Protestors: Demonstration ‘making authorities think’
By Brandon Loomis
Senior Reporter
INDIAN SPRINGS, Ncv. - After
about three hours in a holding pen and
an hour on a bus Saturday, five civilly
disobedient UNL students were lec
tured about trespassing and emerged
from a high school gym to 300 cheer
ing demonstrators.
The students, along with two Lin
coln High School seniors, were ar
rested for trespassing on federal prop
erty when they crossed a fence onto
the Nevada Test Site. The group
drove from Lincoln Wednesday to
protest nuclear weapons testing at
“Reclaim the Test Site II.”
After their arrest they were bussed
75 miles to Beatty High School where
they were cited and released.
Nell Eckersley, a freshman social
sciences major, said she achieved her
goal by making authorities think
about the nuclear issue.
Eckersley said she could tell that
the officer who issued her a citation
was affected by the non-violent pro
test.
'“I think we did make her think,
there’s no way to get around that,”
she said. “There’s no way that that
can’t attack them personally.”
Eckcrslcy’s sister Camilla, a Lin
coln High senior, said getting ar
rested alongside about 1,000 pro
testors gave her a sense of the unity of
the peace movement.
“I feel like this movement is
powerful,” she said. “This made me
feel even more adamant about it.”
Police told her to come back to
court in three months or they would
come get her, she said, “but I gave
them a fake name.”
Nell said most of the protestors she
was arrested with gave fake names,
but four who were transported to
Beatty with her gave real names.
“There are some people who re
ally want to go to court’ ’ and cost the
system as much money as possible,
she said.
All members of the Lincoln group
gave fake names.
Nell said she was happy with the
outcome of the action. Especially,
she said, since her sister and Kali
Tobler, also a Lincoln High senior,
are both under 18 and could have
faced lengthy detentions. The au
thorities normally detain minors
longer than adults until parents send
air fare to fly them home.
‘‘I really feel lucky,” Nell said.
The group had planned to jump the
fence around midnight Friday, but
decided to wail until Saturday be
cause several of them were tired.
Nell said she was glad the group
decided to wait, even though they
could have missed a lot of school if
one of the group had been kept in jail
longer than expected.
“So many things could have gone
wrong” at night, she said.
Police would have been paranoid
in the darkness, Nell said, and some
one could have gotten hurt. Also,
tired protestors might have forgotten
their non-violence training.
Another reason they decided to
wait until Saturday, Nell said, was to
join thousands of protestors who en
tered the site simultaneously. This
bogged down authorities, she said,
and made quick releases necessary.
Mike Sorrell, a junior in the Col
lege of Arts & Sciences whose job
was to find out where the group had
been bussed or jailed, said seeing all
the protestors cross the fence together
made him feel less apprehensive.
Sorrell said he knew the police
would have to let them go quickly.
‘‘I felt pretty good through the
whole thing,” he said.
Sorrell said he had no problems
finding the group at Beatty High
School because the busses carrying
the demonstrators passed him on the
highway.
The only mishap happened when
Carl Klarner, a sophomore political
science major, got separated from the
group and was put on a different bus.
Because police sometimes take
prisoners to different jails 100 miles
or more apart, group members were
concerned that Klarner would be
stuck without a ride. Klarner said the
only worry he had was that Sorrell
would have to drive farther than had
been expected.
Klarncr said he will come to the
test site next year and would like lobe
part of a group that is willing to get
arrested several times.
“If I was here alone next year or
had a more adventurous support
group, I would do way more,”
Klamer said.
He said the whole point of the
actions is to put “as much as pos
sible” stress on the system.
“I think that would be the best, the
most effective way to shut down the
site . . . “
Army Reserves to build armory
From Staff Reports
The U.S. Army Reserves plans
to build a new armory in the north
west comer of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus
in 1994 to replace the John J. Per
shing Armory, an army official
said.
Lt. Col. Dennis Collier, facility
manager for the armory, said Per
shing Armory is too small for the
reserves. About 600 people cur
rently are using the armory, which
was built to accommodate only
200 to 300 people, Collier said.
The armory needs more office,
storage and parking space, he said.
The Army will give UNL
$60,000 plus the old armory in
exchange for the 8.4 acres of land
needed for the new building.
a a -m
Spill is one of many price increase factors, officials say
By Pat Dinslage
Staff Reporter
Although many people may be
lieve the recent Alaskan oil spill is the
cause of recent gas price increases,
other factors have had a greater ef
fect, said Trisha Griggs, account rep
resentative for Rockport Oil Inc. of
Lincoln.
Local gas prices may continue to
climb as high as $1.25 to $1.35 per
gallon of unleaded this summer be
cause of product shortages and in
creased demand, Griggs said.
Rockport Oil, a Midwestern dis
tributor of gasoline and oil products,
purchases gasoline from most of the
major oil companies.
Although the major companies
may have used the oil spill as a reason
to raise prices, it “shouldn’t have had
that much effect” on the market,
Griggs said.
Two refinery fires in California
and an unusually high number of re
fineries closed for cleaning and re
pairs have contributed to a gas short
age on the West Coast, she said.
To meet demands, suppliers in
California had to “borrow” gas
products from other areas, including
the Midwest. In order to keep suffi
cient supplies in the Midwest and
other areas, suppliers raised prices,
Griggs said.
“Until the (wholesale) buyers quit
coming in, prices won’t go down ...
I possess every indication that gas
prices will go higher,” she said.
Mark Whitehead, president of
Whitehead Oil Co. in Lincoln, agreed
the oil spill costs may be contributing
to increased prices, but that the spill
itself is not the only factor involved.
He said the governor of Alaska’s
disruption of the state’s pipeline flow
and possible changes in long-term
supply projections also are contribut
ing to the increase.
The negative publicity surround
ing the oil spill could affect future
drilling rights in Alaska, and there
fore decrease long-term oil and gas
supplies, Whitehead said.
Following the spill, industrial oil
and gas buyers “rushed out to buy
ahead’’ for future supplies and there
was a substantial increase in demand,
he said.
Griggs said increased farming and
construction during spring and sum
mer also add to oil and gas demands,
forcing prices higher.
“Bull was not expecting this type
of increase this time of year,’ ’ Griggs
said, even allowing for the seasonal
adjustments and refinery problems.
Currently, Lincoln gas prices av
erage about $1.06 for regular and
$1.08 for unleaded gas.
Griggs said these prices reflect
increases of 15 to 20 cents per gallon
since mid-March.
Last week, gas prices started to
drop, she said, but now Rockport is
paying 2 to 3 cents per gallon more
daily.
Prices received by distributors
generally take two to three days to
filter down to the pumps. Last week’s
price drop is reflected in the current
“leveling off’ of gas prices experi
cnccd by local service stations,
Griggs said.
The increases distributors arc re
ceiving now will affect prices at local
gas stations this week, she said.
Despite the higher prices, at least
one service station has not had a drop
in sales.
Don Church, area sales manager
for Coastal Mart, a convenience store
and gas station chain, said ^' number
of gallons sold by the stc ; has not
changed since the increases began.
“People are still driving,” he
said, and the prices don’t have much
of an effect on consumption.
Whitehead said the increases may
not have a significant short-term ef
fect on sales, but in the long run, the
higher prices may affect summer
travel plans for some people.
Congratulations new initiates of
Beta Gamma Sigma
JUNIORS
Krista Aberle
Robert Anthes
Charles Callahan
Paul Dietsch
Cheryl Finley
Janel Firsch
Marcia Garwood
Angels Greenlee
Joann Gregory
Sharon Harr
Bradley Hinton
Theodore Hoffman
I Charles Kessler
Julie Lacy
Harold Peck
Ryan Peck
Suzanne Petersen
Sheila Peterson
Sherry Roschewski
Camela Schoenrock
Tisanshu Shen
Jacquelyn Stanczyk
Patrick Straka
Cameron Thies
SENIORS
Julie Bartels
Jodi Blazek-Gehr
Kristi Bohling
Inez Bourek
Donna Burnett
Michael Bydalek
John Campbell
Brandi Chase
Rebecca Cox
Jane Darling
Shana Dawson
Donald Dibbern
Kay Dostal
Kelly Ehlers
Shelley English
David Erb
Brenda Fisher
Amy Fuerst
Jeffrey Gustafson
Diane Hall
Kristin Handeland
Jon Hanson
Scott Hittner
Kevin Howat
Shawn llg
Steven Jung
Michael Kennedy
Lynda Kester
Kimberly Klein
Janice Koermer
Joseph Krotter
Steven Linder
Darrin Lindquist
Jennifer Liston
Kathleen Luettel
Kevin Lytle
Ila Matthes
David McWilliams
Jeffrey Norman
Laura Ray
Yvonne Rea
Anthony Reiling
Jean Riley
Donald Rork
Susan Rose
Katherine Samway
Shane Steffens
Liew Tan
Elizabeth Terry
Liz Thanel
Darla Zink
MBA’S i
Gary Dickerson '*§
Beth Mallon -a.
Thomas Reed
Cynthia Schmidt
I Beta Gamma Sigma is a national business honorary that honors the top 5 percent of I
I the junior class, top 10 percent of the senior class, and top 20 percent of master I
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