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Biker enjoying
summer trek
By Victoria Ayotte
Staff Reporter
Traveling across the country by
bike is a trying experience at times,
but it’s the only way to go for Scott
McMahon.
“There are some days where it’s
kind of lonely, but then you meet
some people, and it’s fun again,’’
said McMahon, a 31-year-old
chemical engineer.
McMahon, from California,
has traveled over 2,900 miles on
his way to Boston from Eureka,
Calif, on a horizontal bike. Called
a recumbent bike, it has a larger
back wheel and is more like sitting
in a car, he said.
But you don t gel as much exer
cise sitting in a car, McMahon
said.
“I just like traveling by bike,”
he said. “You gel your exercise and
when I get there I feel better about
myself.
“It’s the only way to go.”
A regular bike can give riders
“saddle sores” and cause their
hands to fall asleep, but this
doesn’t happen on the horizontal
bike, he said.
“It just takes a while,” to travel
by bike, he said.
Fifteen varieties of the 18-gear
horizontal bike are sold in Califor
nia, he said.
McMahon has been on his bi
cycle trek since May 17. He
slopped in Lincoln Tuesday before
leaving this morning. He plans to
go to 5ioux City, lowa, spend a
month in Washington D.C., before
arriving in Boston Oct. 2.
McMahon said his first trip
across the country isn’t what he
thought it would be.
McMahon
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long camping trip,” he said. “I
haven’t met as many cyclists as 1
thought I would.”
But, McMahon said, he has met
a lot of interesting people along the
way “who’ve shared their houses
and their barbecues.”
McMahon usually camps out
nights or stays in a youth hostel
before taking off early on another
day’s journey. At first, he said, the
hard part of the trip was finding a
shower and a place to stay at night.
I iiavt an iuui wnviv • in
going,” he said, but he doesn’t map
it out exactly.
While on his daily 70-mile ride,
he said, people often stop to ask
him what his bike is, but he doesn ’ t
mind. It’s an unusual object on the
side of the road that makes it easy
for cars to see, and McMahon said
he feels pretty safe traveling.
McMahon listens to the radio
while biking, and ‘‘I try to think
about ways to redesign bikes,” he
said.
Connie Sheehan/Daily Nebraskan
He said the weather on the trip
has been good, except for some
rain in Idaho. McMahon said the
weather in Nebraska is “enough to
kill you.”
Although he ran over his
glasses yesterday, McMahon said
the trip has been fun for the most
part
“I’m trying to eat and sleep on
$10 a day,” he said.
He said he plans to fly back to
his home of Red Bluff, Calif., from
Boston.
UNL dean takes
Florida position
Gerhard Mcisels, University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln dean of the Col
lege of Arts and Sciences, has ac
cepted the position of chief academic
officer at the University of South
Florida, Tampa.
Mcisels’ appointment as USF
Provost will be I I
effective Sept. 16.
John Peters,
associate to UNL
Chancellor Martin
Massengalc, said
an interim dean
should be selected
by August.
. Meisels was
appointed interim dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences in 1981 and
accepted permanent appointment in
1982.
Meisels’ work in radiation chemis
try and mass spectrometry has earned
him international recognition.
In 1978, Meisels served as advi
sory board chairman of UNL’s Na
tional Science Foundation Instru
mentation Facility in Mass Spec
trometry. He was elected to a two
year term as president of the Ameri
can Society of Mass Spectrometry in
1986, and has been chairman of the
American Chemical Society’s Com
mittee on Economic Status and direc
tor for the Council for Chemical
Research.
Meisels was bom in Vienna in
1931. He studied at the University of
Vienna anH pampH hi<cM S anriPh D
from Notre Dame.
Before coming lo UNL in 1975 as
professor and chair of the Chemistry
Department, Meisels taught at Carne
gie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,
Pa., and the University of Houston.
He was also a chemist for Gulf Re
search and Development Corp. and
Union Carbide Corp.
Professor: Iran may have planned incident
By Victoria Ayotte
Staff Reporter
In the wake of the debate following a U.S.
Worship’s shooting down an Iranian civilian
plane, one University of Nebraska-Lincoln
professor said it’s possible that Iran purposely
made the plane resemble a military jet during
its flight.
David Forsythe, professor of political sci
ence, said questions remain whether “this in
deed was a civilian aircraft shot down’’ and
why the plane was radioing on a military
frequency.
“It is possible this aircraft was rigged by the
Iranian government,” he said. “You cannot
rule out that they were willing to sacrifice 290
people to embarrass the United States.
“A government like that would certainly
regard 290 martyrs as a small price to pay to
embarrass the United States,” he said.
The Iranian A300 Airbus was shot down
Sunday by the USS Vincennes, killing 290
Iranian civilians.
The plane was radioing on two frequencies,
one normally used for Iranian F- 14’s in the area,
leading the captain of the USS Vincennes to be
lieve tne plane might be hostile. The plane was
allegedly operating out of the normal commer
cial air corridor toward the ship, U.S. Navy
officials reported.
After repeated warnings, the captain ordered
the plane shot down.
Forsythe said the captain probably acted
correctly, aitnougn tne tacts win ten tne story.
“It appears he was going to be under attack
and to defend his men and his ship, he had to
fiie,” Forsythe said. “This is understandable as
an accident.”
Col. Charles Barnett, chairman of naval
science at UNL, said that he thinks the captain
had justification for shooting.
“It was an unfortunate situation,” he said.
“I’m sure in the heat of the conflict — and it
was deemed that it was perhaps a hostile
aircraft — you have to make a split-second
decision.
“If you delay sometimes just a matter of
seconds, you may lose some people under your
command on that ship,” he said.
Both Barnett and Forsythe said the
captain s actions were probably influenced by
the 1987 attack on the USS Stark by an Iraqi
aircraft, which killed several American service
men.
Forsythe said the U.S. response should de
pend on what comes out of the investigating
committee reports.
A six-member investigating team landed
Tuesday aboard the warship to sort through
computer records.
The Navy is conducting an inquiry, but For
sythe said U.S. action should depend on what
the results of the International Civil Aviation
Organization’s investigation are, since it is
impartial.
“There are quite a few unanswered ques
See IRAN on 11
