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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1989)
(WEATHER: INDEX Tuesday, mostly sunny and warmer, highs In News Diflest.2 60s, S winds 5-15 mph. Tuesday night, partly Editorial .a cloudy, lows in mid-40s. Wednesday, 30 per- Arts & Entertainment.6 cent chance of rain, highs in 70s. Sports. v. May 2,1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln_ '__ Vol. 88 No. 150 I Third student may have rubeola measles I By Larry Peirce Senior Reporter A third University of Nebraska Lincoln student is suspected of hav ing rubeola measles, and the Univer sity Health Center is continuing its disease control program, said Dr. Gerald Fleischli, medical director of the health center. Fleischli said a married female graduate student who lives off cam pus has a “highly suspicious” case of what could be rubeola measles. Physicians monitored the victim’s condition during the weekend, but stopped short of diagnosing her dis ease as rubeola because she didn’t have contact with other confirmed I cases at UNL, Fleischli said. Two Abel Hall residents were diagnosed with the disease April 20 and 26. At first, the victim’s rash didn’t resemble that of rubeola measles because it was confined to her face, and her temperature was too low, he said. ‘ ‘ I was less suspicious on Saturday than I am today,” he said. Because the victim’s rash spread from her face to other parts of her body, Fleischli said, it is more likely that she has rubeola measles. She had not been immunized, he said. Even though it is not yet a con firmed case, health officials decided it was best to be safe and notify members of the victim’s classes, he said. Classmates of the victim who need immunization shots can get them in the health center lobby Wednesday from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Fleischli said health officials had considered ending the free immuni zations, but because many students were still showing concern, officials decided to continue the immuniza tions until the end of next week. “The phone kept ringing,” he said. Forty students came in for immu nization shots Monday morning, he said. Officials decided to publicize the hours students will be immunized rather than allow a staff member to answer calls from concerned stu dents, he said. Students who need immunization shots or need to check their immuni zation information should come to the health center's administration office. If they need a shot, an appoint ment will be made for them, he said. Shots will be given Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. “It would be a real shame if we’ve gotten so close and one kid who wanted to be immunized got it (measles),” he said. The health center won’t be hold ing a mass immunization during the next two weeks, but will be giving shots “in a more intense way than we routinely do,” he said. Flcischli said some students missed last week’s mass immuniza Class schedule for the third student who has a suspected case of measles Consumer science & education 421/821 1:00-2:15 TR Home Economics 121 Speech Pathology 251 10:30-11:45 TR Barkley 131 Speech Pathology 385 2:00-2:50 MWF Barkley 326 Source: University Health Center. tions for various reasons. Some stu dents said they were out of town or simply didn’t know the immuniza tions were being held, he said. About 6,000 or 27 percent of UNL students still are not known to be adequately immunized, Flcischli said. “We would like to sec it lower, but that’s an excellent response,’’ he said. John Bruce /Dally Nebraskan Fleischli said 629 people who were processed last week were fac ulty and staff members and students who weren’t on the list. The total cost of vaccine and manpower to administer the immuni sation program will be known in two weeks, after the program is over, he said. However, the cost of vaccine alone is easily in the ‘‘tens of thou sands” of dollars, he said. New photo IDs may cause more policy enforcement By Jerry Guenther Staff Reporter Students who attempt to sell their season football tickets this fall may find it harder be cause of a new all-purpose student photo identification card. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, said the new student photo IDs would make it easier to po lice the policy of non-transferable season tickets, but that a decision whether to have tighter control on the tickets has yet to be made. ‘‘The Athletic Department Ticket Office has explored some options, but we haven’t reviewed them yet,” Griesen said. If a decision is made to change the student season ticket policy, Griesen said, he hopes it will be done by the end of this week. ‘‘Admittedly, we haven’t policed them a lot in the past,” he said. In the past, ticket-takers at the gates of Memorial Stadium allowed individuals into football games if the names on the student tickets matched the names on the student IDs. See TICKETS on 5 UNL students charged in case From Staff Reports Six University of Nebraska Lincoln students were ar raigned Monday in Lancaster County Court in connection with the early Friday morning robbery of a 31-year-old Cali fornia man. Charged with one count of robbery were John Mikkelscn, Ward Elliott, Leodis Wiley, Todd Zimmerman, Mitchell Hope and David Kuszaj, Deputy County attorney Jan Lipovsky said. The six students reportedly attacked the man after he alleg edly invited them to his room at the Comhusker Hotel, said Lt. Albert Maxey of the Lincoln Police Department. Maxey said a ring valued at $23,000 was reportedly stolen from the man. Also reported stolen were a briefcase, a watch and $115 in cash. The ring and watch were recovered, police said. 1 Connie Sheehan/Daily Nebraskan Employee Serena Moench records business junior Frederick Warner’s image for his new photo student ID in the University Bookstore Monday afternoon. Most fountains OK I Drinking water being checked for lead By Brandon Loomis Senior Reporter Several university buildings and residence halls contain a model of drinking fountain that the U.S. Environmental Protec tion Agency has listed as having un safe concentrations of lead, accord ing to university officials. Del Weed, University of Ne braska-Lincoln environmental health and safety officer, said about 15 foun tains of the suspected type have been found in university buildings, along with an unconfirmed number in resi dence halls. The fountains have a lead lining in their coolers, Weed said, which puts lead in direct contact with the drink ing water. High concenirations of lead have been determined to damage nerve tissue, he said. Weed said his office took water samples from six of the suspected fountains Wednesday and sent them to the State of Nebraska Health Labo ratories. He raid he will know the results from those tests by May 10. “Our plan is to do random sam pling and see what turns up,” he said. Richard McDermott, director of the UNL physical plant, said the buildings having the fountains in question include Love Library, Ne braska Hall, the Grounds Building, Agricultural Hall and Kiesselbach Crops Research Lab. ‘Our plan Is to do random sampling. 9 -Wood Weed said fountains from Neihardt and Sandoz residence halls also were tested. McDermott said the fountains with the greatest potential for danger were tested, so if the samples turn out negative for lead, the rest are proba bly safe. “If it doesn’t show up in the worst case it’s certainly not going to show up in the others,” he said. Weed said he doesn’t expect much lead to show up in the samples. Water in Lincoln is “generally neutral,” Weed said. It is not likely that it has corroded any of the lead lining, he said. “In some areas where the water is more corrosive, it leaches the lead out of the lining into the water,” he said. The model of fountain in question is a Halsey Taylor, he said. It includes both wall-mounted and free-standing metal fountains with coolers. But not all Halsey Taylor fountains have lead in their coolers, Weed said. ‘ ‘We have a lot of that make on the campus, but they make a lot of mod els,” he said. Any of the wall-mounted porce lain fountains on campus probably are safe, he said, because they use unrefrigerated tap water. The only possible danger of lead in tap water would be if lead solder was used in the pipes, he said. “We haven’t used lead solder for many, many, many years,” Weed said. If ihe tests show dangerous lead concentrations in the fountains, Weed said, the university would at least replace the coolers, using a lead free material. ‘‘We’d probably just replace the whole units,” he said. The EPA has recommended that universities test their water fountains, Weed said, but docs not require it Fountains containing lead are harder on children in elementary schools than university students, partly because elementary school students drink more from water foun tains, Weed said. ‘‘They’ll be drinking water with longer exposure.” Weed said he is waiting for a re port from the housing department to see how many questionable fountains arc located in residence halls. But, he said, there probably are no more than IS in classrooms and buildings. ‘‘We have canvassed at least 90 percent of the classrooms,” he said.