tion to breaking down stereotypes
commonly believed about other
countries.
“Another reason I decided to be a
page w as to get a chance to see how
the model works, so that I can be a
more effective delegate next year,”
he said.
The conference is open to the
public.