The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 10, 1988, Image 1

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    Thursday ■
INDEX
WEATHER: Thursday, mostly sunny. c...... A
high 45-50 with NVV winds at 5-15 mph Editorial .4
Thursday night, cloudy, low 30-35 Friday, .Q
cloudy with a 30 percent chance of light Classifieds.15
showers, high around 50s
November 10, 1988 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vcl. 88 No. 53
tr-jUfFy-T ' l
Rushworth Kidder of the Christian Science Monitor talked in
the Nebraska Union’s Centennial Room about the 21st
Century.
■W • m
Future’s problems exposed
Columnist challenges students to address issues
By F.ve Nations
Staff Reporter
Directing his speech to
younger college students,
the leading columnist for
“TheChristian Science Monitor” said
that everyone can help with the prob
lems of the future.
“People need to th ink deeply about
the issues,” said Rushworth Kidder,
“then they need to use that thought to
organize the world around them.”
Kidder, speaking to a standing
room-only crowd in the Nebraska
Union’s Centennial Ballroom, said
people should get involved with
things they are concerned about.
“Seek things out that arc do-able,”
he said.
He said he has devised an “agenda
of the 21st century” that people
should be concerned about. Kidder
said he interviewed what he consid
ered the leading 22 thinkers world
wide and compiled a list of the top six
issues that need to be dealt with to
make living in the 21 si century bear
able.
Stressing that the list was not in
any particular order, Kidder started
with the issue of nuclear threat.
“This includes arms and energy
control,” he said. “It also includes
chemical and biological warfare.”
Kidder said this issue will be very
important because of all the advances
in the development of biological
weapons.
“There arc new developments
with race specific viruses,” he said.
“This is a scary kind of notion.”
These viruses arc designed to at
tack only members of certain races.
Another issue Kidder mentioned
was world population in the future.
In 1900, world population was 1.6
billion, Kidder said. Now it is 5 bil
lion, he said, and will increase to 9 or
10 billion by the middle of the 21 si
century.
The third issue Kidder compiled
through his interviews concerned
environmental degradation. Kidder
said the greenhouse effect will be a
major issue in the near future.
The greenhouse effect will cause
world sea levels to rise between six
and eight feet, he said, which in turn
will change the geographic makeup
of the world.
The concern for the gap between
the northern and southern hemi
spheres’ use of natural resources will
also be apparent in the 21st century.
He said at the current time, northern
hemisphere populations use 82 per
cent of the world’s resources, which
leaves 75 percent of world population
i *
lo survive on the remaining 18 per
cent.
Kidder’s fifth concern was educa
tion reform.
In the 21st century more students
from developing countries will be
involved in education programs, he
said. This will be good, he said, be
cause more of the world’s population
will be educated.
“There is also some question on
the role of universities. They arc only
a century old,” he said. “The question
is will there be universities in the
future or will they be replaced by a
new form of education.”
The last issue K idder spoke on was
public and private morality.
“There is a deterioration of the
public’s morality,” he said. “This
produces a lack of ethics.”
Kidder said a new attitude will
have lo form because people don’t
trust others.
“We need to have faith,” he said.
“That goes beyond anything.”
But Kidder said people shouldn’t
trust the media for information on all
problems facing world population.
“There arc problems out there that
the media don’t make people aware
of,” he said. “Everything is gelling
condensed. Soon there will be a pulit
/.cr prize lo USA Today for the best
investigative sentence.”
Joint project to reduce drugs in Lincoln
By David (i. Young
Staff Reporter
Mayor Bill Harris announced Wednes
day the first objective of a joint project
is to reduce the use of illegal drugs in
Lincoln, including crack cocaine.
To “educate parents and youth about the
danger of drug abuse and raise their awareness
of local drug use and crime incidents,” is the
first objective of the project, Harris said during
a press conference. The project involves the
Mayor’sOfficc, the Lincoln Police Department
and various Lincoln Community Centers.
But Allen Curtis, Lincoln Chief of Police,
said the national drug problem “is acommunity
problem.”
“If you really look at the problem of drugs in
America, it’s clear the police department can’t
solve that problem alone,” Curtis said.
“I don’t think we have the problem of crack
and cocaine in Lincoln that many other cities
have," he said. “We can’t afford to sit and wait
and let the problem get worse We’vc got to lake
action. We’re going to reverse the trend.”
Curtis said crack, a derivative of cocaine,
has become more available in the past six
months, but it has not “gotten oulofhand at this
point.”
The pilot project’s second objective in
cludes a “non-threatening intervention pro
gram” which will assist parents in handling
drug and crime problems involving their chil
dren, Harris said.
7 don't think we have
the problem of crack
and cocaine in Lincoln
that many other cities
have. We can't afford to
sit and wait and let the
problem get worse.
We’ve got to take ac
tion.’
— Cuttis
The project’s third objective is to reform
youths involved in illegal activities and use
their help to report additional criminal acts,
Harris said.
In order 10 educate community members
about drugs, project members plan to go to
schools, churches and other community cen
ters, Curtis said. He said this would include
going to individual homes.
Many visits will be made by John Ways of
the Lincoln Police Department who frequently
has spoken to students about drugs.
“I’ve always been able to have a pretty good
rapport and pretty good relations with kids in
general,” Ways said. “I think we can knock out
crack, but it’s got to be a combined effort. My
effort will be primarily developing a rapport
with the children. We can’t just tell them ‘no,’
we’ve got to give them an alternative to drug
use.”
Ways sail’ the program will be geared to
ward pre school and primary grades.
Joel Gajardo, director of the Hispanic
Community Center, said he is disturbed that
Lincoln’s drug problem is highly related to the
Hispanic community.
“The Hispanic community is really con
cerned with drug issues,” he said, “and we are
working on a serious campaign, home to home,
to inform people of the seriousness of drug
abuse.”
Gajardo insisted the joint effort will lead the
project to success.
“Because of this relationship we know that
we will not become like so many other commu
nities which arc totally lost,” he said.
Ways said that drug education can be an
effective solution if used correctly.
“You have to really inform them (children)
of all the hazards involved,” he said. “They
have the option of making S3 an hour at a food
place, and they see someone (who deals drugs)
in a nice car.
“I don’t think kids arc willing to give up their
freedom for the consequence of jail,” Ways
said. “When you look at all of the alternatives
involved, I think children arc bright enough to
make the right decision.”
Harris said he will concentrate his efforts at
junior high schools.
The current program evolved from recom
mendations made by the Mayor’s Task Force on
Illegal Drugs and cooperation among the
Mayor’s Office, the Lincoln Police Depart
ment, the Malone Community Center, the In
dian Center, and the Hispanic Community
Center.
AbUN passes bill
to supervise senators
By Ryan Sleeves
_ Staff Reporter
Che Association of Students
of the University of Ne
braska passed a bill Wednes
day night that restricts ASUN mem
bers from neglecting their duties dur
ing the upcoming ASUN election.
The bill, the only legislation
passed during the 35-minutc meeting,
empowers first vice president Nate
Geisert with supervising senators
during election time.
If Geisert catches ASUN members
neglecting duties, he can “recom
mend disciplinary action if needed,"
the bill says.
Sen. Jeff Gromowsky of the Col
lege of Business Administration sup
ported the measure, saying ASUN
members should fulfill their duties at
all times.
Sens. Derrick Brown and Jill
Durbin of the College of Arts and
Sciences opposed the bill. But sena
tors voted to quash their desire to
debate the bill before voting on it.
Bryan Thomas/Daily Nebraskan
U.S. Senator-elect Bob Kerrey walks out of his office In Gold’s Galleria Wednesday to
speak at a press conference. Kerrey defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Dave Karnes
Tuesday.
i
Kerrey thanks
volunteers
By Chris Carroll
Staff Reporter
Senator-elect Bob Ker
rey gave credit in a
press conference
Wednesday to the 5,000 to
6,000campaign volunteers who
played a part in his win and
identified issues he would like
to address on the Senate floor.
Kerrey said the federal defi
cit, U.S. foreign trade policies
and agricultural issues arc at the
top of his agenda. Kerrey’s tar
get areas included education,
poverty and the role of the
United States in arms control.
Kerrey said he would like to
acton these concerns by serving
on agricultural, appropriations
and intelligence committees.
A position on the agricul
See KERREY on 14