Nebraskan
Weather: Thursday, sunny and warmer,
high around 80 with winds out of the S at
10-15 mph. Thursday night, mostly clear
and mild, low in the mid 50s. Friday, un
seasonably warm, high in the low to mid
80s.
A&E: Shakespeare and
Stan Lee —Page 5.
Sports: Future Olympi
ans to battle at NCAA
Men’s Championship
next week —Page 13.
Curtis bill finally advances to final reading
By Victoria Ayotte
Senior Reporter
Nebraska legislators adopted an amendment
Wednesday clarifying the relationship between
the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture
at Curtis and the University of Nebraska before
advancing LB 1042 to final reading.
LB 1042, a bill to finance Curtis, was ad
vanced with a 28-12 vote.
Sen. Ron Withem of Papillion proposed the
amendment, which would strike language from
the bill that defines Curtis as an “independent
entity within the University of Nebraska.”
The school is not an independent entity
because it is still governed by the University of
Nebraska Board of Regents, even though it is to
have a separate budget, Withem said.
‘‘The language ‘a separate entity, an inde
pendent entity,’ will merely cloud the issue in
further years,” Withem said.
Sen. Owen Elmer of Indianola, the main
proponent of the bill, said the amendment
would not really affect the bill, but agreed that
Curtis is only separate from the University of
Nebraska in regard to the budget.
Elmer also clarified that it would be the
Board of Regents’ responsibility to decide
whom the Curtis administrators answer to.
Curtis administrators currently answer to
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor
Martin Massengale and the Institute of Agricul
ture and Natural Resources, Elmer said.
Whether Curtis faculty members would get
part of the faculty salary increase signed Tues
day would also be up to the regents’ discretion,
he said.
The amendment was adopted by a 25-5 vote.
Legislators rejected an amendment by
Withem to indefinitely postpone the bill.
Withem said there needs to be more debate
on the bill, and so far the debate has centered on
more emotional parts of the bill, such as the
death of the town of Curtis if the school closes.
Withem said the real problem is that the
Board of Regents does not do a good job setting
its priorities, although it is getting better.
The regents finally started making some
tough decisions, like closing the Curtis school,
he said.
“What kind of message are we sending to the
Board of Regents?” he asked. “What we’re
saying is: Board of Regents, don’t take the heat
again. Continue to stagnate.”
Elmer opposed Withem’s amendment.
“This school is not for my district, it’s not for
Curtis,” Elmer said. “It receives students from
all over this state. It has a mission in this state.”
Elmer said NU is becoming more and more
oriented to UNL, and other schools have taken
the brunt of the budget cuts.
Withem withdrew the amendment because
it lacked support.
The bill will undergo final reading Friday,
the last day of the legislative session.
Chemical odor
causes hall
to be emptied
Grad student’s work
creates gas-leak fear
By Randy Lyons
Staff Reporter
Fears that natural gas was leak
ing in Hamilton Hall caused offi
cials to evacuate the building about
_ 10:15 a.m. Wednesday.
Students and staff members were
kept out of the building for about a
half hour until officials discovered
the odor was caused by the evapora
tion of a chemical used in a labora
tory.
A graduate student in an eighth
floor laboratory was working with
methyl mercaptan, which often is
added to natural gas to allow for leak
detection.
George Sturgeon, vice chairman
of the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln chemistry department, said all
of the proper procedures were used
to evaporate the chemical in the lab,
but some of it may have evaporated
in the waste drain.
Sturgeon said the odor also may
have been caused by the fumes
being brought back into the building
by the air recirculation system.
Methyl mercaptan has an intense
odor; therefore a small amount is
easily detectable, he said.
Jerry Dclhay, manager of physi
cal plant maintenance, said Hamil
ton Hall was evacuated as a precau
tionary measure because of fear of a
gas explosion. Dclhay said officials
from the Lincoln Fire Department,
UNL’s division of environmental
health and safety, and Minncgasco
were called in to evaluate the situ
ation.
Steven Bray, lab manager for the
chemistry department, said it was
difficult to determine what caused
the odor in Hamilton because it was
delected on the first floor much
sooner than in the lab on the eighth
floor where the chemical was being
handled.
At the same lime odors filled
Hamilton, similar problems oc
curred at Mantcr Hall.
Debbie Pinkclman, storeroom
manager at Manlcr Hall, said dog
fish, a type of shark used for dissec
tion in classes, were being inciner
ated.
Fumes from the process escaped
into the air. and winds pushed them
into Manter Hall's fresh-air han
dling unit.
Earle Brown, director of the divi
sion of environmental health and
safety, said a back draft from the
incinerator slack also may have
caused the problems at Manter Hall.
Pickle card regulation passes
unanimously in the Legislature
By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
After three hours of debate
Wednesday, Nebraska legislators
voted 38-0 to pass a bill on select Tile
that would regulate the distribution of
pickle cards.
Four amendments were added to
the bill, which was debated for more
than nine hours on the legislative
floor.
The amended bill would allow
pickle cards to be sold in package
liquor stores, set up a gaming com
mission to regulate the pickle indus
try, to raise the state tax to 20 percent
of the definite profits, and to increase
the non-profit organizations’ share of
the earnings.
sen. Bat Morehead ot Beatrice
proposed an amendment to LB 1232
that would establish a gaming com
mission in or before 1991 to control
pickle cards.
Morehead said the commission
needs to be set up because gambling
has grown so much in Nebraska that
its control needs to be separate from
the Revenue Department.
Sen. Vard Johnson of Omaha
opposed the amendment because he
said the separate commission had
been tried and didn’t work.
Morchead’s amendment passed
30-15.
It wasn’t until the final amend
ment of the debate that the gaming
commission got the money it needed
to regulate the industry.
Morehead offered the amendment
to authorize $15,000 for the regula
tion of pickle cards for 1988-89 and
$8,000 in 1989-90.
Sen. Stephanie Johanns of Lincoln
offered an amendment to LB 1232 to
allow the sale of pickle cards in off
sale liquor establishments. The
amendment also would include con
venience stores.
Sen. Scott Moore of Stromsburg
opposed the measure. Moore said the
accessibility of pickle cards needs to
be controlled so children and people
who are offended by pickle cards
won’t be exposed to them.
Moore said pickle card sales
should be allowed in any store where
75 percent of the store’s income
comes from alcohol.
Johanns’ amendment failed 16-21.
Moore later offered an amendment
that passed 25-10 to allow pickle
cards to be sold in package liquor
stores.
Morehead offered an amendment
to raise the state tax on pickle cards '
from 16 to 20 percent of the definite
profit. The amendment also would
redistribute the money from the sales
agent and operator to the non-profit
organization. •
Currently, non-protit organiza
tions receive 47 percent of the profit.
Morehead’s amendment would raise
that to 48 percent.
Morchead said her amendment
would raise the state’s share of the
profits to$7.5 million from S4 million
if the number of pickle cards bought
stays the same.
The amendment passed with a 26
22 vote.
Sen. Tim Hall of Omaha proposed
an amendment to give the Revenue
Department the right to suspend
pickle licenses without a public hear
ing, to clear up language in the bill
and to allow the University of Ne
braska at Omaha Mavericks to con
tinue pickle operations.
Sen. David Landis of Lincoln of
fered a motion to separate the Maver
ick issue from the rest of the bill.
The first part of Hall’s amendment
passed 27-1. The second portion
concerning the Mavericks passed 25
17, then was reconsidered with a
motion from Johnson. It then failed on
a 15-22 vote.
Mark Davis/Dally Nebraskan
Terry Meyerhoefter, a senior in advertising, takes a
Spanish quiz on a parking post outside Hamilton Hall
Wednesday morning after the building was evacuated.
Committee approves plan for UNL expansion
By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
After a year of debate and compro
mise, the Malone Redevelopment
Study Committee agreed Wednesday
on a tentative plan for University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln expansion into the
Malone neighborhood.
Bert Harris, City Economic De
velopment director, said the plan
includes a park between the Univer
sity of Ncbraska-Lincoln and the
t Malone neighborhood.
Harris said the park would start
one block south of the Malone Com
munity Center, 2032 U St., and con
tinue to the eastern half of the block
bordered by 22nd and U streets.
A boundary between the univer
sity land and the park would consist of
a bike path from the park along 22nd
street.
The plan also includes housing
rehabilitation between 22nd and 23rd
streets.
The plan still has to be approved by
the city council, the NU Board of
Regents and the Malone Neighbor
hood Association and Malone Com
munity Center boards, Harris said.
“This is a fragile compromise and
we need everybody’s support to sell it
to the regents,” Harris said. “The key
is to keep everybody with one voice.”
Harris said the Lincoln City Coun
cil and the regents have the power to
implement the plan, but that if the
community center and the neighbor
hood association don’t agree, it would
be difficult.
The plan calls for a review of the
situation in 20 years, he said.
The study committee was created
last May by former Lincoln Mayor
Roland Lucdtke to explore alterna
tives on the compatibility of the needs
of the Malone community, the city
and UNL. Two members from each of
the four entities arc on the committee.
Topher Hansen, president of the
Malone Neighborhood Association,
said money is available to begin de
velopment of the park immediately if
all parties agree on the plan.
In 20 years, if there is need for
further development, both the univer
sity and the neighborhood would have
the same chance at development of
the land, Hansen said.
Hansen said the Malone area has
more security now than any other area
in Lincoln, because a “watchdog”
organization is set up to evaluate the
needs of both parties.
The plan is not ideal for any parly,
Hansen said, but “it’s a plan we can all
live with.”
John Goebel, UNL vice chancellor
for business and finance, could not be
reached for comment.
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